Planet Earth Pages
Sustainability
Compiled by Jim Petrie.
This issue's Planet Earth Pages feature activities that focus on
learning about sustainability and provide students with a context in
whcih to analyze many of the vital issues which face the people and
the planet.
The ideas are divided into grade level categories, but many of them
may be adapted to several levels. Have a look!
The book Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg (ISBN:
0-395-53308-2), is a useful vehicle for introducing the theme
"Sustain Our World." Its central character is Walter, and the
story focuses on Walter's dream of the future. The activities below
allow students to investigate issues raised in the story:
- Million Year Picnic
- Using a time line, illustrate how long it takes for
each of the picnic items identified in the story (cotton, juice box,
tin, paper, glass, etc.) to decompose.
- Landfills of the Future
- Help students make a list of organic and inorganic substances and
construct a simple compost. Students complete their study by
illustrating or writing a description of Walter's landfill of the
future. Similar activities on other aspects of Walter's dream may be
integrated into the reading of the story. Other stories, such as
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (ISBN: 0-394-92337-5), may serve as
a starting point to investigate other aspects of sustainability.
[A Window On The World, a 175-page annotated bibliography
of such stories is available for $10 from the NB Global Education
Centre, Box 752, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5R6, (506) 452-1744.]
- The Common Good
- Students may investigate the
implications of unrestricted harvesting of resources owned in common
through a simulation in which chips are used to represent resources.
Each group of students is presented with 100 chips and instructed that
they may take as many as they choose during harvesting time and that the
number of chips left in the pile at the completion of each harvest will
be doubled, but will not exceed the original number. After a series of
timed harvests, in which the chips are exhausted, students will come to
realize the strategies that will ensure a more sustained yield: i.e.,
leaving behind an agreed upon number of chips. The debriefing should
focus on lessons learned and their application to present practices in
fisheries, forestry, and other industries.
- Water, Water Everywhere
- An understanding of sustainability requires an appreciation of the
finite nature of our planet. Since water is assumed to be an abundant
resource, it provides an excellent illustration of the dangers of the
cornucopia mindset. Have students examine a map or globe and note the
relative amounts of land and water on "planet water." Using a
ten gallon aquarium to represent the water of the world, proceed to
remove various amounts because they are either salty, polluted, or
inaccessible (97.1% oceans, 2.2% polar ice, 0.3% deep ground water,
0.1% saltwater lakes, soil and atmospheric moisture, glaciers). On
completion of the exercise, approximately ten drops of water,
representing the world's total usable water supply, are left in the
aquarium.
- The Last Sunflower
- The objective of this lesson is
to use an illustration to convey the concept of sustainable yield.
Present students with a sunflower and suggest that this is the last of
its kind. Ask students "What will we do with the last
sunflower?" Student responses may include: "eat the seeds now
before others get them"; "store the seeds so we may enjoy them
in the future"; "plant all the seeds for future use."
Discuss the principle of sustainability (meeting today's needs while
making sure we can meet future needs) and decide which of the above
suggestions reflects this approach. The lesson may be extended by
studying seeds, germinating selected seeds, comparing seeds, and growing
seeds for winter birds.
- The World in an Apple
- This exercise
using an apple illustrates our dependency on the biosphere. Slice an
apple representing the earth into quarters. Set aside three quarters to
represent the oceans. Slice the remaining quarter into two pieces and
dispose of one of the pieces representing the land that is inhospitable
for people. The remaining 1/8 represents the land where people live,
but not all of which may grow the foods needed for life. Slice the
remaining 1/8 into four sections and set aside three of the
sections. These represent areas too rocky, too steep, or too cold to
produce food. Carefully peel the remaining 1/32 slice of the earth.
This represents the surface, the very thin skin of the earth's crust, or
topsoil upon which humanity depends. It is less than five feet deep and
is capable of producing a relatively fixed amount of food. Due to
erosion and over farming, we lose 24 billion tons of it per year. It
takes 100 years for one inch of topsoil to form.
- The Round Table Approach
- Central to the concept of sustainability is a recognition of the
multiple perspectives which emerge in dealing with most issues, and the
need <197> where possible <197> to reconcile those interests.
Simulating the round table approach in the classroom provides an
interesting and effective means to identify various perspectives and
pursue consensus. Once a local, national, or global issue has been
identified, along with the stakeholders, assign the respective roles to
students and allow them time to research the perspective each
represents. When students are sufficiently comfortable with their
roles, convene a Round Table meeting of the stakeholders and moderate a
discussion which attempts to find consensus on a plan of action.
- Right On
- The concept of intergeneration rights
is implicit to sustainability. Introduce students to the concept of
rights and responsibilities by reference to the United Nations
Declaration of Rights or the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Review with students the definition of sustainable development, i.e.,
"development which meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs"
(Brundtland Commission, "Our Common Future"). Prepare a debate
or trial in which this generation is accused of failing to exercise this
responsibility and is thereby violating the rights of the next
generation.
