First-Time Fellows (FTF) Module 1: Environmental Crisis Text Set and Reflection
Average Completion Time = 60-75 min
MODULE 1: Environmental Problems Text Set and Reflection
This activity requires time spent with your computer and with nature. It is recommended that you complete the entire activity in one “sitting,” meaning you go from the text set (readings and videos) to spending time in/with nature. The purpose of this module is to support First-Time Fellows to explore different perspectives on the environmental crisis facing humanity today.
1) EXPLORE TEXT SET: Read, listen, and view the following resources to build your understanding of the environmental issues humanity faces today:
Children's Book: The Lorax (PDF)
Documentary Clip: The 11th Hour
TED Talk (2020): Nine Planetary Boundaries Ten Year Countdown - also see Planetary Boundaries Overview.
Songs: "Big Yellow" Taxi" Lyrics, Video (YouTube) - Joni Mitchell (1967) and “Mercy Mercy Me: The Ecology” Lyrics, Video (YouTube) - Marvin Gaye (1968)
IPCC Report Summary (2021-22): IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Summary
2) REFLECT: Find a solo sit spot outside (or indoors near a plant) and take time to reflect on what you read and watched. Some possible thinking prompts include:
What surprised you about what you read/saw? What concerned you?
What is your overall emotional reaction to the text set?
How would you define your relationship with nature?
To what extent do you feel like your everyday life is impacted by these environmental problems and issues?
What role do you think you have as an educator to help students examine these complex environmental topics and issues?
OPTIONAL EXTENTIONS
OPTIONAL EXTENSIONS: If you would like to further your background understanding of environmental issues and environmental sustainability, we recommend checking out the following resources:
Two Hour Online Course - “Awakening the Dreamer” by the Pachamama Alliance: This course provides curated video content exploring environmental problems and their relationship with social and economic issues, and culminates with ideas for what humans can do to be a part of the solution.
Documentary - Breaking Boundaries (114 min): This documentary explores how humanity has enjoyed a 10,000-year stretch of relative stability on Earth due to the relatively stable temperature of the Holocene Epoch. However, the current behaviors of humans has had a tremendous impact on nature, bringing humanity dangerously close to the edge of the nine planetary boundaries. The key message from the film is that we still have time to solve this problem, if we can live within the limits of the planetary boundaries and prioritize cutting greenhouse gases to zero, protecting the wetlands, soils, forests and oceans that absorb our impacts, and change our diets and the way we farm food.