Urban Environmental Quality and Human Health: Conceiving a Sustainable Future

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.07.04

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. Objective
  4. Student Activity 1
  5. Polymers and Plastics
  6. Impact of Plastics on the Environment
  7. Impact of Plastics on Health: DEHP and BPA
  8. Recycling Plastics
  9. Student Activity 2
  10. Schools and Their Food Trash
  11. What Can We Do?
  12. Student Activity 3
  13. Notes
  14. How Plastics Breakdown in Landfills
  15. Implementing District Standards
  16. Bibliography for Teachers
  17. Students Resources
  18. Classroom Resources

Our Environment: A World Away?

Michell Carter

Published September 2008

Tools for this Unit:

Bibliography for Teachers

"Atlanta, Georgia." October 2007. http://ecology.fizber.com/Georgia/Atlanta/ (accessed July 12, 2008).

This site includes information on Atlanta's top polluters and their locations.

Bocco, Donna. "How Much Garbage Does a Person Create Each Year?" http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-garbage-does-a-person-create-in-one-year.htm (accessed July 15, 2008).

Statistics on the amount of garbage created by humans

Business Wire. October 22, 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2007_Oct_22/ai_n21055514 (accessed July 21, 2008).

Description of bioplastics and the market trends in the U.S. and the European Union

Calafat A.M., et.al. "Urinary Concentrations of Bisphenol A and 4-Nonylphenol in a Human Reference Population." Environmental Health Perspectives 113, no. 4 (2005):5.

How BPA is used in our products and how humans are exposed

Christman, Keith. "Plastics 101: A Presentation to Walmart Packaging Fair." American Chemistry Council. http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/doc.asp?CID=1098&DID=7342(accessed June 18, 2008).

A positive look at the benefits of plastic

City of Atlanta. "Solid Waste Management Plan Overview." 1992. http://www.atlantaga.gov/government/solidwastemanagementplan.aspx (accessed July 12, 2008).

Information on how the city of Atlanta plans to deal with solid waste.

Cofer, R. "Bag the Bags in Austin." 2007. http://www.bagthebags.com/problem.html (accessed July 27, 2008).

Statistics on the dangers of plastic bags

Concerned Citizens of Cattaraugus County, Inc. "Landfill Gas Rule." December 12, 2007. http://concernedcitizens.homestead.com/landfill_gas.html (accessed June 22, 2008).

A description of gases that are coming from landfills and the Environmental Protection Agency's rules governing landfill gases.

Environmental Resource Justice Center. "Sprawl Atlanta: Social Equity Dimensions of Uneven Growth and Development." January 1999. http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/sprlatlexcsum.html (accessed July 1, 2008).

This report by the Turner Foundation describes the impact on infrastructure and society as the city of Atlanta spreads out without a defined plan to handle the growth.

Environmental Working Group. (2007) "A Survey of Bisphenol A in U.S. Canned Foods." March 5, 2007.

Cans used for food packaging are lined with BPA plastics

Grossman, Elizabeth."Practical Values: Hard to Break." Mother Jones (2007). http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2007/09/practical-values.html. (accessed July 15, 2008).

An article that discusses the issues associated with plastics and food. Also, contains detailed recycling chart used in narrative.

Hemmert, Amy. "PTA Nourishes Green Lunch Program." May 21, 2003. http://environment.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=environment&cdn=newsissues&tm=123&gps=470_1051_1020_567&f=00&su=p504.1.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.laptoplunches.com/ (accessed July 15, 2008).

Press release from Laptop Lunch co-founder Amy Hemmert on how to reduce school lunch waste.

Imhoff, Daniel. Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2005.

The problem with packaging and some solution ideas

"Laptop Lunches: Bento-ware for Everywhere." http://environment.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=environment&cdn=newsissues&tm=123&gps=470_1051_1020_567&f=00&su=p504.1.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.laptoplunches.com/ (accessed July 14, 2008).

Two moms in California became concerned about all of the food packaging waste in schools so they developed a reusable container system to cut down on waste. The site details their experience including cost and statistics of packaging waste in schools. It also catalogs their products.

References for Business. "Plastic Materials and Resins." http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/industries/Chemicals-Allied/Plastic-Materials-Resins.html (accessed July 21, 2008).

Overview of plastics and how they are made

Royte, Elizabeth. Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005.

The author follows her trash through New York and discovers what happens when put our trash out on the curb.

Silverman, Jacob. "Why is the World's Biggest Landfill in the Ocean?" http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm (accessed July 14, 2008).

There is an area twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii that is plastic waste. This article explains how this happened and the impact on the environment. There are links to videos on the matter as well.

Society of Plastics Industries. 2008. http://www.plasticsindustry.org/industry/econstat.htm (accessed July 21, 2008).

Comprehensive statistics on the plastics industries' impact on the U.S. economy

Stachura, Sea. "What to do with plastics #3, #6, and good old #7?" Green Daily (2008). http://www.greendaily.com/2008/05/11/what-to-do-with-plastics-3-6-and-good-old-7/. (accessed July 15, 2008).

Information about why it is important to sort plastic before recycling.

Stanley, Vincent."Safest Reusable Plastics for Holding Food and Water." May 2005. http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/108/plastic (accessed July 14, 2008).

National Geographic's Green Guide recommendations on plastic that is safe for packaging food and water.

Swift, Graham. "Degradable Polymers and Plastics in Landfills." July 15, 2004. http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/emrw/9780471440260/epst/article/pst457/current/html (accessed July 14, 2008).

Information on what happens to polymers and plastics in landfills.

Terrafly Geo Query. "Towns and Incorporated Areas: Georgia." 1999.

http://vn4.cs.fiu.edu/cgibin/arquery.cgi?more=1&tester=&gnis0=1&matchprop=1&y1=33.7518279207495&x1=-84.3921055419762&category=pincorp&referer=vn4&vid=

(accessed June 22, 2008).

This site gives detailed statistics on land area, water area, population, home value, income, age groups, etc. on every city in Georgia.

J. Wargo. "Plastics That May Be Harmful to Children and Reproductive Health." 2008. http://www.ehhi.org/plastics/pr_plastics_report08.shtml (accessed on July 9, 2008).

A report on the effects of the chemicals found in plastics on human health.

West, L. "School Lunch Packaging Waste Adds Up: Moms Create a Recyclable Solution to School Lunch Waste." http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/school_lunch.htm (accessed June 20, 2008).

Two moms get together to solve the problem of school lunch packaging waste.

Wikipedia. "Fulton County, Georgia." September 30, 2002. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_County%2C_Georgia (accessed June 23, 2008).

History of Fulton County, Georgia.

Wikipedia. "Leachate." October 6, 2007.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leachate (accessed July 14, 2008).

The history and definition for leachate.

Xiaofeng, Guan. "China Bans Harmful Plastic Wrappers." October 26, 2005. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-10/26/content_487847.htm (accessed July 14, 2008).

PVC is a type of plastic that sometimes contains DEHP (a harmful chemical additive) and China has banned its use due to its harmful effects on humans.

Comments:

Add a Comment

Characters Left: 500

Unit Survey

Feedback