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NSTA Science Store :: Eureka! Grade 3-5 Science Activities and Stories :: NSTA Press Book

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New in 2018! Winner of the Bronze EXCEL Award from Association Media & Publishing! With this unique book, you can introduce scientists and engineers to your students, without the hassle of scheduling guest speakers. Evoking Archimedes's famous cry, Eureka!

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Here's a free Earth Day scavenger hunt list you can use if you're looking for fun ideas and activities to do on April 22.

This will have a positive impact on nature in your local community while being a fun, competitive activity.

There's also a free printable copy of the list that you can use - see below for the link to download it.
Players
This Earth Day activity can be done with any type of group:

It can also be played with any number of people, but more players is better as it means more trash is picked up and therefore more recycling can be done.
Resources

Scavenger hunt list (see below)

Pens

Trash bags (at least two per team)

Protective gloves

Idea
Split the group into teams and provide them with the resources listed above.

Their task is to hunt for all the items of trash in the list below and pick them up. This will help make their neighborhood or community a cleaner, greener, more eco-friendly place for Earth Day.

As people will be working together, this is also a great team building scavenger hunt.
Safety
If you're organizing this activity with kids or youth, warn them about picking up broken glass and to be careful of other sharp objects (e.g. needles).

It's also a good idea to have at least one adult supervising each team of young people. It may not be necessary for older teens, but can still be a great opportunity to do some relationship building.
Points
Ultimately, the aim of this Earth Day scavenger hunt is to clear up discarded trash and improve nature in your neighborhood. To make it more fun though, the teams will be competing against each other to see who can score the most points.

Award 1 point for each item found, with 3 bonus points for each completed section. Award 0.25 points for each additional item once a section has been completed.

For example, one of the items on the list is to pick up five plastic bags. If a team found 7 plastic bags, they'd earn 8.5 points:

5 x 1 point for the initial 5 bags listed = 5
3 points for completing the section = 3
2 x 0.25 points for the additional bags = 0.5
Total = 8.5
Tip
To make recycling easier, have teams put recyclable items in one trash bag and non-recyclable items in a separate bag.
List
Here's the Earth Day scavenger hunt list for you to use. There's also a link below to a free printable copy of the list - there are two copies of the list per page, reducing the amount of paper you need to print off.

10 plastic bottles

10 bottle caps

10 candy wrappers

10 cigarette butts

5 glass bottles

5 plastic bags

5 sheets of paper

5 fast food bags

5 potato chip bags

5 soda cups from fast food restaurants

5 receipts

4 empty cigarette packets

3 cardboard sleeves for fries

3 batteries

2 pizza boxes

1 Pringles tube

1 item of clothing

1 electronic item

1 car tire

Printable Earth Day Scavenger Hunt List

If you liked this idea, check out all of our other free scavenger hunt lists.

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Recycling Scavenger Hunt | Scavenger Hunt

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Here's a free Earth Day scavenger hunt list you can use if you're looking for fun ideas and activities to do on April 22. This will have a positive impact on nature in your local community while being a fun, competitive activity.

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Plastic | Composition, History, Uses, Types, & Facts

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Plastic, polymeric material that has the capability of being molded or shaped. This property of plasticity, often found in combination with other special properties such as low density, low electrical conductivity, transparency, and toughness, allows plastics to be made into a great variety of produ…

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Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Impactful Action and the SDGs. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

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Join the ISTE Global Collaboration PLN for our first webinar of the school year with Steve Sostak and Aaron Moniz founders of Inspire Citizens. Have you read A Long Walk to Water, a book written by Linda Sue Park about how a "lost boy" brought water to his village in South Sudan?

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Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms. This can include rain, snow, fog, hail or even dust that is acidic.

Acid rain results when sulfur dioxide (SO ₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO X) are emitted into the atmosphere and transported by wind and air currents. The SO ₂ and NO X react with water, oxygen and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. These then mix with water and other materials before falling to the ground.

While a small portion of the SO ₂ and NO X that cause acid rain is from natural sources such as volcanoes, most of it comes from the burning of fossil fuels. The major sources of SO ₂ and NO X in the atmosphere are:

Burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity. Two thirds of SO₂ and one fourth of NOX in the atmosphere come from electric power generators.

Vehicles and heavy equipment.

Manufacturing, oil refineries and other industries.

Winds can blow SO ₂ and NO X over long distances and across borders making acid rain a problem for everyone and not just those who live close to these sources.

Forms of Acid Deposition

Wet Deposition

Wet deposition is what we most commonly think of as acid rain. The sulfuric and nitric acids formed in the atmosphere fall to the ground mixed with rain, snow, fog, or hail.

Dry Deposition

Acidic particles and gases can also deposit from the atmosphere in the absence of moisture as dry deposition. The acidic particles and gases may deposit to surfaces (water bodies, vegetation, buildings) quickly or may react during atmospheric transport to form larger particles that can be harmful to human health. When the accumulated acids are washed off a surface by the next rain, this acidic water flows over and through the ground, and can harm plants and wildlife, such as insects and fish.

The amount of acidity in the atmosphere that deposits to earth through dry deposition depends on the amount of rainfall an area receives. For example, in desert areas the ratio of dry to wet deposition is higher than an area that receives several inches of rain each year.

Measuring Acid Rain

Acidity and alkalinity are measured using a pH scale for which 7.0 is neutral. The lower a substance's pH (less than 7), the more acidic it is; the higher a substance's pH (greater than 7), the more alkaline it is. Normal rain has a pH of about 5.6; it is slightly acidic because carbon dioxide (CO ₂) dissolves into it forming weak carbonic acid. Acid rain usually has a pH between 4.2 and 4.4.

Policymakers, research scientists, ecologists, and modelers rely on the National Atmospheric Deposition Program's (NADP) National Trends Network (NTN) for measurements of wet deposition. The NADP/NTN collects acid rain at more than 250 monitoring sites throughout the US, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands. Unlike wet deposition, dry deposition is difficult and expensive to measure. Dry deposition estimates for nitrogen and sulfur pollutants are provided by the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET). Air concentrations are measured by CASTNET at more than 90 locations.

When acid deposition is washed into lakes and streams, it can cause some to turn acidic. The Long-Term Monitoring (LTM) Network measures and monitors surface water chemistry at over 280 sites to provide valuable information on aquatic ecosystem health and how water bodies respond to changes in acid-causing emissions and acid deposition.

Next, learn about the Effects of Acid Rain.

Or, learn more about:

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Introduction to acid rain including its causes and the different types of acid rain.

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BURIED SUNLIGHT:
How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth

by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm

Scholastic Press (2014)

Kirkus Starred Review

"This fourth in Chisholm and Bang's series about the sun's relationship to life on Earth explores its ancient stores of fossil fuels and the effect of intense and rapid consumption of these in recent human history.

"The sun's first-person voice puts readers at the center: "Yes, living things-including YOU-need energy to stay alive and grow." The explanation begins with plants and moves concisely through photosynthesis and the use of the resulting carbon chains and animal production of carbon dioxide. Bang's edge-to-edge art in rich blues and greens is stippled with color suggesting, variously, energy in sunlight, microscopic life and the release of carbon gases. Reds and yellows convey the heat of the sun as well as that of cities and deserts. This lively diagram of the relationships among plant and animal, sunlight, CO2 production and the Earth's "blanket" of atmosphere is pitched to somewhat older readers than the earlier books. The result of the relatively sudden excess of CO2 on what was formerly an ebb and flow of warmth and cooling is direct. " 'SO WHAT?' some people say. / SO THIS:" precedes the description of how and why more heat is trapped under the Earth's blanket and what climate changes are now being seen. Abundant backmatter provides a more detailed explanation of the science introduced earlier.

Gorgeous illustrations and impressive, urgent scientific explanation. (Nonfiction.7-12)

Awards and Recognition

Junior Library Guild Selection

Nominee, America Association for the Advancement of Science SB&F Award for Excellence in Science Picture Books

Chosen by Kirkus as one of the best children's books of 2014

Chosen by the HORN BOOK as one of the best books of 2014

On NY Public Library's "100 Children's Book Titles for Reading and Sharing List" in 2014

Short list, GREEN EARTH BOOK AWARD 2015

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BURIED SUNLIGHT: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm Scholastic Press (2014) Kirkus Starred Review "This fourth in Chisholm and Bang's series about the sun's relationship to life on Earth explores its ancient stores of fossil fuels and the effect of intense and rapid consumption of these in recent...

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How Does Acid Rain Enter the Water Cycle?

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According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "acid rain" refers to wet and dry depositions on earth containing higher than normal amounts of toxic gases. The water cycle involves the circulation of water on, above and below the surface of the earth. Acid rain enters the water cycle through both wet and ...

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We are becoming increasingly aware of our impacts on nature. There is considerable evidence that humans are responsible for disruptions and changes to local and global water cycles.

Different countries use different amounts of water, but we all tend to use them in the same ways, and some of these actions can impact on the water cycle - generating hydroelectricity, irrigation, deforestation and the greenhouse effect, as well as motor vehicle use and animal farming.

Hydroelectricity

Most of New Zealand's electricity is generated using hydro dams. This involves changing the stored gravitational energy of water held behind the dam into electrical energy that can be used. While this is a non-polluting renewable way to generate electricity, it does have environmental impacts - especially when mismanaged.

Rivers must be dammed, which can affect the function of the river both upstream and downstream - lakes are usually formed from the water accumulating above the dam and a build-up of silt can occur, while the amount of water is reduced further downstream. This can be problematic for any plants and animals that may find themselves with too much or too little water, and migrating fish cannot get through the dams.

Seriously mismanaged dams can result in droughts downstream, with smaller streams completely drying up, leaving areas of unwatered land. People then have to look at ways of getting more water into these dry areas.

Find out more about hydro power.

Irrigation

As the human population has increased, so have our demands on the land. We need more food, and to make food, we need water. Irrigation is the artificial watering of land that does not get enough water through rainfall. Irrigation is used substantially by most countries, some more than others. Arid (dry) lands require far more water, as do countries that have large intensive farming communities.

The problem with irrigation is that it removes water from its natural source and often causes leaching and run-off where it is used. This removal of nutrients results in farmers using more fertilisers to keep their pastures productive while the waterways become polluted. Another problem is that salt is brought up from lower levels (salination).

Deforestation

The removal of trees ( deforestation) is having a major impact on the water cycle, as local and global climates change.

Normally, trees release water vapour when they transpire, producing a localised humidity. This water vapour then evaporates into the atmosphere where it accumulates before precipitating back to the Earth as rain, sleet or snow. Deforestation in one area can therefore affect the weather in another area because if trees are cut down, there is less water to be evaporated into the atmosphere and subsequently less rain.

At a local level, the land becomes drier and less stable. When it rains, instead of the water being soaked up, there is increased run-off and leaching. Areas can become more prone to both droughts and flooding, impacting on plants and animals, and also humans living near deforested areas.

Climate change

The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon of Earth's atmosphere trapping a range of gases, which in turn capture infrared radiation to keep our Earth at a moderate temperature range compared to the other planets in our solar system.

Human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels has an effect on the overall increase of the Earth's temperature. Raising the Earth's temperature means that there is an increase of evaporation, melting of land and sea ice, and impacts on other processes of the water cycle that adversely affect the climate on Earth. Find out why climate change matters.

Nature of science

Activity ideas

Other teaching resources include:

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We are becoming increasingly aware of our impacts on nature. There is considerable evidence that humans are responsible for disruptions and changes to local and global water cycles.

