Environmental Impact of Energy

Program Area

This activity is designed for use in the Grade 10 Geography of Canada and Grade 9 Self and Society programs. The activity integrates the social and environmental study of energy and natural resource use utilizing reading and writing skills from the Languages program. In the Grade 10 Geography of Canada program this activity should be used as a focused study on energy within the units on Natural Resources and Canada At Work: Commerce and Industry. Within the Grade 9 Self and Society program this activity could be used to investigate the effect of technology and change on social and environmental issues and opportunities.

Learning Outcomes

Teaching, learning and evaluation will focus on the student's ability to:

• Investigate and evaluate the impact of new technologies on Canada's environment, economy and culture;
• Outline ways of managing renewable and nonrenewable natural resources for a sustainable society;Ķ
• Comprehend, organize and evaluate information from a variety of sources.

Classroom Development

1. Assign students in pairs. Each pair will be assigned an Energy Factsheet and a Research Organizer Sheet. There are 13 factsheets, so plan according to your class size. These factsheets are available from the Energy Educators of Ontario.
2. Each student pair will complete the Research Organizer based on its fact sheet. Each pair of students will then prepare a 5 min presentation to the class based on the information in its factsheet and organizer. Students should follow the format of the organizer in their presentation.
3. Schedule the class for a 5 min presentation by each set of students. The class will be responsible for taking notes based on the presentations. Students should develop a mini-organizer in their notebooks for each topic. This will allow them to record organized point form notes.
4. Discuss the activity with the class. Consider the following:
   a) Which is the most important energy resource at present? Why?
   b) Which resource will be most important in the future? Why?
   c) Which energy resource has the most negative environmental impact? Why?
   d) Which energy resource has the least negative environmental impact? Why?
   e) What might Canada's energy future look like?

Background Information

This topic is covered well in The State of Canada's Environment (1991), Chapter 12 Energy: a balance of power, which provides an overview of energy supply, use, environmental impacts and management issues in an up-to-date Canadian context. The National Geographic Special Report On Energy, February, 1981 provides a good review of these issues.

Timing

Allow 50-70 min to prepare. Presentations and final discussion should take 50-70.

Resources

Canada, Ministry of Supply and Services. The State of Canada's Environment (1991). Ottawa: Canada Communication Group.

Energy Educators of Ontario. Energy Fact Sheets. Toronto: Energy Educators of Ontario.

Student Material

1. Energy Fact Sheets: from Energy Educators. Call (416) 323-9216.
2. Energy Fact Sheet Organizer

Research Organizer Sheet