Welcome to Creating Sustainable Communities!

 

Final Exam Assignment

 

 

Human Rights Issues

Click here for current human rights issues in the U.S.

 

UDHR - Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

Name this picture

Fair Trade vs. Free Trade Unit

Essential Questions:

 

1.  Who should and do we care for? 

To what communities do you, I, or we identify?

 

2.  What does it mean to be a part of a community? 

What does it mean to be a citizen?

 

3.  What does it mean to be a "global citizen"? 

What does it mean to be part of a "global community"?

 

4.  Does global interdependence help or harm the people involved? 

How do our economic and political choices affect others?

 

5.  What responsibilities do we have to each other in the world? 

What responsibilities do corporations have to people?

 

6.  How does one live in the world with integrity? 

Do my choices, words, and actions reflect my beliefs?

 

National Geographic's Website for 1997 World Map of Coffee Growing region

 

 

CATO INSTITUTE

Center for Trade Policy Studies

Increasing public understanding of the benefits for Free Trade

 

 

Click here!

 

After learning about Free and Fair Trade and our global connection to food, products and people around the world consider the following ideas to help you think about how you and your class might be able to do something!  Ultimately, this will be your assessment of this particular unit.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be websites for how to organize a Free Trade event.  (Consider why there isn't.)  If you are a supporter of Free Trade, consider modifying one of the options that you find on the websites below to support your values. 

 

• Adopt a Supermarket or locally owned store
•  
• Promote Education

  and Social Justice for All  (Get Your School/Club Chocolate Fundraising Program, school vending machines, and school cafeteria to use Fair Trade, EDUCATE, etc.)

• Buyer Be Fair-  In tool bar check out Take Action on the far right.

 

 

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Scientist Question Environmental Impact of Corn Ethanol Growth

Living sustainably means living smarter.  Reduce your impact on the environment.

Click here for course syllabus: CSC Syllabus 2008-2009.doc 

 

 

Organizations To Contact

What follows is a list of organizations working on the issues raised in The Story of Stuff. This list is not exhaustive. At this stage, we have limited the list to organizations in the U.S. Many more internationally can be found at wiserearth.org, an online community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations working on the critical environmental and social issues of our times.

To add your own organization, please post your profile on wiserearth.org in order to connect with others around the world with shared interests.

• Extraction
• Production
• Distribution
• Consumption
• Disposal
• Other

 

Good Guide- Cool website to know if what you are consuming is

socially, economically, and evironmentally sustainable!

 

Economics and Sustainability

Learn how the pieces of the puzzle all fit together...

 

 

"Never before have our emerging environmental crises been laid out so clearly before us. Rather than shouting from the fringes, respected economists, scientists, and politicians are sounding the warnings in high-profile journals and the halls of government -- warnings that our oceans are dying, that the ice shelves are melting, and that we are setting ourselves up for the most massive and devastating market failure humanity has ever seen.

 

So we recycle our garbage. We vote greener. We buy sleek, new hybrid cars and fill our houses with energy-efficient light bulbs. And we put our money and faith in the brave and ingenious technologies that will rescue us from the whirlwind.

But it won't be enough. Because this is not, fundamentally, a technological problem. Nor is it, fundamentally, a political problem. This is a problem of appetites, and of narcissism, and of self-deceit. The planet is breaking, and it is breaking under the weight of our hunger for more. To reform the world, we must first reform ourselves."

 

 

The Vermont School Carbon Challenge

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, in collaboration with the Vermont Department of Education  and Carbonrally.com wants to give you some important new tools you can use to go on a successful low carbon diet. It’s challenging, it’s fun, and it’s the perfect way to experience how all the small things we do, taken together, make a BIG difference!

 

Reducing your school’s and your community’s carbon footprint has never been this much FUN!

The Agency is looking for student and teacher environmental champions who can bring students together in the spirit of both competition and cooperation to both individually and collectively reduce the amount of CO2 generated.

Register for the Vermont School Carbon Challenge today! The competition concludes (for the purpose of determining winners) on April 1, 2009.

 

 

 

 The following students attended the Carbon Shedders Meeting at the Big Picture Theatre on November 10th.  Tucker Sargent, Veronica Brynga, Thomas Fuller, Teonna O'Leary, Katy Newman, Seth Naikus, Hannah Lovely, and Nick Siner.  Please be sure to seek them out and ask them about how you too can become a Carbon Shredder!

 

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  Tapped out?

Click here for Food & Water Website

 

Good: Water                                  Peak Water?!?!

 

 

10 Facts about Water

 

Websites for Water Awareness Portfolio:

Website to create your circle/pie graph

Water Footprint

National Geographic- UN Highlights World Water Crisis

What you can Do! Environmental Protection Agency EPA

Sierra Club and Bottled Water:

    Be sure to check out PBS Point of View:

Bottle This: 10 minute video and interesting facts

 

Unicef and Water/Sanitation

Water Partners (Water Facts)

World Water Day

"Water Experts" in our community:

      Friends of the Mad River

       Friends of the Winooski River

 

Interested in taking action against bottled water? 

Click below to consider some initiatives (ideas) that other communities are taking:

 

Bottled Water

Inside the bottle

Flow

Take action

Spinning the bottle, Bottle banning, Unbottle water

Natural Resources Defense Council

No Impact Man!  -Video on bottled water on this site if you scroll down.

 

 

 

 

NPR Water Series:

Struggling over Water: A Series Overview

 

by Alisa Barba

 Driving Question:

 

Should water be privatized?

 

and

 

How were we convinced to buy our water?

