Plants and Our Climate
Main Idea
2
Key Understandings
2
Focus Questions
3
Key Terms
3
Sample Unit Sequence and Activity Ideas
Tuning In
4
Preparing to Find Out
8
Finding Out
11
Sorting Out
13
Going Further
15
Making Connections
18
Taking Action
20
Reflection
22
References
23
Resources for Sample Activities
24
Main Idea
In this unit, students investigate the importance in understanding the role
plants play in the carbon cycle. They discover the potential benefits of trees,
algae, crops and other photosynthesising organisms and also recognise that
different organisms have various roles to play as resources, including as
habitats for other organisms, timber, food, materials, beautification, shade,
prevention of erosion, reduction in salination, energy sources and
sequestration of carbon.
Issues related to reducing the impact of carbon emissions through the
planting and maintenance of native species of plants is introduced by looking
at ways they can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Students
become involved in a vegetation restoration project to reduce greenhouse
gases, improve air quality and attract native wildlife.
Key Understandings
By the end of this unit, students will understand that:
• plants absorb carbon molecules from the ocean and atmosphere and use
it for growth.
• any process that removes carbon molecules from the atmosphere is a
‘carbon sink’.
• coal, oil and natural gas are past carbon sinks that we now use as a
resource, returning carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
• increasing the biomass of photosynthesising organisms, such as trees
and algae, could provide a means of balancing the amount of carbon
dioxide added to the atmosphere.
• different types of plants suit some environments but not others. To be
effective carbon sinks all new tree and forest plantings require
ongoing protection to ensure the carbon is not re-released back to the
atmosphere.
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Focus Questions
Key Literacy Terms
How are different plants used as
resources by people and other
organisms?
What factors determine how much
carbon is absorbed by a particular
carbon sink?
What challenges do we face in
managing forests as carbon sinks?
What responsibility do we have to
find alternatives to fossil fuels?
How can different photosynthesising
organisms be used efficiently as
resources?
How can we influence others to
consider alternatives to using fossil
fuels?
Why is it important to keep looking for
new and better ways of reducing the
impacts of climate change?
Absorb,
algae,
biomass,
chlorophyll, chloroplasts, Kyoto,
offsetting,
photosynthesis,
producers, rate, bio-sequester, sink
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Tuning in
Plants as resources
 Required:
 Plant materials, pictures, plant-related objects
Establish an area in the classroom for students to develop collections of
pictures and objects related to objects and materials we use that come from
plants. These might include:
•
•
•
•
Pictures or samples of different woods
Pictures or samples of different fabrics or paper products
Pictures or samples of different foods
Create a picture wall showing applications for all of these products
See CSIRO’s scienceimage website www.scienceimage.csiro.au/
Investigating plants in the local area

Walk around the local area and identify plants known to the class.
Using magazines, non-fiction books or the science images online available at
www.scienceimage.csiro.au/ and ask students to find and cut out pictures
plant species they recognise.
Collect pictures and show one at a time, giving students time to comment on
them. Allow time for students to pool all the information they know and to ask
questions about the pictures. Ask students to group pictures into two groups
(e.g. trees in forests and trees in other environments). Encourage students to
justify their groupings and to discuss how they came to their conclusion.
Talk about trees in different ecosystems. For example:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Trees in a native eucalyptus forest
Trees in a tropical rainforest
Trees in alpine areas
Trees in a pine plantation
Trees in a backyard
Trees in a shopping mall
Trees that are native to Australia
Trees that come from other countries
Discuss other ways to classify trees, e.g. height, leaf shape, bark, type, tree
shape, whether they are deciduous, evergreen etc.
Talk about the trees in your local area and the important part they play in the
absorbing of CO2 and in the forest habitat and ecosystem. e.g. Trees play a
major part in the carbon cycle, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
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Plants and Our Climate
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through their leaves and releasing oxygen back into the air; trees are homes
for animals and plants; tree roots grow into the soil making trees stable and
collecting water and nutrients; trees change the microclimate of areas,
reflecting the sunlight and keeping local areas cooler and more moist.
