Lesson plan: Climate Response - Doers, Shoppers, Learners, Shouters

Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.

Developing confidence and responsibility and making the most of their abilities:

1 a. to talk about their opinions, and explain their views, on issues that affect themselves and society; b. to recognise their worth as individuals by identifying positive things about themselves and their achievements, c. to face new challenges positively by collecting information, making responsible choices, and taking action.

Preparing to play an active role as citizens

2 a. to research, discuss and debate topical issues, problems and events, b. how to take part in making and changing rules, d. that there are different kinds of responsibilities, f. to resolve differences by looking at alternatives, making decisions and explaining choices, g. what democracy is, h. to recognise the role of voluntary, community and pressure groups, j. that resources can be allocated in different ways and that these economic choices affect individuals, communities and the sustainability of the environment.

The use of natural resources and how the climate has changed.

The production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate. How organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment.

The rights, roles and responsibilities of citizens, the role of parliament and democracy, the role of citizens and parliament in holding those in the power of government to account, actions citizens can take in democratic and electoral processes to influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond, the roles played by public institutions and voluntary groups in society, the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities.

16. Changing weather and climate – The causes, consequences of and responses to extreme weather conditions and natural weather hazards, recognising their changing distribution in time and space. The spatial and temporal characteristics, of climatic change and evidence for different causes, including human activity.

The evidence and reasons for human induced climate change. The effects of climate change on people and environment.  Managing climate change: Mitigation and Adaptation.

Positive and negative human interactions with ecosystems, anthropogenic causes of climate change, potential effects of, and mitigation of, increased levels of carbon dioxide and methane on the Earth’s climate, renewable and non-renewable energy sources used on Earth, changes in how these are used.

4.7.3.5 Global warming, 5.9.2.2 Human activities which contribute to an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, 5.9.2.3 Global climate change (effects), 6.1.3 National and global energy resources.

Climate Protests – What? Where? Who? Why?

Begin by sharing the learning outcomes via the PowerPoint (slide 1).

Show the group slide 2 (photos of the Climate protests). In their groups ask them to discuss:

• What are they photos of?
• Where are they?
• Who is involved?
• Why are they doing it?

Ask each group to select a spokesperson and collect feedback and adding additional information as you go.

What are they photos of? Climate Strikes which began in Autumn 2019. These symbolised a ‘call to action’ for the entire world and were a very important moment in our history.

Where do you think they are? The photos are from across the world. The strikes were global.

Who is involved? The Climate strikes were originally started by school students organised through the #FridaysForFuture platform. However, school strikers kickstarted a global movement and pretty soon everyone got involved, from all walks of life - students, workers, children, adults, community groups, NGO’s, unions and social movements.

Why are they doing it? To show world leaders and businesses (and each other!) the level of concern and urgency that people have about climate change and to demand action on the climate emergency (for example a move away from fossil fuels to renewables energies - that’s just the tip of the iceberg). Past generations have failed to act effectively to address climate change and if we are to keep global temperature rises this century below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (as recommended by climate scientists to avoid the most serious impacts of climate change) we need to act decisively and quickly. www.ipcc.ch/sr15/. Currently, overshooting the 1.5 °C target is looking like a very real possibility.

Slide 3 - Since then action on climate change has continued to gain momentum. For example, there was the Global Climate Summit in Glasgow at the end of 2021 at which 141 global leaders agreed to halt and reserve deforestation by 2030. Running alongside these annual Global Climate Summits there are also youth summits (for example COY18 in 2023). These take place in the same locations and prepare young people to take an active role in the proceedings. New campaigns groups such as ‘Teach the Future’ have been formed. This campaign is led by students and has the aim of improving education on the climate emergency in the UK. The government are taking notice of what they have to say. 

In summary – the world has woken up to the climate challenge and the decisions we make and action we take in the next few years will be pivotal.

Slide 4 – Before we go any further it’s time to check in on the science of climate change!

Why is the climate changing? Ask the class the question and give them time to discuss it. Collect feedback and clarify understanding.

*With many students you may need to review why the climate is changing. This would include an explanation of the greenhouse effect and how an increase in greenhouse gas emissions (mainly Carbon dioxide and methane), due to human activity are enhancing this warming effect resulting in a changing climate. This can be done using a diagram on the board or through watching and discussing this video clip for young people. Use slide 5 and 6 to summarise the sources of these greenhouse gases.

Use the animation (slide 7 and 8) to show the changes in global temperature anomalies since 1880. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Ask the children what they notice. The trend of warming is clear to see.

Reiterate that this increase in temperatures on a global scale is leading to the impacts that we have been taking about – e.g. sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather, heat waves and so on.

Doers, Shoppers, Learners, Shouters

Slide 9 It’s all a bit scary and overwhelming when we start thinking about the scale of the challenge and the likely impacts of climate change. It’s also tricky to know how to help, but now more than ever, it’s important that we all know how to make a positive difference.

Living through the COVID-19 pandemic may have made us more ready to make the changes that we need to make. Over the course of the pandemic we showed each other that we can work together and how quickly we can change the way we do things. People are adaptable. We can build on this.

At Eden Project we like to call it ‘Doers, Shoppers, Learners, Shouters’ and it gives us a way to see how individuals can be part of the solution and how we can help in different ways.

