Page 273 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Canadian and World Studies

C2. Resource Use and Sustainability
FOCUS ON: Interrelationships; Geographic Perspective
By the end of this course, students will:
C2.1 analyse environmental, economic, social, and political impacts related to the use of selected natural resources at the local, national, and global level (e.g., impacts of freshwater consump- tion, different methods of energy production)
Sample questions: “How does the location of
a resource affect how it is extracted, harvested, processed, or used?” “What percentage of the world’s oil and gas resources does Canada have? How does this compare to other countries? What are the economic benefits for Canada
of developing these resources? How does their development affect Canada’s ecological foot- print?” “What are the difficulties in measuring the social and environmental impacts of pipelines used to transport oil and gas?” “How might a country’s level of poverty influence practices for extracting and processing natural resources in that country?” “What ethical dilemmas do countries face when making decisions about the development of resources that have high economic value but involve large environmental or social costs (e.g., coal in China, tantalum or coltan in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, diamonds in various African countries)?” “How does Canada’s per capita consumption of fresh water compare to that of other countries? What regions in Canada have an abundant supply of fresh water? Should these regions share their water resources with the rest of the country and the world?”
C2.2 analyse and compare various sustainability initiatives and practices for energy production in different regions of the world (e.g., global initiatives, such as the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All program; regional initiatives, such as the European Union’s biofuels directive; national and provincial initiatives, such as Australia’s solar credits program and Ontario’s microFIT program for renewable energy)
Sample questions: “Why have certain countries become global leaders in alternative energy, and what methods are they using for electricity production?” “What initiatives and practices can be implemented at a local level to facilitate the adoption of alternative energy sources?” “How do the costs and benefits associated with small-scale energy production compare with those of large-scale energy production?” “How does Ontario’s Green Energy Act support the development of sustainable energy projects?”
“How do sustainable development initiatives in Finland also work to reduce poverty?”
Using spatial skills: Using GIS, students can add a map layer of wind farm data to a base map of Ontario communities to locate various sites across the province where electricity from wind is generated. Using World Bank fossil fuel consumption data and GDP statistics, students may also identify countries that do not have easy access to fossil fuels. Students can then investigate the alternative sources that those countries are using to meet their energy needs.
C2.3 describe criteria and strategies that consumers can use to determine whether resources used in the goods they consume have been extracted, processed, and produced sustainably
Sample questions: “What criteria must a product meet in order to be labelled fair trade? How might these criteria influence your purchases?” “How can you determine whether the clothing or electronics you purchase have been ethically and/or sustainably produced?”
C3. Managing the Global Commons
FOCUS ON: Spatial Significance; Patterns and Trends
By the end of this course, students will:
C3.1 identify the components of the global commons (e.g., oceans, air, outer space), and explain their environmental, economic, social, and political importance (e.g., oceans and atmosphere support life, control climate, facilitate communications; oceans contain exploitable resources; space facilitates communications, navigation, and observation of the earth)
Sample questions: “What are the global commons? Why are they global? Why are they common?” “Is Antarctica considered part of the global commons?” “Why might some people argue that cyberspace is a component of the global commons?” “What are some of the ways in which we use the various components of the global commons?” “If an iceberg is outside a country’s territorial waters, does anybody own it? Would anybody have the right to tow it to a country where water is scarce and sell it for its freshwater content?”
C3.2 analyse issues related to human impacts on the global commons (e.g., threats to ocean life as a result of increased shipping, overfishing, and acidification; increased air pollution and climate change as a result of industrial activity) and to international management of the commons (e.g., lack of international authority to regulate
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World Issues: A Geographic Analysis
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