Your Mission, Should You Chose to Accept It…

Welcome back to our year-long operation to engage Canadians in supporting wildlife and habitat conservation – Mission Biodiversity!
With COP29 taking place this November, our second mission is to address climate change — one of the five biggest threats to biodiversity. Climate change is the long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns on Earth, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
While climate change impacts all life on Earth, the Arctic is disproportionately impacted — it is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the planet! Melting permafrost and shrinking sea ice are changing the habitat that many people and wildlife rely on.
Your mission this month is to reflect on why Arctic biodiversity matters, explore the impacts of climate change on Arctic inhabitants, and find ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Part 1: Reflect on Why Arctic Biodiversity Matters

Let’s get familiar with the Arctic and its inhabitants! Biodiversity refers to the variety of habitats in an area, the variety of species within those areas, and even the variety of genetics within each species.
So how biodiverse is the Arctic? Take a virtual field trip by watching the video above, then use this interactive snowball activity to reflect as a group on what you’ve learned about the Arctic:

  • Give each learner a piece of paper and invite them to write or draw their reflection. Here are some prompts:
    • How do you feel after watching the video?
    • What do you think is neat about the Arctic?
    • What is something you learned about the Arctic that you didn’t know before?
    • Imagine you live in the Arctic. Draw a picture of yourself there.
  • Have each learner crumple their paper into a “snowball” and throw it across the room. Keep throwing your snowballs until the responses are mixed up. This anonymity ensures learners feel safe sharing their thoughts and ideas.
  • Each learner should pick up a random snowball and share the reflection with the group.

Part 2: Explore How Climate Change Affects the Arctic

To further explore the impacts of climate change in the Arctic, let’s consider the perspectives of the people, animals, and plants that live there. In this interactive role-playing activity, you’ll become an Arctic inhabitant and explore how climate change impacts your well-being.

Check out these resources from the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Environment and Climate Change Canada to learn more about the impacts of increasing temperatures in the Arctic.

Part 3: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Now that we’ve investigated why Arctic biodiversity matters and how its inhabitants are affected by climate change, let’s explore how we can reduce our own contribution to climate change.
Climate change is caused by increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which are produced by burning fossil fuels for electricity and cars. Use the following activity to examine your daily actions and explore how you can reduce your carbon footprint.
Here are a few ideas:

  • Use refillable water bottles instead of plastic ones
  • Walk, bike, or take a scooter
  • Compost your food waste
  • Sort plastic, glass, metal, and paper into recycling bins

Get the activity

You can also support Canada’s arctic wildlife and habitats by adopting one of our polar bear stuffies. Not only will you be helping advance conservation initiatives right here at CWF, but you’ll also gain a very “cool” mascot to mark the completion of your mission!

Adopt a Polar Bear

Mission Complete!

Once you and your students have completed this mission, you can download our printable page of mission badges in recognition of their learning. Pass these badges out to students to mark their progress throughout Mission Biodiversity and celebrate the actions they are taking in support of wildlife! There will be a different badge each month, so be sure to stay on top of the missions to collect the whole set!

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