So, just how much do we know about our own environment?

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So, just how much do we know about our own
environment?

• Jot down the answers to the following questions
  and see how well you do
• Is the moon waxing or waning?
• Name your neighbours
• What time did the sun rise this morning
• Name four types of edible food that you can find
  growing in the wild
• Where does your rubbish go?
• Which country did the main ingredients of your
  meal last night come from?
• When did it last rain?
• Which bits of your rubbish can and do you
  recycle?
• Name four wild animals that you can see or hear
  in your local area
• Could you see the stars last night?

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We are travelling at breakneck speed into an age
of extremes James Martin The Meaning of the
21stCentury (2006) These problems do however have
an interconnected set of solutions which can be
achieved by a major transition. It is todays
young people who will be the generation that
brings about this great transition.
Dealing with controversial and contentious issues
The deep river canyon analogy
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Step 1- It all starts at home
Blindfolded Partners
Favourite places
Sound maps
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Natures Pallet
Smelly cocktails
Get out into the grounds and local area as much
as you can
Internet - school grounds and local area Google
Earth, Multi-map, Live Local
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Step 2a - Living Sustainably at School

• Carry out an energy audit, draw up graphs and
  interpret the results look at the Carbon Trust
  guidance for ideas www.carbontrust.co.uk/energy
• Come up with suggestions about how to improve
  the schools energy use and also how to make
  school more sustainable, recycling more,
  composting, generating own power through solar
  panels, wind turbines etc and consider pros and
  cons of these.
• Use DT to design an environmentally friendly
  school using either 2-D or 3-D model plans
• Look up WWF guidelines on sustainable schools
  Pathways to Change on the www.wwflearning.org.uk/
  wwflearning-home/pathwaystochange
• Look for information in the DfES Sustainable
  Schools documentation and order publications
  free
• Teachernet Sustainable Schools
  www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools
• Order a free copy www.teachernet.gov.uk/publicati
  ons
• SEF (s3), the new Sustainable School
  Self-evaluation information and downloading
  available at www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainablesch
  ools/tools . further example of a whole school
  audit School Sustainable Development audit

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Step 2b - Living Sustainably at Home

• Consider how sustainably we live at home and in
  our immediate environment . Adapt as appropriate
  and discuss How Sustainable?
• Children could complete the Environmental
  Quality Assessment Survey and Pollution in Your
  Environment as a homework assignment and draw up
  results at school and give presentation of their
  findings to the rest of the class.
• Other assignments could include Climate Change
  1 2 and comparing scores in school the
  following day.
• Consider how we might improve their local
  environment and make plans for a more sustainable
  local area make a presentation and be shown to
  parents, local councillors etc.

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Step 2c - Calculating carbon footprints

• Children calculate their own global footprint
  discover what impact they make on the
  environment using www.globalfootprints.org
• They can calculate their footprint using the
  online questionnaire play the games and
  activities to find out more about the numerous
  related issues. Good cross-curricular links as
  well as the facility for calculating the schools
  global footprint
• If you do not have access to the internet for
  all the children to do their own global footprint
  they could do the paper copy, Measuring Your
  Ecological Footprint which has some interesting
  statistics at the bottom or try out the one in
  Primary Geographer Spring 2007 p44
• Discuss the implications of their footprint and
  ways in which it could be reduced, what kind of
  commitment they need to make.

