ENVIRONMENTAL LESSON PLANS
1. ELEPHANTS: A Card Sorting Exercise
Below is the text of 9 cards which need to be printed out, cut out, and laminated if you like for greater longevity. The cards then need to be arranged into a diamond shape, with the statement which the pupils most agree with at the top and the one that they least agree with at the bottom.
The statements were produced by my colleague Miss Davidson. The activity can of course be adopted for other situations.
Every country in the world should pay for the protection and conservation of elephants.
International trade in ivory should be completely banned.
There should be more land available for elephant reserves.
International trade in ivory should be allowed, but only if it is from an elephant which died naturally.
Keeping elephants in captivity would make sure they don't become extinct.
People in countries like the UK and the USA shouldn't get involved - why should they tell others what to do ?
Why make all the fuss about elephants - what about other endangered species ?
It is natural for elephants to become extinct, just like the dinosaurs.
Elephants are only animals, not people - why should we care ?
For more details on Endangered species, go to the UK's details on the CITES convention, which bans the trade of products from endangered species. A list of all species that are threatened can be found in the RED BOOK. There are also some links from the TEARFUND on projects related to this, although the Online resources are currently undergoing redesign and may not be available when you visit.
There was more on Elephants in the latest WWF Lifelines magazine: Autumn 2002. This include a useful set of resources about elephant conservation, including a good spoof news story about the saving of the great English elephant. The sheet also includes some useful links: ELEPHANT TRUST and THIS SITE on elephant conservation are some of the better ones on the sheet.
Christmas is a particularly wasteful time of year. Some of the tasks on the Christmas lesson are particularly related to environmental wastage.
Christmas gifts can be good for the environment too. £5 will pay for a tree in a National Park like the Yorkshire Dales. Go to YDMT. A £35 donation to Greenpeace will help kit out an 'eco-warrior'.
£50 donated to Oxfam will help 3 families in an LEDC become self-sufficient.
Buy the food from a local farmers' market.
Opt for Fairtrade coffee, chocolate, bananas etc. and gifts from Fairtrade shops.
Charity christmas cards are a must.
3. HOW GREEN ARE YOU ?
Try this for size. Go to GOOGLE and put the quote 'How Green are You ?' into the search. A large number of results will inevitably appear but you'll find yourself able to do lots of quizzes to get a score on how Environmentally friendly you are.
Typical questions (you could easily adapt or produce one yourself) will ask about particular areas where the environment can be considered as part of a lifestyle change.
e.g Usage of supermarket carrier bags, buying Organic food / free range eggs, recycling, composting, usage of battery operated appliances, cycling / walking rather than making unnecessary journeys in the car, car ownership, insulation levels in the home
4. FOOD CHAIN GAME
Check out the Food Chain Game at the CADBURY LEARNING ZONE.
6. The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) have a new campaign going which looks at what are called TRANQUIL AREAS. These are parts of the countryside free from extraneous noise. They have been shrinking rapidly. Another related theme is that of the increase in LIGHT POLLUTION which means that many people never see the stars when they look up, just reflected light from nearby urban areas. One of the interesting quotes from the August 2003 blackouts in the eastern USA was New Yorkers being able to look up and see the stars.
5. Click on the logo below and explore the CAMPAIGNS section of the CPRE website.
These include a campaign against LIGHT POLLUTION which is certainly an issue I'm a little concerned about. I'm lucky enough to live in a rural area, but even there, the glow of distant towns, and security lighting impairs my view of the stars... According to the CPRE only 11% of the country can experience true darkness at night. Read the Night Blight ! leaflet. Also go to the TRANQUIL AREAS campaign, which is on a similar theme.
6. PRESENTING THE FACTS
Load up Powerpoint, produce a short list of relevant sites as a starting point on a WORD document which is saved on the network as a read only file. Pupils can open the file and click on the links and start some investigations - then present them through the digital projector (if you have one...)
7. SMOG CITY
Go to the SMOG CITY site and have a go at altering the air quality over your virtual city.
For more information go to the UK AIR QUALITY site.
8. The Environmental Impact of MUSIC.
Have you ever considered the environmental effects of music ?
You don't see many albums released in VINYL format (also known as the LP for those under the age of 16...) anymore, which is perhaps just as well, as the production of these objects involved PVC, which Greenpeace say causes cancer amongst factory workers, and is rarely recycled, so that it stays around as a poisonous substance.
Some bands, including REM and Sting, have released albums using environmentally-friendly packaging. Some plant trees to offset the paper and board used in the packaging: making a 'carbon neutral' product.
TAPE Cassettes are also not without problems.
CDs are made from optical grade polycarbonate - clearly millions of these are thrown away after being issued as promotional 'freebies' in magazines etc. The top surface of the CD is coated with a thin layer of aluminium, and then laquer is applied so that a label can be applied. Aluminium mining clearly represents an environmental issue, necessitating the clearance of vegetation and possible contamination of local water supplies.
Some CDs are now produced in DIGIPAKS (made from partly-recycled board) rather than in the usual JEWEL CASES, which require polystyrene. Liner notes are printed on chlorine bleached paper, and many products are shrink-wrapped for security by stores. This is because of the storage of 'live' product on the shelves, rather than being stored behind the counter. My old branch of Andy's Records (now closed) used the system of storing CDs behind the counter, whereas HMV has the live product on the shelves, and needs security tags - also means that you can't read all about the product as you can only see the front cover and the back cover.
How could the environmental impact of purchasing music be reduced ?
(information from an old copy of NME)
9. THE ZABALEEN
Have you heard of them ? What do they do ?
A recent find in January 2004 was the ZABALEEN (there are a few alternative spellings) who live in CAIRO. These are people who live by collecting and then recycling or reusing other people's rubbish. Ask your students to research them.
Where do they live ?
How do they survive ?
Could you do the same in this country ?
What items do the students recycle ?
10. NOISE MAPPING
For me, NOISE is an important environmental issue.
There is a useful NOISE MAPPING site for LONDON which has been produced by DEFRA.
Also try the CPRE Tranquil Areas map
11. BEACH CLEAN UP / PACKAGING ENQUIRY
Why not collect data and help clean up your local beach...
How can you tell where bottles are from ?
1. Foreign brands ? Country of origin codes ?
2. Bar Codes
First 2 numbers on a bar code tell you the country of origin...
00-09: USA and CANADA
30-37: FRANCE
40: GERMANY
49: JAPAN
50: UNITED KINGDOM
64: FINLAND
70: NORWAY
80: ITALY
84: SPAIN
87: NETHERLANDS
12. PLASTIC BAGS
New page for February 2008