Even though there are lots of different types of trees, they all have roots, a
trunk, branches and leaves.
Trees in forests also form an ecosystem where the soil, water, temperature,
plants, animals and micro-organisms together maintain a balance of different
life cycles.
Plant physiology
 Required:
 Resources 4.1 and 4.2
 Samples of fruit and vegetables, e.g. lettuce, carrots, apples, berries,
potatoes
 Seedlings, galls jar, black plastic bag, water
Plants and animals have many similarities and many differences. Use the
samples of fruit and vegetables as stimulus for a discussion on how they
differ to animals like us. Ask why plants don’t have skeletons, and why they
feel ‘crunchy’ when we feel ‘soft’.
Talk about the external features (roots, branches, leaves, trunk, flowers,
seeds, spores and fruit, etc) and internal features (xylem, phloem) that make
up plants. Divide students into groups to find out the functions of each part.
e.g. What do roots do? What do trunks do?
Compare a small flowering plant and a large tree. Compare and contrast their
body structures. Explain that in order to survive, plants need air, water and
light to make food and grow, and that each part of the tree has a special job
to do in achieving this.
Compare and contrast other plants, such as grass, moss, cacti, algae and
ferns.
Note this!
Potatoes make great models to study plant
growth. They readily sprout in dark, damp
conditions and are easy to find.
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Focus on the roots
Roots absorb and transport moisture and dissolved minerals from the soil to
the trunk and foliage.
Ask students to bring in a carrot with its leaves still attached. Discuss why the
carrot has the shape it does. Point out that carrots have been bred over time
to become tasty and orange, packed with nutrients, because people selected
those sorts of carrots to grow in their gardens.
Ask students to compare carrots with the roots of other plants. Have them
weed a school garden and examine the roots of different weeds.
Ask questions like…
•
•
•
•
When a tree is growing, where are its roots?
What would happen if a tree did not have roots?
How big might they be? How far might they travel?
How do they absorb the moisture from the soil? What is osmosis?
Focus on the stem
The stem of a plant transports water and nutrients up from the soil to the
leaves and transports glucose made in the leaves down to the roots. It also
elevates the plant above the ground, helping it compete for sunlight and
providing more area for the branches to reach out.
Ask students to compare and contrast grass, shrubs and trees.
Use Resource 4.1 to examine how water moves up a stem.
Ask questions like…
• Why do plants need stems?
• Why doesn’t grass grow as well under a tree as it does out in a
field?
• What covers the outer layer of the trunk of a tree?
• What might the inside of a tree trunk look like?
Focus on leaves
Leaves come in many shapes and sizes, yet all serve the purpose of
capturing sunlight for energy to produce glucose. Leaves absorb carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere and release excess oxygen and water vapour
through tiny pores called ‘stomata’. Encourage students to use a microscope
or magnifying glass to observe the undersides of leaves.
Use Resource 4.2 to examine the relationship between the green colour of
leaves and sunlight.
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Ask students to explore the questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Why are leaves green?
How does the shape of the leaf help the plant photosynthesise?
Why do different plants branch differently?
Why might leaves have different shapes?
What do pine needles and eucalyptus leaves feel like?
Why might you be able to cut grass and not kill it?
Ask students whether they think leaves can make food without light, air and
water? Using a punnet of seedlings, explore how a seedling might grow
without water, then plant one in a glass jar with water and screw the lid on
tight and place one in a pot in a black plastic bag with water. Check the
results after a week. Ask students what might happen to the seedlings when
they are given the things they lacked and discuss whether they might grow
again.
SCOPE

View an episode of SCOPE at http://www.csiro.au/scope/episodes/e134.htm
and discuss the physical characteristics of trees, the habit that create for
other organisms, why most trees are green and how leaves breathe.
Ask students:
•
•
•
•
•
Why are trees important?
Why are trees and forests important to people?
Why are forests important in tackling climate change?
What can we do to conserve them?
What important messages do these stories convey?
Write statements or poems to convey these messages. Encourage students
to select a slogan or statement and explain its meaning.