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What is Acid Rain? | National Geographic

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Teacher Background

In the United States, more than 75% of the energy used in homes and businesses, and for transportation comes from coal, oil or natural gas. These fuels are known as "fossil" fuels because they are the remnants of ancient plants and other living things buried under intense heat and pressure over millions of years. They are very efficient sources of energy. However, it is important to keep in mind that the energy in fossil fuels originally came from the sun and was trapped by plants and similar organisms during photosynthesis. During this process, plants also consumed carbon dioxide (CO ₂) from the atmosphere. So when fossil fuels are burned, trapped carbon is released back into the atmosphere, principally as CO ₂.

Petroleum, or crude oil, is a thick, gooey liquid that can be found within Earth's crust on land or beneath the sea floor. It was formed principally from tiny marine organisms that were buried in layers of sediment, such as sand. In addition to containing high-energy carbon compounds, petroleum contains varying amounts of substances such as oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen. Crude oil must be heated and distilled to separate it into gasoline, heating oil, diesel oil, asphalt and other materials. Some components of crude oil are used to manufacture industrial chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, plastics, medicines and other products.

Natural gas is a mixture of methane (CH ₄) and smaller amounts of related gases. It often is found above deposits of crude oil. Natural gas burns hotter and produces less air pollution than any other fossil fuel. When burned, it also releases less CO ₂, relative to the amount of energy produced.

Coal is a solid that is formed in several stages. It is a mixture of many different substances, with varying amounts of water, nitrogen and sulphur. Coal is formed from peat-a moist soil substance made of partially decayed plant material. When peat is subjected to intense heat and pressure, it becomes lignite-a brown coal. Lignite will become bituminous coal if it is placed under more heat and pressure. Bituminous coal often is used as fuel because it produces high levels of heat and is abundant. The most desirable form of coal is anthracite, a hard mineral that results from the transformation of bituminous coal under more conditions of very high heat and pressure. Anthracite is a very attractive fuel because it burns cleanly and produces great quantities of heat.

When geologists look for fossil fuels, they often drill deep into Earth. They remove narrow cores of rock and sediments and examine them for clues about the presence of oil and other fuels. This activity lets students explore the layers in a muffin representing Earth's crust, using a straw to drill "cores."

Objectives and Standards

Concepts

Fossil fuels are found within Earth's crust.

The presence of certain layers of soil and rock helps predict the presence of oil.

The supply of fossil fuels cannot be replenished.

Science, Health and Math Skills

Materials and Setup

Teacher Materials (see Setup)

24 aluminum baking cups and a cookie sheet (see Setup)

2 envelopes of bran muffin mix (plus ingredients)

2 envelopes of corn muffin mix (plus ingredients)

Green and red food coloring

Materials per Student Team or per Student

Prepared GeoMuffin (see Setup)

Cotton swab

Crayons or colored markers

Plastic serrated knife

Section of plastic straw about 8 cm (3 in.) in length

Copy of "GeoMuffin Observations" sheet

Setup

1. Bake 24 GeoMuffins (see recipe, PDF) in advance, using two envelopes of prepared bran muffin mix and two envelopes of prepared corn muffin mix, plus ingredients listed on the packages. (Cake mixtures usually are less satisfactory because the baked texture is too soft. Other flavors may be substituted as long as they are different colors and contain no fruit or nuts.)

2. Cut straws into 3-in. lengths for students to use.

3. Students may work individually or in teams of two or more.

4. As an alternative to baking, use different colors of clay or modeling dough to make the layered GeoMuffins.

Procedure and Extensions

1. Show the muffins to the class. Point out that all of the muffins look the same on the surface. Tell students that the muffins are made of layers that look similar to those visible in a cross section of Earth's crust. Explain that they will be exploring their muffins to discover whether or not the muffins hold petroleum deposits, and where those deposits might be located. Lead the class in a discussion of how fossil fuels were formed under the ground, how they are mined and how they are used.

2. Give a muffin and a "GeoMuffin Observations" sheet to each student or team of students. Ask, What do you think the inside of the muffin looks like? Without touching or removing the baking cup, instruct students to draw their predictions on their student sheets. They also should predict whether or not they will find oil (see "Geomuffin Legend," PDF).

3. Have students insert a toothpick near the edge of their muffins to represent "North." Based on what they can observe on the top surface of the muffin, have students identify six places on the muffin to "drill."

4. Demonstrate the technique to be used. Show the students how to take a core sample by gently twisting a section of plastic drinking straw into a muffin and then pulling it back out. Use a cotton swab to dislodge the core by inserting it in the top of the straw and pushing the core out the bottom.

5. Encourage students to take at least six samples, recording each sample's location on their worksheets, and then drawing and coloring the samples in order.

6. Once they have finished sampling, recording and coloring, students should evaluate their information, looking for a pattern. Based on their cores, students should draw an estimate of a side view of the muffin, showing all the layers.

7. Now instruct students to cut through the center of the muffin. They should compare their predictions with their muffins. Ask, Did the core samples give you valuable information? Why or why not? Did you find anything that predicts the presence of oil? Mention that geologists frequently look for certain patterns of layers in the cores. Certain patterns predict or suggest that oil might be present.

8. Have students consider petroleum as a resource. Ask, What happens when we burn products made from oil? Does burning oil produce carbon dioxide? Do you think we could run out of oil? Help students understand that oil and coal are resources that cannot be replaced once they have been "used up."

9. Initiate a discussion about where oil and other fossil fuels come from. Use the "Carbon Dioxide and the Carbon Cycle" page as an overhead to help students understand how photosynthesis by ancient plants and similar organisms is responsible for the carbon now found in fossil fuels. Challenge students to figure out what happens to the carbon in fossil fuels when the fuels are burned (carbon returns to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide).

Extensions

Instead of having students cut their muffins in half after making their predictions, challenge them to restore the "landscape" on the top of their muffins before proceeding with the rest of the activity.

Encourage students to use resources in the library or on the Internet to learn about other important cycles in ecosystems. Nitrogen is another example of an atmospheric gas that cycles through non-living and living parts of ecosystems in many different forms.

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Center for Educational Outreach - Baylor College of Medicine

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Physical Science Lesson: Fossil Fuels and the Carbon Cycle. Students will learn how geologists locate fossil fuels by using a straw to extract core samples from a model that has different layers. Student sheets are provided in English and in Spanish. Grades K-5

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Fossil Fuel Formation

Readiness

TEKS Objective

The student is expected to explore the processes that led to the formation of sedimentary rocks and fossil fuels.

Essential Understanding

The student knows Earth's surface is constantly changing and consists of useful resources.

Science Background

Fossil Fuels: Environmental Literacy Council (website) - Brief overview of fossil fuels (formation and uses), with links to other sites for more in-depth information.
Fossil Fuels
Environmental Literacy Council, www.enviroliteracy.org
Where Fossil Fuels Come From: EnergyQuest (website) - Information about fossil fuel formation, location, characteristics and uses.
Where Fossil Fuels Come From
California Energy Commission, Energy Quest, www.energyquest.ca.gov
The Global Carbon Cycle: BioEd Online (video) - Presentation on the carbon cycle, fossil fuels and related topics.
The Global Carbon Cycle
BioEd Online, www.bioedonline.org
About Coal: American Coal Foundation (website) - Coal-related educational materials for teachers, students and the general public.

All About Coal
American Coal Foundation, www.teachcoal.org

Signature Lesson

Geomuffin: BioEd Online (website) - Using a specially prepared muffin as a model, your class will "drill" for fossil fuels, and identify processes and materials that lead to the formation of fossil fuels.

Geomuffin
BioEd Online, www.bioedonline.org

The mural accurately depicts the life cycle of a fossil fuel, in proper sequence.

It is evident that research was conducted.

All students participated equally in creating the mural.

The mural includes clear, neat labels and a title.

The mural is colorful; artistic details were added.

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Readiness The student is expected to explore the processes that led to the formation of sedimentary rocks and fossil fuels. The student knows Earth's surface is constantly changing and consists of useful resources. Fossil Fuels: Environmental Literacy Council (website) - Brief overview of fossil fuels (formation and uses), with links to other sites for more in-depth information.

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instant access to thousands of great kids books.

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Instantly access 25,000 high-quality books for kids

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The only kids' eBook subscription service that offers thousands of high-quality books from well known publishers like HarperCollins, National Geographic and others.

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Mother Earth / Father Sky - Poems of our Planet

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Mother Earth / Father Sky - Poems of our Planet

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Mother Earth Father Sky has 13 ratings and 0 reviews. Millions of years have passed, but the earth has remained a singular miracle. Poets have written of...

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UNNATURAL CAUSES | About the series . Discussion guides | CALIFORNIA NEWSREEL

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This four-hour documentary series premiered nationally on PBS in Spring 2008, and will be rebroadcast Fridays at 10pm, October 9 through 30. Produced by California Newsreel in association with Vital Pictures, Inc. Presented by the National Minority Consortia of public television Public Impact Campaign in association with the Joint Center Health Policy Institute.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmKSrjXXxQo

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Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers | Scholastic

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The author explains how people create too much waste and how waste is now recycled and put into landfills.

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Summary

Many students don't know much about the environmental resources and locations of designated hazardous sites in and around their own neighborhood. This exercise challenges the students to learn more about their places where they live and explore the environment beyond the surrounding parks and trees. In this exercise student will explore geospatial data to locate and map the college campus, sources of water supply, destination of campus waste, and EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites. Simple analysis in a GIS will be conducted to determine the proximity of the TRI sites to water resources and the college. A follow up activity will analyze the geographic proximity between demographic groups and pollution sources within the county where the college is located.

Learning Goals

At the conclusion of this exercise students will be able to:
1. Explore the information about polluters from on line resources
2. Visualize and analyze the spatial distribution of hazardous sites in relation to other environmental and physical resources.
3. Find spatial association, if any, between critical environmental resources and pollution sites.
4. Identify any environmental injustice in the community

Context for Use

This exercise consists of a lecture/discussion and a lab activity designed for a computer lab with access to internet and ArcGIS software. The lecture part will mainly address the key concepts regarding environment, justice, environmental equity, environmental racism, pollution, top polluters, county ranking in air, water, and land release of pollutants, etc.
The lecture will be followed by one or two hands on exercises in data downloading, manipulation, analysis, and creating output in a map format using ArcGIS from ESRI. This exercise is designed for students with introductory skills in using GIS. Lab time should be at least 3 hours divided into two separate sessions in a week.

Description and Teaching Materials

Students will be given reading assignment on specific topics such as environment, sources of pollution, justice, environmental equity, and environmental racism, etc.

Teaching Notes and Tips

For the best use of lab time, instructors are encouraged to do a practice of the entire lab activity by themselves before handing it out to the students in order to identify any booby traps or tricks associated with data downloading and analysis process both outside and within the GIS software. It might be a good idea to demonstrate the the process of how to download a particular data type and the sequence of steps needed to display the data in ArcGIS.

Assessment

Assessment will be based on class participation and the lab output that will include the following:
An outline of college campus along with the following on your map template:
- County boundary with an inset map of NY state
- Major road network
- Location of drinking water source & waste sites
- TRI sites in the county with a one mile buffer around each

References and Resources

Reading Resources:
http://www.ejnet.org/
http://epa.gov/
http://scorecard.goodguide.com/

Data Source:
http://gis.ny.gov/
http://www.epa.gov/enviro/index.html
http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/index.jsp
http://iaspub.epa.gov/triexplorer/tri_release.chemical/

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teach the earth:incorporating societal issues:ethics and environmental justice

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higher education :undergraduate (lower division)

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on the cutting edge:cutting edge activity review:passed review

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Summary Many students don't know much about the environmental resources and locations of designated hazardous sites in and around their own neighborhood. This exercise challenges the students to learn more about their places where they live and explore the environment beyond the surrounding parks and trees.

