Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes – Part A: What is carbon sequestration?
15 minutes – Part B: Discuss: Does carbon sequestration distract from the real issues?
25 minutes – Part C: So what's the solution?
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: What is carbon sequestration?

Step 1.

Explain to your class that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was created to offer some ideas about how to tackle the challenges of climate change's potential effects on the planet.

In 2021-22, the IPCC released Part 1 of the Sixth Assessment Report. This is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change.

Unfortunately, the report says that global surface temperatures will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Even in the very best-case emissions scenario the IPCC considered - that is, if we dramatically reduce our emissions and work on nursing the planet back to health - the global surface temperature will still continue to increase until at least mid-century.

Two centuries of burning fossil fuels has put more carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere than nature can remove. As that CO2 builds up, it traps excess heat near Earth’s surface, causing global warming. There is so much CO2 in the atmosphere now that most scenarios show ending emissions alone won’t be enough to stabilize the climate – humanity will also have to remove CO2 from the air.

Therefore, some scientists are looking at ways to remove a lot of the carbon emissions we have already created, along with reducing further emissions in the future.

Step 2.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. This carbon can then be stored beneath the earth as a solid.

Watch:

Carbon Capture Technology Explained | Seachange (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxjNhLZCae0)

Step 3.

As a class, do a GBB about the technology presented here.

Good, bad, better

A GBB is a tool for evaluating ideas and scenarios by putting aside our prejudices and innate ways of thinking, and instead looking at topics with empathy and critical and creative thinking.

Students should work in small groups and spend three minutes on each of the filters below, starting with only 'good'. Students should go around the group and offer one idea at a time. No idea is a bad idea, and everyone has to have something to say. As the teacher, keep track of the time. After three minutes, move the groups onto 'bad'.

Good. What is good about this idea? What did you really like about this concept? What is the main point in its favour that you would use to promote it to others. Remember, there is always someone benefitting from an idea, even if someone else is simultaneously suffering. We're looking for the benefits as part of the good.

Bad. What's not so great about this idea? Are there any potential drawbacks, such as cost, size, or difficulty in implementation? Who or what is it hurting being done like this? Even if you like the idea, try to find some problems or negatives.

Better. How could you improve this solution so that it worked even better, or to mitigate some of its drawbacks? Time to get creative. You can't change this idea wholesale, but there might be some tweaks you can make to fix it or improve it.

Part B: Discuss: Does carbon sequestration distract from the real issues?

Step 1.

As part of the 'bad', it's important to note that many environmentalists consider carbon sequestration a gimmick. Carbon removal has to be used as just one piece of humanity's response to our carbon emissions issues. But if society gets the notion that there's a 'get out of jail free charge', this could negatively impact other responses to carbon emissions.

It's also important to note that manipulation of nature can have plenty of negative and unintended consequences. It's hard to predict the far-reaching consequences of human intervention on nature.

A study in Nature Climate Change from 2015 states, “There is no NET (or combination of NETs) currently available that could be implemented to meet the <2°C target without significant impact on either land, energy, water, nutrient, albedo or cost, and so ‘plan A’ must be to immediately and aggressively reduce GHG emissions.” In another study from 2016, researchers Kevin Anderson and Glen Peters concluded “Negative-emission technologies are not an insurance policy, but rather an unjust and high-stakes gamble. There is a real risk they will be unable to deliver on the scale of their promise.”

Our best response to climate change is to change the way we live, drastically reducing our carbon emissions and our reliance on carbon-emitting industries, starting immediately. There are many interventions we could implement before carbon sequestration.

Step 2.

Currently, deforestation robs us of preventing 6 gigatonnes of total annual carbon emissions through carbon sinks (source), as an estimated 10 million hectares of forest are lost every year (source). That means that if we reduce our current deforestation to net-zero by 2030 - which involves reducing logging of natural forests, but also the planting of new green belts and keeping them protected - these forests can absorb 6 gigatonnes of carbon emissions every year, getting us closer to our goal of net-zero emissions (source). This is because trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it safely in their trunks, roots and branches.

Step 3.

Watch:

How Do Trees Extract CO2? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJY3DTaE0sI).

You can also explore this handy fact sheet that helps explain exactly how trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Step 4.

Unfortunately, despite Australia and 123 other countries including deforestation hotspots such as Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo signing an agreement promising to end deforestation by 2030 at the Glasgow COP26 climate talks (source) Australia remains the only developed nation on the list of global deforestation fronts (source).

Step 5.

Conduct another GBB on creating and sustaining natural carbon sinks.