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Preparing to find out
Imaginary forests

The word ‘ecosystem’ describes all of the biological (such as animals, plants,
bacteria) and ‘abiotic’ (non biological, such as temperature, light, wind,
stones) interactions in an area.
Ask students to close their eyes and put their heads on the desk. Talk them
through an imaginary walk through a forest. Ask them to picture the sounds,
the smells, the sights.
Encourage students to describe in detail what they imagined and write these
on the board. Then ask students to describe each as either ‘biotic’ or ‘abiotic’.
Discuss how each factor might impact on another factor on the board. e.g.,
sunlight would be used for energy by the trees
Discuss the following points:
• Different plants within a forest
• The layers of a forest – from the floor to the canopy
• The features of different types of forest, e.g. rainforest, dry
sclerophyll
• The kinds of animals that live in different forests
• Things that can harm trees
• Why forests are important in our efforts to tackle climate change
• The role forests play in the carbon cycle
Which trees are best suited for absorbing and storing or ‘sequestering’
carbon
Note this!
‘W hich trees are best suited for absorbing
and storing or ‘sequestering’ carbon’.
In
one
because
sense
that
the
fastest
provides
grow ing
are
opportunities
best,
for
harvesting product as w ell as m aintaining a
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baseline
estate
for
sequestration,
and
fast
grow th gets the carbon fixed quickly. O n
the other hand slow grow ing trees tend to
have a higher w ood density, and hence per
unit area of ground m ay store, over the long
term , m ore C ( e.g. com pare pine trees w ith
ironbark) . A lternatively the sim ple answ er
m ight be just the trees that grow best in the
local environm ent.
Construct webs to show preliminary ideas about the relationships in a forest:
e.g. parasites that attach to trees, decomposers of dead material, animal
consumers, organisms that live in the soil.
Add to webs with ideas about how carbon dioxide cycles through a forest
ecosystem.
Note this!
A ssessm ent
T ip:
K eep
the
w eb
or
concept
m ap as a record of students’ know ledge and
understanding
of
trees,
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their
parts
and
Plants and Our Climate
9
im portance in absorbing carbon dioxide.
A fter recording w hat students know about
trees,
brainstorm
w hat
they
w ould
like
to
learn about trees, including uses and values
in tackling clim ate change. i.e. absorption
or
‘sequestration’
environm entally
of
carbon
friendly
dioxide
w ay
to
is
an
offset
greenhouse gas em issions w hen done properly.
Research Task: Part 1

Required:
 Resource 4.3 ‘Carbon Storage: Biosequestration’ Fact Sheet
Biosequestration is a term used to describe the process whereby living things,
such as plants and algae, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store
it as biomass (living matter). It is important that we understand the role
biosequestration plays in the carbon cycle in removing carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere.
Explain to the class that their task is to work individually or in pairs to carry out
and evaluate a project of their choice that involves an investigation into
biosequestration.
A project could entail:
Outlining how to landscape an area, deciding which plants to use and
how much carbon it will sequester from the atmosphere
Describe a sustainable way to encourage a community to use plants
efficiently for resources while they sequester carbon
Measuring the rate of growth of different plants and comparing –
including existing plants – their effectiveness at sequestering carbon
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During their investigation, students must devise a way of predicting how well
different plants sequester carbon, forming a hypothesis, testing their hypothesis
and using the resulting information in their project.
Focus questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is biosequestration?
What role does it play in the carbon cycle?
What significance does it have with regards to global change?
What features of a plant species would make it good at sequestering
carbon?
Where could the school plant trees to sequester carbon?
Whom might the school partner with to access plants?
How might the school sequester carbon to reduce its carbon footprint?
What do plantings require post planting out?
Who might maintain the plantings?
Use Resource 4.3, ‘Carbon Storage: Biosequestration’ fact sheet written by Dr.
Jim Peacock from CSIRO, to supplement their research
Note this!
Contribute
down
to
questions
a
learning
and
log
by
reflections
writing
about
what
they already know, what they would like to
know
and
interesting
facts
or
information.
Students may have already started one in the
unit ‘Investigating CarbonKids ’.
