Introduction
From erratic rain patterns to hotter summers than ever to increased floods and hurricanes to higher rates of animal extinction and more people dying from hunger, we are currently grappling with numerous environmental issues.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the extraction and processing of raw materials have altered the environment. It’s facing many problems that need to be solved for the planet to heal.
Environmental issues today are complex and interconnected. They impact every organism on the planet. If we don’t unite and do everything we can, we’ll lose our world faster than we can imagine.
To start healing the earth, we first need to understand what’s ailing it.
So when we talk about environmental problems, what exactly are we referring to? We highlight the most significant issues that need immediate intervention:
- Air Pollution
- Water Pollution
- Ocean Acidification
- Land Pollution
- Improper Waste Disposal
- Global Warming
- Climate Change
- Overpopulation
- Urban Sprawl
- Overuse of Natural Resources
- Deforestation
- Loss of Biodiversity
- Ozone Layer Depletion
- Acid Rain
- Public Health Issue
This video will give you more information on this too, explaining why nature is vital for our wellbeing.
Task
The HOW (Help Our World) Fund has announced that it will award a $1 million grant to help solve the most serious environmental problem Earth faces. Your job is to prove that your team should get the money because the problem you're working on is the most serious threat to Earth. Use the Internet resources provided, as well as library resources, to make the case for your team's plan. Your team will have 2 to 3 minutes to present your case to the board of the HOW Fund (your classmates). Based on that presentation, board members will decide which problem they will invest $1 million to solve.
What is the most burning environmental problem nowadays?
Process
Choose one topic and start working
1) Water pollution
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.880246/full
https://www.freshwatersystems.com/blogs/blog/6-practical-ways-to-reduce…
https://youtu.be/jmps4yzdu9c?si=wMOdc-sy0jDxqkdE
https://www.ted.com/talks/richa_kumari_robotics_to_curb_water_pollution…
2) Air pollution
1. Air pollution refers to the release of pollutants into the air—pollutants which are detrimental to human health and the planet as a whole. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year air pollution is responsible for nearly seven million deaths around the globe.
Read the article and do Task 1 in your booklet.
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/air-pollution-everything-you-need-know#wha…
2. Global warming of the Earth leaves us images like this ...
Amazing Photography of Polar Bear
https://www.istockphoto.com/ru/%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%…
Watch the gallery and do Task 2 in your booklet.
3. What's in the air you breathe?
Having clean air to breath is one of life’s basic needs. Clean air shouldn’t be a luxury.
Watch the video and do Task 3 in your booklet.
https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_hrdina_and_jesse_kroll_what_s_in_the_air_you_breathe
4. In 1963, a visionary named Bob Dylan sang how the future was blowing in the wind. His protest was over human greed and lack of caring. In those days, we had no idea of global warming, although this is turning out the greater threat. But we finally do have a workable green solution. Because the answer is blowing in the wind, if we can catch it.
Read the article, watch the video and do Task 4 in your booklet.
https://www.upsbatterycenter.com/blog/the-answer-is-blowing-in-the-wind/
5. Spending time in #nature can substantially improve our health and wellbeing and create a positive interaction with others." 🌳🌻
Read "8 steps to achieving long-term mindfulness with woods and trees" by Woodland Trust and make a Mind map.
https://t.co/V4TRuUIQ66
6. Air pollution affects everyone’s health, but certain groups may be harmed more.
Almost 9 out of 10 people who live in urban areas worldwide are affected by air pollution.
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/air-pollution/index.cfm
3) Endangered species
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/endangered-species/
https://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_dentien_conservation_of_endangered_species
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.267.5202.1256
https://youtu.be/jmps4yzdu9c?si=wMOdc-sy0jDxqkdE
LET’S BEGIN THE RESEARCH!
After the research is complete, students meet in teams to complete their individual assignments. Team members share research notes. You work together to collect/write the most compelling facts, figures, and other information. That information will be presented in the essay.
You should compose a 3- to 4-paragraph summary of the team's most convincing arguments for its assigned environmental threat.
The summary contains the thrust of the team's upcoming presentation to the board of the HOW Fund.
* Discuss possible additions or edits that might better convince the board to fund the team's project.
* Propose to use the $1 million grant. The team proposes a plan for spending the $1 million so citizens around the country and in your region will see the importance of tackling a particular environmental threat. Will the team propose to spend the $1 million budget on newspaper ads, a TV commercial, or in some other way(s)?
* Think what element of the presentation best lends itself to a graphic -- for example, an image, cartoon, graph, map.
Then you polish the final essay and your presentation.
Finally each team presents their project.
Try to convince the HOW to fund your request for $1 million. The presenter has 2 to 3 minutes to present the team's most convincing arguments for focusing attention on
- the team's Earth threat,
- plan for spending the $1 million,
- a supporting illustration.
After the presentations there will be a voting -- in a secret ballot . That team with the most compelling argument will receive $1 million in funding from HOW.