Operation Climage Change - Missions Information

Operation Climate Change is a program in which you will be doing work to save the planet. The Earth is warming due to human activities. We are releasing too much greenhouse gas into our atmosphere. You will earn balloons of captured greenhouse gas to use in your ‘My Home’ game. You will also be going on different Operations that all have top secret missions to save the planet.

You are going on an amazing journey to find out about climate change. You will go on many Operations and make life-saving decisions. These Operations are about our ecological footprint on the planet and relate to: Purchasing and Waste, Biodiversity, Transport and Air, Energy and Water. But before you can do these you will need to do Operation Climate Change Introduction first, before you go onto the important Operations about the footprint. You can do it!

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Before beginning this iontroduction operation you need to do a Checklist about what you already know. This will earn you balloons.
Now select one of the missions that you have seen. e.g. Mission Galloping Greenhouse; Mission Video Vapours; Mission Earth on the Easel.
After you finish your mission show your teacher or adult your work and they can give you more balloons for all your hard work.
Now do the Debrief to show how much more you have learnt. This will earn you more balloons so it’s worth doing.
Now use your balloons to develop your own home called My Home.

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1. Operation Climate Change Mission Galloping Greenhouse Mission Video Vapours Mission Earth on the Easel
2. Purchasing & Waste: Mission All Wrapped Up! Mission Earth Master Chef Mission Toy, Toys, Toys!
3. Biodiversity Mission Web Master Mission Under my Feet Mission Ant Expedition
4. Transport & Air Mission Hug a Tree Mission Bad gas! Mission Chemistry Capers
5. Energy Mission Cosy House Mission Wind in My Hair Mission Cooking Without Gas
6. Water Mission Turn Off Mission Run Off Mission Splash Off

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Each mission in an operation challenges you to complete set tasks.
Before beginning each mission you need to do a Checklist about what you already know. This will earn you balloons.
After you finish your mission show your teacher or adult your work and they can give you more balloons.
When you finish the mission you need to do a Debrief to show how much more you have learnt. This will earn you more balloons so it’s worth doing.
Now use your balloons to develop your own home.
Start with Operation Climate Change Introduction and do one of the missions.
Then you can move onto any of the other five operations (or your teacher will tell you which operation you need to do).

Info bubble: Throughout the Operation you will see these information bubbles. Some are for Teachers and some for Students. Click on icon if you’re a teacher for ‘Teacher information bubbles’ and on S (add the s icon) if you’re a student for ‘Student information bubbles’.

FOR EXAMPLE: You will need a folder to keep all your Operation and mission work together.

Overview of the Missions [click here]

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What is Climate Change?

Go to http://www.hippoworks.com/cartoonlets/display.php?ctnid=55&nav=1 to see the cartoons on climate change. When the first cartoon finishes click on ‘Help the Earth’ (top menu bar) to see more cartoons.

The Earth is warming as a result of human activities. Climate change involves a steady rise in the Earth’s temperatures and more extreme weather, such as severe droughts, violent storms and more powerful cyclones. Read more about climate change at: http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/cc.html

To understand climate change, you need to know about the greenhouse effect. Go to the greenhouse effect page on the same site you just visited: http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/greenhouse.html See the animation of the greenhouse effect on that web page. Click on animation at the bottom of that page. Also visit:

http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/component/option,com_docman/gid,1713/task,doc_download/ and read about the greenhouse effect (just read page 1).

Finally, check out the following sites and read more facts about climate change:

http://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au
http://www.climatechange.gov.au/science/publications/fs-climatechange.html

To help remember the ideas you have read and seen on the greenhouse effect, [click here] to download a Mind Map. Print it and write ‘greenhouse effect’ in the centre bubble. In the other bubbles write key words (the most important ideas) about the greenhouse effect. Put this sheet in your folder for your teacher (or an adult) to look at later.

How is climate change related to the other operations?