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11
Finding out
CSIRO, forests and climate change
 Required:
 Internet
Present students with the CSIRO website
(http://www.csiro.au/science/ForestsAndClimateChange.html). Ask them to
read and discover more about forests and climate change. Discuss CSIRO’s
understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on natural and
planted forests.
Have students consider the possible impacts climatic and atmospheric
change might have on the distribution and vigour of trees and other plants.
Talk about how climatic change might affect the commercial and
environmental value of forests, as well as the important role that forests
play in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Van Helmont Grows a Plant

Read the following text out to students:
In the 17th century, the Dutch physician and chemist Jan Baptista
van Helmont investigated the development of plants. Prior to his
experiments, most people thought plants grew solely by absorbing
nutrients from the soil.
Van Helmont weighed some soil and put it into a pot. Next, he
weighed a small willow tree and planted it. Over five years he
watered his plant. At the end of the period, van Helmont dug up
the plant and found it had grown by 74kg. He also weighed the
soil, which had lost only 56g.
Van Helmont concluded that the water made up most of the
difference.
Discuss with students whether they think he was right or wrong, taking into
account what we now know about photosynthesis. How would they change
his experiment? How might they show that plant growth is also due to carbon
dioxide being absorbed from the atmosphere?
Encourage students to design and conduct a similar experiment.
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Bloomin’ algae
 Required:
 Resource 4.4
Algae are not typically considered to be a type of plant as they lack the same
complexity of tissues and organs however they are part of the Plant Kingdom.
They include a range of seaweeds and pond scum and can be found in most
aquatic environments. In the open oceans vast numbers of tiny single-cell
algae called phytoplankton provide the basis for the whole marine food chain.
Like plants, algae photosynthesise, absorb carbon dioxide from their
environment and use it to grow. Since large bodies of water act as a carbon
sink, algae can help remove dissolved carbon dioxide, which otherwise turns
the water acidic.
Present Resource 4.4 to students and ask them to grow their own selfcontained algae ecosystem.
Ask students to investigate ways to determine how much carbon dioxide is in
the water.
Could algae prove to be a useful complement to sequestering carbon in
forests? Why / why not?
Extend yourself!
Engage students individually or in pairs to choose a topic and for
investigation. For example students might:
• Investigate the effects of drought on rainforests
• Investigate the effects of carbon dioxide enriched
atmospheres on plants in the distant past.
• Investigate why we need areas of forests when we could grow
huge areas of grass as useful crops and have them sequester
carbon dioxide.
• Investigate ways of calculating the mass of carbon dioxide
emitted by the 2009 Victorian bushfires.
• Investigate current research into encouraging algal blooms in
the ocean through adding large amounts of iron sulphate.
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Sorting out
Research Task: Part 2

Required:
 Resource 4.5
Students can be expected to have gathered some fundamental information
regarding biosequestration and the role plants play in the carbon cycle.
Re-state the purposes of the investigation, and ask students to consider how
they are going to bring their information together and present it so that their
choice of topic for their project can be clearly addressed.
Ask students to work together in deciding how they will test their prediction
regarding plant-growth and sequestration. They can brainstorm ideas and
work with others in sharing ideas and resources.
Note this!
S upport students in form ing a prediction for
their
investigation,
hypothesis
and
designing
determ ining
w hat
their
w ill
be
m easured. S ee C SIR O ’s C R E ST program
for
a
suggested
scientific
procedure.
w w w .csiro.au/ org/ C R E ST .htm l
Cause-and-effect Wheels
Create a cause-and-effect wheel (Resource 4.6) to help students consider
how the cultivation of plants could offset Australia’s greenhouse gas
emissions. Students select a related issue they consider is affecting the use
of trees and shrubs in sequestering of carbon and identify first, second and
third order effects of the issue. Encourage students to exchange information
about the issues and their effects.
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Note this!
A cause and effect w heel w ill prove helpful
w hen
organising
your
for w riting reports.
see
the
ideas
in
preparation
It w ill help students
consequences
that
result
from
particular actions, enabling them to analyse
the
data
they
have
collected
m ore
effectively.
