Lesson 9 Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change
Impacts of Climate Change
Lesson 9 has gone over a few of the potential impacts of climate change and has given you the tools to assess the risks and benefits of human activity.
D9.18 Causes and impacts of climate change
Climate change creates a variety of potential impacts that then branch off and create potential impacts of their own. None of the impacts we see are solely created by climate change, but climate change is a factor. Some of the main impacts that are predicted or are already happening are
The ongoing debate on what to do (or what not to do) about climate change is both healthy and necessary. From debate flows new ideas and encourages input from people who are in different situations and have different perspectives. That climate change is occurring is scientific fact. But the actions taken to deal with the impacts and facts of climate change have risks and consequences that need to be discussed to arrive at the best possible solutions.
- a rise in the average global temperature
- a change in weather patterns, including shifting seasons and more intense storms
- the melting of glaciers and rising ocean levels
- other impacts, such as extinction
The ongoing debate on what to do (or what not to do) about climate change is both healthy and necessary. From debate flows new ideas and encourages input from people who are in different situations and have different perspectives. That climate change is occurring is scientific fact. But the actions taken to deal with the impacts and facts of climate change have risks and consequences that need to be discussed to arrive at the best possible solutions.
This debate means we have more research to do around climate change. We need to continue to research and investigate the causes behind climate change and the potential impacts so we can make more informed decisions. We already have some advances in technology that could potentially help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but there are always more waiting to be discovered!
Problem-Solving Activity
Sila Alangotok – International Observations on Climate Change © IISD
Background Information:
Observing how the issue of climate change is being addressed by the Inuit community and scientists provides an opportunity to determine how other environmental issues could be studied in a way that involves the communities affected. Banks Island is the fourth largest island in Canada's Arctic. This video documents the impacts of climate change from an Inuvialuit perspective. On Banks Island in Canada's High Arctic, the residents of Sachs Harbour have witnessed dramatic changes to their landscape and their way of life.
Watch the video “Sila Alangotok – International Observations on Climate Change” and answer the analysis questions by clicking on the analysis tab. https://adlc.wistia.com/medias/oa3fit92bp
- Prepare a list of several changes to the environment that have been observed by the residents of Banks Island.
- very extreme weather conditions—no predictability in it
- one week of –40 °C instead of multiple two- to three-week periods of –40 °C
- cold spring with lots of snow and not as cloudy
- different kinds of birds (barn owls, geese, ducks, more swans)
- hardly any caribou on the island where there once were many
- smaller banks, more driftwood, shoreline disappearing
- ice not as thick and cracks more
- earlier springs and later falls—unpredictable as to when to hunt
- warmer summers, warmer water, later freeze-ups, and earlier melts
- thunderstorms (used to never be warm enough)
- no ice flows in the summer any longer and stronger winds in the fall
- permafrost thawing on steep slopes resulting in mudslides
- eroded banks of a freshwater lake; the lake and its banks washed into the ocean
- increased snowfall
- more melting features on the land
- Why did the scientists ask the people of Banks Island to describe their observations?Traditional knowledge is part of who a people are, the way the live, their relationship to the land and animals, and their reliance on the land and harvest. It is another way of understanding relationships and humans’ place in the biosphere. The people that live on Banks Island have a better understanding of how the climate is changing than the scientists who can only spend a small amount of time on the island.
- Identify the main concern about climate change expressed by the residents of Banks Island.There are many concerns raised in the video, however, the residents main concern is that the climate may change so much that they may have to move away from the sea. This is because they fear that the sea, and the environment will no longer be able to sustain them.