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Destiny Watford fought against garbage incinerator

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In a community whose environmental rights had long been sidelined to make room for heavy industry, Destiny Watford inspired residents of a Baltimore neighborhood to defeat plans to build the nation's largest incinerator less than a mile away from her high school.
The folly of burning trash for clean energy

Curtis Bay is a highly industrialized community in south Baltimore with a history of displacing people to make room for oil refineries, chemical plants, sewage treatment plants, and other facilities that emit pollution. Those left to live within breathing distance of industry have long suffered from respiratory problems such as asthma and lung cancer. In fact, a 2013 study on emissions-related mortality rates found Baltimore to be the deadliest city, with 130 out of every 100,000 residents likely to die each year from long-term exposure to air pollution.

Despite this, in 2010, the state approved plans for the nation's largest trash incinerator to be built in Curtis Bay with promises to bring "clean" energy to the state. In reality, the developer's proposal would have the plant burning 4,000 tons of trash-brought in from outside the city-every day. Environmental studies project that burning this much trash would release more mercury than the dirtiest coal-powered plants-less than a mile away from two public schools.

From shy teenager to determined activist

Destiny Watford grew up in a tight-knit neighborhood in Curtis Bay, visiting her grandmother, going to school, and hanging out with her friends at the local public library. During her high school senior year, Watford attended a play called "Enemy of the People." Set in a small community that was being poisoned by a polluted hot spring-a major tourist attraction for the town-the play raised questions about government's role and moral responsibilities when people's health and lives are at risk. The play struck a chord with the shy young teenager, and after discussing it with a school advisor, she co-founded Free Your Voice, a student organization dedicated to community rights and social justice.

With plans for the trash incinerator moving ahead, Watford and Free Your Voice (FYV) decided to take on the campaign to protect their community from the plant's pollution and create a pathway to a truly clean energy future for the state.

In pursuit of truly clean energy

Watford and fellow students hit the streets, canvassing neighborhoods, organizing protests, and circulating petitions. In their efforts, they encountered a community that had become used to being considered a dumping ground for the rest of the state. Residents shared stories about Curtis Bay's long history of heavy industry, pollution, and displacement. Informed by these conversations, Watford and FYV took a deeper look at the community's downtrodden past, and came out determined to bring positive alternatives-thriving communities and green jobs-within reach.

A huge breakthrough moment came when Watford and Free Your Voice students discovered that Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS), along with other city government agencies and local nonprofits, had signed an agreement to purchase energy from the incinerator. In May 2014, Watford and her fellow students attended a school board meeting to urge them to divest from the project. Destiny gave a compelling presentation, students showcased art and music performances, and parents joined in with testimonies of support. They brought board members to tour Curtis Bay and the proposed incinerator site.

In February 2015, in response to concerns from students and their families, the BCPS board voted to terminate its contract with Energy Answers, the incinerator's developer. By the fall of that year, all 22 customers canceled their contracts, leaving the incinerator with no market for its product. The victory marked a moment of rebirth for Curtis Bay residents who finally felt that their voices were heard and that their health and lives mattered.

Watford and FYV turned their attention to put intense public pressure on government agencies to pull the project's permits. In March 2016, the Maryland Department of the Environment declared the incinerator's permit invalid. The community is now pushing to reclaim the site for truly clean energy alternatives such as a community solar farm and a recycling center. Watford, currently a college student at Towson, continues to organize with Free Your Voice students and other activists to bring that vision to life.

Expand to Read More Collapse

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Destiny Watford - Goldman Environmental Foundation

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From shy teenager to determined activist Destiny Watford grew up in a tight-knit neighborhood in Curtis Bay, visiting her grandmother, going to school, and hanging out with her friends at the local public library. During her high school senior year, Watford attended a play called "Enemy of the People."

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Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future: Materials for Faculty and Instructors Classroom Tested, Peer Reviewed and Designed to Fit into Your Course Explore the Teaching Materials " Support Sustainability ...

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Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site.

Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students watch the video "The Story of Stuff" with a critical eye, discuss its use in classrooms across the country, and consider consumption in their own lives. Click here for a companion lesson for Grades 3-5.

Author(s):
Amanda Christy Brown, The New York Times Learning Network
Kristin McGinn Mahoney , The New York Times Learning Network

Suggested Time Allowance: 1-2 class periods

Activities / Procedures:
Click here for a companion lesson for Grades 3-5.
1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW:
Note to Teacher: This lesson is based around a viewing of the video "The Story of Stuff", found online at storyofstuff.com (a faster-loading version is available on YouTube - search "Story of Stuff" or go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8). If your classroom does not have the requisite technology, ask students to view the video at home or at a local library. A DVD version is also available for purchase on the "Story of Stuff" Web site.
Ask students to make a list of everything they can remember throwing away during the past 24 hours. After giving them time to write, invite students to come to the board and write down one thing they threw away. Once they have made this class list, look at it together. Ask: How much of this stuff is necessary? (You may get into a discussion over what is considered "necessary" and why.) Which of the things on this list might you dispose of differently? As a class, brainstorm some alternatives to throwing away the "trash" they've listed. Examples might include bringing coffee from home in a reusable container or recycling a Starbucks cup. Ask: Why is important to think about what we use and what we throw away, and to come up with alternatives?
2. ACTIVITY:
Hand out "Studying 'Stuff'". Ask students: What do you expect from a video you watch in a science or history class? Who might narrate it? What kind of images might you see? What might its general purpose be? Tell them that today they'll be watching a video about the effects of human consumption called "The Story of Stuff," created by a woman named Annie Leonard. Before watching, review the questions on the handout so students will be primed to react to them during and after viewing. Ask them to begin by recording the expectations they just listed. Tell them to continue to take notes on the handout as they watch.
Together, watch the video "The Story of Stuff," or assign it for homework.
After they watch the film, ask students to take a few minutes to finish recording their responses and reactions on the handout. Then, bring the class together for discussion. Begin by reviewing the handout by having students share their responses and reactions to each prompt. Probe their thinking further by asking the following questions:
-What do we know about Annie Leonard from the video?
-Should we trust her? How do we know she is telling us the truth?
-Did you detect any bias? What do you think Ms. Leonard's personal views are? How can you tell?
-What images stayed in your mind? Why? What effect do the images have on you as a viewer?
-Where did you sense that Ms. Leonard used hyperbole to make a point?
-Why might she purposefully use hyperbole to provoke a response?
-Are you shocked? How does this video make you feel?
-What did you learn? Did the film change your mind about anything, or make you reflect on anything in your own life?
Tell students that this video has been used widely in U.S. classrooms to supplement curriculum on climate change and environmental issues since Leonard posted it on the Internet in 2007. Ask: Why do you think it has become popular? Tell them that The Times reported on its use of the video in schools, and that they will now read the article.
3. ARTICLE QUESTIONS:
As a class, read and discuss the article "A Cautionary Video About America's 'Stuff'", focusing on the following questions:
a. Why has "The Story of Stuff" been embraced by teachers?
b. What does nine year old Rafael de la Torre Batker's reaction illustrate about the video?
c. How might Annie Leonard's background as a Greenpeace employee color her video?
d. What was the complaint lodged against the video in Missoula County, Montana?
e. In what way might showing the video tread on academic freedom?
f. Why do teachers feel the need to supplement curriculum on environmental issues with this video?
g. Who paid for the production of the video?
h. Why does the film's length make it ideal for teachers?
i. How have some teachers used the video in their classrooms?
j. What have the effects of the video been on students?
k. What is Mark Zubar's primary objection to the film?
j. How is the case against the film in Missoula County resolved?

Tell students that the Times article generated many comments by readers, who had strong opinions both in favor of and against using this video in the classroom. The reader identified as "Alloleo, usa," for example, commented on the one-sidedness of the film, saying, "I think that's the value of this film-one piece in a conversation of many viewpoints. What's the point of education if it doesn't develop critical thinking skills?"
Once you have finished reading and discussing the article, engage students in a discussion about the film and its place in curriculum. Choose from among the following questions to design a discussion that best fits your purposes. Additional discussion questions can be found at storyofstuff.com.
-What other material have you studied that might, similarly, be considered one-sided? Can you think of anything in your textbooks that communicates a clear point of view?
-What are the merits of this film?
-What do you think of the arguments that is it too one-sided?
-+ow can this film be used responsibly in schools, as part of curriculum and part of larger conversations about the environment?
-Do you agree with this reader's assessment of the purpose of education?
-What other material do you or have you studied that might similarly be considered one-sided?
-In considering videos or other modes of delivering information, what questions do you need to ask in order to uncover possible bias and 'consume' critically?
-Why, for example, is it important to question who delivers and pays for any kind of media message?
-How can you develop your own news and media literacy and avoid being either too gullible or too cynical?
-After viewing this film, what alternate viewpoints do you think should be presented alongside it?
-Is every viewpoint equal? Does every viewpoint deserve equal "air time" and consideration? Why or why not?
-In thinking about alternate perspectives, what does Leonard leave out?
-What are the positive traits of capitalism? How is the way corporations are portrayed perhaps unfair? Are they the only beneficiaries in a capitalistic system?
-Besides offering alternate viewpoints, how else might teachers use this film with students in a productive way?
-Given that "The Story of Stuff" is a polemic (a passionately presented argument), should she have included other perspectives? How would their inclusion change the film? What are some alternative ways this information might be presented? Would they be as effective? Why or why not?
-Are there ways in which corporations can be more responsible? In other words, can environmental stewardship, sustainability, and capitalism go hand in hand?
Brainstorm ideas and possible solutions to the problems Leonard identifies on the board.
4. FOR HOMEWORK OR FUTURE CLASSES:
For homework, students keep a double-entry journal for 24 hours recording their "stuff" usage. In the left-hand column, they should record answers to the following questions: How much "stuff" do they use? What kind? What do they throw away? Where does it come from? How does it make them feel? In the right hand column, they should write down reflections on what they record on the left side: Did they need as much of this item as they used? Did they need it at all? Is there an alternative to buying this? Is there an alternative to throwing it away?
Let students know that their "stuff" diaries will not be shared with classmates and can be anonymous. The purpose of the exercise is to examine the applicability of Annie Leonard's message in their own lives, to evaluate how and to what extent is resonates, and to encourage mindfulness about what they consume going forward.
An alternative or additional homework assignment: The teacher at Woodside Priory mentioned in the article asked his students to craft a video response to Ms. Leonard's video. Students at Mendocino High School responded to their video with possible solutions to the problems Ms. Leonard identifies. Respond to both the film and criticisms of it by writing a script for an audio "director's commentary" to accompany the video, or create your own video and post it on SchoolTube. Aim to clarify the accuracy of the information presented in the film, fill in any gaps, point out any obvious bias, etc. You can download an annotated script to work from.
Related Times Resources:

ADDITIONAL TIMES ARTICLES AND MULTIMEDIA:
Op-Ed Contributor: What's Your Consumption Factor?
Op-Ed on comparative population and consumption rates in the first world and the developing world.
Dot Earth
Andrew C. Revkin's blog, which examines efforts to balance human affairs with the planet's limits.
Green Inc.
Blog on "Energy, The Environment and the Bottom Line."

The Business of Green
Special Times Business sub-section.
Times Magazine: The Green Issue
Special issue of the Sunday Magazine on going green.
Living With Less: The Human Side of the Global Recession
Articles and reader comments about coping in the economic downturn, including tips on how to consume and buy less.