The steps in creating a cause and effect wheel are given below:
Step 1: A key concept (problem or issue) is placed in the centre of the
diagram – as the hub of a wheel. This is called the cause.
Step 2: A number of possible consequences or implications, arising from the
cause given on the hub, form a ring (as in a wheel) around the initial cause.
These consequences or implications (real or potential) are called effects.
Step 3: The wheel created in Step 2 can be further extended, because each
effect can be looked on as a new cause, with more consequences (effects)
flowing from it. Thus, an extra ring is added to the wheel.
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Going further
Let’s get digging!

Required:
 Supply of native plants, pH test kit, gloves, buckets, trowels, rulers
Ask students to create a map of the existing school grounds. Use metre
wheels or existing maps to keep it to scale. Consider discussing concepts of
distance and ratio in creating the map.
Discuss how students could make a ‘legend’ or ‘key’, describing the symbols
they might use on their map to represent different vegetation, water flow,
microenvironments etc.
In groups:
• Collect and record relevant information onto copies of the base
map, identifying any areas of vegetation.
• Detail water flow and pooling during rain.
• Look around the grounds for signs of fauna (insects, birds, water
creatures, mammals, lizards, butterflies etc.) and their habitats.
• Determine the number of habitats your school grounds contain.
• Mark in each habitat area on a base map.
• Record the plants and animals in each habitat area on the ‘Who can
live here?’
Create a site plan
Ask groups of students to agree on a good area for a ‘revegetation project’
and create a site plan for the proposed area (1:25 is a good scale for
students to draw their design ideas. This is 4cm : 1 metre).
Have them mark in all existing features including trees. Collaboratively decide
the details of the design. Identify human influences affecting the site (e.g. foot
traffic) and plan to minimise these.
List the different biotic and abiotic elements to be considered in the site.
Select vegetation for multiple levels - canopy, shrubs, ground cover and
native grasses. Students can either work collaboratively or competitively on
the designs. Encourage them to seek expert feedback on any final design
choices. Remind them they should be reasonable in their choice of plants,
considering care and maintenance they will require, whether they are native,
costs and availability. Perhaps invite a representative from a local nursery or
contact Greening Australia.
Have students record plant choices on the design and display the design for
school community feedback. They should calculate the numbers of each type
of plant needed and compile a list of materials required to develop the site.
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Invite students to imagine what the area may look like after it is built and
planted. Ask students to predict potential difficulties they could face. Arrange
for a presentation of drawings that describe how they envision solutions to
these problems.
Investigate local suppliers
Form locally relevant partnerships with Greening Australia, CVA, nurseries,
local Landcare group, Bushcare, the Australian Plants Society or local council
to access a supply of native trees / shrubs for class use and write letters to
ask for prices. Assist students in calculating the cost of buying plants and
materials.
Develop a basic action plan before requesting donations of materials in the
school newsletter and calling on support networks to assist in construction of
the planted area.
Getting your hands dirty
Different plants like different soil types. Engage students in using a pH test kit
to test the soil of the chosen site and choose local plants adapted to the soil
types found on the site.
Add well rotted manure or other organic fertiliser if required. Find out about
the best type of mulch to use. Seek advice from your local retail nursery or
garden centre. Cover the whole garden area with mulch to a depth of 7-10cm.
Remove weeds carefully, one species at a time. Perhaps have students use
this as an exercise in recording the diversity of weed species in a given area.
Gather all required equipment prior to planting, including gloves, buckets,
trowels, rulers. Ask students to work with a partner to water the plants in thir
pots so they are well soaked before placing them on top of the mulch in
position for planting.
Help students remove the moistened plant from the container by squeezing
and holding it up-side down. When placed in the hole, pack the soil gently
around the plant and water with at least half a bucket of water applied in a
gentle sprinkle.
Tend and maintain the area
Devise a maintenance schedule and monitor the area and keep it weeded
and regularly watered.
Calculate that tree

Required:
 Resource 4.7
 Internet
Send students to the website tinyurl.com/c2sft7 and use the tree carbon
calculator to make a simple calculation for stored carbon. Ask them to use
this to estimate the amount of carbon stored in a section of their school
grounds or down at your local park.