 

Water Security Interactive Map

The global map of water security analyses several aspects of water that impact society and business, including the natural availability of water, the balance between availability

 

and demand, and the level of access to clean water and sanitation for human development.

 

Global Water and Sanitation

Maps 2.1 and 2.2 present coverage categories for improved drinking-water supply and improved sanitation. The mapped data for individual countries, areas or territories are presented in tables in Chapters 6–11. The maps show coverage by categories of 25%, 50% and 75%, but at the upper end of the scale an

extra category is provided, 91%–100%. This is done to highlight differentials within regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean, where many

countries would fit into the category of 76%–100%.  The maps show clearly how sanitation coverage is much lower than water supply coverage, especially in Asia and Africa. It is also obvious from Map 2.1 how many African countries have low coverage for improved water supply.

 

 

Global Citizen Corps

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Water Awareness or Agricultural Revolution Mid-term Assessment Links

 

 

Honors CSC Service-Learning Draft Document.doc

 Creating a Newspaper Arti.doc

How to write a press release

 

Click here for guidelines for writing and submitting a commentary to Vermont Public Radio VPR!

 

Ishmael & Sustain Rubric .doc

Mad River Valley TV -  Email for Tony

Check out the Meatrix!

 

Click Here to access this site!

 

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Cool Websites to help you think about your Reflection Blog for next time:

 

Sept. 15th, 2008

www.vermontlocalvore.org

http://lowimpactliving.com/

 

Sept. 29th, 2008

Allegory of the Cave - Slow Down Week video

 

Reflection Blog:

Write a Bi-weekly reflection, 1 page in length, centered on the issue/topic and what you have learned over the last 2 weeks.  The first entry will be due on Friday, September 5th and will focus on your emerging understanding of what it means to live sustainably.   You will use a blog to submit your reflections.  Reflections are written in narrative form and will include illustrations, photos, and citations of all research conducted.  This may at times require doing additional research to broaden your understanding of the topic or issue. 

 

This log will represent your growth as you study what it means to live in a democratic society and how we can create more sustainable communities.  Furthermore, your reflection log will require you to critically think about the subject matter that you are learning about.  Critical thinking involves the effective use of questions to gain depth in understanding.  We take so much for granted about the world around us and create superficial understandings or “truths” about what is happening in our communities. 

 

This bi-weekly assignment will help us illustrate the realities of the world. In your reflection log you are strongly encouraged to supplement all writing with illustration that enhances your thinking about the subject matter.  It may be a political cartoon, a drawing that you created, a photograph that you have found or taken, a chart, a graph, a digital photograph, etc.  This is where you will make meaningful connections with the following concepts: sustainability, issues and challenges of being sustainable, participation in democratic processes, challenges to our participation in a democracy, human relations with the natural world, sustainability as it relates to our economy, and social justice in society.    How are these concepts playing out within your community?  

 

*Sharing your experiences and observation will be a part of class participation

 

 CLICK this link to see an example of a blog entry: http://nicoleshafer01.blogspot.com/

 

 

How to create a BLOG

We will be using Blogger for our weblogs it is owned by Google so you will have to set up a Google account if you don't already have one.

 

Steps:

1. First step is to go to Blogger.com

2. Once you are on this page you have the option of signing in using your Google account or starting from scratch and creating your blog (click on the orange arrow that says CREATE YOUR BLOG NOW)

3. This page will bring you to the Create a Google account page. It is self-explanatory.

4. The next step is to name your blog. It is very important that you follow the naming conventions I give you below

• Your blog title should be your first and last name.   (Example: Mary Smith)

• The blog address should be your first and last name followed by 01, with no spaces (Example: marysmith01)

5. The next step is selecting a template. Don't pick one that is too wild...some are harder to read than others.

6. You are now ready to start blogging, but first you must email me with you blog address so I can add you to the class website. berthiaj@harwood.org

 

7. To post to your blog click on the New Post in the upper right corner.

• The Title should be "1st Biweekly Reflection and the topic” and change 1st to 2nd for next, etc.

8. Now you are ready to type your journal or reflection in the box below. The editor works just like word processor. When you are finished remember to click publish post at the bottom of the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sustainability and Our Environment: Taking CIVIC ACTION!

 

 

An Action Plan that incorporates your understanding of Community Sustainability, Allegory of the Cave and Ishmael.

 

 

Your Action Plan must include:

 

• Title page with a visual
• Vision
• Audit
• Investigation
• Resources and Partners
• Timeline (consider a graphic organizer)
• Obstacles and Resistance
• Chart of Tasks and Subtasks
• Environmental Impact  EXTRA CREDIT

   

• Economic Impact    EXTRA CREDIT

   

• Social Impact    EXTRA CREDIT

 

 

 

 

Download the file below for a template of your Action Plan:

 Updated Action Plan Outline.doc

 CSC RUBRIC for Action plan.doc

 

Directions for uploading your Rubric and Action Plan to the wiki:

1. Go to the box at the top right hand of the page and click "sidebar".

2. Find you class block A, C, or H.

3. Find you name and click on it to open to your page.

4. Click "edit" at the top left hand side of your page.

5. Password: Harwood, then enter your name, email address, unclick box, and click ok.

6. Now that you are in the editting page you want to look on your toolbar for "attach file" and click on it.

7. Then click on browse and find your document and once it appears click upload and then "ok" at the bottom. Be patient.

8. Be sure to then save by clicking "Save" at the bottom left hand corner of the page. 

9 Now repeat for the second document!

Directions-uploading work.doc