Organizing the Earth Day Event
Earth Day is a powerful catalyst the will involve the schools community in making a difference toward a healthy, prosperous and sustainable future. On April 22 nd most Earth Day events take place. It is also the day when the President and Vice President of the United States deliver Earth Day speeches and make their environmental policy announcements. One key feature of an Earth Day event is that it is effective for educating on many environmental issues, however it is important to tie in a theme which the event will center around. The theme for this Earth Day event is Sea Level Rise and Global Warming.
It will be important to be organized for a successful event. It is important to start by holding an Earth Day organizing meeting at a certain time and place after school and be sure to invite all teachers and students. At the meeting present and solicit ideas on what to do for Earth Day. Have a recorder write them all down on large pieces of paper and tape them to the wall. Next, have the group discuss and rank the ideas and add new ones. Pick the top one, two or three and devise plans to make them happen. If you are just beginning an Earth Day event it may emerge that you wish to focus on one event or service project. For any idea to become a reality, it must have a team of people who are committed to make it happen. Each project should establish its purpose and determine its next meeting time and location. This is the first key sign of a functioning team. If there are many projects you will need a "Communications" person to coordinate a calendar.
Encourage everyone who attends to bring friends with them next time. Try to have the place for the second meeting committed ahead of time so you don't have to waste time wondering where you can meet next.
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
A team of teachers will be necessary for a successful event. I will begin by organizing teachers within the different subjects in our school. For this event we will need a group of science, math, English, and business teachers. Each teacher will agree to incorporate a week to teaching their subjects in the context of Sea Level Rise and Global Warming. I have provided examples of possible activities that each teacher can do prior to the event so that when the day arrives there will be plenty of student driven performances and material for display at the earth day event.
The food chain art projects that the students designed in their science classes will go on display throughout the events location. This will give the school a sense of the vast display of the Earth's biodiversity. Under each exhibit there will be an informational plate which describes how the food chain is important to the health of the ecosystem and to humans. There will be a contest for the most creative food web team. This contest will be voted upon by the whole school during the event.
During the event there will be a Global Warming Earth Day poetry contest and rap off. These will be two separate events and again it will be contest driven and students will vote on the most creative poem and rap.
In a central location topographical maps that each math class calculated for different levels of sea rise will be on display. Within this area the business class's cost-benefit analysis of sea level rise will correlate with the loss of area of coastlines and both subjects will be correlated to give students a real life example of how science, math and business are used in society to determine environmental and economic health.
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