LEARNING NETWORK RESOURCES:
Lesson Plan Unit: Environmental Issues
Teaching with The Times: Global Warming
Teaching with The Times: Energy
Lesson Plan: Consumed
Debating American Consumerism
Lesson Plan: Over-the-Counter Culture
Learning About How Consumerism Reflects Class
Lesson Plan: Deep Impact
Exploring the Environmental Effects of Products on the Planet
Lesson Plan: It's Easy Being Green
Exploring Simple Ways to Dramatically Reduce Energy Usage
Lesson Plan: Bag of Tricks
Developing Strategies for Inducing Behavioral Change Regarding the Use of Plastic Bags
Lesson Plan: One Foot, Two Foot, Red Foot, Green Foot
Proposing Solutions to Decrease Your Town's Carbon Footprint
Crossword Puzzle: Global Warming

Crossword Puzzle: Natural Resources

ARCHIVAL TIMES MATERIALS:
The Singer Solution to World Poverty
Controversial 1999 Sunday Magazine article by philosopher Peter Singer, arguing that consuming less and contributing more to charity is a moral imperative.
Preaching to Save Shoppers From 'Evil' of Consumerism
2003 article on Bill Talen, who performs as "Reverend Billy" of the "Church of Stop Shopping."
The Cancer of Growth
1971 Op-Ed arguing that decreasing resource consumption and protecting the environment are imperative for humanity to continue to thrive.

OTHER RESOURCES:
The Tides Foundation, sponsor of "The Story of Stuff"
NPR's Planet Money Blog: 'The Story of Stuff'
E.P.A. Student Center
The Environmental Protection Agency's student site, with activities, information about the environment and more.
Columbia University: Environmental Stewardship
Tips on reducing consumption.
Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
All about the actor/activist Bill Talen and his efforts to address excess and irresponsible consumerism.
Vocabulary:
consumption, sleeper hit, detractors, supplement, felled, unapologetic, provocative, devastation, anticapitalist, boon, interim, mandate, conventional, variable, philanthropic, counterbalance, starkness, extraction, exploitation, edgy, segue, affluent, converted, persistent, needling, bloated, advocacy, violated

Extension Activities:
1. How is the message in Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax" similar to Ms. Leonard's? Read the article at Time.com on controversy over the use of "The Lorax" in an elementary school classroom in California and compare it with the controversy in Missoula County. Or read "The Lorax and the Truax - Hey, Can We Talk?. Then write your own take-off on "The Lorax" that involves real dialogue between industry and corporations on one side and citizens and environmental activists on the other. (And consider: Are they really on different sides?)
2. Research corporations that balance making profits and environmental concerns. Resources include the E.P.A.'s National Top 50 list and Business Pundit's 25 Big Companies That Are Going Green. Report on how other companies can "go green."
3. Read the reader comment on the article from Karen Pullman of Washington . Then take a chapter from a school textbook and examine it for bias. If you discover evidence of bias, write a letter to the textbook company.
4. View the PBS special "Aflluenza" and/or the solution-oriented "Escape from Affluenza". Read the 100 Ways to Escape From Affluenza list, and then create your own list, written specifically for children and teens.
5. Invite a local economist to come in and comment on Annie Leonard's film. Is she accurately representing or oversimplifying economics? What's the economic point of view?

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Fine Arts - Review the story "Three Little Pigs". Then read "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs". Consider how point of view colors any story we hear. Then rewrite part of a novel from an alternate point of view.
Global Studies – Annie Leonard talks about the Third World and America's exploitation of its people and resources in pursuit of "stuff." Investigate the facts behind her arguments. What role does the Third World play in the American and global economy? What inequities exist? What is being done to improve conditions for workers in the Third World? Are organizations like the Fair Trade Federation really making a difference?
Technology – Look at MyCauseIs: Consumption and Consumerism page at Youth Noise, a social networking site explicitly for people under the age of 27 to share their views and connect around issues that concern them. Write a critique: How can young people use Web 2.0 tools like this to advance their causes, such as environmentalism?

Academic Content Standards:
Grades 6-8, 9-12
Economics Standard 1- Understands that scarcity of productive resources requires choices that generate opportunity costs
Economics Standard 2- Understands characteristics of different economic systems, economic institutions, and economic incentives
Economics Standard 3- Understands the concept of prices and the interaction of supply and demand in a market economy
Economics Standard 6- Understands the roles government plays in the United States economy
Science Standard 11- Understands the nature of scientific knowledge
Science Standard 12- Understands the nature of scientific inquiry
Science Standard 13- Understands the scientific enterprise
Civics Standard 1 - Understands ideas about civic life, politics, and government
Civics Standard 29 - Understands the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American constitutional democracy
Behavioral Studies Standard 1- Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity, and behavior
Behavioral Studies Standard 2- Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function
Behavioral Studies Standard 4 - Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions
Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts
Technology Standard 3- Understands the relationships among science, technology, society, and the individual
Theatre Standard 5- Understands how informal and formal théâtre, film, television, and electronic media productions create and communicate meaning
This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed above. These standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education; 3rd and 4th Editions and have been provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Aurora, Colorado.

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Amanda Christy Brown and Kristin McGinn Mahoney

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Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site. Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

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Fiction Litter Story

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foreign language study / english as a second language

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juvenile fiction / nature & the natural world / general (see also headings under animals)

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juvenile fiction / science & nature / general

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juvenile fiction / social themes / values & virtues

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juvenile fiction/science fiction - general

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juvenile fiction/social themes - values & virtues

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activity books & early learning material

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Walter is a litterbug who does not appreciate the beauty of nature, or understand his role in keeping the planet healthy . . . until a fantastic journey shows him the tragic fate that could befall Earth if humans like him are not more careful. Are Walter's actions really helping his planet ...

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The Story of Stuff Project produces short online movies and other resources that explore key features of our relationship with stuff.

So far, fourteen Movies examine sustainability, national debt, corporate power and democracy, electronics, cosmetics, bottled water, and cap and trade. The first video, The Story of Stuff, is a twenty-minute examination of production and consumption and their impacts on environmental and social issues that ends with a challenge to create a more sustainable system. The second video, The Story of Change, describes how a sustainable system could be fashioned.

In addition, Podcasts feature interviews with people who have made a change. Nine episodes (12-20 minutes) address issues as diverse as a kids' campaign to encourage Crayola to take responsibility for their unrecyclable marker tubes and a growing movement to repair, rather than replace, stuff.

Free Learning Resources For All Ages provides links to support materials, for example a reading guide for The Story of Stuff ( PDF, 454 KB, 12 pgs.).

Download from a collection of eight videos.

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The Story of Stuff Project produces short online movies and other resources that explore key features of our relationship with stuff. So far, fourteen Movies examine sustainability, national debt, corporate power and democracy, electronics, cosmetics, bottled water, and cap and trade.

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Introducing Kids to the Idea of Environmental Racism
Grade: K-5
Topics: Environmental Justice
Standards: Language Arts, Health
Comments: adaptable for pre K-K, 1-2, 3-5; 3 parts

Environmental Justice
Grades: 6-8
Topics: Sustainability, Civil Rights
Standards: National, North Carolina (Social Studies & Language Arts)
Comments: Analyzing and comparing Martin Luther King, Jr. and Al Gore.

Introducing students to environmental justice: A North Carolina case study
Grades: 8-12
Topics: Environmental Justice, Waste
Standards: North Carolina (Science & Social Studies)
Comments: Warren County, NC

Pyrethroid Panic?
Grades: 9-12
Topics: Pesticides, Health
Standards: National (Science)
Comments: link in lesson plan broken; please refer toPyrethroids in the Home: Nondietary Pesticide Exposure in Children

Whose Resource Is It?
Grades: 9-12
Topics: Environmental Justice, Industrial Pollution
Standards: Virginia (History, Geography, Government)
Comments: role play

Lesson Planet: Environmental Justice
Grades: all levels (K - higher ed)
Topics: Environmental Justice
Comments: must be a member of the website, 10-day free trial

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Introducing Kids to the Idea of Environmental Racism Grade: K-5 Topics: Environmental Justice Standards: Language Arts, Health Comments: adaptable for pre K-K, 1-2, 3-5; 3 parts Environmental Justice Grades: 6-8 Topics: Sustainability, Civil Rights Standards: National, North Carolina (Social Studies & Language Arts) Comments: Analyzing and comparing Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Students will learn how air pollution affects people of color and those living in poverty and will use a map to locate environmental injustice.

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Vocabulary

pollution [ p uh- loo-sh uhn ] (noun) material in the natural environment that does not belong there, and that damages the environment and living things, including people

inequality [ in-i- kwol-i-tee ] (noun) unfairness; a situation in which some people gain privileges simply because they are members of a group defined by race, wealth, sexual orientation or other factors. Those who are not members of those groups are denied the same privileges.

environmental justice [ en- vahy-r uhn-m uhnt-l juhs-tis ] (noun) The fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, incomes and educational levels with respect to the development and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies

environmental racism [ en- vahy-r uhn-m uhnt-l rey-siz-m ] (noun) the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color

Procedure

1. This lesson is about pollution, and why it affects some groups of people more than others. Working with a small group, clarify some definitions by answering these questions. What is pollution? What are some of its causes? What are some effects of pollution?

2. Now think about who is affected most by pollution. List your answers in the left-hand column of the chart called The Effects of Pollution: Who and Why. When you've got your list, look at the right-hand column. Think about why each group of people is affected by pollution. For example, if the left-hand column reads "people with asthma," then in the right-hand column you might write "because they have a physical health issue."

3. When you've filled in the chart, look to see if your list includes any groups of people who are affected by pollution for reasons besides their physical health. For example, do you have low-income people on your list? If not, add it to the left column, and discuss with your group why low-income people might be more affected by pollution than those who have more money.

4. Then add "members of race and ethnic minority groups" to the left-hand column if it's not already there, because members of race and ethnic minority groups are more likely to be exposed to pollution than others. Fill in the right-hand column with the reason(s) why this might be true.

5. Now look at the map Air Pollution in Minority Areas. This is a map of Connecticut. Use the guidelines below to help you interpret the information it presents. With your group, look at the key.

What two kinds of information does the map show?

What do the yellow dots represent?

What do the different shades of blue represent?

What do you notice about where the yellow dots are concentrated?

Write a sentence or two summarizing what the map shows.

Write a sentence or two explaining why the situation that the map shows exists.

What is unfair about the situation the map shows? Why might it be difficult for the people in the polluted areas to move somewhere less polluted?

Read the definition of environmental justice. What would a more environmentally just situation look like on the map?

At this point select from option 1 or 2 to conclude this lesson.
Option 1 (for a more in-depth discussion and unpacking of the concept of environmental bias):

6. As you have seen from the map of Connecticut, one way that members of race and ethnic minorities sometimes experience discrimination is the fact that air pollution sources are more likely to be located in the areas where they live. Another group that sometimes experiences discrimination is defined by their income. There is evidence that one place that income-based discrimination shows up is that people of lower economic status are more likely to live in areas near pollutants than those with higher status. Look at this evidence of the relationship of income to exposure to pollution by studying some graphs of data gathered in Massachusetts.

a. Look at graphic 1 Exposure to Chemical Releases According to Income. Write a sentence under the graph that summarizes in words what it shows. Then do the same for graphic 2 Exposure to Hazardous Waste Sites According to Income. What relationship do the graphs show between income and exposure to pollution?

b. Complete the same tasks for the two remaining graphs 3 and 4: Exposure to Hazardous Waste Sites According to Race and Exposure to Chemical Releases According to Race. What relationship do the graphs show between race and exposure to pollution?

7. The data show that race and income are connected to exposure to pollution. As a class, discuss reasons why that might be true. Define the term "environmental bias." Do you think environmental bias is happening in the situations shown in the graphs? In other words, do you think that it is an institutionalized system that unfairly deprives people of the right not to be exposed to toxins? Do you think it is an institutionalized system that unfairly protects some people from such exposure simply because of their race, ethnicity, or financial status? Why or why not?

