ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Before you start the required reading start with this very short inspirational story:
Making a Difference one step at a time: There once was a young boy who went to the beach for vacation with his family. He was sad to see that every day as the tide went out, hundreds of starfish were left to dry up and die on the beach. Each day he would run along the beach, looking for starfish and throw them back into the water. His parents, frustrated that he was not building sandcastles and splashing in the water as they expected, tried to discourage this behavior. As they walked along the beach with him, searching for starfish, his mother said, “Why are you doing this? When we go home, there will be no one to do it. What difference does it make?" His father added, “You are wasting your time. Think of all the starfish that get washed up on beaches all over the world every day. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The little boy stubbornly picked up one more starfish, threw it back out to sea, turned to his parents and said, “I made a difference for that one!”
Also please take this short survey if you can:
This environmental survey is to see how your lifestyle impacts the planet: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/gfn/page/calculators/
Post how you did in the classroom forum. This will count for participation credit as a PIE post...I am hoping everyone does this one)
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Required Reading: approx. 10 pages total for this lesson plan
1. Environmental Ethics (3 pages; main article)
2. Here are 3 short articles from an Environmentalist Website called HELP SAVE NATURE.com to introduce environmental ethics (read these and not simply skim through them)
a. https://helpsavenature.com/environmental-ethics (short intro to Environmental Ethics; 1 page)
b. Environmental Problems We Face (main problems we face; 3 page)
c. http://www.livescience.com/37003-global-warming.html (global warming problem we face; 3 pages)
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Optional:
Huffington Post article..it very much fits in this class and incorporates environmental ethics, neuro science, evolutionary ethics,
and the message of the Dalai Lama into it. But I will not test on it. Instead it can make for a supplemental article (e.c.) or a Pie post.
A Fun Article about Buddhism, Darwin and the Environment