- Environmental Impact
- Sustainability suggests a
more equitable distribution among the world's resources. According to a
1986 Statistics Canada report, one Canadian consumes per year almost
9000 kilograms of oil equivalents compared to approximately 3500
consumed by a Saud, or 3000 by an Australian. If one Canadian is
equivalent to three Australians, the population of Canada in terms of
energy consumption would be three times its actual size. Students should
consult either the UNDP Development Report or World Resources
1994/95 to compare the consumption of a Canadian with that of a
Kenyan, a Somali, or an Indian. Students might use the data to create a
series of maps displaying the "real" population of Canada in
terms of our use of oil and other resources such as water, paper, food,
etc.
- We Have the Technology
- Have
students investigate the extent to which technology inhibits or promotes
sustainability. Select particular examples of technology, such as a
chain saw, nuclear energy, or mass transportation, and create a chart
with the headings "Benefits" and "Burden." For each,
list the effects of the technology in the areas of economy, environment
and the health of society. Discuss how technology often represents a
mixed blessing. Assign individuals or groups to investigate various
examples of technology using the chart.
- What is the Cost of Your Shirt?
- Students should be encouraged to recognize
the economic costs and benefits of their decisions as consumers and
the link between these and environmental concerns. Have students
sketch a shirt and indicate above the drawing the country of origin of
the shirt. In the space to the right of the drawing, list some of the
costs and benefits to the people and country which produced and sold
the item. In the space on the left, have students list some of the
environmental problems and concerns resulting from the production of
the shirt. Draw an arrow which links the country of origin to the
cost/benefit list and extend it to the environmental concerns (mobius
loop). Discuss how each of the three components (country of origin,
costs/benefits, and environmental concerns) affect each other.
- A Cartoonist's View
- Cartoons provide an effective and
engaging method of introducing various issues relevant to
sustainability. While teachers will find ready examples in newspapers
and magazines, the following may serve to illustrate: Ask students to
identify what each of the "symbols" in the cartoon represents,
the issue or problem addressed by the cartoon, and the cartoonist's
comment on the issue. Debate the merits of the cartoonist's view.
Students may also draw their own cartoons to illustrate how various
local and global issues relate to the competing demands of the
environment, the economy, and the health of society.
- Eco-tourism
- Eco-tourism seems to satisfy the requirement of sustainability in that it
contributes to the economy of the community, it may enhance people's
appreciation of the environment, and may be conducted with minimal
impact on the environment. Finally, it contributes to the health and
well-being of the participants. Divide students into groups and ask
each group to develop a prospectus for a successful eco-tourism
operation in their region. The prospectus should include an outline of
the activity involved, the intended customers, the strategy for
attracting them, and the extent to which the enterprise will
contribute to building a sustainable community.
- Biodiversity
- Biodiversity is an essential prerequisite for
sustainability. The video "Seeds of Change," produced by the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), provides a useful
introduction to the importance of and the threat to a diversified seed
pool. Teachers may supplement the viewing of the video by plotting on a
map the seed origins of some common foods, examining the trend to mass
produce a few varieties of crops, and the consequences of such a policy
in terms of pesticide and fertilizer use. Students may conclude the unit
by debating whether farmers or international companies control the
diversity of crops through gene control.
- There Ought to Be a Law
- Students may consider the relative merits of
legislation and incentive or disincentive in promoting more sustainable
activities. Have students provide examples of legal and non-legal means
to encourage appropriate behaviour. Develop a list of activities which
are in keeping with the goals of sustainable development. Have students
identify those activities which they feel are of such critical
importance they should be legislated, outline the laws they would enact
and defend their choices. In those instances where students argue for
non-legal means, have them identify appropriate incentives or
disincentives which would produce the desired effect. Introduce the
concept of competing rights, i.e., individual rights vs. collective
rights, and have students examine the laws they proposed in the context
of this consideration.
- Security and Sustainability
- This
activity has students examine the link between environmental and
economic deterioration and conflict. In order to broaden students'
concept of security to include social and economic security, project a
transparency of the diagram below: Have students discuss the cyclical
cause-and-effect relationship between war and the degradation of
resources. Introduce the concept of sustainable development as a policy
which may provide <%-2>the security needed to check the cycle.<%0> Ask
students to identify priorities which must be addressed if sustainable
development is to be achieved. Their list may include the following:
eliminate starvation and malnourishment, provide adequate health care,
en<%-2>sure clean and abundant water, stabilize<%0> world population,
reverse soil erosion and deforestation. The game "What the World
Wants" (free from World Vision Canada, 905-821-3030) compares
the cost of addressing such problems with the cost of military
spending.
Jim Petrie is coordinator of the New Brunswick Global Education
Centre in Fredericton. The following New Brunswick teachers contributed
to these Planet Earth Pages: Nancy Boucher, Elizabeth Duke, Pam
Fowler, Lisa-Anne Furlotte, Margaret Gibson, Steve
Gillis, Bayne MacMillan, Elizabeth McLean, Brian Neumann,
Louise Parlee, Bernie Sisk.