Planet Earth Pages

Resource Conservation

Adapted by The Sage Foundation's Lorraine McLauchlan, Heather Murray, and Brenda Sawada with assistance from Wendy Fitzgibbons.

This issue's Planet Earth Pages feature activities intended to promote students' awareness of the energy and other resources needed to support their lifestyles, and to encourage an ethic of conservation and reduction. Ideas are presented in four grade level categories, but many of them may be adapted to several levels. Have a look!

Grades K-3

Science/Social Studies
Popocorn
Students examine the hidden energy costs in making popcorn. You'll need an electric popper, corn, salt, butter and a container. Some corn may be popped in advance, some during class. Ask the students to brainstorm all the products and actions that go into making popcorn. Divide the brainstorming results into six categories: growing popcorn; the popcorn machine; the popcorn package; the butter; the salt; and buying the popcorn, popping it and cleaning up. Divide the class into six groups and ask them to list the energy-consuming steps involved in their assigned category. Set out flip-chart paper with a bowl of popcorn in the middle and ask the students to contribute their ideas; start with growing the popcorn and work outward. Everyone eats the popcorn at the end.
Research
Journal
Have Grade 3 students compare their ideas with facts they've discovered through library research and note any differences. Ask them to write and illustrate a journal of their research, with each group contributing to a class journal on the hidden energy costs in popcorn. This activity could be done through the buddy system with K-2.
Math
Choices
Ask the students to bring in different types of packaged popcorn. Have them compare the sizes and weights of packages, then determine the best value for their money and the best value for the environment. Ask them what choices they should make to have a minimal impact on the environment when buying popcorn.
Language Arts
Advertisements
Have the students write advertisements or illustrate posters encouraging popcorn purchasers to be aware of packaging and its impact on the environment.

Grades 4-6

Language Arts/Drama
"The Lorax"
Read aloud "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. Ask: Who, in real life, do you think the Once-ler would represent? Who, in real life, do you think the Lorax could represent? The super-axe-hacker is an example of technology. Is technology always good? Why or why not? In groups of two or four, have the children chart under - UNLESS - their understanding of the Lorax's message. Then have them comment on the consequences if behaviour is not changed. Have them mount a skit of "The Lorax" and present it to an assembly or to other classes.
Science/Social Studies
Cookie Mining
Students investigate the effect that extraction of energy resources can have on the environment. Give students toothpicks to use as drills, a chocolate-chip cookie each, a paper towel and a task sheet. Their task is to 'mine' chips, representing coal, out of the cookie. Have them trace their cookie, then write some words that best describe it. At your signal, have them start mining. Stop after two minutes and ask them to draw their cookie. What words would they use to describe it now?
Discuss these questions
How did the mining affect the environment of your cookie? Can you fix your cookie, making it the same as before? How do you think real mining can affect the environment? Have them repeat the exercise with the intent of mining responsibly. What did they notice? Did they get as many chips? How would this approach relate to real mining? What recommendations might they make to industry? Have the students study before and after pictures of a mined terrain and ask them how the land has been altered. Ask what implications this has for animals, vegetation and water. Invite a mining representative to discuss what's being done to protect the environment. Take a field trip to a mine.
Where Does it Go?
Ask students what happens to the used water and sewage from their homes, and have several students research where sewage from the school goes, how it is treated and where it is eventually released. Discuss why raw sewage is dangerous in aquatic ecosystems: suspended solids prevent sunlight from reaching underwater plants and may smother organisms living on the bottom; bacteria can accumulate in aquatic creatures, diminish oxygen supplies and make water unsafe for humans. Introduce the concept of primary, secondary and tertiary treatment of wastewater. Visit a wastewater treatment plant, or obtain information about local treatment systems from the municipality. Have groups of students research and present one of the main steps of primary treatment, and discuss how each step reduces environmental danger. Brainstorm actions for reducing the amount of wastewater we produce.
Water Then and Now
Orient students to the theme of water conservation by having them choose a period in history that interests them and imagine living in that time. How was drinking water supplied? How was it treated? How did people bathe, clean their clothes or wash dishes? How did they get hot water? Where did the wastewater go? Make a chart headed 'Then and Now' and have them show the similarities and differences in water-supply systems from the past to today.

