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Action Projects Transportation SMART MOVES Correlations to CA State Content Standards for Science: Correlations to CA State Content Standards for Social Studies: Adapted from Smart Moves by The Earth Day Network
(See Earth Day Network web site for complete text) The use of cars has become woven into the fabric of our daily lives. Yet our current transportation system contributes to some of our most serious environmental problems. In 1900, few people had ever seen an automobile. By 1950, 50 million cars were on the road. Today there are 500 million cars worldwide, and it is predicted that this number will double over the next twenty-five years. Cars and other means of transportation cause some of our most serious environmental problems. Smog fouls the air of most of the world's cities and causes respiratory and other health problems. Drilling for oil pollutes land, lakes, rivers and oceans. Thousands of "routine" oil spills each year contaminate wild lands, streams, lakes, and delicate coastal areas. Loss of animal and plant habitat and loss of valuable farmland occur as more and more land is covered by roads, buildings and parking areas. In coming decades, global warming-a direct result of fossil fuel use and deforestation-is expected to change the global climate system in ways that will affect people and ecosystems worldwide. One third of all U.S. carbon dioxide emissions come from the transportation sector. Carbon dioxide is the most significant of all the greenhouse gases that result from human activity. If every car in the U.S. were replaced by one that was just 10 MPG more fuel efficient, this would reduce the U.S.' annual carbon dioxide contribution to global warming by nearly 20%. automobile use and its many harmful environmental impacts. (All of the following projects can be adapted for Service Learning, school newspaper, etc.)
Brainstorm different modes of transportation and then create collages of your favorite methods. Could it be a bike ride to the store, a carpool to school, an airplane ride, a ferry ride to a nearby island? Write about the modes of transportation in their collages, noting which ones are the most earth-friendly.
Make a chart to record your trips for one week. Include columns for the date, reason for travel (home to school, school to soccer practice, etc.), mode of transportation (bike, car, walking), distance, and carbon dioxide emissions (global warming pollution). List the trips you make for seven days, recording where you went, why, the mode of transportation and the distance. Using the following chart, calculate how much carbon dioxide was produced for each trip. TYPE OF TRANSPORTATION/ CARBON DIOXIDE POLLUTION Bus Drive Alone in Car Carpool Compile the results and look at average emissions for individuals and for the class as a whole. Brainstorm ways to reduce the amount of fossil fuel use and the resulting pollution.
Help you understand the link between car use and global warming by learning about the carbon dioxide emissions of a particular car. Ask them to find out the year and model type of a car with which they are familiar (their family's car, or a friend or relative's car.) Then show them how to enter this information at the Environmental Defense Fund's web site (www.edf.org; click on "Tailpipe Tally-Calculate YOUR Vehicle Emissions"). They will receive a breakdown of the average yearly emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants for that car, with comparisons to the average car's yearly emissions and to the average home's yearly electricity use. Follow up with a class discussion. If your class does not have access to the Internet, examples from this chart can be used to illustrate the fact that vehicles produce widely differing amounts of carbon dioxide pollution: Source of Global Warming Pollution Approximate Carbon Dioxide (in pounds per year) 1990 Jeep Cherokee: 10,700 Compare To:
Most advertisements for cars or sport utility vehicles send messages about freedom, adventure, driving on empty roads, or heading up a mountain. The reality of most people's driving time is quite different. Find magazine ads for different vehicles, record television ads on video. Examine the messages conveyed in these ads and discuss the realities of city driving. Create "reality" car advertisements that (a) include their environmental impacts, and (b) reflect what it is actually like to drive on the busiest street in your town.