Some considerations:

Bushfires and droughts. One of the major points against using natural carbon sinks such as forests is that they can be wiped out by bushfires. This is highly likely to happen in Australia, especially in the coming years as climate change continues to heat up the continent. Not only can a bushfire can quickly wipe out all that good carbon reduction we might rely on to meet our net-zero targets, fires also cause a rapid release of stored carbon when trees burn.
Timber industry. We use timber for a lot of things - new buildings, furniture, paper. If done right, it's one of the most sustainable building materials we have. How can we balance this need with trees' other role as carbon sinks?
One solution is that timber mining companies should only be allowed to harvest timber plantations, not old-growth rainforests, which, with their rich biodiversity, actually absorb more carbon than singular, new trees. Besides, logged native forests mostly end up in landfill, not in buildings and furniture
Grazing land. One of the major reasons Australia continues to clear land instead of protecting natural carbon sinks is because New South Wales and Queensland want to expand grazing land (source). But the wheat belt in Victoria and other parts of Australia dedicated to farming land also necessitate large areas of clear land. Of course, we need to feed the population, and we also heavily export these products as part of our national economy. Where should the balance be between farming land and protected bush?
Cost and effort. Who is going to plant all these trees? Who is going to buy the trees to plant in the first place?
Time. Young trees take a long time to grow, and they cannot absorb as much carbon as older trees. That's not to say we shouldn't plant more trees, but many climate scientists are recommending that a better approach is to focus on protecting our established forests, which are more adaptable to climate change, more resistant to fire and drought, and can absorb more carbon (source).

Part C: So what's the solution?

Step 1.

Where do students fall on these two proposed solutions? Do they think carbon sequestration technologies are a revelation, or that we should focus our energy on natural carbon sink solutions? Or does the answer lie somewhere in the middle?

Step 2.

Independently, students will come up with a campaign that informs and encourages their local and global community to support a particular approach to reducing carbon emissions.

This is quite an open task, however, you might encourage some approaches such as:

Write a letter to the Minister for the Environment explaining how deforestation harms the earth in terms of carbon emission reduction and advocating for more natural climate solutions such as planting more trees and passing laws that protect old-growth forests from logging. Check out our persuasive writing tips here.
Create an advertising campaign that informs your local community about how deforestation harms the earth in terms of carbon emission reduction, how trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and encouraging them to advocate for restrictions on logging of old-growth forests. Altrenatively, create a campaign that informs your local community about carbon sequestration technologies and their benefits for reducing carbon levels in our atmosphere. Students could create a poster, film an ad or a news segment for television, record a podcast.
Plan and pitch a tree planting day to your local community, government, or school principal. First, conduct an audit of your local environment. Is it a green space, or could it do with more natural features? Interestingly, schools with lots of trees are much cooler in summer, compared to schools with lots of synthetic surfaces such as astroturf or asphalt - even if they're under shade cover! This article from the ABC covers this in more detail and could spark an investigation project. There are benefits to planting trees around your school or local community beyond the carbon emissions they absorb.

Provisions for Learning Extension: This challenge is not as simple as reducing deforestation and planting more trees - although it can be presented that way for younger students.

You might encourage more competent students, however, to explore in more depth the complex biodynamics of storing carbon in natural carbon sinks.

• 5 big ideas: how Australia can tackle climate change while restoring nature, culture and communities is a good place to start
• As is Deforestation can raise local temperatures by up to 4.5℃ – and heat untouched areas 6km away
• Kate Dooley and Brendan Mackey talk about how "restoring degraded forests and expanding them by 350 million hectares will store a comparable amount of carbon as 900 million hectares of new trees" due to the way "Forest ecosystems (including the soil) store more carbon than the atmosphere" in their Conversation articles Want to beat climate change? Protect our natural forests

Interestingly, some of our most valuable carbon dioxide storing plants aren't even on land. Seagrass meadows, mangroves and salt marshes have recently been identified as some of the densest carbon sinks by area, meaning they can store five to ten times the carbon held in tropical forests of the same size. Maybe we should switch our focus to these plants as Peter Ralph explores in his Conversation article A carbon store by the seashore? It’s sedimentary.

• Logged native forests mostly end up in landfill, not in buildings and furniture
• Logging is due to start in fire-ravaged forests this week. It’s the last thing our wildlife needs
• Forest soil needs decades or centuries to recover from fires and logging
• Australia might water down illegal logging laws – here’s why it’s a bad idea
• These machines scrub greenhouse gases from the air – an inventor of direct air capture technology shows how it works
• Why we can’t reverse climate change with ‘negative emissions’ technologies

Students could conduct additional research via these and other sources, and choose one of these areas to make the focus of their campaign.

Step 3.

Before students get started on the final product, make sure they are planning their approach (these prompts can also be found on the Student Worksheet).

Ask students to identify:

What is your campaign going to be? A letter, an ad, a 'day' of action?
Who is the audience? Why have you chosen to speak directly to them?
How will it work? How will it generate action or change in people?
What outcomes do you hope to achieve? In an ideal world, what would the audience do after seeing this campaign? Make your goals timely and specific.
Why will your campaign be effective? What levers is your campaign pulling that will have an impact on your audience? Again, consider the techniques behind persuasive language.

Reflection

Lead students to the reflection that there is no one best way to combat climate change and carbon emissions. We need to adopt many and varied solutions to address this challenge.

Where to next?

Check out our unit on the film Wild Things, which follows environmental activists in Australia, including students, as they tackle the challenge of climate change, including the illegal logging of the old-growth Daintree in Tasmania. This unit encourages students to get vocal about local environmental issues.

Explore our lesson on how we interact mindfully with trees and nature, and how these things interact back, as part of Planet Ark's School's Tree Day.

If the IPCC report has really inspired your students, check out our unit on finding other solutions to our emissions challenges.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

IPCC - Are Carbon Sequestration Technologies the Answer?

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