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17
Use this website, to also gain an idea of how much carbon dioxide your dayto-day activities are contributing to the atmosphere, so that you can get a feel
for just how many trees are needed to offset Australia's carbon dioxide
emissions.
Visit www.wikihow.com/Measure-the-Height-of-a-Tree or make a clinometer
using Resource 4.7 to get an estimation of the height of the trees in the
school.
Work with students to use this information to calculate other factors, such as
the volume of a tree, the percentage of carbon within it, and its density.
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Making connections
The Lorax
 Required:
 A copy of Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’
Read The Lorax by Dr Seuss which highlights the destruction of trees by one
species – our own. It tells the story of ‘Onceler’ and how he destroyed the
‘Truffula trees’. The end of the story calls out to all children stating, “unless
someone like you cares an awful lot, nothing is going to get better...”
After reading The Lorax, discuss whether the book serves as a good analogy
for our own climate change issues. Discuss with them the sorts of words used
in the book. Does the author want the reader to feel certain emotions? Is it a
good way to communicate feelings about climate change, or does it create
confusion?
Have them consider the pros and cons of using fantasy to express scientific
ideas.
Have students write their own fantasy story expressing something they’ve
learned in a CarbonKids unit.
Revegetation or restoration project

Visit a local vegetation restoration project. Find out what and who was
involved in the project and why the project was necessary. Identify the trees
being used. Find out about plants still needed for the project. Set up a
propagation area at school. Propagate trees. Monitor growth and become
involved in planting days at the site.
Use students’ learning logs and keep records during the vegetation
restoration project. The log could include:
•
•
•
•
•
Labelled drawings of features of the site;
A simple map of the area;
An explanation of the propagation process;
Drawings showing development of the tree seedlings; and
A brief written explanation of how transplantation takes place.
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DeBono’s Six Thinking Hats

De Bono’s Six Hat Thinking is a useful way of exploring an issue from a
range of viewpoints. Explain to students what each hat represents and the
purposes of looking at an issue in different ways, if students are not familiar
with this strategy.
Have the following three statements written on cards, OHT or a smartboard.
1) Deforestation removes living plants and their stored carbon is
lost to the atmosphere. Scientists examining the greenhouse
effect agree that one of the most important things we can do to
stabilise the climate is to protect the remaining forests.
2) Bushfires release between 10% and 25% of a forest’s carbon
into the atmosphere. For carbon-dense regions of forest, large
fires can contribute many millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.
3) Bacteria in the soil plays an important role in the ecosystem of
a forest, and could be responsible for storing up to a quarter of
the world’s carbon.
Divide the class into six groups. Each group takes on a different hat.
Red Hat
White Hat
Feelings
Information
What are the emotions which will be
experienced
if
forests
aren’t
preserved or replanted?
List some of the facts that have
changed your perspective on an
issue raised in the text.
Blue Hat
Green Hat
What thinking is needed
What has happened so far?
What should happen next?
What questions or issues does the
information raise?
New ideas
What are some ways to think of this
issue which no-one might ever have
thought before?
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20
Black Hat
Yellow Hat
Weaknesses
Strengths
What are the logical negative
consequences
surrounding
the
concepts raised in the text?
What are the logical positive
consequences of preserving and
replanting forests?
Taking action
Do something

Encourage groups to choose one local issue associated with a local planted
or forested area or the area currently planned for biosequestration activities.
They list possible ideas/solutions and why they think something should be
done about each of these. Discuss what the class could do. Suggestions
might include:
• Raising public awareness by speaking at a school assembly, writing
an article for the school newsletter or writing a letter to the editor of
a newspaper.
• Developing an action chart showing how students and their families
can act to tackle climate change.
• Writing to Members of Parliament at the State or National level or in
other countries about biosequestration issues that concern them.
• Inviting an international agency involved in biosequestration projects
in developing countries to school to discuss their work and decide
how the class might best support one of these agencies in their
work.
• Recycling paper and using recycled paper where possible.
