Global Environment

KIDPROJ UNICEF09
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From W.J.Parks@durham.ac.uk Mon Dec 20 03:19:04 1993
 
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WEEK 9: The Global Environment.
Aim: to encourage children to discuss and understand the links between
environment issues locally and in other parts of the world.
 
    'It only remains for me, who have so wasted
     My life, to beg you
     Heed no order that
     Issue from our rotten mouths and
     Accept no advice from those who
     Have failed so badly, but
     Determine for yourselves what
     Is good for you and what will
     Help you cultivate the land we let go to ruin and
     Help to make inhabitable
     The cities which we polluted.'
 
     (From:  The  Dying  Poet's  Address  to  Young People by Bertholt
     Brecht).
 
    'There  is  hope,  we  can  sort it out if we try and just get the
     adults to listen to us - because we're the ones who are going  to
     end  up with the world aren't we? We're the ones who are going to
     inherit in a few years and we're going to be left with  the  mess
     to sort out.'
 
     (A  young  girl's  words  from  the  'When  the  Bough Breaks' TV
     Documentary).
 
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(1) WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS?
 
The  world's  environment  -  that  is,  the total of its life support
systems - is in a growing state of crisis. Today's world is beset by a
long series of environmental problems.
 
List  as  many  problems as you can, where they are occurring, and why
you think they are occurring.
 
'Since  1972  when  the  UN  Conference on the Human Environment first
established a special UN agency to monitor and co-ordinate  action  in
the   environmental   field,  there  has  been  a  massive  growth  of
environmental awareness throughout the world and of  understanding  of
the   interdependence  of  countries.  At  Stockholm  in  1972  people
recognized that 'the pollution  of  poverty'  was  the  worst  of  all
pollutions.  It  also recognized that environmental concerns should be
part of development, not a barrier to  it...  The  fight  to  increase
awareness  of  the  underprivileged  conditions of so many children in
developing countries is part of that wider battle: to return the earth
to those for whom we hold it in trust in a better state than  the  one
in   which   we   found   it.'  (Roy  Williams,  'Children  and  World
Development', published by UNICEF-UK, 1987, page 77).
 
Last  week  we  examined  a series of questions about the often skewed
perceptions of world development. Here are the answers to the quiz:
 
1. decreasing
2. 2%
3. 60%
4. 25%
5. 20%
6. 90%
7. 94%
8a. 46%, b. 79%, c. 50%
9. between 1 and 7%
10. 10%
11. 25% and 30%
12. 50%
13. 7%
 
Well done to those of you who got your answers right!
 
-        -         -         -         -         -         -         -
 
(2) YOUR PERSPECTIVES.
 
Over  the  past  two  or  three  decades  there  has grown a concerned
awareness of the impact/effect of sustained economic  growth,  certain
kinds  of  agricultural  practices  and social development upon global
ecosystems. Many young people have a  concern  for  local  and  global
environment issues and have their own perspectives on events.
 
     How do you see the future environment?
 
     How  do  you see the links between your actions and events in the
     wider world? What do you  do  at  home  which  might  affect  the
     world's  environment in a negative way? What could you do at home
     to improve your impact on the environment?
 
     What you see as your rights to an environment fit to live in?
 
     What do you think are the rights of future generations?
 
     What do you think about the decisions that are being taken?
 
     What are your hopes for the future?
 
     What would you like to see happen to the world in the future?
 
     What do you think will happen to the world in the future?
 
Make a list of ten things you could do to help make a better future.
 
 
It  is  estimated  that  the  cost of preventing the great majority of
child deaths and child malnutrition would be 2.5 billion  dollars  per
year.
 
>>>>> It is the approximate cost of five stealth bombers.
 
>>>>>  It is what the people in the former Soviet Union spend on vodka
each month.
 
>>>>>  It  is  as  much  as  US companies spend each year on cigarette
advertising.
 
>>>>>  It is what the developing world is paying EVERY WEEK to service
its debts.
 
>>>>>  It  is  as  much as the world as a whole spends on the military
EACH DAY.
 
What do you think about adults priorities for spending?
What changes would you make?
What actions would you like to see your government taking?
 
-        -         -         -         -         -         -         -
 
(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECT.
 
This  activity  (extracted  from "It's Our World too" published by the
Development Centre (Birmingham)  and  the  Development  Centre  (South
Yorkshire)  in  1992,  page 21) introduces questions about sustainable
development with regard to building materials. It uses a  visit  to  a
local building as a starting point.
 
Before  the  visit  to  a local building, groups can consider, perhaps
through a brainstorm: what is a building? what are buildings made  of?
where do building materials come from?
 
Now  visit  a  local  building. During your visit, groups can choose a
particular building part  e.g.  drainpipe,  window,  door  etc.,  make
sketches, take photographs, and complete the following check list:
 
     Building part:...............
 
     Where is it made? Who made it? What is their life like?
 
     How was it made?
 
     What material is it made from? Where does the material come from?
     Does its collection affect the planet?
 
     Does it affect the local environment? Is it nice to look at?
 
     Will it rot away?
 
     Is  it  made  from  a renewable resource? Is there an alternative
     available?
 
The activity can be followed up with discussion which focuses on the issues
raised, for instance:
 
     Renewable resources: what are they? How are they/can they be used
     in a building?
 
     Building  a  building:  who  is  involved?  Do production methods
     affect people's lifestyles?
 
     Buildings  and  the environment: where do building materials come
     from? What is the impact on the environment? On people?
 
A further idea which can make use of this introduction is:
 
     Design a house which has minimal impact on the environment.
 

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Patricia A. Weeg
pweeg@shore.intercom.net