8. Look at your own community, town, or state. What examples of environmental biases do you see? For example, do highways, with their noise and pollution, cut through neighborhoods where people who are poor live? Do people who are members of poor and/or minority communities live near power plants that pollute the air? Then see if there are any groups that are addressing these inequalities. If so, contact them to see how you can help. If not, look at what groups in other areas are doing to address environmental biases. What can you do to address similar problems in your area?
Option 2:
6. Think about your community.

a. What source(s) of pollution exist? For example, does a major highway cut through your town, exposing residents to a lot of noise and fumes? Is there a landfill or a hazardous waste disposal area? Is there a power plant that is noisy and puts smoke into the air?

b. Who lives in the areas where these pollutants are concentrated? Is there a pattern similar to what you saw on the map of Connecticut?

c. Are there any organizations or individuals in your area talking about the situation being unjust?

7. What would a more environmentally just situation look like in your community?

Find out about efforts in your area to secure environmental justice. If there is a local organization, invite a member to speak to your class. If not, see if you can start a group at your school to learn more about environmental justice.

Summarizing What You've Learned

One way to consolidate what you've learned is to summarize it. Think of it as explaining what you've learned to someone who doesn't know anything about it. Do this using one of the following techniques, or use one of your own.

Write a paragraph.

Make a bulleted list of the key points.

Make a slide show (with or without illustrations).

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pollution [ p uh- loo-sh uhn ] (noun) material in the natural environment that does not belong there, and that damages the environment and living things, including people inequality [ in-i- kwol-i-tee ] (noun) unfairness; a situation in which some people gain privileges simply because they are members of a group defined by race, wealth, sexual orientation or other factors.

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Environmental Justice Unit Designed for 3rd and 4th Grade by: Jenna Harmsen

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Environmental Justice Unit Designed for 3rd and 4th Grade by: Jenna Harmsen

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This website was designed to give access to the Environmental Justice unit that I have designed for students in third/fourth grade. All of the lessons were created and or adapted by myself in my...

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Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS): Critical Thinking and Inclusive Discussion

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VTS is an education nonprofit providing schools and museums with curriculum, professional development, and training in critical thinking skills.

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These activities have been submitted by faculty from a range of disciplines. The activities use a wide array of pedagogic approaches to address environmental justice. HelpResults 1 - 19 of 19 matches Local Garbage ...

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Walk up a trail of bridges to the treetops of the Adirondack forest. Visit a four-story twig tree house, swing on bridges, clamber over a spider's web or climb to the full-sized bald eagle's nest at the highest point.

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Just two years ago, amid global fanfare, the Paris climate accords were signed - initiating what seemed, for a brief moment, like the beginning of a planet-saving movement. But almost immediately, the international goal it established of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius began to seem, to many of the world's most vulnerable, dramatically inadequate; the Marshall Islands' representative gave it a blunter name, calling two degrees of warming "genocide."

The alarming new report you may have read about this week from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - which examines just how much better 1.5 degrees of warming would be than 2 - echoes the charge. "Amplifies" may be the better term. Hundreds of millions of lives are at stake, the report declares, should the world warm more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which it will do as soon as 2040, if current trends continue. Nearly all coral reefs would die out, wildfires and heat waves would sweep across the planet annually, and the interplay between drought and flooding and temperature would mean that the world's food supply would become dramatically less secure. Avoiding that scale of suffering, the report says, requires such a thorough transformation of the world's economy, agriculture, and culture that "there is no documented historical precedent." The New York Times declared that the report showed a "strong risk" of climate crisis in the coming decades; in Grist, Eric Holthaus wrote that "civilization is at stake."

If you are alarmed by those sentences, you should be - they are horrifying. But it is, actually, worse than that - considerably worse. That is because the new report's worst-case scenario is, actually, a best case. In fact, it is a beyond-best-case scenario. What has been called a genocidal level of warming is already our inevitable future. The question is how much worse than that it will get.

Barring the arrival of dramatic new carbon-sucking technologies, which are so far from scalability at present that they are best described as fantasies of industrial absolution, it will not be possible to keep warming below two degrees Celsius - the level the new report describes as a climate catastrophe. As a planet, we are coursing along a trajectory that brings us north of four degrees by the end of the century. The IPCC is right that two degrees marks a world of climate catastrophe. Four degrees is twice as bad as that. And that is where we are headed, at present - a climate hell twice as hellish as the one the IPCC says, rightly, we must avoid at all costs. But the real meaning of the report is not "climate change is much worse than you think," because anyone who knows the state of the research will find nothing surprising in it. The real meaning is, "you now have permission to freak out."

As recently as a year ago, when I published a magazine cover story exploring worst-case scenarios for climate change, alarmism of this kind was considered anathema to many scientists, who believed that storytelling that focused on the scary possibilities was just as damaging to public engagement as denial. There have been a few scary developments in climate research over the past year - more methane from Arctic lakes and permafrost than expected, which could accelerate warming; an unprecedented heat wave, arctic wildfires, and hurricanes rolling through both of the world's major oceans this past summer. But by and large the consensus is the same: We are on track for four degrees of warming, more than twice as much as most scientists believe is possible to endure without inflicting climate suffering on hundreds of millions or threatening at least parts of the social and political infrastructure we call, grandly, "civilization." The only thing that changed, this week, is that the scientists, finally, have hit the panic button.

Because the numbers are so small, we tend to trivialize the differences between one degree and two, two degrees and four. Human experience and memory offers no good analogy for how we should think about those thresholds, but with degrees of warming, as with world wars or recurrences of cancer, you don't want to see even one.

At two degrees, the melting of ice sheets will pass a tipping point of collapse, flooding dozens of the world's major cities this century. At that amount of warming, it is estimated, global GDP, per capita, will be cut by 13 percent. Four hundred million more people will suffer from water scarcity, and even in the northern latitudes heat waves will kill thousands each summer. It will be worse in the planet's equatorial band. In India, where many cities now numbering in the many millions would become unliveably hot, there would be 32 times as many extreme heat waves, each lasting five times as long and exposing, in total, 93 times more people. This is two degrees - practically speaking, our absolute best-case climate scenario.

At three degrees, southern Europe will be in permanent drought. The average drought in Central America would last 19 months and in the Caribbean 21 months. In northern Africa, the figure is 60 months - five years. The areas burned each year by wildfires would double in the Mediterranean and sextuple in the United States. Beyond the sea-level rise, which will already be swallowing cities from Miami Beach to Jakarta, damages just from river flooding will grow 30-fold in Bangladesh, 20-fold in India, and as much as 60-fold in the U.K. This is three degrees - better than we'd do if all the nations of the world honored their Paris commitments, which none of them are. Practically speaking, barring those dramatic tech deus ex machinas, this seems to me about as positive a realistic outcome as it is rational to expect.

At four degrees, there would be eight million cases of dengue fever each year in Latin America alone. Global grain yields could fall by as much as 50 percent, producing annual or close-to-annual food crises. The global economy would be more than 30 percent smaller than it would be without climate change, and we would see at least half again as much conflict and warfare as we do today. Possibly more. Our current trajectory, remember, takes us higher still, and while there are many reasons to think we will bend that curve soon - the plummeting cost of renewable energy, the growing global consensus about phasing out coal - it is worth remembering that, whatever you may have heard about the green revolution and the price of solar, at present, global carbon emissions are still growing.

None of the above is news - most of that data is drawn from this single, conventional-wisdom fact sheet. In fact, nothing in the IPCC report is news, either; not to the scientific community or to climate activists or even to anyone who's been a close reader of new research about warming over the last few years. That is what the IPCC does: It does not introduce new findings or even new perspectives, but rather corrals the messy mass of existing, pedigreed scientific research into consensus assessments designed to deliver to the policymakers of the world an absolutely unquestionable account of the state of knowledge. Almost since the panel was convened, in 1988, it has been criticized for being too cautious in its assessment of the problem - a large body of temperamentally cautious scientists zeroing on those predictions they can all agree on (and which, they may have hoped, policymakers might find workable). The panel's Wikipedia page has separate subsections for "Outdatedness of reports" and "Conservative nature of IPCC reports."

Which is why it is so remarkable that the tone of this report is so alarmist - it's not that the news about climate has changed, but that the scientific community is finally discarding caution in describing the implications of its own finding.

They have also, thankfully, offered a practical suggestion, proposing the imposition of a carbon tax many, many times higher than those currently in use or being considered - they propose raising the cost of a ton of carbon possibly as high $5,000 by 2030, a price they suggest may have to grow to $27,000 per ton by 2100. Today, the average price of carbon across 42 major economies is just $8 per ton. The new Nobel laureate in economics, William Nordhaus, made his name by almost inventing the economic study of climate change, and his preferred carbon tax is $40 per ton - which would probably land us at about 3.5 degrees of warming. He considers that grotesque level "optimal."

But a carbon tax is only a spark to action, not action itself. And the action needed is at a scale and a speed almost unimaginable to most of us. The IPCC report called it unprecedented. Other activists often see one precedent, in all of human history, citing the model of how the United States prepared for World War II, and calling for a global mobilization of that kind - all of the world's rivalrous societies and nationalistic governments and self-interested industries organized around the common pursuit of a stable and comfortable climate as though warming was an existential threat.

It is. And the World War II mobilization metaphor is not hyperbole. To avoid warming of the kind the IPCC now calls catastrophic requires a complete rebuilding of the entire energy infrastructure of the world, a thorough reworking of agricultural practices and diet to entirely eliminate carbon emissions from farming, and a battery of cultural changes to the way those of us in the wealthy West, at least, conduct our lives. And we need to do all of that in two, or possibly three, decades. As a comparison, simply the last phase of the recent three-stop extension of New York City's Second Avenue subway line took 12 years. All told, from the first groundbreaking, the project took 45 years.

That is not to say it's over or we're doomed. Stalling warming below four degrees is better than surpassing it, keeping temperatures below three is better still, and the closer we get to two degrees the more miraculous. That is because climate change isn't binary, and doesn't just kick in, full force, at any particular temperature level; it's a function that gets worse over time as long as we produce greenhouse gases. How long we continue to is, really, up to us, which is to say it will be determined in the province of politics, which is to say public panic like that produced by the IPCC report can be a very productive form of policy pressure.

There are also those far-fetched alternatives I mentioned - carbon capture and solar geoengineering - but each is far from workable at the moment and, even in theory, come with really scary drawbacks. But even if the technology becomes dramatically cheaper and more efficient over the next few years, you would need to build them out across the globe, as well - whole plantations sucking carbon almost everywhere on the planet. It will take quite a long time to build those, in other words, even if they worked, and we simply don't have that many years left to act.

A few weeks ago, as the IPCC report loomed, I had lunch with a prominent climate scientist who'd been involved in earlier reports and has done considerable work on local preparedness as well. I asked if he thought New York would eventually build a sea wall or surge barrier to protect the city from sea-level rise and flooding. Yes, he said, Manhattan will be protected, at any cost. But major infrastructure projects like these take decades - typically about 30 years. Even if we began building today, he said, the barrier would not be finished in time to save Howard Beach and other parts of southern Queens and Brooklyn. Soon enough, he said, you'll see the city adjust accordingly - halting new infrastructure projects there, eventually pulling back from even quotidian maintenance like sewer repairs and generally signaling to current residents that they will not be able to leave behind their homes, when they die, to their children. And of course a sea wall to protect New York only encloses the narrows of New York Harbor, leaving all of Long Island exposed.

