Threatening sustainability
What are the things that threaten the future of this planet?. Increased air travel? Population growth? Intensive farming? Put these in order of crisis and think what we might do about them.
Aim: to consider what some of the main threats are to sustainability.
Age group: 11-15, 16+.
Number of participants: about 8-12.
Time required: 30 minutes.
Resources needed: threatening sustainability cards.
What to do:
Get into groups of three or four. Give out threatening sustainability cards.
Think of one to add onto the spare card. If as a group you can think of more than one you can replace others if you prefer them.
When you have nine, try to work as a group to decide on how ‘major’ the threats are.
‘Diamond rank’ them, with the most threatening at the top, the least at the bottom and rows of 2,3,2 in between where the line of three are all equal in the middle. It should look like a ‘diamond’.
What action needs to be taken to respond to each threat, by governments, other groups and by you?
Now can you think of a set of ‘possibilities’; ways in which people might respond positively to any of these challenges?
e.g. Reduce electricity consumption and invest in green energy.
An environmental ‘tax’.
Investment in train services to reduce flights in areas such as Europe.
Which are easiest and which are most likely to happen do you think?
Extension:
Go and ask an expert at the sustainability centre what they think is the greatest threat.
THREATENING SUSTAINABILITY CARDS
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The number of people who fly when they could use other means of transport. |
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Population increase |
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Managers of huge companies who put profit above environmental consequences. |
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Electricity use and lack of green energy |
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Exhausting parts of the food chain (e.g. through over fishing) and intensive non-organic farming. |
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Destruction of habitats like rainforest |
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Depletion of biodiversity of species |
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Western countries desperate to ‘control’ oil supplies and dominate the Arab world. |
