Activity: Should we switch to electric cars? – English – Years 6 & 7

Teacher Preparation

Teacher Content Information:

• provide policymakers (governments) with regular scientific updates about climate change;
• highlight the impact climate change will have on the planet in the future; and,
• offer some ideas about how to tackle the challenges of climate change's potential effects on the planet.

• It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.
• Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reduc

Thought-starter: Can switching to electric cars help us reduce our carbon emissions?

Currently, 8 gigatonnes of total annual carbon emissions are emissions from our transportation. If, by 2040, 50% of the kilometres driven (2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, cars, buses, and trucks) on the world’s roads are electric, and by 2050 95% are electric, this alone will reduce these emissions by 5Gt (Source).

The challenge

Read the following texts, and answer the questions below each.

Costly, toxic and slow to charge? Busting electric car myths by Thomas Bräunl (https://theconversation.com/costly-toxic-and-slow-to-charge-busting-electric-car-myths-21321)

• Was this article in favour of, or against, the use of electric cars, or somewhere in the middle? It might be helpful for students to imagine a scale of 0 (very against the idea of electric cars) to 10 (love electric cars), with 5 (electric cars are good but have some problems). 
  Explain your reasoning.

.

• What pieces of evidence did the