Albuquerque's
Environmental StoryAlbuquerque's
Environmental StoryDivide the class into three groups. Have one group list the needs of plants, one, those of animals, and one, those of people. Make a pictorial chart.
How are the needs in all three groups similar?What are some needs people have which plants and animals do not share?
Which human needs might vary according to people's customs and personal tastes? How can needs and wants be differentiated? Is this easy to do? Explain.
How well are your needs met in your personal environment? What might be some reasons which explain why some students' needs are not met as they would like?
Highlight the staggering demands our current lifestyle makes on energy from fossil fuels. Decide on a sample breakfast which might have been eaten either by the early Indian and Spanish settlers or by the students in the class. List, in three columns, the energy used to get these foods on the table in each instance.
What was the major energy source used by the early settlers in planting their crop? What energy is used today?
How much of the food eaten by the early settlers was homegrown? How much is homegrown nowadays?
In what different ways does the transportation of foods require the use of energy?
How does packaging food use energy? Why does the use of plastic products for packaging use more energy than paper packaging?
What are the differences between energy consumption for the home storing of foods then and now? Of cooking?
Cities are sometimes described metaphorically in terms of energy requirements and vital systems of the human body. List the parallels that occur to you in a chart like the one below.
|
Human Body |
City |
|
1. arteries as conduits for blood |
highways as conduits for moving people, goods |
|
2. |
|
|
3. |
|
|
4. |
What changes would occur in any of the human systems if the quantity, direction, or rate of flow of any of its components was changed?
What parallels would occur in a similar system in a city?
How might changes in any one of the human body's systems affect another part of the body?
What parallels might occur in a city ecosystem?
How would you explain the facetiously used term, autoriosclerosis?
Is there any danger Albuquerque might approach that condition?
Play an Environmental Effects Game, "What would happen if . . . " Students sit in a circle. One is given a question to ask the group. Children express consequences by turns. When three children in a row pass, a new question is used. Sample questions might be:
if all of the workers in Albuquerque traveled to and from work on motorcycles?
if all men, women, and children could walk to their places of work, and to stores, schools, etc.?
if all garbage men went on strike during June, July, and August this summer? . . .
if the water table dropped l,000 feet?
if all the people in Albuquerque decided to move to the Sandia Mountains?
Put together an imaginary day in the life of a family in Albuquerque, present or past: Hispanic, Native American, Anglo, Black, Asian; urban, semi-rural; wealthy, poor; residents of the North Valley, South Valley, Northeast Heights, Downtown.
What are their needs? Wants? Hopes?
What city services do they use? Consider social services as well as basic physical services such as water, electricity, etc.
To what extent do they function as neighborhood groups in expressing a need for services?
To what extent do they feel neighborhood ties?
Using bus route maps and a city map, show how your class can take interesting field trips on public transportation.
What are some places your class can visit to see the kinds of services the city offers?
What are the advantages of using public transportation rather than parents, cars for these trips?
(Up to Section IV, Back to Eye Opener Worksheet 9, On to Eye Opener Worksheet 10)