Conflict and Co-operation Student Activity Sheets 1. Can I make a difference? Working in small groups discuss the following statement: ‘What really matters is that we make, distribute and consume goods more thoughtfully. The time we spend in campaigns to encourage people to change would be far better spent designing goods that are sustainable in the first place.’ Do you agree with the statement? What are you arguments for/against? Now read the article below. Language support 1 (LS1) helps with some of the language used in the article. Working in groups you teacher will allocate you one of the discussions below. You have up to 20 minutes to debate between yourselves and then 10 minutes to prepare a short presentation (2-3 minutes) on the outcome of your debate. Your presentation should address the question ‘What is the best approach to tackling climate change? Citizen action through effective lobbying and better design are effective solutions or is ‘going out of your way’ altruism better?’ Discussion 1: Should all products be designed to minimise product packaging and for disassembly and future use? How could this be encouraged? Discussion 2: Campaign to force Apple Computers to take back their computers at the end of their life. Apple is an example of a heavily branded company who may be sensitive to this sort of campaigning. What other companies are open to pressure to clean up? Discussion 3: Solar roofs have worked in Germany and Japan, so why not sunny Poland? Substantial government grants and support to build up a benign society might work. Reading Here is an article from GRIST's Assistant Editor Dave Roberts (GRIST is a US based website challenging ideas on sustainable development). ‘My thoughts on the matter are captured by this excellent comment from a reader... So, while you are spending an hour agonizing whether or not you should buy the chlorine free office paper, the 100% post-consumer content paper, the kenaf-based, hemp-based, or whatever based paper, consider instead spending that hour meeting with the store manager to ask why the store doesn't offer more green products; or, working with your office manager to institute a greener procurement policy at work; or, working with your city council member to adopt a greener purchasing policy for the city. Or, setting up a meeting with your state representative to discuss a sustainable forestry initiative in your state.
Exactly.
A humane, sustainable human society is not an individual undertaking. It cannot succeed solely through individual willpower. Already our culture works to atomize us, to make us feel like islands of consumer desire whose sole function is to accumulate as much as possible. It discourages us from thinking of ourselves as involved in communities that impose obligations and responsibilities. But if it is to mean anything substantial, a new ethic of sustainability must be collective. It's going to be about community, about our mutual bonds and mutual care. Whether or not you recycle your plastic makes not one tiny iota of difference in the grand scheme of things -- really, it doesn't. If our society's survival rests on individuals' ability to refrain from easilyavailable ecological sins, we are screwed. It's the infrastructure that matters: the laws, the economic relationships, the physical structures we inhabit. To use some righteous hippie language, it's the system that's gotta change, man. We have to establish a system in which it's easy and natural for people to live sustainably.
LS1
Phrases for persuasion from the GRIST article
(See if you can make use of some of these structures in your own argumentation) While you are doing …, or …, or …, consider (instead) doing … to (do) …, or … to (make) …. A … cannot succeed solely through …. Already our … works to … us, to make us feel like …. But if it is to mean anything substantial, a … must be …. It's going to be about …, about … and …. Whether or not you … makes not one tiny iota of difference in the grand scheme of things -- really, it doesn't. If … rests on …, we are screwed. It's the … that matters: the …, the …, the …. It's the … that's got to …. We have to ….
