Activity 1 page 3

Governments consider environmental, social, and economic issues when making land use decisions. Environmental issues include topics such as wildlife. Social issues include topics such as a safe water supply and healthcare. Economic issues include the production of natural resources such as timber, food, and energy. Land use should be planned so that it achieves the environmental, social, and economic goals of Albertans. This can be challenging because people have various goals. To identify a land use plan that balances multiple goals, cooperation and communication among groups is very important.

The Government of Alberta uses land use planning to make rules about the type of land use allowed. For example, the government may decide to establish parks in some areas to protect environmental and recreational values or to allocate some areas to natural resource development to provide jobs and revenue. These decisions affect Albertans' quality of life by influencing the health of Alberta's environment, economy, and communities.

                                                                                                       

                                                                                "Governments have it rough... Can you make everyone happy?"

                                                    Alberta Tomorrow: Social Studies 9 Lesson Plan. 9. Reproduced with permission.

© Thinkstock

© Thinkstock

One major impact resulting from the exploitation of natural resources and the burning of fossil fuels is climate change, which affects everyone. There are many perspectives on the use of natural resources. There are also many perspectives on the influence of humans on climate change. These perspectives may be influenced by factors such as where one lives, one's quality of life, and the economy.

Read page 308 of your textbook, Issues for Canadians for a description of climate change.

climate change: the increase in Earth's average temperature attributed to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels (that is, coal, oil, and natural gas)

greenhouse gases: gases that capture the heat generated by the sun and make the Earth's atmosphere behave like a greenhouse

  Vocabulary

Retrieve your Issues for Canadians Definitions handout. Add the terms climate change and greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Add your own definitions, and include images to help you to understand the concepts.

Save your updated handout to your Activities folder.

View Alberta Tomorrow's video, Greenhouse Gases and Biotic Carbon to understand climate change and GHGs more completely.

Click on the following link to access the video.

https://albertatomorrow.ca/videos/

When the site has opened, scroll down as necessary to click on and watch the following video.

• Greenhouse Gases and Biotic Carbon

Note: Once the videos start playing, you can click on the arrows in the bottom right corner to make it full screen.

Going Beyond

View various news sources for current events relating to climate change and government decision-making.

Select one news items and complete the Current Events Graphic Organizer by clicking on one of the following links.

Current Events Graphic Organizer (Word)
Current Events Graphic Organizer (pdf)
Current Events Graphic Organizer (Google Doc)

Be sure to keep a copy of your news article in your Activities folder.

Save your completed organizer to your Activities folder.