Strangers in Their Own Land

Lesson Information

Age: Grades 4-12
Duration: Several 45-minute periods
Group Size: Pairs or small groups
Materials: Survey form; Internet access (optional)
Summary: Students use interview techniques to explore the traditional wisdom of fishers, farmers, First Nations, and other peoples whose close relationship with nature gives them a deeper understanding of, and sensitivity toward, climatic cycles and events.

Learning Objectives:

Students will:

1. appreciate the value of traditional knowledge in understanding the impacts of climate change on nature;
2. identify factors that determine people's perceptions of ecological shifts;
3. develop insight by compiling and contemplating survey results of observations by people who live in a close relationship with our lands and waters; and
4. recognize how traditional expertise may complement scientific research and heighten our awareness of climatic changes and their effects.

Background

There is great uncertainty concerning the rate and extent of climate change across Canada as well as its current and forecasted impacts. Many gaps in scientific knowledge may be filled by the wisdom of seafarers, fishers, farmers, First Nations, and other peoples who, for generations, have lived in a close relationship with our lands and waters.

Traditional knowledge is a rich source of local environmental know-how, climate history, and insight into past, present, and future ecological shifts. It can help scientists formulate questions and hypotheses about climate change and provide information on historical adaptations to similar challenges. Traditional knowledge also offers insight into how climate change may affect different cultures, particularly those that are closely associated with ecologically sensitive regions, such as prairies, coastlines, and the North.

Procedure

1. Ask your students to describe their region's climate, taking into account such factors as temperature, precipitation, seasonal changes, and proximity to the ocean, large lakes, and mountains.
   
   
2. Then, have each student list ways in which climate affects his or her community. For example, fall weather brings salmon upstream and allows us to fish, winter snow makes it possible to ski, spring rain floods the fields where we grow crops, the break-up of sea ice in summer brings bowhead whales close to shore.
   
   
3. Next, ask the class to identify cultural features, like diet, dress, art, and religion, that may have developed as adaptations to their area, its climate, and wildlife inhabitants.
   
   
4. Have your students make judgments (based on their own observations) as to whether the local climate has changed in their lifetimes. If so, in what ways? Ask each student to write a brief composition describing changes that may have occurred and cultural influences that may affect his or her views on climate.
   
   
5. Now, lead a discussion about the accuracy of these observations of climate change, emphasizing how cultural differences and the passage of time affect people's views of the world.
   
   
6. Tell your students they are going to design a survey that investigates human perceptions of climate change while keeping people's lifestyles in mind. Divide the class into pairs or small groups to draft questions. The aim is to interview people — particularly seafarers, fishers, farmers, First Nations, and older community members who live in close proximity to nature — to learn if they have noticed any changes in climate during their lives. When each group has finished, bring the class back together to choose which questions to include in the survey and how best to present them. Survey questions might include:
   • How long have you lived here?
   • What do you do for a living? Has your work changed?
   • Do you spend a lot of time in nature? Do you spend as much time in nature today as you did in the past?
   • Has the local climate changed in your lifetime? How?
     

• Compared to the past, today's summer temperatures are:
  much hotter / somewhat hotter / the same / somewhat cooler / much cooler
• Compared to the past, today's winter temperatures are:
  much colder / somewhat colder / the same / somewhat milder / much milder
• Compared to the past, bird migration today occurs:
  much earlier / somewhat earlier / at the same time / somewhat later / much later
• Compared to the past, the break-up of sea ice now occurs:
  much earlier / somewhat earlier / at the same time / somewhat later / much later
• Your lifestyle today is affected by climate.
  strongly agree / agree / not sure/ disagree / strongly disagree
• Your lifestyle in the past was affected by climate.
  strongly agree / agree / not sure/ disagree / strongly disagree
• More snow falls today than in the past.
  strongly agree / agree / not sure/ disagree / strongly disagree
• It rains more today than in the past.
  strongly agree / agree / not sure/ disagree / strongly disagree
  

7. Each student should interview several long-term members of the community who have spent a lot of time out of doors. Then, have the class share survey outcomes and compare and analyze the results. Your students may want to compile the data in a chart that indicates the average response to each survey question.
   
   
8. Ask your students to summarize the survey results in an article addressing the relevance, consistency, patterns, and other analyses of people's perceptions of climate change. Were responses similar or highly divergent? Were there any patterns that reflected respondents' lifestyles, occupations, and cultural differences?
   

Extension

Once your students have summarized the survey results, they can compare the data to the "Common Sense Climate Index" for their region. Have them visit www.giss.nasa.gov/data/update/csci/ and click on "World and U.S. Maps." They can click anywhere on the map and bring up the climate index for the station closest to them. Do your students' survey results and the climate index agree? Ask your class to comment on the similarities and differences.