This is just the threat from sea level, and just one (very rich) metropolitan area. The world is much bigger than that, but so is climate change. It is also very fast, with more than half the carbon humanity has ever emitted into the atmosphere having come in just the last 25 years, since Al Gore published his first book on climate change. Monday's IPCC may seem like a dramatic departure, and it is. But there is going to be much more like it coming. So long as we continue to squander what little time we have, the news will only get worse from here.

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UN Says Climate Genocide Is Coming. It's Actually Worse Than That.

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Just two years ago, amid global fanfare, the Paris climate accords were signed - initiating what seemed, for a brief moment, like the beginning of a planet-saving movement. But almost immediately, the international goal it established of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius began to seem, to many of the world's most vulnerable, dramatically inadequate; the Marshall Islands' representative gave it a blunter name, calling two degrees of warming "genocide."

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A Growing Global Movement to Break Free From Plastic

There is now one ton of plastic for every person on Earth - over half of which has been produced in the last 13 years. But we can no longer ignore the consequences of our plastic habit, which is devastating people and ecosystems in every corner of the globe. Plastic pollution is poisoning communities, choking our oceans, and represents a global crisis that demands a global solution.

The #breakfreefromplastic movement is working to change that story. Changemakers from over 20 countries have convened an ambitious strategy to stop plastic at its source and illuminate the true cost of our plastic habit.

For more than four decades, Big Plastic has been telling us it's 'our fault' pollution happens as a result of plastic use. But we in the #breakfreefromplastic movement know it's the fault of the companies who make it, market it, and distribute it throughout the world, often in places with no infrastructure to deal with it. And we've set out to change that. Read more...

For too long, massive corporations headquartered in the global North like Dow, Exxon, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever have ignored the voices of communities in the global south who suffer the most severe consequences of the plastic crisis. Instead, they've pushed false fixes while dumping evermore plastic into the developing world. But these companies can't hide behind geography any longer - now, a multi-national group of changemakers are talking about solutions on a global scale. Read more...

On a warm early March day in the San Francisco Bay Area, we met up to begin developing one of our most ambitious film projects since the original Story of Stuff. Read more...

When consumers in the developed world throw something "away," where does it really go? We're following the trail of plastic around the globe as we prepare for our biggest movie yet, The Story of Plastic. Read more...

This movement is rooted in values of human rights and equity, and in this movement, members from the global north are following the leadership, knowledge, and solutions being set forth by leaders from Indonesia, India, Philippines, Malaysia, and China who are pioneering a new zero waste paradigm. Meet Tiza Mafira for instance, a super savvy environmental lawyer leading Indonesia's national plastic bag policy. In collaboration with local organizations and changemakers, she founded Plastic Bag Diet in 2013. Read more...

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A Growing Global Movement to Break Free From Plastic - The Story of Stuff Project

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There is now one ton of plastic for every person on Earth - over half of which has been produced in the last 13 years. But we can no longer ignore the consequences of our plastic habit, which is devastating people and ecosystems in every corner of the globe.

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Attention teachers! Contact us to schedule an interactive presentation for your classroom. Programs are free to all district schools.

Addison County SWMD offers a variety of classroom presentations that are dynamic and educational. Through the Addison County SWMD schools and teachers can help provide students with information regarding the Universal Recycling Law (Act 148) and composting. Through these classroom presentations the Addison County SWMD hopes to educate kids and teachers on how to keep organics and recyclables out of landfills. Contact us to schedule your visit today, or come to our facility and tour the District's transfer station to learn just where everything you are throwing away is going!

The Northeast Resource Recovery Association's (NRRA) school recycling club is one aspect of establishing recycling education in schools that can be accessed through the Addison County SWMD. The programs listed below are offered by the NRRA to help promote or advance a school's efforts, network with other school groups. These programs are completely free to district schools when contacted through ACSWMD.

School Grants - We'll cover 75% of the job!
What are the Grants for:

1. The start up of a new school recycling, composting or reuse project

2. Capital improvements to or expansion of existing school recycling, composting or reuse projects

3. Feasibility studies on how to comply with the diversion mandates of VT Act 148.

4. The purchase of equipment, bins or containers needed to comply with the diversion mandates of VT Act 148.

Eligibility: K-12 public and non-profit schools that are within the Addison County Solid Waste District.

View the grant in its entirety here to learn more: https://www.addisoncountyrecycles.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/ACSWMD-School-Diversion-Grant-App.pdf
The following schools have already taken advantage of this great opportunity to reduce waste:

Addison Central School District

Bridge School

Leicester Central School

Mary Hogan Elementary School

Middlebury Union High School

Middlebury Union Middle School

Monkton Central School

Mount Abraham Union Middle/High School

Orwell Village School

Shoreham Elementary School

Vergennes Union High School

Join these schools today! Call 802-388-2333.

Recycling and Art

Image credit: Recycled Night by Aaron Buehring

See our Resources page for a list of links that can help you make recycling into a form of artistic expression.

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Attention teachers! Contact us to schedule an interactive presentation for your classroom. Programs are free to all district schools. Addison County SWMD offers a variety of classroom presentations that are dynamic and educational. Through the Addison County SWMD schools and teachers can help provide students with information regarding the Universal Recycling Law (Act 148) and composting.

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Racist/classist distribution of pollution

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Vocabulary

pollution [ p uh- loo-sh uhn ] (noun) material in the natural environment that does not belong there, and that damages the environment and living things, including people

inequality [ in-i- kwol-i-tee ] (noun) unfairness; a situation in which some people gain privileges simply because they are members of a group defined by race, wealth, sexual orientation or other factors. Those who are not members of those groups are denied the same privileges.

environmental justice [ en- vahy-r uhn-m uhnt-l juhs-tis ] (noun) The fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, incomes and educational levels with respect to the development and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies

environmental racism [ en- vahy-r uhn-m uhnt-l rey-siz-m ] (noun) the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color

Procedure

1. This lesson is about pollution, and why it affects some groups of people more than others. Working with a small group, clarify some definitions by answering these questions. What is pollution? What are some of its causes? What are some effects of pollution?

2. Now think about who is affected most by pollution. List your answers in the left-hand column of the chart called The Effects of Pollution: Who and Why. When you've got your list, look at the right-hand column. Think about why each group of people is affected by pollution. For example, if the left-hand column reads "people with asthma," then in the right-hand column you might write "because they have a physical health issue."

3. When you've filled in the chart, look to see if your list includes any groups of people who are affected by pollution for reasons besides their physical health. For example, do you have low-income people on your list? If not, add it to the left column, and discuss with your group why low-income people might be more affected by pollution than those who have more money.

4. Then add "members of race and ethnic minority groups" to the left-hand column if it's not already there, because members of race and ethnic minority groups are more likely to be exposed to pollution than others. Fill in the right-hand column with the reason(s) why this might be true.

5. Now look at the map Air Pollution in Minority Areas. This is a map of Connecticut. Use the guidelines below to help you interpret the information it presents. With your group, look at the key.

What two kinds of information does the map show?

What do the yellow dots represent?

What do the different shades of blue represent?

What do you notice about where the yellow dots are concentrated?

Write a sentence or two summarizing what the map shows.

Write a sentence or two explaining why the situation that the map shows exists.

What is unfair about the situation the map shows? Why might it be difficult for the people in the polluted areas to move somewhere less polluted?

Read the definition of environmental justice. What would a more environmentally just situation look like on the map?

At this point select from option 1 or 2 to conclude this lesson.
Option 1 (for a more in-depth discussion and unpacking of the concept of environmental bias):

6. As you have seen from the map of Connecticut, one way that members of race and ethnic minorities sometimes experience discrimination is the fact that air pollution sources are more likely to be located in the areas where they live. Another group that sometimes experiences discrimination is defined by their income. There is evidence that one place that income-based discrimination shows up is that people of lower economic status are more likely to live in areas near pollutants than those with higher status. Look at this evidence of the relationship of income to exposure to pollution by studying some graphs of data gathered in Massachusetts.

a. Look at graphic 1 Exposure to Chemical Releases According to Income. Write a sentence under the graph that summarizes in words what it shows. Then do the same for graphic 2 Exposure to Hazardous Waste Sites According to Income. What relationship do the graphs show between income and exposure to pollution?

b. Complete the same tasks for the two remaining graphs 3 and 4: Exposure to Hazardous Waste Sites According to Race and Exposure to Chemical Releases According to Race. What relationship do the graphs show between race and exposure to pollution?

7. The data show that race and income are connected to exposure to pollution. As a class, discuss reasons why that might be true. Define the term "environmental bias." Do you think environmental bias is happening in the situations shown in the graphs? In other words, do you think that it is an institutionalized system that unfairly deprives people of the right not to be exposed to toxins? Do you think it is an institutionalized system that unfairly protects some people from such exposure simply because of their race, ethnicity, or financial status? Why or why not?

8. Look at your own community, town, or state. What examples of environmental biases do you see? For example, do highways, with their noise and pollution, cut through neighborhoods where people who are poor live? Do people who are members of poor and/or minority communities live near power plants that pollute the air? Then see if there are any groups that are addressing these inequalities. If so, contact them to see how you can help. If not, look at what groups in other areas are doing to address environmental biases. What can you do to address similar problems in your area?
Option 2:
6. Think about your community.

a. What source(s) of pollution exist? For example, does a major highway cut through your town, exposing residents to a lot of noise and fumes? Is there a landfill or a hazardous waste disposal area? Is there a power plant that is noisy and puts smoke into the air?

b. Who lives in the areas where these pollutants are concentrated? Is there a pattern similar to what you saw on the map of Connecticut?

c. Are there any organizations or individuals in your area talking about the situation being unjust?

7. What would a more environmentally just situation look like in your community?

Find out about efforts in your area to secure environmental justice. If there is a local organization, invite a member to speak to your class. If not, see if you can start a group at your school to learn more about environmental justice.

Summarizing What You've Learned

One way to consolidate what you've learned is to summarize it. Think of it as explaining what you've learned to someone who doesn't know anything about it. Do this using one of the following techniques, or use one of your own.

Write a paragraph.

Make a bulleted list of the key points.

Make a slide show (with or without illustrations).

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pollution [ p uh- loo-sh uhn ] (noun) material in the natural environment that does not belong there, and that damages the environment and living things, including people inequality [ in-i- kwol-i-tee ] (noun) unfairness; a situation in which some people gain privileges simply because they are members of a group defined by race, wealth, sexual orientation or other factors.

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Beginning/end of unit?

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About this film

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Share

Movie Resources

Credits

The Story of Stuff was written by Annie Leonard, Louis Fox, and Jonah Sachs, directed by Louis Fox and produced by Free Range Studios. Executive Producers included Tides Foundation and the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption. It was released in December 2007.

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About this film From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.

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As part of a topic on materials, this clip could be watched to show the various properties of plastic, how it is manufactured, as well as to introduce key words to describe plastic (as well as other materials) - opaque, transparent. Initially, children could be given a range of plastic objects and asked to describe their properties, choosing appropriate words from a list. eg flexible, soft, hard, see-through (transparent), opaque. Teachers could demonstrate how these properties allow plastic to be used for many different uses. Children could list as many examples as possible of plastic objects that they know. The clip provides a useful plenary to summarise the main features of plastic and provides additional information about its manufacturing.

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BBC Bitesize - KS1 Science - Production and use of plastics

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As part of a topic on materials, this clip could be watched to show the various properties of plastic, how it is manufactured, as well as to introduce key words to describe plastic (as well as other materials) - opaque, transparent.

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Features Isatou Ceesay (One Plastic Bag)

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Climate Heroes, get inspired to act against climate change

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Climate Heroes is a photography and educational essay for the public, telling stories of men & women who have started acting to mitigate Climate Change.

