Rationale
The actions and attitudes of my children helped to drive me toward this seminar. The rising cost of oil was the proverbial nail in the coffin in helping me decide to choose the seminar: Energy, Climate, and Environment. I am amazed at the amount of paper and pencils that are wasted every day in my school. If a child makes a mistake on their paper, they want a new paper. If their paper gets wrinkled, they want to throw it away and get a new paper. The boys in my class are constantly balling up papers, new and old, to make jump shots in the wastebasket. At the end of the day, my two trashcans are overflowing with paper and other trash. Our children today are growing up in a disposable society and have no idea about where some things come from and that those things could potentially run out. We use paper and foam plates, plastic cups, plastic cutlery, and paper napkins. Even our electronics have become disposable. There are disposable cameras, disposable video cameras, and organic transistors and semi-conductors that will be in use in credit cards and packaging by the year 2015 as reported by NanoMarkets in 2007. We have become a throw-away society. How did this happen? The fact that we as a society have no qualms about throwing trash away without a second thought of its effect on the planet. This is the core of the problem. My students have become the embodiment of this problem. They don't even know where the trash goes when they throw it away nor do they care. It is important to raise the consciousness of the newest generation about the deforestation and clear cutting of the land not only here in the United States, but all over the world. Global warming is very real and it will have a major impact on the lives of my students, especially when they become adults.
The rising cost of oil has also become a concern of my mine for my students. Fossil fuels are a limited resource and I worry that by the time my students reach my age, fossil fuels will become very rare or non-existent. Thus the cost of gasoline or home heating oil will be exorbitant. My fear is that our government tends to be reactive. I want to teach my students be proactive. It would not surprise me if our government waits until most or all of the fossil fuels have been used up and then decide to look for alternative resources. By then it will be too late and there could be major upheaval in our country. Connecticut is a state that has public transportation, but it is basically limited to busses and van pools. It is very difficult to get around without a car. The cost of oil became so high in 2008 that many people had difficulty heating their homes. I believe that our children deserve better!
I would like this unit to focus on teaching my students the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. I want my students to know about the importance of trees and their relationship with the paper industry and the planet. My students will create a PowerPoint presentation that showcases what is happening to the landfills in our country as well as the waste management techniques in other parts of the world. It is important that they also have ideas and strategies that can be implemented to rectify the problem.
I would also like to implement a more hands on approach to this unit. I want my students to look at the various types of waste management in this country. I would like for them to take a stance as to which practice they think is better for our country and our environment. I want them to explore what ideas they may have as to how to deal with waste. It is extremely important for them to take a look at their own lives and see where they can make changes to reduce the amount of trash that they throw away, reuse items so that they are not thrown away, and recycle those things that can be recycled. My students need to know how trash affects global warming and how practicing the three R's can combat it.
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