I. Five Environmental Activities
Activity #1: Writing and Working with Mini-Studies on Environmental Issues
Activity #2: Evaluating Consumer Products
Activity #3: Working With Global Warming Data
Activity #4: Solving A Water Conservation Problem
Activity #5: Developing An Environmental Responsibility Statement
II. Appendix: Notes For Mini-Studies
III. Reference Section
Activity #1: Writing and Working with Mini-Studies On Environmental Issues
This activity consists of students independently doing five environmental mini-studies then working with the mini-studies, first in small groups and then with the entire class. The purpose of writing and working with the mini-studies is to provide the needed background for the rest of the unit. The topics are: (1) the water cycle and water pollution, (2) energy, (3) air pollution, (4) discard management, and (5) wilderness destruction. This activity will take two or three class periods. If videos are used, it will take longer. The videos are listed in the appendix, which gives notes for the mini-studies.
The mini-studies need to be done prior to beginning the unit, so about a week or two before starting the unit students will need to know about the unit, be given the mini-study assignment, and participate in a mini-study class demonstration. (See mini-studies below.)
There are four steps to this activity. Each one builds on the previous one.
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* Students individually do mini-studies on (1) The Water Cycle and Water Pollution, (2) Energy, (3) Air Pollution, (4) Discard Management, and (5)Wilderness Destruction.
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* In small groups, students work on developing one of the mini-study areas and preparing a report on it.
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* Groups present the mini-study reports to class.
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* Class discusses activity and writes a one-page summary of the most important ideas.
Mini-Studies
The mini-studies are very important because they get each student actively involved and provide the material for the first two days of class work. Each mini-study is one-page long and consists of an illustration and two or three paragraphs of information on the topic. Students can use textbooks, encyclopedias, articles from newspapers or magazines, and even discussions. In doing a demonstration mini-study together, students are given a copy of an encyclopedia and one other article on a related topic to read. Key facts are listed on the chalkboard, an illustration sketched, and two or three paragraphs written from the information given and general life experiences. For an example of a mini-study see Figure 1: The Carbon Cycle.
The mini-study topics were chosen for specific reasons. The water cycle and water pollution topic was chosen because it is easy to visualize the water cycle as a cyclic, globally moving system and see how the pollution of water can occur and spread. Energy was chosen because it is basic to all life and everything we do and yet the ways we currently produce and use energy cause serious environmental problems. Air pollution was chosen because it includes the important problems of upper atmosphere ozone depletion, global warming, acid rain, and smog. Discard management was chosen because it addresses the problems of limited resources and waste. Wilderness destruction was chosen because an awareness of what wilderness is, the manner in which it is being destroyed, and what is being lost to the world can offer us a new perspective on who we are and where we are heading.
Within each area of study we find serious environmental problems caused and supported by certain consumer habits, basically excessive consumption and lack of concern for pollution. Also, within each area of study, there is for most of us a lack of understanding of the full consequences of these habits and of the alternate choices that exist.
Notes on each of the mini-study areas are given in the appendix. These are given to provides a background and focus for getting started. Going beyond the notes, three books, Joel Makower’s The Green Consumer and The Green Consumer Supermarket Guide and Paul Ekins’ The Gaia Atlas of Green Economics, provide a mass of information and background. Makower’s books give a lot of information on environmental problems and evaluating consumer products. Ekins’ book discusses environmental problems and puts them in a global economic-environmental perspective. All three books have extensive lists of references with names and addresses for further information and action.
Figure 1: The Carbon Cycle
An example of a student mini-study.
(figure available in print form)
Carbon is found in the earth’s air, water and land. It is also part of all living plants and animals. There are many complex carbon cycles, but the one we probably are most familiar with is the exchange between plants and animals. Animals take in oxygen (O2) and put out carbon dioxide (CO2). Plants take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen.
In order to support life, the earth’s atmosphere has to have a certain ratio of carbon to other elements. Today this ratio is being destroyed because thousands of tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants are being dumped into the air from the burning of fossil fuels in motor vehicles and industries. When this happens the air becomes unhealthy and people can have trouble breathing, develop diseases and even die from it. In the U.S. we have 4.9% of the world’s population but put out 21.9% of the worlds CO2 emissions.
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The consumer habits that most contribute to the disruption of the carbon cycle are (1) excess use of motor vehicles and power (electricity and heat) and (2) consumption of material goods beyond what is a healthy need and desire.
Plans for First Class
The five mini-studies are due the first day of the unit. At the beginning of the class, a brief overview of the unit’s five activities is given and what is expected for each student to have completed by the end of the units carefully spelled out. The rest of the class will be spent as follows.
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* Students divide into five groups.
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* Each group is assigned one of the mini-study topic .
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* Students read each other’s mini-studies on the topic assigned to his or her group.
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* The group prepares a report for its topic.
Depending on the topic and students involved, the group reports can be simple with just discussion and chalkboard illustrations or more elaborate using articles, worksheets, and the overhead projector.
Plans for the second and possibly third day
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* Groups give reports to class. Students listening add information to their mini-studies on the topic being reported on.