Imagine showing your community to a visiting friend. As a group, brainstorm a list of parks, amusement areas or other special places you would like to visit in an afternoon. Working in small groups, design a route that starts from your school and uses your community's public transportation systems. Research all the possibilities: bus, subway, bicycles, walking, etc. Each group may have a different route and/or different transportation choice-the more, the better! Based on all the groups' findings, put together a day-guide for the visitor, including contact information and schedules. Write to local government officials asking for bike lanes and safe bike parking at your school. Write to vehicle manufactures and ask them to show leadership and clean up our air by making cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Ford Motor Company Daimler-Chrysler AG GM Corporation
Look at a map of your city and think about how it might incorporate more efficient bus routing, networks of safe streets for cyclists, and safer walking conditions. Redesign your city, working with the natural features to maintain their existence, yet designing strong neighborhood centers where people can walk to services and to the bus. You may wish to revise bus routes for more efficient service. Present your designs to your group and then to other classes. Make a list of ideas for making your city work better. Interview an elder-a family member or friend-about how they got around during their childhood. What form of transportation did they use? How long did it take them to get places? How have the roads changed since then? Afterwards, write about what you learned. Better community design is vital to reduce automobile transportation and its impacts. However, for some journeys we will still want to drive private automobiles. In the coming century, automobiles may be run on different kinds of fuels, such as hydrogen fuel cells, battery-powered electricity, or solar energy. Divide into groups and ask each group to choose a type of future transportation. Have them research where its energy will come from, how much the technology is expected to cost, and when it is likely to come on the market. Ask each group to present its findings to the larger group. * Adapted from Away With Waste, Washington Department of Ecology American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) publishes
a yearly Green Guide to Cars and Trucks that ranks new cars, vans, SUVs
and pickup trucks according to their environmental friendliness. Fuel
efficiency and contributions to air pollution and global warming are
considered. The Green Guide is available for $12 (postage included)
from: Bullfrog Films distributes Subdivide and Conquer: A Modern Western
(1999), addressing the causes and consequences of urban sprawl as well
as solutions and alternatives. To order, contact: Campaign on Auto Pollution distributes Getting There: Strategic Facts
for the Transportation Advocate, a fascinating collection of well-documented
transportation-related facts and statistics. Limited quantities are
available. To order, send a self-addressed stamped envelope with $1.24
in postage to: Earth Day Network is the international organization coordinating Earth
Day 2000 events worldwide. Earth Force's Get Out Spoke'n campaign provides information and support
to young people who are working to make their communities more bike-friendly.
Contact: Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)'s web site (http://www.edf.org/) offers excellent on-line tools to help students learn about the air quality and major pollution sources of their area, fuel efficiencies of specific years and models of cars, vehicles' life-cycle environmental impacts, and health impacts of air pollution. Four-H Council offers "Going Places, Making Choices: A Curriculum
for Grades 9-11" about transportation and the environment. Copies
are available free of charge to educators. Contact: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has launched an EarthSmart
Cars campaign, urging automakers to make cleaner, less-polluting vehicles
available to consumers. For more information, or to participate, contact
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) offers Getting Around
Without Gasoline, a 54-page curriculum for grades 6-8. Also available
for elementary school educators: Choose Your Future (32 pages, including
teacher's guide). Help students explore transportation and other choices
for a sustainable future. Cost for each piece is $5 for non-NESEA members;
free to members. Contact: Sierra Club's Clean Car Campaign is working for cleaner, more fuel-efficient
cars as the single most important way to reduce air pollution and global
warming. They offer an educational video, The Climate Report, summarizing
climate change and ways to reverse it. Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has several fact sheets that address
"The Hidden Costs of Transportation." Look for "Cars
and Trucks and Global Warming,"Greener Solutions," and "Advanced
Vehicles and Alternative Fuels" at http://www.ucsusa.org/transportation/ The Video Project offers "Element One - Hydrogen: Key to the Sustainable Energy Revolution" (grade 10 and up) and "Moving Beyond Auto America" (grade 7 and up). Contact: The Video Project. 200 Estates Dr., Ben Lomond, CA 95005, tel. 831-336-0160. Written by Jan Thomas and Anne Fritzel. Special thanks to Ruth Baetz, Melinda Branscomb, Denis Hayes, Paul Horton, Janice Kohler, Jennie Lane, Alissa Moen, Judy Niver, Cathi Rodgveller, Donald Reynolds, Rhys Roth, Adam Serchuck, Kevin Whilden, Brett Williams, Climate Solutions, and the Oil Smart education committee. Written by Jan Thomas and Ann Fritzel Special thanks to the Oil Smart
Education Committee Earth Day Network/Earth Day 2000 |
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