Climate Change Emergency - There is no Planet B!

Wales's natural environment is our most precious possession. A healthy environment is key to all life on Earth and our continued survival. Protecting the environment for future generations is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We must look towards finding a greener way to live and re-imagine how we use our natural resources to help tackle the climate and nature emergencies we face.

All the activities and games on this page will help you enable your learners to progress in the ways described in the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales. Curriculum links are included in the documents and all the activities will help you deliver many aspects of the cross curricular Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF) and Digital Competence Framework (DCF). 

Human and natural factors

Set the scene. Use these activities to introduce the wide range of natural and man-made issues that affect our climate and encourage discussion and debate amongst your learners.

Activity plan - Climate emergency
Film clip - Climate Emergency – (film) – no subtitles
Film clip - Climate Emergency – (film) - subtitles
Information note - accompanying the Climate Emergency Film

Sustainable development glossary game 

This activity plan highlights the importance of sustainably managing our natural resources and focuses on giving learners a basic introduction to sustainable development and key vocabulary.

Activity plan - Sustainable development glossary game
Resource cards - Sustainable development glossary game

How can we live sustainably? 

This activity plan focuses on the many ways in which we can live sustainably and encourages learners to discuss and consider what changes they can make.

Activity plan - How can we live sustainably? 
Resource cards - How can we live sustainably? 

Green or greenwashed?

Identifying sustainable products (physical, tangible objects such as a bar of soap) and services (a service someone provides e.g. giving advice, food delivery, website design) isn’t always easy. This activity focuses on identifying the credibility of pro­-environmental and sustainability claims.

Activity plan - Green or greenwashed?

3 C’s of climate change 

This expressive arts activity seeks to tease out the causes and consequences of climate change and discusses what action we can take on an individual level, to combat it.

Activity plan - 3 C's of Climate Change
Information note - 3 C's of Climate Change
Resource cards - 3 C's of Climate Change

Adapting to Climate Change

Most of us are aware that many of the natural processes that support human life are having to adapt to the influences of climate change. Get your learners researching and crunching the numbers to see what impact climate change will have on their local environment by 2050.

Activity plan - Adapting to climate change
Worksheet - Adapting to climate change 

Trees and carbon  

These activities highlight the important role trees have in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and storing it as carbon in the form of wood. 

Our information note explains what carbon is, how it’s generated and how trees can act as a carbon store.

Information note - Carbon

Offsetting your carbon footprint with trees

Using our activity plan and accompanying resources, ask your learners to calculate their carbon footprint and how many trees would be required to offset their footprint. 

Activity plan - Carbon footprint 
Worksheet - Carbon footprint 
Resource cards - Carbon footprint 

Calculating the amount of carbon stored in trees

This activity explains how to measure how much carbon is stored in trees, how to age and identify different types of trees and describes how trees combat climate change by storing carbon.

Activity plan - Carbon storage calculator
Resource cards - Carbon equivalents 
Worksheet - Carbon storage calculator

Peatlands, carbon and climate change 

Peatlands store vast amounts of carbon and act as a natural carbon sinks. What are your learners’ individual carbon footprints?  How much peat would be required to offset them?  Our Peatland Carbon Calculator Worksheet will help your learners visualise how many metres cubed of carbon stored in peat would be required to offset it. 

Activity plan - Peatlands, carbon and climate change …coming soon 
Worksheet - How much peat is required to offset your carbon footprint? …coming soon 
Resource cards – Carbon footprint …coming soon  

Peatlands – from carbon sinks to carbon emitters 

Any disturbances to a peatland can mean it changes from an ecosystem that absorbs carbon to an ecosystem that emits not only recent carbon, but carbon absorbed over the last 12,000 years.  Learn more about how peatlands can change from being carbon sinks to carbon emitters using our information note.

Information note - Peatlands: How carbon sinks can turn into carbon emitters

Assessing peatland condition, depth, age and carbon content

Ask your learners to carry out a hands-on simple investigation to assess the condition, depth, age and carbon content of an area of peatland.

Activity plan - Assessing peatland condition, depth, age and carbon content
Worksheet - Assessing peatland condition, depth, age and carbon content
Resource cards - Assessing peatland condition, depth, age and carbon content

Eating for Wales 

The way we grow, transport and eat our food has huge impacts on the natural environment as all three parts of the process generate emissions. Let your learners examine different ways of eating to identify which they consider to be the most sustainable.

Activity plan - Eating for Wales

Long lasting litter  

How long does it take for discarded items to decompose once they’ve been thrown away? In this activity learners work as a team to place items in order of the time it would take the item to breakdown in the sea. As part of the activity they will consider the impact that litter can have on the environment.

Activity plan - Long lasting litter
Resource cards - Land litter
Resource cards - Tidal trash
Timeline - Long lasting litter 

Turtle minesweeper  

Plastic pollution causes great harm to the organisms that encounter it. From miniscule corals to enormous whales, millions of birds and animals die each year from the result of ingesting or becoming entangled in marine plastic.  This game highlights the perils facing marine life as learners (turtles) attempt to get across a grid (the ocean) whilst avoiding dangerous plastic waste.

Activity plan - Turtle minesweeper 

Impacts of dry weather 

Ever wondered what types of drought we receive in the UK and what impacts they have on the natural environment? 

DRY: Diary of a Water Superhero, is a book which has been created by the Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience at the University of the West of England Bristol (UWE) and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). It encourages discussion on how we can prepare for periods of dry weather and what we can do on an individual basis to save water. 

NRW has been a member of the DRY (Drought Risk and You) project at UK level, was involved with catchment work for Ebbw and supported the Welsh translation of the teachers notes. 

Storybook - Dry: Diary of a Water Superhero
Teachers notes - Dry: Diary of a Water Superhero

Our Welsh Baccalaureate Challenges 

These Global Citizenship Challenge briefs provide learners with an opportunity to acquire knowledge and an understanding of how our natural resources can be sustainably managed for energy production. The briefs will also help learners develop an insight into the challenges faced across the world in addressing the issue of sustainable energy.

Advanced brief - Sustainable Management of Natural Resources
Advanced brief - Renewable Energy
National Foundation brief - Green Energy
Post 16 brief - Sustainable Solutions for Waste
You can find supporting resources on our Welsh Baccalaureate page …coming soon 

Climate Change Overview and State of Natural Resources Report (SoNaRR) 

Find out more about our role in managing and adapting to climate change – Climate change overview 
Second assessment of Wales’s sustainable management of natural resources - State of Natural Resources Report (SoNaRR) for Wales 2020
Film clip - An introduction to SoNaRR2020 
Film clip - SoNaRR2020 Main messages