CLIMATE CHANGE

LEARNING OBJECTIVE:

Describe certain climatic

phenomena that occur on
global level.
At the end of the lesson, you should be able
to:
- describe climate change,
- identify the causes and effects of climate
change,
- distinguish between global warming and
greenhouse effect,
- describe certain climatic phenomena that
occur on a global level,
- calculate your personal carbon emission
and take
- an action to lessen the effects of climate
change and
- determine some preventive and control
measures
 Pre-activity 1: WEATHER VS.
CLIMATE

PART I. Say the word HEPHEP if the

statement is NOT CORRECT and
HOORAY if it is CORRECT.
1. When altitude increases, the
temperature in an area decreases.
2. As the area becomes closer to
equator, the climate becomes colder.
3. Many people visit Baguio during
summer because of its cold climate.
4. Regions with high altitude have
colder temperatures than those in low
lying areas.
5. Places near bodies of water usually
experience extremely warm climate.
6. As precipitation occurs in the
windward side, the climate in that
region becomes colder.
7. Leeward side of the mountain has a
lower air temperature.
8. When ocean current carries cold
water, the air above it becomes colder.
9. Ocean current that flows away from
the equator carries cold water.
10. The circulating currents in the
Northern Hemisphere are in a
counterclockwise direction.
 Pre-Activity 2: GETTING READY!

Part 1: To assess your prior

knowledge and experiences about
climate change, fill out the table
by supplying the correct answer on
the given questions. You have 5
seconds to answer each question.
 Earth’s climate has
constantly been changing —
even long before humans came
into the picture. However,
scientists have observed unusual
changes recently.
 Climate change describes
a long-term significant
change in the average
weather patterns or
conditions — such as
temperature, precipitation,
wind, and humidity — in a
region over a long period of
time.
 NASA scientists have
observed that the Earth’s
surface is getting warm, and
many of the warmest years on
record have happened in the
past 20 years!
 There are lots of factors that
contribute to Earth’s climate
leading to climate change.
However, scientists agree that the
Earth has been getting warmer in the
past 50 to 100 years due to human
activities, such as burning fuel to
power factories, cars and buses are
changing the natural greenhouse.
These changes cause the
atmosphere to trap more heat than
Pre-activity 3: BE REACTORS ON FACTORS!
Study the given pictures below.
Identify human activities that
contribute to climate change.
SMILE if the given picture
shows a helpful way of saving the
environment, and
FROWN if NOT.
 “CLIMATE CHANGE: WHO
IS TO BE BLAMED?”

About 20,000 years ago, much of

the United States was covered in
glaciers. In the United States today, we
have a warmer climate and fewer
glaciers.
 “CLIMATE CHANGE: WHO
IS TO BE BLAMED?”

Earth’s average temperature has

been increasing much more quickly
than they would expect over the past
150 years.
 The Shrinkage of Arctic Ice

This is how Arctic cap has

diminished in the past twenty
years. The lowest record point
was in 2012.

Icecap melting includes not

only the melting of the ice but
also the melting of permafrost
which also releases gases into
 GREENHOUSE EFFECT
The primary cause is
greenhouse gas emissions from
cars, power plants and other
human-made sources—rather
than natural variations in
climate. These emissions include
carbon dioxide — the main
greenhouse gas — which has
reached a concentration level in
our atmosphere that the Earth
 Activity 1: “CO2” IS THE
REASON

Perform this simple activity to find

out the main component of the air
that causes the rising of the global
Objective: Describe the relationship
temperature.
of carbon dioxide and temperature.
Materials: Graph of carbon dioxide
and temperature, pen and paper
Procedure: Study the graph below
and answer the guide questions that
We look at the label on the left side
of the graph. It says, “Carbon
Dioxide,” which means the line is
showing how much carbon dioxide
there was in the air. The higher the
line goes, the more carbon
dioxide there was.
 It starts low on the left side, and it
goes up from there, but not smoothly.
Every year there is a zigzag line—a
high point and a low point. But you can
see that even though the zigzag line
each year goes up and down a little,
over the course of many years, you can
see the whole line move up.
This graph shows that the amount of
carbon dioxide in the air in Hawaii has
been slowly and steadily increasing for
the last 70 years!
GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. In what year does the graph
started and ended?
2. Based on the graph, what does
the zigzag line represent?
3. What do you notice about the
zigzag line?
4. What does the graph show?
5. What do you think will happen
with the global temperature if
carbon dioxide emission continues
“THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND
GLOBAL WARMING: WHAT’S THE
DIFFERENCE?”