It is important that you understand about climate change before you begin the other operations. Climate change paints the big picture about what is happening on our planet Earth. The first operation involves learning about climate change and introduces the idea that the other operations (Purchasing & Waste, Biodiversity, Transport & Air, Energy, Water) are all connected. Each operation (or system) interacts with every other operation (system) and this impacts on our climate system in an endless cycle. See the diagram below.

A change in one system will impact on all the others. For example:

an increase in coal production (energy system),
may increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (air system),
which may cause a decrease in rain in a particular region (water system),
and this may result in the extinction of local plant and animal species (biodiversity system),
which may mean that packaged food has to be imported (waste system),
which could result in increased transport demands with impacts on air quality and energy requirements …
all interacting with our climate system.

You will be exploring the inter-relationships between all of these systems and what they mean for you and your family. What a great challenge … go for it!

Overview of the missions [click here]

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Introduction

There are three missions in Operation Purchasing and Waste. Your teacher may tell you which and how many you have to complete, but you can choose to finish them all in your free time. The missions are:

Mission All Wrapped Up - is about the packages your family food is put into at the shop. The challenge is to create your own sustainable package for one of the foods your family buys each week.
Mission Earth Master Chef - is about how you can create healthy meals for you and your family without creating lots of greenhouse gases.
Mission Toys! Toys! Toys! - is about getting creative and making your own toys from recycled materials. Learn about children in other countries and what they have for toys.

You can earn up to 250 balloons for each mission.

As soon as you know which mission you are going to do, click on the name below, so you can do the starting Checklist. You need to do the Checklist first to show yourself (and your teacher) how much you already know about purchasing & waste and climate change.

Now, before you start your chosen mission, there is a little bit of background information to read:

Climate change is affected by the growing demand for 'stuff' like food, toys, furniture, cars and clothes, as production of these uses the Earth's resources. Many families believe that they need to buy more 'stuff' to make their life easier or to make them feel happy. When new 'stuff' is produced what happens to the old 'stuff'? Check out this short video called 'Stuff' which can be found on YouTube, about how the cycle of consuming goods leads to the problems of climate change.

In Australia most families are able to purchase an amazing range of goods to feed, clothe and help us with our work. It's important to think about what we consume, how much we consume and how to limit the waste that is created so that it does not end up in the environment causing harm to the Earth's system.

The impact of purchasing and the waste that is created can be seen in many ways:

Each year Australians produce 21 million tonnes of waste. In 2003, every Western Australian disposed of 1.99 tonnes of waste which is above the national average of 1.6 tonnes.
For waste to decompose or biodegrade, air, light and moisture is needed. If waste is buried, these essential components of decomposition are missing and subsequently waste will take a lot longer to break down.
Western Australia faces a potential waste crisis if the waste disposal volume cannot be reduced as landfill space is running out and the high cost of fuel limits the disposal options in and around towns and cities in the state.

There is much more to this story so look for A History of Waste - The Australian View, in the teachers section of this website. When you work in the Purchasing & Waste Operation you will learn some simple steps to begin the changes to you and your family's lifestyle that will make a huge impact on the rate you use resources. When you learn to consume less you will learn to make less waste which means resources last longer and the Earth is cooler.

Overview of the Missions [click here]

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Introduction

When you sit quietly in your local bush land or the school garden and look at the plants and watch the animals that come out, it may surprise you how many different species you see. Scientists say that the more variety there is around us, the healthier the ecosystem is because of the biodiversity. Western Australia is known worldwide as having one of 25 'hotspots' of biodiversity, in our southwest corner. Click here to learn more.

This is good news but also means we all have to learn about how to make sure the biodiversity stays around for you and your friends to have in the future.

So how does biodiversity link to climate change? Scientist can show from fossil remains of animals and plants how very different they were millions of years ago. You probably know a lot about dinosaurs and may have seen some in a museum.

Animals and plants change slowly over hundreds of years as the world climate gradually changes. With the climate changing more rapidly due to the greenhouse effect, we will find that some plants and animals can't adapt as quickly. Remember that dinosaurs found out all about that!

