Introduction

This lesson addresses these issues and looks to the future for possible solutions to the various environmental problems being faced today. It is a primarily web based lesson that will span over three weeks. The first week will be spent identifying the major environmental issues. The second and third weeks will focus on finding solutions that would allieviate the current problems for the future.

Note to the Instructor: This lesson is not fully developed. The first week will require you to give a lesson on the environment and you will have to further develop the scientific aspects throughout the next three weeks - that's what you get when you have a social studies person do the science!

The Outcomes

• Be fully versed in the modern environmental problems.
• Identify the different environmental issues.
• Develop long term solutions to environmental problems.
• Outline everyday ways to increase environmental responsibility.

The Process

1. Look closely at the inner workings, and how they affect us as residents of the this planet, of the following (Note to the Instructor: This is where you will have to draw upon your own knowledge of the environment or have the students do research and present their findings to their classmates):
   • Climate
   • Ecosystems
   • Element Cycles

2. Identify current events from newspapers, magazines, and television that focus on environmental issues. Present them to the class, keep a log of the issues, and discuss when appropriate.

3. Brainstorm as a class environmental problems. Tap into prior knowledge and current events. Make sure to identify any issues that are at your school.

4. Rank these problems individually. Write a one page justification for your decision. Share with the class and discuss.

5. As a class come to a concensus on a ranking. (Keep this because you will use it again at the end of the lesson and compare the rankings.)

Weeks 2 and 3: Environmental WebQuest

Now that you have seen how the ecosystem operates and have identified major enviromental issues, you will begin to dig a little deeper into the heart of the issues.

• Utilizing the on-line resources, and any physical resouces available, answer the following:
  1. In what ways are we affecting the environment? Are they positive or negative? Why? Be specific.

  2. Pick two of these issues and research the scientific aspects of each. What exactly have we done? Is the damage done easily corrected? How long will it take?

  3. What can we do in the long run to:
     • Reduce waste
     • Clean the air
     • Protect wilderness and wildlife.
     Create a long term plan to correct these problems. Be sure to be specific!

• Once you have researched and answered the above questions, you must now do your final task! Create a person. Not just any ordinary, run of the mill person, but an enviromentally, politically correct, friendly person. Be sure to include attitudes, activities at home, school, work, on vacation, and any other environmentally relivant issues.

• Now that you have completed your enviro-friendly guy or gal, answer the following questions:
  1. How can you implement some of these "ideal" characteristics into your own life?

  2. Is this character too idealized? Why or why not?

  3. Is it possible to live this way?

  4. Can living this way really make a difference?

• Present your character and reflections to the class.
• Rerank the environmental problems (as you did in the beginning three weeks ago). Do this first individually and then as a class. Discuss the any changes, why evidence made you change your ranking.

Resources

Environmental Citizenship - A comprehensive look at this topic by the Environmental Citizenship Initiative in Canada.
Facts and Realities of Recycling - A look at recycling at a university in Canada.
Recycled Paper - Recycling at Standford University.
The Consumer Recycling Resources Guide
Social Responsibility and the Environment - This site discusses automobiles and emissions.
Big Business vs. the Alaskan Environment - The issue of oil in Alaska.
Environmental Cycles - A basic overview of nature taking its course.
The Changing Relationship between Humans and the Environment - Exactly what it says.
A Look at Waste
Individuals and the Enviroment
A Look at Ozone Depletion
An Environmental Citizen's Action Guide
What can we do for our environment? - A listing of hundreds of things you can do now!
A Matter of Degrees - A Primer on Global Warming.
We live in a greenhouse! - Information on the earth and what affects it.

Evaluation

Conclusion