2. Smart Business or Smart People? Read through both articles below. Working in groups of three consider the questions below: • What are the advantages of each approach to reducing carbon emissions? • What are the disadvantages of each approach to reducing carbon emissions? • Which approach do you think is the most effective? Why? Report back your findings after 10 minutes. Within your groups you will now debate your ideas from different perspectives. LS2 and LS3 will help you with this. Decide who willplay the interviewer, the expert and the green group member. Now make new groups consisting of one interviewer, one expert and one green group member. In your new group work on the debate and practice your roles. Finally, role play your debates in front of the class, keeping each detabe to 5-7 minutes. LS2 provides a framework for debate preparation and LS3 some key language. READING 1 Carbon Trading Carbon trading (or cap and trade) is an administrative approach used to reduce carbon emissions by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions. In such a plan, a central authority (usually a government agency) sets a limit or cap on the amount of carbon that can be emitted. Companies or other groups that emit the carbon are given credits or allowances which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of credits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total carbon emissions to that level. Companies that pollute beyond their allowances must buy credits from those who pollute less than their allowances. This transfer is referred to as a trade. In effect, the buyer is being fined for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions. The more firms that need to buy credits, the higher the price of credits becomes. This makes reducing carbon emissions more cost-effective in comparison. The overall goal of a carbon emissions trading plan is to reduce pollution. The cap (total volume of carbon emissions allowed each year) reduces each year. The cap can be announced for 20-30 years so that companies have a clear guidance and knowledge of the carbon emission reductions they need to achieve. Because carbon emission trading uses free markets to determine how to deal with the problem of carbon, it is often touted as an example of effective free market environmentalism. While the cap is usually set by a political process, individual companies are free to choose how or if they will reduce their emissions. Moreover, the government does not need to regulate how much each individual company emits, making cap and trade a very cost-effective method of controlling pollution on a large scale. READING 2 Do your bit to help combat climate change
We must all take action to minimise any adverse impact we are having on the Earth. Here are a few other ideas which can make a real difference to climate change.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Only boil as much water as you need when you put the kettle on Jug-type kettles need less water as they have smaller elements Switch off lights when you leave a room Don't leave the TV and video (and other appliances) in standby mode and remember not to leave them on charge unnecessarily. Don't waste your money - turn your thermostat down by 1°C. It could cut your heating bills by up to 10%. Take a shower rather than use the bath. An ordinary shower uses only two-fifths of the water needed for a bath. Lightbulbs: replace your light bulbs with an energy-saving equivalents - which will use around a quarter of the electricity and last up to 12 times longer. Don't buy products with excessive amounts of packaging and, where possible, choose products with re-useable containers Buy recycled or recyclable products such as toilet tissue and stationery Take your own bag or re-use plastic carriers when shopping Use public transport, cycle or walk rather than using a car. Compost your food waste if you have a garden – it produces very good compost to help your plants grow. Buy secondhand, recycled, reclaimed or waste timber. A better environmental choice than buying new.
Reading 2 adapted from: www.naturescalendar.org.uk/
LS2
Role Play: Climate Change Debate
(Fill in the role card with ideas for pros and cons for each approach and then write questions to help you in the debate) Interviewer
Pros
Cons
Expert on carbon trading
Questions
Doesn’t what you’re saying ignore … So, you’re suggesting that … Aren’t you forgetting that … Aren’t you assuming that … Wouldn’t you say that … Are you implying that … Don’t you think that … Don’t you agree that … Wouldn’t you agree that … Surely, you would agree that … Surely you aren’t suggesting that …
Questions
Pros
Cons
Green group member
Pros
Cons
Questions
LS3
Language for debating and arguing
Introducing the theme Many people believe that… It is said… People’s opinions on…differ widely. Some people go as far as to say that… Supporting your argument One of the main advantages of / problems with…is that… In the first place, /Firstly, /To begin with, /Secondly, /Thirdly, /Finally, /Last, but not least, … Adding further reasons Both…and/not only… but also… In addition, /What is more, /Furthermore, /Besides, …, similarly… Giving an opinion In my view/opinion, /It seems to me that… I think/feel that… It is reasonable to suppose…/ It is not stretching a point to suggest… Giving the opposite opinion On the other hand, there are several disadvantages Let us not forget the disadvantages… Contrary to popular opinion… In fact… Linking phrases Although…, /However,/ In spite of this, /Despite…, /Nevertheless Some people… while/whereas others… On the one hand… on the other… Analysing the opinions of others While it could be said that…let’s not forget… One possibility…If this were the case… It is true that… / Certainly… / (This) is based on the assumption / premise that (This) implies/would imply/suggest that (This) ignores/does not take into account the fact that… (This) assumes that Concluding In conclusion, / To sum up, / On balance, / All things considered,
3. Solving Traffic Congestion Below are nine options for reducing traffic congestion in a large city (task sheet 1). Working in groups, rank them in order which you think will be most effective in reducing traffic congestion. Allocate one person the role of scribe to note down key comments and ideas from your group.
Task Sheet 1 A
B
C
Do nothing; it is just the way things are.
Charge car drivers a fee to enter the city centre.
Charge high fees for parking and restrict it in some places.
D
E Your idea!
Education campaign to encourage leaving the car at home.
Create more public transport. G
Create special lanes for buses and taxis only.
F
H
I
Create a network of safe cycle routes.
Insist that developers do not include parking spaces in new city centre developments.
Now look at task sheet 2. This provides some information about each of the ‘solutions to traffic congestion’ listed above. Does this new information make you want to change your mind? Which solutions are really the most effective? Report back your top three solutions to the whole class stating why you think they are the best.