• Developing a direct link with a village in a country like Tanzania,
Brazil, Columbia, India, Nepal or Papua New Guinea which would
help the children get to know first hand the experience of children in
these locations. Friends of the Earth have schemes to help schools
here ‘twin’ with other schools globally to support and promote
understanding of social forestry schemes.
• Joining ‘Friends of the Forests’, the volunteer organisations to assist
in a range of projects to help protect and improve vegetated areas,
heritage sites and visitor facilities in Native Forest Reserves.
• Encouraging family and friends not to buy rainforest timbers, to ask
questions to avoid buying rainforest timbers and to specify that they
wish to buy and use plantation timbers.
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Take Action at School and Home
Get involved to actively change things at school, at home or in the
community. Consider the following activities to conserve energy:
• Conducting an energy audit at the school and investigating
technologies that might be of use.
• Reducing energy by becoming more aware of where energy is used
and taking steps to ensure that fans, lights and electrical appliances
are turned off when not in use.
• Identifying areas of energy savings at the school.
• Replacing or supplementing the school’s energy supply with
renewable energy sources such as GreenPower, solar hot water,
photovoltaics, ground source heat pumps etc.
• Developing school policies about air conditioning and heating , use
of occupancy detectors or clockwork time delays, use of natural
lighting, use of reduction strategies such as turning appliances off
overnight, weekends and holidays, installation of skylights,
installation of energy efficient globes, installation of 4-5A star rated
appliances etc.
• Using natural lighting whenever and wherever possible.
• Developing ways to reduce electricity used in the school and
encouraging people to contribute ideas on energy conservation.
• Searching out information and resources that will be useful in your
school community to save energy.
• Developing an education program that will be useful in your school
community to reduce energy.
Consider the following activities to reduce emissions from traffic:
•
•
•
•
•
Conducting an audit of how students and staff travel to the school.
Engaging in Walking School Bus or Travel Smart programs.
Walking or cycling to school regularly if you live close enough.
Catching school buses or other public transport to school
Encouraging staff and students to regularly share lifts if they have to
use a car to get to school.
Consider the following activities to sequester carbon:
• Using a landscape design to reduce the consumption of resources
e.g. planting shade trees near buildings, adding mulch to garden
beds, or installing drip irrigation. (this isn’t so much sequestering –
perhaps focus it more on sequestration)
• Working with the local school community and relevant outside
organisations to develop ideas for sequestering carbon (where will
the local sequestration be promoted and explained further?)
• Developing an education program that will be useful in your school
community to enhance biodiversity and absorb carbon.
Set the goals for a project and develop an action plan. Some of the things
needed might include:
• Forming a management team to define roles and responsibilities;
• Designing and establishing a feedback loop for project progress and
effectiveness of the team;
• Designing the project budget and timeline;
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• Setting up a project diary, planning for celebrations at each
milestone, taking into account factors likely to affect progress,
allocating time for regular reviews of progress, etc.
• Promoting the project and consulting widely;
• Establishing sources of support and a support network;
• Setting up photo points for monitoring. By taking a photo at the
same point each time, you can see the changes over time; and
• Monitoring and evaluating the action plan over time.
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Reflection

Ask students to complete a self-assessment and reflection activity. Complete
one yourself and role model it for the students.
Use the following questions as a guide:
• What is biosequestration?
• Is encouraging people to plant more trees an efficient way of
addressing climate change?
• What is my school doing to protect and promote the growth of trees
and greenery in our local environment?
• Do I think it is important to preserve forests and increase the
number of trees in our community? Why / why not?
• What will future generations think of my actions regarding
biosequestration?
• Which piece of work am I most satisfied with? How could I further
improve it?
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References
Seuss, Dr. The Lorax, Collins, 1972
Websites
http://www.shell.com/realenergy
http://www.shell.com/biodiversty
http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/
http://www.csiro.au/scope/episodes/e134.htm
http://www.csiro.au/science/ForestsAndClimateChange.html
http://www.csiro.au/org/ps11v.html
http://svc237.bne113v.server-web.com/calculators/treecarbon.htm#start
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