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. 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,
ensure clean and abundant water, stabilize 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.