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Step 3 A sustainable world?
Use any available comparative statistics that you
can find to illustrate how much of the
environment we are changing every day, how much
waste we produce on a global basis etc. eg for
each typical UK resident, we would need 2.7
planets(from Best Foot Forward website
www.bestfootforward.com)
The apple analogy
Newspaper articles
Primary Geography Handbook Chap 20
Environmental Geography
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Step 3 A sustainable world (cntd)
local environment
energy
global dimension
Brainstorm the major environmental issues
global footprint
rubbish
water
water
food
Create an information poster around the some of
the issues
community
Use DVD to spark ideas, debates eg Inconvenient
Truth David Attenboroughs Climate Change
series
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Get children to run in the playground and then
walk, when do they feel more tired, why? Think
about the fast pace of our lives and how much
energy we demand on a daily basis. Try to make a
rough estimate of how much we use and what its
used for. Consider the fact that without energy
as we have it today, life would rapidly grind to
a halt. Look at the problems of the situation
that is created by this.
Step 4 - Energy
Brainstorm What do we mean by energy? Where
and when do we use energy Why it is so crucial
in every aspect of our lives? Where does it come
from?
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Step 4b Alternative Energy
Design and make different models in DT -
ascertain which would work most effectively and
efficiently small windmills, solar ovens, small
dams etc. Use ideas from Making a Solar Oven
Get the children to be creative in thinking
about what other forms of energy we could
use. Consideration of sustainability of
transport as it exists today look into major
forms of transport understand that by far the
majority run on fossil fuels unsustainable Get
children involved in composing School Travel Plan
Brainstorm ideas about how to adapt for the
future look into alternatives - design for
vehicle for the future how is it powered, how
does it work, what are the design features that
make it efficient and sustainable?
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Step 5a Water and Food
Water conservation fits in well to QCA Unit of
Work (Unit 11 Y5 Water) Invite speaker in
from local water board Role play a water related
issue siting of a new reservoir Discuss
problems of water conservation and provision in
UK not just about less rainfall but also about
diversion of rivers for use in industries and out
of date pipes no longer able to contain the
demand put upon them
Consider how much water we use and how much we
actually need get them to take home and complete
Your Entitlement is ..
Environment Agency Water Tips www.environmentage
ncy.gov.uk/subjects/waterres/286587/287169/?versio
n1lang_e
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Step 5b Water and Food
Consider complex issues around provision of
adequate food for all revisit apple idea and
look at the implications for millions of people
in the world of where they get their food etc.
Food miles bring in labels from food children
have eaten during the week look up in atlas
where they come from and estimate the number of
miles their food for a week has travelled.
Produce graphs (excel programme in upper KS2
simpler bar graphs lower down the school)
Discuss the issues and implications of food
travelling this distance Display a large world
map and stick food labels all around it with
arrows showing where food comes from, if theres
space, put their graphs around the map as well.
Share with the rest of the school through
assembly or having display in prominent place
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Step 6 What a Waste

• What happens to all our waste?
• How do we feel about our neighbourhood?
• is it littered?
• is it kept clean?
• who keeps it clean?
• how responsible are we for keeping it clean?
• are we proud of it?
• how can we improve it?

Carry out a Litter Survey and conduct a Litter
Questionnaire to assess the environmental
quality of the local area
Display results of surveys and questionnaires in
form of simple bar-graphs and interpret the
results Annotate photos to show where rubbish is
Is there a relationship between the incidence
of rubbish and the lack of provision of bins?
Present findings to rest of school as assembly or
display even to local council and persuade them
to put in more bins if necessary, Create an area
for local art/graffiti work
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Step 6b The 3 Rs
What are we doing with our rubbish for a week,
look through the contents of classroom bin what
makes up our rubbish does it all have to be
thrown away or. Make your own compost bin at
school Supermarket Science
Take the message home with them and get them to
find out what they can recycle at home what
different bins they have produce a graph to
show this
If possible, organise a visit to the local waste
centre can prove to be an enlightening
experience for all or get someone in from the
local council to be grilled
Make the pledge to go green by completing Living
Green allow them to play their part
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Resources and ideas... - Articles and Links
An Inconvenient Truth www.climatecrisis.net
Educational site
Useful websites for Global Citizenship
Oxfamwww.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet
Teachernet Sustainable Schools
www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools/ DfES
Sustainable Schools documentation
www.teachernet.gov.uk/publications
Books, story books and poems
Global footprints http//www.globalfootprints.org

Guardian Articles 5 Dec 2006 The Climate in
Class http//education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/sto
ry/0,,1963498,00.html 6 February 2007 How big is
your footprint http//education.guardian.co.uk/egw
eekly/story/0,,2006238,00.html
David Attenborough video series Are we changing
planet earth?
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Resources and ideas... CPD
GTT website with details of CPD sustainable
development
Primary Geography and Education for Sustainable
Development
www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk
WWF Conference for Sustainability http//www.wwf.o
rg.uk/core/ Info on sustainable
schools www.wwflearning.org.uk/wwflearning-home/p
athwaystochange
WWFs on-line ESD course