With everyone thinking about how the world climate is changing, it's important to know what makes up our 'eco system'. So what is a 'system'? Well, one system you might know about is your bicycle. It needs all the right bits in place to work properly. What would happen if it didn't have brakes?

Eco systems, the biodiversity that we all live within, are connected like your bicycle but can be very different around Australia. In Darwin there is hot wet weather, tropical trees and crocodiles; different to where we live in Perth. My friend lives in Margaret River and they have tall trees, beaches and blue wren birds. I'm sure you know of friends who live in Kalgoorlie or the Kimberley and they could tell you about their weather, plants and animals.

If you were to speak to your grandparents about where they played when they were little, they would tell you stories about places that have changed a lot now. They may not use the words 'eco system' or 'biodiversity', but they might tell you about the fish they caught, the rivers in which they swam, the animals they used to see when they walked in the bush, and how the weather was different then.

So why is this important for you to know about? Well, we are really just another part of this biodiversity. If we learn about it we can work with others to look after it so that we can live well when we get older.

There are three missions in Biodiversity. If you are doing this work as part of your class work your teacher may tell you which one you have to complete. If you are doing this work out of the classroom, you can choose your own to commence. The missions are:

Mission Web Master - great if you like making up games. Find out how we are all linked together!
Mission Under my Feet - for those who like getting grotty, digging up things and using magnifying glasses.
Mission Ant Antics - an expedition to find out how ants live and survive.

You can earn up to 250 balloons for each mission.

As soon as you know which one you are going to do, click on the name of the mission to start. Then before you begin the work you need to do the Checklist to show yourself (and your teacher) how much you already know about biodiversity and climate change.

You will automatically earn 75 balloons for doing this survey

Overview of the Missions [click here]

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There are three missions in Operation Transport &Air. Your teacher may tell you which and how many you have to complete, but you can choose to finish them all in your free time. The missions are:

Hug a Tree - is about using a tree carbon calculator to work out how much carbon is stored in a tree and is especially good for kids who like maths and art.
Bad Gas! - is about using a gas emissions calculator to work out your car’s greenhouse gas emissions and is especially good for kids who like the Captain Planet cartoon, maths and art.
Chemistry Capers- is especially good for kids who like doing experiments and playing games.

You can earn up to 250 balloons for each mission.

What do ‘transport & air’ have to do with climate change?

Now, before you start your chosen mission, there is a little bit of background information to read and think about.

Go to the following AirWatch site to read some facts about air http://www.airwatch.wa.gov.au/air-facts/did-you-know.html

Click on Air Facts on the left hand sidebar.

Overview of the Missions [click here]

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There are three missions in Operation Energy

Your teacher may tell you which and how many you have to complete, but you can choose to finish them all in your free time. The missions are:

Cooking Without Gas- is about building a solar oven and is especially good for kids who like experiments and building models.
Wind in My Hair - is about the power of the wind to do work and is especially good for kids who like science, building models and giving demonstrations.
Cosy House- is about the how to keep your house cool in summer and warm in winter and is especially good for kids who like science and creating advertisements.

You can earn up to 250 balloons for each mission

Now, before you start your chosen mission, there is a little bit of background information to read:

Climate change is affected by the growing demand for energy to keep our homes, schools and workplaces comfortable to work, creating a lot of greenhouse gases. The energy has to be produced for us to use and is generated by power stations that generally use coal. Energy is being created using other ways like solar from the sun and wind from wind farms, and soon it might be from nuclear processes. Your family might be able to put solar panels on your roof to heat your water, which saves a lot of energy having to come from power stations. Go to the Verve website at http://www.verveenergy.com.au/ to see how Western Australia is working to produce cleaner energy sources.

Overview of the Missions [click here]

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There are three missions in Operation Water.

Your teacher may tell you which and how many you have to complete, but you can choose to finish all of them in your free time. The missions are:

Turn Off - is about water at your place and is especially good for kids who like maths and computer games.
Run Off - is about rivers and is especially good for kids who like science, mud and liquorice!
Splash Off - is about the ocean and is especially good for kids who like art and performing.

You can earn up to 250 balloons for each mission.