CBC Archives

Brainstorm the term “acid rain” with the students. Identify what they know about the issue and why it’s a matter of environmental and political importance for Canada. Note their responses on the board or chart paper. Ask students for examples of other serious environmental issues and any of their economic or political consequences.

Direct students to the topic Acid Rain: Pollution and Politics on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site. They will browse the site for 20 to 30 minutes to find answers to the following questions (also available on the download sheet What Is Acid Rain?):

1. What is acid rain?
2. When and how did acid rain first become a serious environmental problem?
3. What were the main effects of acid rain?
4. What steps did Canada and the United States eventually take to deal with the problem of acid rain?

In small groups, students will prepare brief summaries of the data and impressions they gathered.

Ask each group to make a brief presentation to share its findings. Compare their new knowledge with the notes from Before Exploring and ask: How was your understanding of the acid rain problem enhanced by the CBC Archives site?

Students can write several paragraphs to complete the following: Environmental issues such as acid rain are important to me because…