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Life cycle of the tree

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The Gift of the Tree has 76 ratings and 26 reviews. midnightfaerie said: Really loved this book. The paintings were beautiful and detailed and it went th...

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Environment / Climate Justice | Social Justice Books

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Here are titles on the environment for children, young adults, and educators.

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Center for Health, Environment & Justice

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At the beginning of March representatives for CHEJ, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Just Moms STL protested outside EPA Headquarters in DC to draw attention to the radioactive waste fire endangering children near the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri. One of the more memorable parts of the protest occurred when children at the rally took the megaphone and began leading chants. However, as powerful as that moment was, it can be difficult to know how to introduce children to the topics of environmental justice and environmental racism. How soon is too soon to teach them about these topics? How much information should be covered? Where should we begin?

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (part of the NIH) website hosts kid-friendly webpages that can help adults explain complex subjects like environmental justice (EJ). The webpage boils EJ down to a simple, but important definition: "Environmental Justice is a new term that simply means making sure that everyone has a fair chance of living the healthiest life possible." It explains environmental risks and uses the concept of "fairness" to help kids identify environmental justice issues and contextualize examples in their day-to-day lives.

Online teaching resources include lesson plans to introduce EJ topics in the classroom. One accessible activity from tolerance.org had the facilitator hand out wrapped candy as well as two different colors of cards. After the students eat their candy, everyone with a red card gives their trash to someone with a blue card and that person has to hold onto the trash. This activity is meant to spark a conversation about fairness, privilege, and, depending on the group, environmental racism.

In addition to classroom activities, books and youtube videos can be great conversation starters. A Mighty Girl recommends numerous environmental books about environmental heroes, innovation, and revitalization. Youtube videos can present some intimidating facts, but introduce environmental justice well, and many videos like this one by Kid President show kids that they can make a difference.

Though teaching children about difficult topics like environmental justice and environmental racism can seem challenging, the resources available can make these important conversations easier. They can help us frame these topics in a way that isn't hopeless, a way that empowers children to truly be the change they wish to see in the world. So let's embrace the challenge and bring children into these conversations; otherwise we'll never know what insight they may have. Let's start cultivating the future leaders of our movement.

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The Movement's Future: Teaching Our Kids about Environmental Justice

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At the beginning of March representatives for CHEJ, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Just Moms STL protested outside EPA Headquarters in DC to draw attention to the radioactive waste fire endangering children near the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri.

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Voces De Nuestra Tierra (Peru)

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Critical Reading Mini-Lessons | CENTER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

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These critical reading materials are a collection of mini-lessons designed to teach in simple and quick ways the various strategies needed for understanding and evaluating texts of all kinds from all disciplines.

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The One Plastic Bag

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Background Resources: Arsenic in Water VT

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Background Resources: Arsenic in Water VT

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Arsenic levels can be lowered in drinking water with treatment. Arsenic in water comes in two forms. Adsorptive filters and countertop distillation units remove both types.

Adsorptive Filters

As the water flows through the filter, arsenic sticks to the filter, which contains a type of granular iron oxide.

Countertop (plug-in) Distillation Units

These units boil water and then recondense the steam. The arsenic is left behind during this process, along with hardness and other minerals. These units can produce several gallons of arsenic-free water per day.

Some treatments require the water to go through an "oxidation" process first in order to change arsenic into a form that can be removed. Treatment system options for the second step are anion exchange, reverse osmosis and carbon block.

Anion Exchange Treatment

Anion exchange is a treatment like water softening, but uses a different media that exchanges the arsenic for chloride. This is installed as a whole house system (point-of-entry or POE).

Reverse Osmosis

This system uses a synthetic membrane that allows water to go through but leaves arsenic behind. The membrane is continually rinsed. This system is typically installed under a kitchen sink (point-of-use), but can also be installed POE system.

Carbon Block

This technology lowers total arsenic as the water passes through a solid carbon block. Look for National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Standard 53 Certification, which verifies that the filter will remove arsenic.

Re-test for arsenic after any treatment system is installed to make sure levels are below the drinking water standard.

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Arsenic levels can be lowered in drinking water with treatment. Arsenic in water comes in two forms. Adsorptive filters and countertop distillation units remove both types. Adsorptive Filters As the water flows through the filter, arsenic sticks to the filter, which contains a type of granular iron oxide.

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I was the only person ever to canoe the entire Hudson River from its source at Lake Tear of the Clouds on the edge of Mount Marcy to the sea.

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Political ramifications of water scarcity

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"There's Money in Thirst," reads a headline in the New York Times. The CEO of Nestlé, purveyor of bottled water, heartily agrees. It is important to give water a market value, he says in a promotional video, so "we're all aware that it has a price." But for those who have no access to clean water-a fifth of the world's population-the price is thirst. This is the frightening landscape that Karen Piper leads us through in The Price of Thirst -one where thirst is political, drought is a business opportunity, and more and more of our most necessary natural resource is controlled by multinational corporations.

In visits to the hot spots of water scarcity and the hotshots in water finance, Piper shows us what happens when global businesses with mafia-like powers buy up the water supply and turn off the taps of people who cannot pay: border disputes between Iraq and Turkey, a "revolution of the thirsty" in Egypt, street fights in Greece, an apartheid of water rights in South Africa. The Price of Thirst takes us to Chile, the first nation to privatize 100 percent of its water supplies, creating a crushing monopoly instead of a thriving free market in water; to New Delhi, where the sacred waters of the Ganges are being diverted to a private water treatment plant, fomenting unrest; and to Iraq, where the U.S.-mandated privatization of water resources destroyed by our military is further destabilizing the volatile region. And in our own backyard, where these same corporations are quietly buying up water supplies, Piper reveals how "water banking" is drying up California farms in favor of urban sprawl and private towns.

The product of seven years of investigation across six continents and a dozen countries, and scores of interviews with CEOs, activists, environmentalists, and climate change specialists, The Price of Thirst paints a harrowing picture of a world out of balance, with the distance between the haves and have-nots of water inexorably widening and the coming crisis moving ever closer.

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"There's Money in Thirst," reads a headline in the New York Times. The CEO of Nestlé, purveyor of bottled water, heartily agrees. It is important to give water a market value, he says in a promotional video, so "we're all aware that it has a price."

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Digestive system

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The stomach is full of acid

The acid breaks down the food

The food goes into the small intestine where nutrients are aborbed

Then it goes into the large intestine where the water is squeezed out

Then the left over food comes out as poop.

Beginning Discussion - Focused on discussing our food and stomachs, their importance, our favorite foods, why we need to eat good foods, how those good food nutrients work in our body to make us healthy and strong.
Language - We worked our body parts word wall, going over the internal organ names, reviewing beginning and ending sounds.

Math - We laid out a "small intestine" to see how long 20 feet was and compared that to a 5 foot large intestine. While creating the number line, we worked on our number order, number identification, and odd/even. Even though they are right around 3, the children were able to complete the number line independently.

Of course, we had to measure some other large items as well...

Science & Fine Motor -How our bodies break down food: Give each child a slice of bread, have them tear it into pieces (teeth), add water and stir (spit), add more water (stomach acid) have them mush it with their hands (stomach muscles mushing), pour onto a towel and roll up (small intestine) and see how the water comes out (nutrients), squeeze the towel (large intestine) and open to find the solid (poop).

Gross Motor - For gross motor the children took turns laying down on a cot and placing the body parts.

This was available as a free choice activity throughout the rest of the unit.
Song/Finger Play - Again, I couldn't find ANY songs or finger plays that addressed the digestive system, so I made up my own.

Digestion [Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It]
Original song by Little Stars LearningBooks -This is the book we read today.

If you're hungry and you know it eat some food
If you're hungry and you know it eat some food
If you're hungry and you know it, then you really ought to do it
If you're hungry and you know it eat some food.

Chomp, chomp, chomp it with your teeth
Chomp, chomp, chomp it with your teeth
Mix it with your spit and send it down your esophagus
Soon your stomach won't feel uncomfortable.

Mix it in your stomach with some acid
Mix it in your stomach with some acid
Then send it on its way so the small intestine may
Get all the nutrients your body needs

Pull out the water and the nutrients
Pull out the water and the nutrients
As your food moves along, through intestines small and large
The end results create a nice and solid poop.

Although the book below is above our level, the graphics were wonderful to study and discuss.

We've just finished being in potty-training mode, so had this one handy, another good preschool book to go along with this unit.

YouTube- Digestive System by KidsHealthVideos

We really had a fun time on this first day of internal anatomy. We are all excited for tomorrow!
Tags: anatomy, preschool, pre-k, childcare, child, care, science, digestion, digestive, stomach, liver, intestine, esophagus, poop, printable, theme, unit, body, parts,

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Our Body - Week 1 Body Parts - Day 3 Digestive System

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The stomach is full of acid The acid breaks down the food The food goes into the small intestine where nutrients are aborbed Then it goes into the large intestine where the water is squeezed out Then the left over food comes out as poop.

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Pulmonary System Resource

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Oxygen’s surprisingly complex journey through your body - Enda Butler

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Members of the community rowing club rowed to Kingsland Bay on Sunday, Aug 19. With sunny skies, they left North Harbor in the morning to row leisurely north, pausing for scenery breaks and chatting all the way. Once at Kingsland Bay, some rowers went for a swim, others napped, and everyone shared a sumptuous pot luck picnic. On the return ...

Do you love Lake Champlain and its historical lore? Are you an experienced leader and mentor with knowledge of the nonprofit world? Then we have the job for you! The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is looking for an enthusiastic, environmentally aware, history curious, education minded, people person to become our Executive Director. LCMM is a unique blend of museum and ...

Position Description: Educator for year-round education programs. AC members teach and mentor students, lead school groups, create curricula and lead maritime adventure camps. Service may include teaching after-school programs, communicating with local partners, outreach to schools, or research of ecology, history and archaeology content. Type of AmeriCorps State Position: Full time Minimum Hrs: 1710 Hours Time frame: 9/15/18-9/14-19 Preferred Qualifications: ...

On Saturday, July 21st, the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum's Community Rowing program entered in the lengthy and notorious race, The Blackburn Challenge for the first time. Held yearly in Gloucester, MA, this 20-plus mile race circumnavigates Cape Ann. Rowers Mike Crane, Lisa Percival, Gretchen Richer, Tim Cowan, Andrew Rainville, and Mary Hennessy attended regular LCMM Community Rowing practices and were ably ...

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Members of the community rowing club rowed to Kingsland Bay on Sunday, Aug 19. With sunny skies, they left North Harbor in the morning to row leisurely north, pausing for scenery breaks and chatting all the way. Once at Kingsland Bay, some rowers went for a swim, others napped, and everyone shared a sumptuous pot luck picnic.

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Pulmonary System Resource

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Mini-lesson timeline

Single-point Rubric; Checklist; Outline for Nonfiction picture book

Write lesson plans for each lesson - include differentiation and how to use Tammy

Texts to use (check school library, go to Ilsley)

Investigations/videos/provocations

Go through the Inquiry myself before - book - what question to start with...

Rationale

IB lesson planner

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NGSS Standards

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Why do I have to clean a fish tank but not a pond?

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Why do I have to clean a fish tank but not a pond?

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Get Brandi's log in
https://mysteryscience.com/

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IB Learner Profile Attributes

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Mystery Science Kit - Hot and Cold Water - Idea of condensation - water that collects on glass

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Water: Seymour Simon - matched with Standards

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From award-winning science writer Seymour Simon comes a brand-new nonfiction photo essay picture book that explores the one thing on Earth we cannot live without: water!Learn all about the water cycle, the effect on our planet of rising ocean temperatures, how essential clean water is around the ...