Light from the sun passes

through the atmosphere and is
absorbed by the Earth’s surface,
warming it.
Greenhouse gases, like carbon
dioxide, act like a blanket,
trapping heat near the surface and
raising the temperature. It is a
natural process that warms the
planet. But human activities are
increasing the amount of
greenhouse gases and trapping
more heat.
Greenhouse gases stay in the
atmosphere for a long time.
Although plants and the ocean
absorb carbon dioxide, they
cannot keep up all the extra
carbon dioxide that people have
been releasing. So, the amount of
carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere has been increasing
over time.
What are greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases are gases in Earth’s

atmosphere that trap heat. They let
sunlight pass through the atmosphere,
but they prevent the heat that the
sunlight brings from leaving the
atmosphere.
The main greenhouse gases are:
Water vapor
Carbon dioxide
Methane
Ozone
Nitrous oxide
Chlorofluorocarbons
 Up until about 150 years ago,
human activity did not produce
many greenhouse gases. That
changed as forests were cleared
to make way for cities and farms,
and as important inventions and
industrial innovations, like the
widespread use of electricity and
cars, transformed the way we
live.
 These inventions and
innovations demand energy.
Burning fossil fuels — coal, oil,
and natural gas — has become
an important source of that
energy. Burning fossil fuels
releases carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere.
 Today in the United States,
electricity and transportation
(cars, trucks and planes) are
responsible for almost 60 percent
of carbon dioxide emissions. The
rest comes from agriculture,
industry – such as factories that
make products we use – and
from energy we use in our homes
and businesses.
 As global carbon emissions
increased, global temperature
also increases. If we continue
our current path, and emit
more and more greenhouse
gases, the temperature of the
Earth will rise a lot – maybe as
much as 5 degrees Celsius by
2100.
 However, if we reduce our
emissions, the temperature of
the Earth will still rise but we
might be able to keep the rise
below 2 degrees Celsius.
The greenhouse effect refers to the
retention of heat in the atmosphere
by greenhouse gases, including
water vapor, carbon dioxide,
methane and nitrous oxide.
Due to increasing levels of
greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, partially as a result of
human industrial activity,
progressively more heat is being
trapped, resulting in a phenomenon
commonly referred to as global
warming. Specifically, global
warming refers to the rise in
average global surface and ocean
What is the difference between
global warming and climate change?

Although people tend to use these

terms interchangeably, global
warming is just one aspect of
climate change.

“Global warming” refers to the rise in

global temperatures due mainly to
the increasing concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the
“Climate change” refers to the
increasing changes in the
measures of climate over a long
period of time.
 Climate change can have
impacts on plants, animals and
environment. Impacts on
plants may include some
species of plants that bloom
earlier than it is expected, loss
of species and habitat
degradation.
 Whereas animals may
experience habitat degradation,
earlier laying of eggs and
migration than usual among
birds and may affect
hibernation of some animals.
Rising sea level, melting of ice
caps, heavy rainfalls, and cooler
wind from Hanging Amihan are
effects of climate change to
environment.
E
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GRAPHIC ORGANIZER: Put in together
the concept of greenhouse effect,
global warming and climate change
and how these phenomena are
related to each other with
contributing factors as well as the
impact they can bring. Copy the
diagram and fill in the missing
parts.
 Each of the past four decades has
been warmer than the previous one.
According to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, 2016
was the warmest year on record, and
the six warmest years have all been
since 2010. 2019 was the second-
hottest year ever recorded.
 Rising global temperatures threaten
human health, increase the risk of
some types of extreme weather, and
damage ecosystems. And as the
oceans warm and polar ice caps melt,
sea levels are rising, endangering
coastal areas. These impacts are
already being felt today, and groups
like the poor, elderly, and those living
in conflict areas are especially
vulnerable.
 In addition to the ways climate change
threatens humans, many species of
wildlife around the globe are facing
challenges to their ways of life that, if they
are not able to adapt quickly to the new
conditions under climate change, could
cause them to go extinct. The American
pika, a potato-sized relative of the rabbit,
could be the first North American mammal
to go extinct due to climate change, as
warmer temperatures push the creature
into higher and higher altitudes, where
eventually they will run out of space.
Activity 2: IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Based on the given pictures, identify