Task Sheet 2
Brief comments about each option which may be of assistance. A) Congestion becomes a permanent feature, with all the additional health costs and economic costs. Not a solution. B) Has been successful in London, new digital technology makes it easier to manage C) Used in almost all cities but needs good enforcement D) There are many reasons why public transport is not used - as well as ‘availability’ -how frequent, how clean, how fast etc E) ------------------------
(blank, own choice)
F) No incentives being offered or penalties. Car users value their status and independence G) Bicycles may be considered low status and remain unattractive to users currently in cars. H) Used in many, many cities but requires good enforcement of the rules. How high the charges are is important I) Difficult politically as most cities encourage ever more development
Extension Activity Read through the text below about the city of Curitiba and then answer the questions below. Curitiba - By Dan Box, the Ecologist magazine High above sea level on the plateau of Serra do Mar, the city of Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Parana. Since the 1950s, its population has grown from 150,000 to over 1.6 million. With careful planning, however, the authorities have created a city that is a model of sustainable urban design. Concentric circles of local bus lines connect to five lines radiating from the centre of the city. On the radial routes, buses
in their own traffic lanes carry 300 passengers each. They go as fast as underground trains, but at 1/80th of the construction cost. The buses stop at tube stations where passengers pay their fares, enter through one end of the tube and exit from the other. Faster loading and unloading means less idling and air pollution. The stations provide a sheltered place for waiting. The system is so efficient that passengers don’t have to wait much anyway. As a result, while the city has one car for every three people, two thirds of all journeys within it are made by bus. The system carries more than 50 times as many people today than 20 years ago, and has massively reduced traffic pollution. The city’s mayor says: ‘When a city accepts as a mandate its quality of life, when it respects the environment, when it prepares for future generations, the people share the responsibility for that mandate. This shared cause is the only way to achieve that collective dream.’ In Curitiba city centre all household waste is taken by council trucks for recycling. Those in the slum settlements unreachable by truck take their waste to local centres, where it is exchanged for bus tickets or food from outlying farms. The waste goes to a plant, itself built of recycled materials, that employs handicapped people, recent immigrants and alcoholics. Recovered materials are sold to local industries. The recycling programme costs no more than a landfill system, but the city is cleaner, there are more jobs, farmers are supported and the poor get food and transportation. In this way, the city’s own waste production is used to sustain it. Source: www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=182.
Imagine you work for your city/town council and are the person responsible for solving traffic problems. How would you improve the situation? Choose two to three people to help you and for a group of experts. Tell the class about your findings. You could think about: 1. What makes Curitiba special? 2. How does the public transport system work? 3. What advantages has Curitiba gained from this system? 4. Moving Images Is climate change a conflict between humans and nature or between humans and themselves? Look at the three pictures below and discuss the following questions: • What do you think happened before and after the event in the picture? • What are the possible causes of the event? Place each picture in the middle of a piece of flip chart paper and ask/answer what, where, when, who and why questions about each picture. Use LS4 to help with the language of describing the photos. Conclude by focusing on the causes of the events in each picture. What are the causes? Are they influenced by humans? Do our actions create conflicts? (actions on one part of the world create negative events elsewhere?).
LS4
Describing climate change pictures
(use some of the phrases to help you present the results of your discussion on the pictures above) The first picture shows … In the first/second/third picture we can see … In the picture it looks like there is a … a tornado / a flooded road / a ramshackle old house It’s possibly because of … It could be because of … It’s likely that … This could have been caused by It could be the consequence of … can lead to … and this causes … Before the … there was probably a … Before the … it’s possible that there was a … The relationship between that and … is This disaster is related to … This could be related to … because … This disaster occurs in places where …
5. Reflecting on Climate Change This final activity is to enable you to reflect on what you have learnt. Task 1 Working in pairs, fill out the table below. When you have completed the table share your results in groups of 6. If you have any unanswered questions, how would you go about finding the answers? Connections
Reflections
Questions
What connections can you make among what you’ve learned, your lifestyle, your family, school, community, or other regions?
Reflect on your learning, understandings, and discoveries. "Write about one thing you did not know before starting this module."
What questions do you still have, or what new questions have been raised?
Task 2 Working in pairs, fill out the table below. When you have completed the table share your results in groups. If you have any unanswered questions, how would you go about finding the answers?
Issue – brainstorm climate change issues here
What can I do?
What can the school do?
What can the government do?
What are the success factors?