BaCCC/Module 4/Introduction

Module 4: Getting to Zero: Mitigating Climate Change to Safeguard the Future

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Introduction

Context

Welcome to the fourth module of this climate change course. This module covers issues regarding ways of mitigating climate change to safeguard the future. Mitigating means making something bad less severe, serious or painful. As human beings have exploited resources available on Earth to improve their lives, some activities have posed a threat to the world’s climate, and hence our survival. It is in this vein that the world needs to know how human beings can be part of a future world by mitigating climate change.

You now understand the basic science of climate change. You have learnt about many of the impacts and consequences of climate change. You now also understand why we have to be careful that our climate actions do not impact the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people and regions unfairly (climate justice).

To be able to understand ways of mitigating climate change, we need to discuss mitigation strategies that are the most effective and efficient, and therefore, the most urgent to implement. This will help you to take part in safeguarding the future of our planet.

In addition, we need to discuss the concept of the carbon footprint, the global average carbon footprint and how to calculate and evaluate your carbon footprint. We also need to list mitigation strategies to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the world. This will help families and communities to make good choices when using their sources of energy.

Lastly, we also need to look at how jobs in different sectors can be “greened” so that they contribute to climate change mitigation, which will, in the end, contribute to a liveable future for upcoming generations.

Module Outcomes

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

• explain several strategies for mitigating climate change;
• demonstrate an understanding of the carbon footprint and show how you will use that understanding to help lower your greenhouse gas emissions; and
• distinguish between carbon-intensive jobs that will have to disappear, and the green (and blue) jobs that will replace them to drastically lower our carbon emissions.

Learning Approach Module 4 is divided into three lessons:

• Lesson 1: Ways of Mitigating Climate Change
• Lesson 2: Your Carbon Footprint
• Lesson 3: Sustainable Green and Blue Jobs for You

All the lessons have in-text activities that are meant to help you understand important climate change concepts and enable you to interact with the lesson. You are advised to do these exercises before proceeding to the next lesson, as they will help you check to see if you really understand what you have read.

Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero (5:02)

Before proceeding to Lesson 1, watch the video Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero (5:02) to get a sense of what this module is about.

Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero (5:02)

(You can adjust the playback speed and/or turn on subtitles/captions.)

If you have trouble accessing the video, a summary is available below.

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Next, turn to Lesson 4.1 to learn about ways of mitigating climate change.