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* Class discusses activity and writes a one-page summary of the most important ideas.
Activity #2: Evaluating Consumer Products
The evaluating consumer products activity will take about three class periods. It consists of the following.
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* Students and teacher bring in a variety of consumer products. Products are needed for each of the following four categories: food and drink, personal care, cleaning supplies, and miscellaneous.
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* Class discussion of guidelines and reference books to be used for help in evaluating products.
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* Students individually evaluate four products, one from each of the four categories, and fill out a worksheet for each.
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* Class divides into four groups, one for each of the product categories.
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* Each group prepares report on the products in its category.
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* Groups give reports.
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* Class discusses activity and writes a one-page summary of the most important ideas. Suggestions for creating a Product Pool.
Items are needed for four categories.
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Foods and drink
such as soda, milk, soup, cereal, cake mix, package of apples, vegetables.
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Personal care products
such as toothpaste, deodorants, shampoo, hair spray, lotions.
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Cleaning products
such as glass cleaners, laundry detergents, dish washing liquid, furniture polish, tile cleaners, cleanser.
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Miscellaneous
such as car oil, toys, audio tapes, books, shirt, flashlight.
It would be more useful for evaluating purposes if the items had different kinds of containers such as aerosols, pump bottles, pour bottles, squeeze tubes, etc., for the first three categories. 1
Books to use as part of this activity
Joel Makower’s
The Green Consumer
and
The Green Consumer Supermarkets Guide
, mentioned in the first activity, give both background and guidelines for evaluating products. The supermarket guide uses brand names and list several of the best and worst in each category. For example if you were going to buy a particular box of cereal, you would look up cereal and it gives three paragraphs of general information and then list by brand name the best and worst choices for environmental considerations. In
Clean and Green
, by Berthold-Bond, formulas are given for making your own cleaning solutions from natural, healthful, and environmentally safe substances. Students probably would find it interesting to see that there exists simple, natural alternatives for many of the toxic or polluting cleaning products. For example it gives a formula for a copper cleaning paste made from salt, flour and vinegar. It tells you how to make the paste and use it. I tried it. It works well, but it does takes a little more rubbing.
Clean and Green
also list environmentally safe cleaning products.
The last book to be mentioned here is The Council on Economic Priorities’
Shopping For A Better World
. This book evaluates 186 companies that produce over 2100 products in ten areas: charitable giving, animal testing, women’s advancement, South Africa (investments), minority advancement, the environment, community outreach, family benefits, disclosure of information, and workplace issues. As an example, I looked up Ronzoni. It is owned by Hershey Foods Corporation and has top rating in all categories except in charitable giving. Here it received a middle rating. It also has on-sight day care for workers. It took maybe 30 to 60 seconds to look up and glance across the page at the ratings.
Packaging
Some packaging statistics.
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* Packaging accounts for 50% of all paper produced in the United States, 90% of all glass, and 11% of aluminum.
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* Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
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* Up to one million sea birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals are killed each year by plastic trash such as fishing gear, six-pack yokes, sandwich bags, and Styrofoam cups.
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Packaging From Best to Worst
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Best: no packaging at all
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Very Good: minimal, recycled, and recyclable packages; concentrated products; endlessly refillable packages; reusable, refillable, and recyclable packages
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Good: packages made of recyclable, but not recycled, material; packages made of recycled, but unrecyclable material
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Fair: packages made from partial recycled content; products packaged in multiple layers of recyclable packaging
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Bad: products packaged in multiple layers of unrecyclable packaging; single-serving containers; aseptic packages; aerosol cans
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Worst: packages made of composite materials
Plans for First Class
Prior to beginning class work, the products pool needs to be gathered. At the beginning of class go over use of the four books mentioned in the reference above, possibly going over the packaging sections in Makower’s books and the environmental and other ratings of companies and products by the Council on Economic Priorities. Go over worksheet, which is given below. The rest of the period would go as follows.
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* Students individually evaluate four products, one from each category, and fill out a worksheet for each.
Plans for Second and Third Days
* Class divides into four groups, one for each product category.
* Each group prepares a report of its findings for its category of products.
* Groups give reports.
* Class discuses activity and writes a one page summary of important ideas.
Product Evaluation Worksheet
Name
|
Item
|
Date
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
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1. What are the three main ingredients or materials of your product?
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2. Is there a word in the list of ingredients or elsewhere on the label or packaging that you do not understand? If so, what is it? Use a dictionary and find its meaning. An unabridged dictionary may be needed.
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3. What is the quantity of the product? (Give the smallest units such as 1 lb 4 oz = 20 oz.)
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4. What is the price?
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5. What is the price per unit (PPU)?
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6. What kind of delivery system, box, tube, jar, etc., does your product have?
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7. When your product is used, does it do harm to you or the environment?
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8. Rate the packaging using the best, very good, good, fair, bad, and worst criteria given.
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9. What happens to the package once it is thrown away?
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10. All products have an environmental impact. What is this product’s environmental impact?
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11. Does the company that makes this product have a good environmental record?
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12. Put comments on back of this paper.
