Introduction: Every individual has a different idea about what separates a "need" from a "want," depending on his or her culture, background, values, and situation. Although every person has different ideas about what is necessary for him or her, there are certain basic needs that all humans share, including biological needs (food, water, air, shelter); social needs (clothing, feelings of belonging and protection); and spiritual needs (faith, love, hope). Students should begin as a whole group discussing their own personal needs and wants and how they define these categories. Students will take an in-depth look at themselves as consumers and ask themselves what makes them buy certain brands. They will ask themselves questions like: Why do I need to buy a particular brand of boots or a certain style of jeans or wear tee-shirts and sweaters made only from a particular store.
Following this discussion, students will learn that these choices have economic, social and environmental consequences. Students will then learn to make responsible consumer choices that reduce waste and save natural resources.
Objectives: Students will recognize the impact of humans on natural systems. Students will make predictions about the impact of certain behaviors and how personal or cultural perspectives affect these behaviors. Students will assess factors that affect consumer purchases and recognize that responsible consumer choices can result in reduced waste and environmental impact. Students will also analyze the substance of Dr Seuss's The Lorax is a children's book that chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler
Materials: The Lorax by Dr.Seuss, Chart Paper, Reflection Worksheet: Needs and Wants- Create a worksheet using the following questions. 1. Why did the Once-ler cut down the Truffula trees? 2. Why do the Brown Bar-ba-loots have to leave? 3. What kinds of problems does the thneed factory cause for the environment? Name at least three. 4. What happens to the Once-ler when there are no more Truffula, trees? 5. What happens to the Lorax? 6. Is bigger always better? Give an example to back up your opinion 7. A "Thneed" is defined as a fine thing that everyone thinks they need. What are some examples of the thneeds in our lives that we think we need? 8. If you were the Once-ler, what would you have done differently to protect the environment? 9. Write your own ending to the Lorax starting after the word UNLESS...
Needs and Wants Game Pieces: Create flash cards on cardstock of the following words. Television, Dollars, Air, Milk, Home, Eggs, Car, Warmth, Parents, Friends, Sun, Rain, Quiet, Medicine, Computer, Nuts, Electricity, Bicycle, Grass, Clothes, Water, Candy, Fruit, Yard, Insects, Vegetables
Procedures: Introductory Discussion: What are some of the consequences of producing lots of trash? Students should recall how it smells, because everything we throw away was originally made from a natural resource. Although some waste will eventually biodegrade, it is not true for all waste. It also costs us money to get someone to come to our house and take our trash away. Generally, the more trash we generate the more we pay to dispose of it. Then read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Discuss the following questions in the reflection section as a whole group. Finally, break into groups of 4 or 5 and have the students complete the reflection worksheet.
Reflection/Response: 1) How did each step of the Once-ler's developing business destroy a piece of the ecosystem until the entire system ceased to function? 2) Why was the Super Axe Hacker invented? 3) Why did the Once-ler ignore the Lorax's warnings? 4) What happened to the Lorax? What did the Lorax's message "UNLESS" mean? 5) What are some of the environmental consequences of living in a culture with a lot of wants?
Needs and Wants Game Instructions: Directions: 1) Copy the Needs and Wants Worksheets so that each pair of students will have a set. Create a set of needs and wants flashcards on cardstock. 2) Divide the students into pairs. Pass out one envelope of cards to each pair. Direct them to sort their cards into piles that are alike in some way. Ask the students to explain which "rule" they used for sorting the cards. (List the rules the students used on the board). 3) Have students put the cards back into the envelopes, then discuss what is the difference between a need and a want. Can you live without the things you need? What about the things you want. Now tell them to resort their cards using this criteria. Ask students to define the standards they used to decide if something is a need or a want. Students might offer answers such as cost, parent/legal permission, personal safety, peers, etc. 4) Lead a class discussion on basic needs for life and how that might differ from culture to culture. Teach students how affluent societies tend to have more "needs" although they really are wants because of their lifestyle, but that many of these things are not really necessary. 5) Have students make a list of things that they have recently purchased or been given. Write an N or a W next to each item. Have students reflect on the things that they personally own such as toys, electronics, clothes, recreational gear. Ask them to write down examples of things they have more than one of such as shoes, jackets, games, stuffed animals. Underline the items that you could do without if you had to and circle the items that you would always want to have. Discuss how students can assess whether or not they have "enough" and how they might find other ways to be happy without accumulating new things all the time and without creating more garbage. Also, you might help students think about the money they and their families can save by foregoing unnecessary purchases. By only buying what we need, we are freeing up our own monetary resources for a better use like a saving for the future, or the purchase of a more expensive item that will last a long time. Examples of alternatives to our "wants" are: building or creating art or toys for yourself; exchanging one toy for another with a friend or group of friends; going to the library and check out books on new subjects to learn new interests and skills rather than purchasing them at the bookstore. (Teacher's Resource Guide for Solid Waste and Recycling Education, 1999)
Filling the void may produce moments of happiness, but its long-term effects can be both economically and environmentally damaging if not monitored closely. The economic production process often creates a larger amount of waste than the actual product. The packaging, distribution, use, and consumption of the product produce more waste. Waste becomes pollution when the level of contamination changes and destroys the quality of the atmosphere, water, soil, or landscape. As consumers, we tend to pay the most attention to pollution when it affects our own health; however it is evident that waste and pollution are inevitable by-products of a consumer society, and so this aspect of the consumer lifestyle deserves some attention. (Pollution Issues, 2010)
Consumption affects the environment in many ways. High levels of consumption require high levels of production, which in turn requires large amounts of energy and materials. These materials, in turn, generate large quantities of waste byproducts. An increase in the extraction of and exploitation of natural resources as well as an overwhelming amount of accumulating waste pose a serious threat to our environment. In the long run, degradation of our environment will also limit economic activity.
Today's consumption means "grand scale pollution, waste mountains, energy shortages, land degradation, water deficits, even climate upheavals." (Myers and Kent, 2004, 5) We all contribute to these problems. Traffic congestion, pollution, and energy shortages are affected simply by our need to have a car on the road. This need is partly due to deliberate policies that encouraged suburbanization while discouraging mass transit. Our present consumption patterns are unsustainable. Over half of all available freshwater has already been consumed and looking ahead to an increase in world population, by 2020 water supplies will be in even greater demand and available in more and more limited quantities. We are also consuming much of the Earth's net plant growth. Approximately twenty million square kilometers of land have already been degraded. (Myers and Kent, 2004, 5)