what
impact of climate change they
illustrate.
Choose your answer from the box.
TWO CYCLICAL EVENTS:
EL NIÑO AND LA NIÑA
 El Niño is an abnormal and
lengthy warming in the eastern
part of the Pacific Ocean. This
natural phenomenon occurs at
irregular intervals of two to
seven years and last for nine
months or two years at most.
Usually, it starts at the end of
the year or during Christmas
season that is why; it is termed
as El Niño which means ”Christ
child”.
 Normally, as trade wind moves
from east to west, it collects warm
air. But when trade wind is
weakened, it causes the piling up of
warm surface water and making
the part of the Pacific Ocean
warmer leading to El Niño
phenomenon.
 This happens when the upwelling
of colder water is blocked by the
large quantities of warm surface
water. El Niño will most likely bring
severe drought. It is believed that it
causes stronger thunderstorm
disturbance and massive storms. It
also causes the decrease in the
population of some species.
 La Niña is the opposite climatic
disturbance to El Niño. It may last
for nine to twelve months but in
some cases, it lasts for two
years. This event is triggered by
the cooling of the eastern of the
Pacific Ocean.
 That is why, it is sometimes
called cold Pacific. Trade winds
that move from east to west are
strengthened. Upwelling of colder
water intensifies. Moving air
brings along too much water
vapor. When it reaches the land
mass such as Philippines,
precipitation is experienced.
 There would be an increase of
rainfall in some areas in the
Philippines. For instance, areas
that experienced severe drought
which caused by El Niño may
encounter above normal rainfall.
But in some cases, areas that
experience dry season will be
drier than normal conditions
Activity 3: EL NIÑO AND LA NIÑA
PHENOMENA

VENN DIAGRAM: Compare the

two cyclical events using the
Venn Diagram
 Study This! Read the key
concepts.

 In the stratosphere, a thin layer

of ozone is present. This layer is
important as it protects the
earth from the harmful rays
(ultraviolet rays) of the sun.
 The accumulated gases in the
atmosphere are called
“greenhouse gases” while the
increase in temperature is
known as the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect is a
natural phenomenon. It balances
and regulates the world’s
temperature and makes life
possible on earth.
 Global warming leads to
changes in rainfall patterns, a
rise in sea level, and a wide
range of impacts on plants,
wildlife, and humans.
 Any long-term significant
change in weather patterns
such as changes in
temperature, precipitation,
wind, and humidity is called
 Climate change can have impacts
on plants, animals, and
environment. Impacts on plants
may include some species of
plants that bloom earlier than it is
expected, loss of species and
habitat degradation.
 Rising sea level, melting of ice
caps, heavy rainfalls, and cooler
wind from Hanging Amihan are
effects of climate change to
 Activity 4: AM I A CLIMATE HERO
OR A CLIMATE CULPRIT?
Compute your carbon footprint
using WWF Philippines’ Carbon
Footprint Checklist. What’s your
carbon footprint? Evaluate your
carbon emission. (Carbon footprint is
the amount of carbon dioxide and
other carbon compounds emitted
due to the consumption of fossil
fuels by a particular person or
How did you score?
20-40 - You’re a Green
Queen/King and a globally aware
consumer! Keep up the good
work.
41-70 - You’ve made a start, but
you can do more to reduce your
ecological footprint.
71-100 – You have a long way to
go; it is best to start now.
GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What is your total score?
2. What is your total score’s
interpretation?
3. What changes can you make in
your life to reduce your carbon
footprint?
Greenhouse Effect: when the
atmosphere contains too much of
Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane
(CH4),
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and
Nitrous Oxide (N2O), the whole
atmosphere and the earth
becomes
hotter like it does in a
greenhouse.
The atmosphere holds on to too
Global Warming: is an average
increase in the Earth's
temperature,
which can contribute to changes
in
global climate patterns. Global
warming can occur from a variety
of
causes, both natural and human.
Today, "global warming"
commonly
refers to the warming that can
Climate Change: refers to any
significant changes in climate
(such as
temperature, precipitation, or
wind)
lasting for an extended
period
(decades or longer). Climate
change
may result from: natural causes
(changes in the sun's intensity,
Two Cyclical Events: El Niño
happens when the temperature in
eastern Pacific rises above
normal. La
Niña occurs when the
temperature in
eastern Pacific decreases below
normal.
 Post-activity 1: BE AWARE,
BE IN-CHARGE!
Create your own brochure
depicting the concepts in the
lesson on the causes, effects,
and mitigation (to reduce harmful
effects) of climate change. You
may use different drawing and
coloring materials or digital arts.
The brochure will be graded
based on the criteria given on