Activity #3: Working With Global Warming Data
This activity will take one day and a homework assignment. The purpose for doing it is to use the average annual temperature data for two cities to see if the data supports global warming theory.
Plans
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* Explain activity and the purpose for doing it
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* Each students receives a copy of data in Figure 2.
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* Together in class, each student graphs the average annual temperatures for Charleston, SC for the years 1920 through 1970
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* Students fit a line to the data.
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* Determine if the Charleston data supports the global warming theory
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* For a homework assignment, students graph the average annual temperatures for New Haven, CT for the years 1920 through 1970, fit a line, and determine if the data supports the global warming theory.
Figure 2: Average annual temperatures for Charleston, SC and New haven, CT for 1920 through 1970.
(figure available in print form)
Activity #4: A Water Conservation Problem
This activity will take about 1 or 2 class periods.
It requires a piece of water hose that will attach to an available sink faucet and a showerhead, a traditional showerhead, a water saving showerhead, and a worksheet. The steps are as follows:
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* Each student estimates how much time is spent in showering per week and per year
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* In small groups students measure the amount of water used per minute for a regular shower head and a water saving showerhead.
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* Each student determines how much water he or she would use a year showering with each type of showerhead.
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* Assuming a difference, determine the amount and percent of water saved using one showerhead over the other
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* Extension: determine cost of water
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* Extension: determine cost of heating water
Plans:
Get showerheads and hose, introduce project, and follow steps on worksheet. The following information could be helpful in planning the activity’s introduction.
Conserving water is a good “think globally, act locally” kind of thing because it is easy to see how extra water that is saved by not being used can be in the Mill River today, move into Long Island Sound in a matter of minutes, and be out in the ocean tomorrow.
Why conserve water? If we consider all the water on earth, about 97% is locked in salt-water ocean and coastal seas like Long Island Sound. Of the 3% fresh water left, more than 2% is locked in polar glaciers and ice at the poles.
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That leaves less than 1% of fresh water available to us, and not all of that is easily available anymore because of pollution and heavy industrial, agricultural, and farm use.
Further, by conserving water we decrease the amount of water that needs to be processed, which saves energy and money, and allow more water to remain in lakes, rivers and streams, where the greater volume and faster movement lessens the pollution impact and makes more water available for wildlife and recreation. Using less also minimizes the need to build new dams and reservoirs.
How Water is Used in Our Homes
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(figure available in print form)
Many ideas on how to save water are given in the two Makower books mentioned above and in the Connecticut Water Conservation Handbook.
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A Water Conservation Problem
SHOW ALL MATH WORK. USE BACK AS NEEDED
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1. Estimate on the average how long you take to shower.
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2. Estimate about how many times a year you shower.
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3. Estimate the amount of time you spend each year in the shower.
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4. With your group, use shower head A, the traditional showerhead, and determine how much water flows through it in one minute. Try it twice and use the average.
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5. With your group, use showerhead B, the water saving showerhead, and determine how much water flows through it in one minute. Try it twice and use the averages.
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6. How much water would you use in a year using the traditional showerhead?
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7. How much water would you use in a year using the water saving showerhead?
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8. Assuming there is a difference, how much water would you save using the water saving showerhead? What is the percent of savings?
Activity #5: Developing Environmental Responsibility
Developing Environmental Responsibility will take two or three class periods. If the videos
The Wilderness Idea
and
The Garden of Eden
are used here, it will take longer. This activity is the last in the unit and consists of the following steps.
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* Students keep a four day environmental record
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* Students each analyze four quotations—two paragraphs each
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* A class discussion on journals and quotations
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* Students each write a one page personal statement on their environmental responsibility
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* The completed environmental unit with all the work done and a cover with an appropriate drawing or illustration to be handed in.
Environmental Journals
Students keep track for four days of the following things: (1) what activities they do, especially noting use of electricity, water, gas, and gasoline, (2) what they eat, noting the packaging, (3) what they buy, noting the packaging, and (4) how they travel to different places. Students seem to do better at keeping a record if they have a form to work with so a worksheet may be useful for this.
Analyze Four Quotations
Each quote is put on a separate page. Lines are made to the bottom of the page for students to write on. The assignment is to write two legible, coherent paragraphs: one paragraph explaining the meaning of the quotation, the second one on what the students think about the subject of the quotation. Four possible quotations are given below.
Four Quotations
1st Quote: Product Lifecycle Analysis12
Increasingly consumers are demanding to know about, and companies being expected to take responsibility for, a product’s environmental impact over its entire life cycle—from the raw materials and their extraction, through the manufacturing process, the packaging and distribution of the product, to its use and final disposal. At each stage, consideration needs to be given to the implications for sustainability of the resources used, renewable and nonrenewable; the emission of wastes and pollution caused; the impact on global services , such as climate and the ozone layer, or wildlife, biodiversity, and ecosystems; and on the health, beauty, and amenity of the local environment. Aggregated across industry as a whole, these impacts must be brought within clear sustainability standards covering the entire range of environmental functions, formulated by applying the precautionary principle (see next quote) to the best available scientific knowledge.