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FINDING SUSTAINABLE PATHWAYS

OUR PROCESS

Our process helps Canada achieve sustainable development solutions that integrate environmental and economic considerations to ensure the lasting prosperity and well-being of our nation.

RESEARCH

We rigorously research and conduct high quality analysis on issues of sustainable development. Our thinking is original and thought provoking.

CONVENE

We convene opinion leaders and experts from across Canada around our table to share their knowledge and diverse perspectives. We stimulate debate and integrate polarities. We create a context for possibilities to emerge.

ADVISE

We generate ideas and provide realistic solutions to advise governments, Parliament and Canadians. We proceed with resolve and optimism to bring Canada’s economy and environment closer together.

Learning from Degrees of Change – The Classroom Education Initiative

One of the key components of the Climate Prosperity project is the development of 13 distinct lesson plans that will be made known to 12,000 middle and secondary schools across Canada at the end  of October. The lessons were developed by classroom teachers belonging to the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Canadian Council for Geographic Education.

The lesson plans were inspired by the Degrees of Change poster-diagram, the online interactive Degrees of Change website, as well as the new Climate Prosperity theme in the Canadian Atlas Online. The plans vary according to jurisdiction as they are linked to provincial and territorial curricula, as well as to the Canadian National Standards for Geography.

 

Thirsting For More: What is the relationship between climate change and water?

This lesson offers students the opportunity to examine some of the possible effects of climate change on water resources. Students will work collaboratively in small groups to decode and analyze various political cartoons on the topic. Finally, students will create their own political cartoon related to water and climate change.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Alberta
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

The Impact of Climate Change on Resource and Service-Based Industries in British Columbia

In this lesson, students will use the Canadian Geographic/NRTEE A Changing Climate poster-map to identify the potential impacts of climate change to British Columbia. Students will locate communities in British Columbia that will be affected by each of the impacts listed. They will choose one community for further research to learn about how these changes will affect industries in the area. Students will examine the economic consequences and opportunities created by these changes. Finally, they will design a poster to present their findings to the class.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – British Columbia
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Where have all the Salmon Gone?

In this lesson, students will participate in a simulation activity that illustrates the lifecycle of salmon in order to appreciate the different obstacles that they confront during their lifetime. They will assess the impact of climate change on the salmon industry and evaluate both the economic risks and opportunities associated with these changes.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12
Province/Territory – Manitoba
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Agriculture and Climate Change: Growing Problems or Opportunities for Growth?

Climate involves both long-term change and shorter-term variation. For agriculture, variation is at least as important as change, especially for crop production. Changes and variations can potentially help agriculture (new crops, longer growing seasons); but can also cause problems (droughts, floods, invasion of new pest species). Agriculture involves more than crops and animals, and other effects to the business of agriculture could result from change and variation. In this lesson, students will assess the relative effect of climate change and variation on agriculture in New Brunswick.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – New Brunswick
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Changing Oceans: Future challenges in the Newfoundland Fisheries

Students are asked to examine a variety of websites to gain insight into how climatic changes are influencing the fisheries of Newfoundland and Labrador. A comparison of the present day cod fishery to the fishery prior to the cod moratorium will be discussed. Students will produce a map showing the major ocean currents and characteristics.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Newfoundland & Labrador
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Climate Change: Crisis or Opportunity for Canadians?

Climate change is real and happening now. Canada, while continuing to reduce its carbon footprint, needs to refocus on the new reality that climate change will create and establish what this means to Canada’s environment and economy. How can our government ensure that the finance, trade and investment sectors are aligned with future business opportunities and needs? Can climate change provide trading opportunities for Canadian prosperity? How can we turn the crisis into an opportunity for Canadians? How can we get ahead of this prosperity curve? This lesson explores the idea of where Canada stands, especially in creating the optimum economic environment for Canadians in a low-carbon, energy-efficient economy.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Nova Scotia
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

De-Iced Road Truckers

In this lesson, students will examine the potential effects of climate change on winter roads, the subsequent impact in the Northwest Territories and possible options to address this problem.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Northwest Territories
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Survey Says…The Degrees of Change

In this lesson, students will examine possible changes in ice, snow and sea levels based on global mean temperature increases between 1-5 degrees Celsius. Students will use the Canadian Geographic/NRTEE A Changing Climate poster-map to identify impacts of climate change to the Arctic. They will conduct a survey in the local community to ask for predictions about the impact of climate change in Nunavut. Finally, they will discuss connections between the survey results and the Canadian Geographic/NRTEE A Changing Climate poster-map.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Nunavut
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

The Carolina Enquirer: A Round Table Lesson on the effects of Global Warming on the Carolinian Ecosystem in southern Ontario

In this lesson, students will use a Round Table approach to evaluate the possible effects of climate change on an ecosystem and the resulting effects on the flora, fauna and population living in that region.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Ontario
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Tourism, Climate Change and Sand Dune Coasts: Stresses, Adaptations, Opportunities?

This lesson is based on current scientific research. Changes in climate can result in changes to sand dune coasts – both to the shoreline and the dunes. They can also cause changes that impact tourist use of the coast. Changes in tourism, such as the number of tourists and the season of their visits, can also impact the coastline. In this lesson, students will conduct a field study to help them answer the following questions: How can the impacts on tourism interact with the impacts of tourism on a sand dune coast? Will tourism be helped or hampered by the anticipated warmer, drier summer climate of the future in Prince Edward Island; or are there positive adaptations?

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Prince Edward Island
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Climate Change in Saskatchewan: A Panel Discussion

In this lesson students will engage in a role-play to analyze the potential impacts of climate change in Saskatchewan. They will assess the risks and benefits associated with these changes and propose policy recommendations.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Saskatchewan
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version

Infrastructure in the North

In this lesson, students will learn about the impact of climate change on the infrastructure of communities in northern Canada. First, they will find and map several communities in northern Canada that have experienced changes to their infrastructure from climate change. Next, they will visit the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) website to research the different types of impacts to infrastructure that occur from climate change. In the culminating activity, students will use information from interactive satellite images to describe and explain the specific changes that have occurred in each community that they have mapped. They will refer to the Canadian Geographic/NRTEE A Changing Climate poster-map to identify the temperature change required for each of these impacts, when possible to draw such a link.

Teaching Level – Secondary (9-12)
Province/Territory – Yukon
Download – MS-Word version – HTML version – Adobe PDF version