Grades 7-9

Science
Acid Test
Ask students to bring in samples of household solutions (lemon juice, pickle juice, vinegar, ammonia, bottled water, etc.) and water samples from local ponds or streams, then use pH-testing kits available from science-supply stores to determine the acidity of each sample. Provide a few mystery substances to test at the end. Use gloves when handling water samples and corrosive substances. Compare findings and discuss the implications if any of the water samples tested acidic (most fish require a fairly neutral pH of 6.7 to 8.6, and one pH unit represents a ten-fold change). In teams, research an area of the world where acid rain is threatening waterways or forests, and report on its causes and effects and remedial measures being taken.
Math
Energy Diet
Ask students to survey the number of electric appliances used over a specified one-hour period in their homes. Have them record the frequency and length of time the appliance is used. Using the class totals, prepare a large bar graph of appliance type vs. frequency of use. Have the students estimate the number of hours each appliance is used in the average home per month, or get averages from their local power utility. Ask them to research the average energy needed to run each appliance (check the wattage rating on the appliance tag), then multiply by the hours per month and divide by 1,000 to get the kilowatt-hours (kWh) used in a month. Have them multiply each kWh by your local utility's cost factor to get the cost of running that appliance every month. Repeat for each appliance, then calculate the class total for a year. Analyze and discuss the results. Which appliances are used most? Least? Which consume the most energy? What is the environmental impact? What lifestyle choices do their figures show? What are their alternatives?
Social Studies
Hazardous Roots
Examine the hidden environmental costs of products by having students mind-map the word 'jeans' on a poster. Write 'jeans' in the centre and ask students to write around it everything that goes into the making and marketing of jeans, from the raw materials to the store that sells them. Using a different colour, write down the environmental hazards that each 'root' might have (e.g. cotton is a renewable resource but is sprayed with pesticides; transport trucks use energy and pollute the air) Have small groups research each step of jeans production and report back to the class. This exercise can be repeated for other familiar products, which can then be ranked according to their environmental costs.
Visual Arts
Copy Cans
Have students research and discuss the environmental benefits of recycling pop cans. In small groups, ask them to design variations on popular soft-drink names to promote school participation in the three Rs (e.g. Sprite becomes Spirit) and paint them on large pop-can recycling containers. Place the recycling containers in prominent places around the school. Ask the student body to choose the winning designs.

Grades 10-12

Science
Water Hazards
Fill a large jar with water. Ask students to brainstorm and record ways water might become polluted. With each suggestion, add mock pollutants (crushed charcoal, ink, vinegar, etc.) to the jar. Stir the mixture to simulate the effects of wind, currents and tides. Classify the types of pollutants: for example, industrial waste, chemical or petroleum spills, acid rain, storm-water discharge, toxic chemicals from urban or agricultural runoff. Have students research local sources of household and industrial pollution, what is being done about it and ways it can be minimized.
Social/Family Studies
A Consuming Society
Introduce this lesson with a quote from Alan Durning of The Worldwatch Institute: "With consumption standards perpetually rising, society is literally insatiable. The definition of a `decent' standard of living, the necessities of life for a member in good standing in the consumer society, endlessly shifts upwards . . . Needs are socially defined and escalate with the rate of economic progress." Ask students to analyze the quote, defining basic needs and examining socially defined needs. How does our society define a 'decent' standard of living? What factors influence people's needs and wants? What principles form the basis of a consumer society? Of a conserver society? Conserver traits include producing durable goods, long-range planning, recognition of all of the costs of a product, and conservation leading to self-sufficiency.
Luxury Cars
Look at the role of advertising in promoting a consumer lifestyle. Have students collect car ads in newspapers and magazines, and list the makes of cars and their advertising slogans. Classify the advertising appeals used in the slogans. Commonly used appeals are prestige and snobbery, power, freedom and escapism, belonging and excitement. Have the students identify the strategies most persuasive to them and discuss whether these are sufficient to sell the car. What other factors would a car buyer need to consider?
Language and Visual Arts
Spreading the News
Ask students to imagine their job is to create advertisements that inform and motivate their audience to conserve resources. Working alone or in groups, and in whatever medium they choose, have them define their target audience by age, occupation and economic status; define their main message; write a rationale for their advertising approach, including the facts they are trying to present or imply, and describe what they hope will be the result of their message. Have them present their advertisements as a performance or display. Invite the audience to ask questions about the ads and the reasoning behind them. Ask the students to assess the effectiveness of the ads.

Lorraine McLauchlan, Heather Murray, and Brenda Sawada help deliver the Destination Conservation program to BC schools at The Sage Foundation in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The activities 'Cookie Mining' and 'Spreading the News' are adapted from "Energy Education for Early Intermediate Students" by B.C. Hydro. 'Copy Cans' is an idea from Debra Swain, Elgin Secondary School, Surrey, BC. All other activities are adapted from "Destination Conservation Teaching Units" by The Sage Foundation.

The Destination Conservation program provides learning opportunities in the areas of energy, water and solid waste, and challenges students to take an active role in assessing and reducing their school's use of resources. For more information about Destination Conservation, including provincial and state contacts, contact: The Sage Foundation, 744 West Hastings St., #410, Vancouver, BC, V6C 1A5, (604) 669-6298.