Introduce the idea of each type of action and share examples using the PowerPoint slides.

Doers – Hands-on / physical things you can actually do to help (slides 10-13)

Examples:

• Do a beach clean. 
• Primary school pupils plant and water sunflowers.
• Three years into a restoration project, Yangambi, a lush forest landscape in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has just celebrated the planting of its millionth new tree.

Shoppers – making choices when you by stuff (slides 14-16)

Examples:

• Supermarkets should stop selling fresh produce such as apples and potatoes in plastic packaging, research suggests, because it adds to pollution and food waste.
• Rainforest Alliance seal allows you to recognise and choose products that contribute toward a better future for people and planet.
• Choose a Renewable Energy supplier
• Become a Fairtrade school.

Learners – seeking new knowledge, staying informed (slides 17-19)

Examples:

• Google has released data that appears to demonstrate a shift towards climate awareness in the U.K. Users of the search engine have been looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint, with specific methodologies starting to trend.
• Over 40,000 school children visit Eden Project each year. They learn about the environment and how we can work together to look after the earth.
• Many visitors come to Eden with their friends and family. They have a great day out but also learn about the importance of nature along the way. For summer 2022, Eden teamed up with Beano in order to defeat the dreaded CO2-Zilla!

Shouters – sharing what you care about (slides 20-21)

Examples:

• The video-sharing app has 800 million users, many of them conscious young eco-influencers campaigning on issues from climate change to biodiversity.
• Children at a Fridays for Future protest in Germany demanding Climate Action.

Ask the students - Which sort of person do you think you are (mainly)? (slide 22) You might feel like you are all of them. Each of the 4 actions have a different colour ribbon/wool/sticker associated with them. Ask the students to pick just one colour that they think matches with how they feel and gently tie it to their wrist or hold it up in the air for others to see.

Now, ask the students to find another person (or 2) in the room that has the same colour as them. Have a conversation and decide on one thing you could do, in terms of that type of action, to make a difference. Collect a little bit of feedback from several pairs.

Help them delve slightly deeper: Ask the students to group together with everyone in the room that has the same colour as them. You should now have 4 groups or varying sizes in the room. Give each group a set of the ‘Doers, Shoppers, Learners, Shouters’ cards. These cards have a host of ideas about ways to make a difference.

Ask them to pick out the cards that fit into their chosen type of action. Which of those cards do they think shows the most powerful / effective way to make a difference? Ask them to put them in order from most to least effective. Collect feedback.

Lastly, ask them to look at the cards they have so far discarded and divide them up as well into the other 3 types of action.

Sum up the activity: As you can see there are lots of ways in which people can be part of the solution. It’s important to remember that everyone is different, some people might feel happy to strike on the street and others might be much happy writing to their MP, for example. We encourage you to respond confidently in a way that makes sense to you – but also remember it’s good to push yourself a bit beyond your comfort zone as well.

Pose the question: If I eat less meat, ride my bike, buy less stuff – how much of a difference does that actually make? (slide 23) Collect feedback from the group. (slide 24) Yes - individual actions matter. Its both the fact that individual actions lower your personal carbon dioxide emissions (carbon footprint) and the fact that each individual taking action triggers others to get involved.

Slide 25-26 – If you are looking for something to join in on with your school then we recommend this – ‘Let’s Go Zero’. ‘Let’s Go Zero’ is the national campaign which unites schools working to become carbon zero by 2030.

Slide 27 – Review learning outcomes. 

Parting thought – Its true to say that climate change represents a massive challenge and its easy to feel overwhelmed. However, the solutions are at our fingertips and around the world change is already underway. One of the best things we can do to help us feel more positive is to join in and to be part of the solution. This means taking action ourselves, encouraging others around us to do the same, joining together and sharing our successes.

Slide 28 - If you have time, share a funny example of how you can have an impact by starting something or following something you believe in. youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

• globalclimatestrike.net/ This is the key website for information about the Global Climate Strikes.
• mobilisationlab.org/resources/10-ways-people-power-can-change-the-world/ This webpage contains useful information about the power of people.
• 350.org/support-schoolstrike/ This webpage contains really useful information for adults about how they can support young people as regards the climate strikes
• theconversation.com/climate-change-yes-your-individual-action-does-make-a-difference-115169 This is a useful article about how individual actions are important and their knock-on effects
• bbc.com/future/story/20181102-what-can-i-do-about-climate-change This is a guide to the most effective ways to make a difference as regards climate change.
• edenproject.com/make-the-change/what-you-can-do/11-tips-for-fighting-climate-change-and-biodiversity Eden Project’s top tips for fighting climate change and biodiversity loss.
• www.wwf.org.uk/myfootprint Calculate your impact then choose and track challenges to help reduce your environmental footprint with WWF's My Footprint App.
• un.org/en/climatechange/ Really useful information about climate change, the latest climate change reports and agreements and how to take action.
• bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45678338 This article explains why climate scientists have shifted the definition of what they believe is the "safe" limit of climate change.
• bbc.com/future/article/20200624-has-covid-19-brought-us-closer-to-stopping-climate-change  Has the pandemic helped us make the changes needed to tackle the environmental crisis?
• climatevisuals.org/ This is a great source of climate change related imagery.