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Water Scarcity - Refugees

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Behind barbed-wire fences at this camp in northern Jordan, about 33,000 Syrians-half of them children-exist uneasily, housed in rows of rudimentary shelters that barely protect them from the winter cold.

Drinking water must be brought in daily by dozens of tanker trucks or pumped from desert boreholes that overexploit Jordan's largest groundwater basin.

As in Jordan, the world's refugee crisis, which is intimately linked with water availability both in the homelands that people escape and in the camps where they find shelter, is large and growing. Some 66 million people -a France-sized population-are displaced.

An estimated 28,300 refugees a day across the globe flee conflict and persecution, the relief agency UNHCR said. Fifty-five percent come from just three countries: Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Syria, which the World Bank says has endured the largest refugee crisis since World War II with more than half the country's pre-war population having left their homes since 2011.

Now, with many Syrians in their seventh winter of displacement, hosting and supporting 650,000 registered refugees costs the Jordanian government almost $900 million a year, according to Oxfam. To help, non-governmental organizations supply water and relief groups visit to offer aid. Celebrities and royalty tour the camps on occasion.

Zaatari is the biggest refugee camp in Jordan, opening in 2012 close to Syria's border and now housing 79,000 Syrian refugees. Azraq, 50 miles southeast, was built on unused desert land after Zaatari swelled beyond capacity just a year after opening, to more than 156,000 people. With high summer temperatures, cool winters and blowing desert sand, conditions at both camps challenge the mind and body.

Zaatari's corrugated shelters take a beating in the sun and heat while its water supply and wastewater disposal are constant concerns. The UN said at least 82 water trucks a day fill the camp's water tanks so that 950,000 liters of water a day can flow to some 76 taps. Boreholes also provide 3.2 million liters of drinking water a day, giving camp residents access to about 20 liters a day, or 5 gallons per person. This allotment is used for bathing, cooking, cleaning and drinking.

Built as a temporary camp, Zaatari now functions like a city with 12 districts, hundreds of shops, a police station, mosque, schools, and health clinics. Water and wastewater networks were constructed by the humanitarian group ACTED.

A treatment plant purifies about 80 percent of the wastewater generated in the camp. A UNICEF grant led to the upgrading of 1,300 private toilets by ACTED. Hand-washing sinks and toilets for the disabled were also built to address complaints of unsanitary living conditions.

Both camps were visited in November by the non-profit Atlantic Humanitarian Relief group led by its Syrian-American founder, Humam Akbik, a Harvard-trained pain-management specialist from Damascus now based in Cincinnati. The international group of physicians, nurses, dentists and pharmacists worked almost without stop from morning to sundown. They came at their own cost, brought their own instruments and supplies to refugee camps and clinics that sometimes lacked sinks with running water or a clean toilet. They provided free exams, minor operations, dental services, medicine, and even psychiatric help to traumatized orphans.

Randall Hackley

"Water was a big problem," said Rowena Milligan, a physician who took part in the humanitarian mission and traveled from the UK. "You couldn't wash your hands before/after examining patients so could only use alcohol gel, which isn't ideal."

At refugee camps, clinics and random camps in northern Jordan from Ajloun to the outskirts of Amman and Azraq, volunteers played with the children, painting their faces and engaging in games. Play activities "help take their mind off things," Akbik said. "Helps these kids feel like kids again."
Worrisome Trends for Climate and Migration
Security experts have warned for years that a drying climate in the Middle East, Sahel, and other mid-latitude regions will set up conditions of environmental stress for the countries least capable of managing the strain. At least 25 percent of the planet, including Jordan, will experience serious drought and desertification within three decades if attempts by the Paris agreement to curb global warming aren't met, according to the journal Nature Climate Change.

Those who choose to leave face peril on the journey. The International Organization for Migration says more than 3,100 migrants lost their lives last year drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, and 390 more from Jan. 1 to Feb. 4, 2018, compared with 257 for the same period in 2017, as they attempted the dangerous crossing from North Africa to southern Europe. It's the fourth year in a row that the death toll surpassed 3,000.

And in Asia, Rohingya Muslims have drowned trying to escape state-sponsored violence in their homeland of Myanmar. At least 670,000 men, women and children have fled to Bangladesh by boat and foot since August in what the UN calls "the world's fastest-growing humanitarian crisis."

The Rohingya crisis even prompted a UN video that ended with a plea to better address the refugees' urgent needs of clean water.

The pleas are founded on evidence of infection. At the informal Rohingya camps in southeast Bangladesh, water pumps next to open sewers have stoked fear of disease outbreaks, and led to vaccination, clean water and sanitation drives. At the Kutupalong refugee camp extension, 20 tube wells were added. So were almost 120 latrine chambers.

The World Health Organization reports that diptheria is "rapidly spreading among Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar," a city in Bangladesh. Six deaths were reported in December. Diptheria is a highly infectious respiratory disease that often appears in overcrowded areas with no proper sanitation system. Haiti endured similar cholera outbreaks in recent years related to contaminated water issues.

Sometimes small improvements in water technology can mean big lifestyle improvements for refugees.

In southwestern Algeria, Sahrawi refugees exiled by Morocco more than three decades ago are using what little water they have in newly efficient ways: growing soil-less hydroponics in solar-powered container units. At five remote camps near Tindouf, trays of barley are now grown for Sahrawi livestock in the Sahara desert through a World Food Programme project.

The Sahrawis have come a long way since eight years ago, when water was trucked in via UNHCR tankers and outhouses were crude holes beside mud-brick homes.

For those in Al Azraq, the hope is that they do not have to put down roots, that they can go home again.
Reporting contributed by Randall Hackley, a former AP and Bloomberg correspondent who has reported from 18 countries and visited refugee camps in Jordan, Algeria, Haiti, Peru, and the U.S. Reposted with permission from our media associate Circle of Blue.

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How Water Scarcity Shapes the World's Refugee Crisis

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Behind barbed-wire fences at this camp in northern Jordan, about 33,000 Syrians-half of them children-exist uneasily, housed in rows of rudimentary shelters that barely protect them from the winter cold. Drinking water must be brought in daily by dozens of tanker trucks or pumped from desert boreholes that overexploit Jordan's largest groundwater basin.

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Biography - Rachel Carson (Narrative Non-fiction)

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Biography - Rachel Carson (Narrative Non-fiction)

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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12763989-rachel-carson-and-her-book-that-changed-the-world; https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27340.Rachel_Carson; https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27338.Rachel

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Post on bulletin - update with anchor charts or reminders of what we've done as we complete steps/examples

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Facts I'm Bringing to My Group/Facts My Group Brought to Me

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Facts I'm Bringing to My Group/Facts My Group Brought to Me

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Writing non-fiction together

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Writing for a Purpose

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Midd Geology Department simulation of erosion

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There's plenty to learn from a frozen water balloon, starting with the patterns of bubbles-or lack thereof-in the ice.

The water in an ice balloon freezes from the outside in. As the water freezes, it creates pure crystals of water, which are clear. Meanwhile, impurities such as air or minerals are left behind in the liquid, where they concentrate until they come out of solution as bubbles. One bubble can seed a neighboring bubble, creating a radial chain of bubbles. Since bubbles scatter light of all wavelengths, they give the ice balloon a white, opaque center (see photo below).

When the balloon comes out of the freezer, it's often at a temperature of 0°F (-18°C), much colder than the freezing point of 32°F (0°C). At these cold temperatures, water vapor in the air can freeze onto the balloon, creating a layer of frost. When the surface of the balloon warms to the freezing point, a visible film of water appears on the surface and the frost disappears.

Salt on the balloon will cause the ice to melt, even at temperatures below freezing. In any ice/water combination, there is an ongoing back-and-forth in which some liquid water molecules are freezing while some solid water (ice) is melting. Ions of sodium and chlorine from the salt get in the way of ice-crystal formation, turning the back-and-forth into more of a one-way street in which more ice melts then freezes.

As the salty liquid water flows down the balloon, it begins to form meandering streams, just as rivers do (see photo below). As in rivers, the meanders shift over time, responding to subtle changes in flow and channel shape.

Most substances shrink as they cool, but water is a notable exception, freezing into hexagonal crystalline structures that take up about 10 percent more space than liquid water. This increased volume translates into lower density, causing ice to float. A solid ice balloon placed in water displaces its weight in water-this is Archimedes' principle -with 10 percent of the ice balloon above the surface and 90 percent below.

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There's plenty to learn from a frozen water balloon, starting with the patterns of bubbles-or lack thereof-in the ice. The water in an ice balloon freezes from the outside in. As the water freezes, it creates pure crystals of water, which are clear.

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Erosion: Brandi's friend - root systems help prevent erosion

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Evaporation - water cycle
-- Salt Water on a Colored Plate

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The dilemmas posed by desalinization plants

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Mapping: access to potable water

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Proportion of body that is water

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These investigations will help you model how carbon flows from one reservoir to another.

Note: Before you begin, notice the relative abundance of carbon in each of the five reservoirs. Rock contains far more carbon than the other four reservoirs combined. Since rock is part of the slow carbon cycle, it is not part of the exchanges you will model in this snack.
Pathway 1: Flow between the Atmosphere and Terrestrial Biosphere
The natural flux between the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere is about 120 GtC per year in each direction. In the terrestrial biosphere, photosynthesis removes about 120 GtC from the atmosphere each year. Decomposition of biological material and respiration from plants and soil microbes returns 120 GtC to the atmosphere each year.

To model this interaction, remove 120 grains of rice from the Atmosphere bag and place it in a quart-sized bag. Then do the same with the Terrestrial Biosphere bag. Exchange these two equal-sized bags while discussing how the carbon flows from one reservoir to another. Model this yearly exchange several times while reviewing the ways in which carbon cycles from one reservoir to the other.
Pathway 2: Flow between the Ocean and the Atmosphere
Carbon cycles between the ocean and the atmosphere at a rate of 90 GtC per year in each direction. Most of this exchange occurs by diffusion at the surface of the ocean.

To model this interaction, remove 90 grains of rice from the Atmosphere bag and place it in a new quart-sized bag. Then do the same with the Ocean bag. Exchange these two equal-sized bags while discussing how the carbon flows from one reservoir to another. Model this yearly exchange several times, while reviewing the ways in which carbon cycles from one reservoir to the other.

Notice that, until now, the carbon cycle has remained in balance, and no reservoir has a net gain or loss.
Pathway 3: Flow from Fossil Fuels
Human use of fossil fuels (the burning of which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere) is changing the balance of carbon, adding an additional 9.0 (±0.5) GtC to the atmosphere each year. Land use changes, such as deforestation, remove part of the carbon sink (materials in the natural environment capable of absorbing excess carbon), thereby "contributing" that addition of excess carbon.

To model this interaction, count 9 grains of rice from the Fossil Fuels bag, and place them in a new quart sized bag.

Not all of this carbon goes into the Atmosphere, as other reservoirs are absorbing some of this added carbon. For example, each year 3 GtC (represented by 3 grains of rice) from the Fossil Fuels reservoir are absorbed by the Terrestrial Biosphere, and 2 GtC (2 grains of rice) are absorbed by the Ocean reservoir. This results in a net gain in the Atmosphere reservoir of 4 GtC (4 grains of rice) per year (see the equation below).

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Understanding the carbon cycle is fundamental to making sense of environmental changes such as global warming and ocean acidification. This model shows the relative abundance of carbon in each of the earth's main carbon reservoirs, and also shows the yearly exchanges between these reservoirs.

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Elements: Where do they come from? Where do they go? Using Computers to Look at Resource

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Re-Engineering Circulatory System

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Lake Champlain