BACKGROUNDERS 2-5 to be COMPLETED by all STUDENTS
Read Backgrounder #2: The Greenhouse Effect
Content Questions to answer after reading Backgrounder #2:
1.
How does the natural greenhouse effect keep the earth’s temperature at a liveable level?
2.
How did the industrial revolution disturb the carbon dioxide balance and increase the earth’s temperature?
3.
Why have temperatures increased more in the north than in other parts of the world?
Read Backgrounder #3: Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Content Questions to answer after reading Backgrounder #3:
1.
How do greenhouse gases affect the earth’s temperature?
2.
What are the “big four” greenhouse gases? What are the main sources of each of these four?
3.
How do carbon sinks work? What are the major types of carbon sinks?
Read Backgrounder #4: Weather and Climate
Content Questions to answer after reading Backgrounder #4:
1.
What’s the difference between weather and climate?
2.
How does heat from the sun get trapped, then moved around the earth?
3.
How might increased temperatures change the water levels and precipitation patterns in the north?
Read Backgrounder #5: How do we know?
Content Questions to answer after reading Backgrounder #5:
1.
How do paleoclimatologists find out information about past climates?
2.
How can ice give us information about climates long ago?
3.
What is the IPCC, and why is it important?
4.
Why is local knowledge important to climate change researchers?
BACKGROUNDER #7 to be completed by STUDENT #1
Read Backgrounder #7: The Changing World of Water & Ice
Content Questions
1.
Explain the “positive feedback loop” in Arctic ice melting – or, in other words, when ice melts
(creating patches of open water), why does the remaining ice melt even faster?

2.
What’s happening to sea levels? What effects will changing sea levels have on coastal communities in the north?
3.
Explain what effect climate change is having on glaciers. What impact might fresh water from melting glaciers have on the oceans, and marine life?
BACKGROUNDER #12 to be completed by STUDENT #2
Read Backgrounder #12: Global impacts of Climate Change
Content Questions
1.
Identify and explain the different ways people around the world will be affected by climate change.
2.
In 1998, more than 25 million people had to leave their homes because of floods, drought, deforestation or other environmental problems. Explain how this is probably linked to climate change.
3.
How might the world’s oceans and marine life be affected by climate change?
BACKGROUNDER #13 to be completed by STUDENT #3
Read Backgrounder #13: Renewable Energy Opportunities
Content Questions
1.
What is non-renewable energy? Renewable energy?
2.
List and describe five different types of renewable energy.
3.
What are the barriers to replacing non-renewable energy sources with renewable ones?
BACKGROUNDER #16 to be completed by STUDENT #4
Read Backgrounder #16: Climate Change Agreements… and
Disagreements
Content Questions
1.
Explain the Kyoto Protocol: What is its goal? What challenges are there to getting it ratified?
2.
What are ‘emission credits,’ and why are they controversial?
3.
What arguments have some people have made against ratifying the Kyoto Protocol?
BACKGROUNDER #1 to be completed by STUDENT #5
Read Backgrounder #1: Climate Change: What’s the big deal?
Content Questions
1.
How has the climate changed in the last 100 years?
2.
What causes climate change? (What are greenhouse gases, and how are they causing the planet to heat up?)
3.
How is climate change affecting the north?
4.
How can we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions?