OPERATION PROJECT EARTH

It is a common misconception by many people that environmental degeneration is limited only to cutting down of old growth forests, pollution, andthe use of non-biodegradable materials. It is also a misguided assumption that as individuals there is very little we can do in regards to protecting the environment. The most prevalent belief is that the responsibility for the protection of the environment lies with the government and if not the government then government and non-profit organizations established to address these issues. Many of us have a hard time grasping it is those small steps and simple actions on the part of individuals and groups that can make a significant contribution to protecting our environment. It is because of the lack of knowledge and misconceptions that I believe we must begin with educating our youth. If we are going to have an impact on the health and sustainability of our precious planet, it needs to begin with the smallest of our voices, our children.

Constance L. Prewitt M. ed., NBCT

Operation Project Earth

The educational goal of this learning experience is to provide students a framework in which they can see how the choices that they make affect not only themselves but also all that is around them. The intent is to bring awareness to students as to how everything in our environment is interrelated and impacted by what we chose to do.

Objectives:

  • Describe environmental problems and their possible causes.
  • Describe human impact on the environment.
  • Explain and describe values and feelings towards the environment
  • Develop a personal connection with the environment through own experience
  • Propose a solution to environmental conflicts
  • Describe practical tools to solveenvironmental problems.
  • Explain and demonstrate an understanding of their own power to harm or preserve the environment.
  • Demonstrate a respect for the environment and living things.
  • Advocate, through word and deed, conservation and preservation of the environment.

Washington State standards addressed:

Environmental and Sustainability Education

Standard 1:Ecological, Social, and Economic Systems:

Students develop knowledge of the interconnections and interdependency of ecological, social, and economic systems. They demonstrate understanding of how the health of these systems determines the sustainability of natural and human communities at local, regional, national, and global levels.

Standard 2:The Natural and Built Environment

Students engage in inquiry and systems thinking and use information gained through learning experiences in, about, and for the environment to understand the structure, components, and processes of natural and human-built environments.

Standard 3: Sustainability and Civic Responsibility

Students develop and apply the knowledge, perspective, vision, skills, and habits of mind necessary to make personal and collective decisions and take actions that promote sustainability.

Science

EALR 4: Life Science.Ecosystems

4-5 LS2F: People affect ecosystems both positively and negatively.

Social Studies

EALR 2: Economics

Component 2.1: Understands that people have to make choices between wants and needs and evaluate the outcomes of those choices.

Component 2.4: Understands the economic issues and problems that all societies face.

EALR 3: Geography

Component 3.2: Understands human interaction with the environment.

Playing the Project Earth Game

Teacher shares with the class that they are entrusted with developing a new community. They will be making decisions necessary to run a community. Tell the group, “The most important thing to keep in mind as you progress through this experience is:“To leave this place for your children and grandchildren as good as or better than you found it!” State this goal to the students only once.

How The Game (experience) Works:

Before the game (setting up the experience)

Before the game begins it is important for the teacher to prepare all materials. See materials list and set up directions

Beginning the game

Teacher describes the physical community that the classroom has been transformed into. Tell students that there is a lake and a national forest. That they will need to name the community but the lake and forest have already been named.

  1. Students select their initial “savings” randomly from the bags of beans/corn. Students will then select (randomly) an occupation.
  2. Students next purchase necessities such as trees (trees are exchanged for homes), land, homes, and cars. At this time students also write possible names for their city on the board. (If you have completed steps 1 and 2 at a different time it is okay to remind students that the goal is to leave the community as good as or better than they found it.)
  3. Once students have completed their purchases they may set up their “home” on the floor.
  4. When all of the students have finished their purchases, ask for 3 volunteers to “run” for mayor.
  5. Candidates for mayor will take a moment to prepare a campaign speech to inform the students why they should be mayor. (approximately 1 minute)
  6. Have students vote for mayor.
  7. Vote for name of city.
  8. Once the mayor has been selected begin voting on “community policy.” Start with power then move to garbage collection, waste removal and finally public transportation. For each policy the mayor draws 4 student names from a box. Each of the 4 students state a pro or a con for their preferred method. Discuss the pros and cons of each option. The group briefly debates the issues but politicians (city government), make the final decision and select the location. If students do not have the funds to pay their taxes, they must sell their possessions to raise the funds. When they “sell back” they do not receive the full market price for their sales.
  9. Things students must vote on are:

Power options

  • Nuclear power – tax of 10 beans/corn per person
  • Fossil Fuel (coal, natural gas) tax of 1 beans/corn per person
  • Large scale hydroelectricity – tax of 5 beans/corn per person
  • “Green energy” Solar/Wind/small scale hydro power – tax of 7 bean/corn per person

Garbage collection/ waste removal

  • Recycling center – tax of 10 beans/corn per person
  • Landfill/ transfer station – tax of 3 beans/corn per person
  • Cheap land fill: tax of 1 bean/corn per person
  • Open dump – no charge

Water/ Sewer

  • Large scale community water and sewer system – tax of 3 beans/corn per person
  • Cheap/ minimum community water and sewer system- tax of 1 bean/corn per person
  • Individual well and septic system – tax of 5 bean/corn per person

Transportation

  • Decide to provide mass transit system – tax of 4 beans/corn per person for 4 years.
  • Individual cars- tax of 2 beans/corn per car per year.

Once everything has been set up and systems have been voted on the teacher begins reading different scenarios. Allow for students to discuss options for each scenario. Mayor draws 3-4 names (depending on size of class) to present pro/con of choice then mayor along with politicians makes final decision.

Scenarios: ( ** group decision) you may use all, improvise or omit scenarios depending on needs of the students.

  1. **A person throws out a lit cigarette and a wildfire breaks out in the NE portion of the community. Do you extinguish the fire or let it burn?
  2. If decision is made to extinguish the fire, firefighters each receives 20 beans/corn bonus.
  3. If decision is made to allow the fire to burn out, the 2 homes closest to the NE corner of the community are destroyed.
  1. PAYDAY! It is now 2 years later, all occupations not requiring school receive 20 beans/corn, those still in school receive nothing.
  1. Major flood: Everyone without trees on their land pays 5 beans/corn to cover erosion repairs.
  1. Lightening strikes a tree in the forest. It burns down 4 houses. If the decision was made to let the previous wildfire burn, no homes are lost.
  1. PAYDAY! If college educated, receive 30 beans/corn. If not college educated receive 10 beans/corn.
  1. Community decides to “undercut” (remove all small trees and clear the under brush). This will cost each person 6 beans/corn.
  1. **An earthquake strikes and power is cut off to the city. Do you continue using current power source or purchase new system? (Decision of power must be made by community discussion)

Nuclear Power

  • If using nuclear power the plant was compromised and contaminated 5 nearest houses. Owners of contaminated homes pay 10 beans in medical expenses. Do you continue using nuclear power or purchase a new system?
  • If new system, tax of 3 beans/corn a year for 10 years to suspend nuclear plant plus the cost of the new system.
  • If keep nuclear power one time tax of 4 beans/corn per person to upgrade power plant.

Fossil Fuel

  • If using fossil fuels, natural resources depletion increases price. Pay 5 beans/corn per person increase or purchase new system.

Large scale Hydro

  • If using large scale hydro, earthquake created crack in dam flooding 3 nearest homes. Replace old dam or purchase new system.

Green energy

  • If using “green” energy, no new system needed
  1. Biologist discovers that the water has been polluted by over/unregulated use of insecticides and fertilizers. If using cheap/minimum community water and sewer system pay 5 bean/corn fee for clean-up. If using individual or large scale water and sewer system pay nothing.
  1. PAYDAY! ! If college educated, receive 30 beans. If not college educated receive 10 beans.
  1. Lack of predatory birds due to acid rain causes mass insect population and invasion, destroying the farmers’ crops. Farmers lose all beans. If public transportation system is in place ignore, farmers keep beans.
  1. **Due to the earthquake the Alaskan Way viaduct collapses. The community must:
  2. replace the viaduct at 3 beans/person for 10 years or
  3. build a tunnel at 2 beans/person for 5 years
  4. build a toll highway, receiving tolls from users for 5 years (all who own cars pay 1 bean every year).
  1. A drought occurred. Light rainfall and snowpack in the mountains requires:
  2. purchase power from neighboring communities 2 beans/person
  3. have rolling blackouts at no cost/person but inconvenience for all.
  1. PAYDAY! ! If college educated, receive 30 beans. If not college educated receive 10 beans.
  1. Gas tax increase: 2 beans per car or boat, 5 beans per SUV
  1. Acid rain – effects of acid rain are becoming evident. Auto owners pay 3 beans per car to aid in eradication.
  1. ** Forest fire starts in National Forest because a campfire is not put out properly. If previous fire was extinguished, this one burns out of control destroying entire national forest and 3 nearest homes. Loggers and construction workers lose all beans. If previous fire was allowed to burn, this fire is controlled and only minor damage occurs to forest.
  1. Mass tourist invasion to see fire damage. Business owners and waiter/waitresses receive 10 beans.
  1. Tourists leave piles of trash all over city (teacher scatters small scraps of paper as trash).
  • If open dump is used, pay 10 beans/corn per person to control disease epidemic
  • If using landfill, It’s full, build another at a new location and pay 5 beans/corn per person.
  • If using landfill/transfer station, additional loads have increased costs, pay 3 beans per person.
  • If recycling center exists, every piece of trash turned in from your property is worth 1 bean/corn.
  1. Tax break, government provides 3 beans/corn to all who do not own a car.
  1. Surcharge for those living in 6” houses pay additional 3 beans/corn immediately for additional heating & electricity use. Those with 2-4” houses receive 2 beans/corn.
  1. Excise tax imposed on all properties. Pay 2 beans/corn for each piece of property.
  1. ** You discover that the city’s largest manufacturer is causing mass pollution to the lake. You can either decide as a community to boycott and stop using the products, costing each person 10 beans/corn because you now must buy higher priced goods from other merchants, or you can ignore the problem and go on with your life.

CONCLUSION

Say to class, “Life is over and it’s time to see if you have won. It is now the year 2111. It doesn’t matter how many beans you have or the kind of car or house you have. You have all died and your possessions are of no use to you now. What determines if you have won or not is how you left this community for future generations. Did you reach the goal of leaving this place for your children and grandchildren as good as or better than you found it?”

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS

  1. What were the pros and cons of your power source choice? Garbage/waste collection? Water and sewer?
  2. How did your community care for its natural resources?
  3. How important was your occupation? What made it so?
  4. Did you control pollution? (acid rain, polluting factory, etc…)
  5. How effective were your politicians and mayor? Did they listen to you? Would you re-elect them?
  6. What do you think you learned in this game? As an individual? As a community?
  7. What choices would you make the same? What would you change?
  8. What effect does the choices we make have on others? On our environment?
  9. How successful was your community in meeting the goal of “To leave this place for your children and grandchildren as good as or better than you found it!”

Materials list and set up directions

I have found it to be helpful in the flow of this experience to go through steps 1and 2 in beginning the game ahead of time with the class. This can take a long time particularly if you do not have help and can be done by calling students up one at a time to make purchases while the remainder of the class works on something silently.

Occupations: you will need cards or some way to randomly assign occupations to students. Below is a list of possible occupations.

Doctor / 18 beans/corn
Doctor / 18 beans/corn
nurse / 12 beans/corn
nurse / 12 beans/corn
Lawyer / 16 beans/corn
lawyer / 16 beans/corn
Biologist/scientist / 15 beans/corn
Biologist/scientist / 15 beans/corn
politician / 9 beans/corn
politician / 9 beans/corn
firefighter / 8 beans/corn
firefighter / 8 beans/corn
farmer / 7 beans/corn
farmer / 7 beans/corn
logger / 6 beans/corn
logger / 6 beans/corn
Construction worker / 5 beans/corn
Construction worker / 5 beans/corn
Waiter/Waitress / 5 beans/corn
Waiter/Waitress / 5 beans/corn
Factory worker / 5 beans/corn
Factory worker / 5 beans/corn
Business owner / 7 beans/corn
Business owner / 7 beans/corn
Teacher / 10 beans/corn
Teacher / 10 beans/corn
Police / 8 beans/corn
Police / 8 beans/corn
Park Ranger / 7 beans/corn
Park Ranger / 7 beans/corn

Issues: You will need 1 (one) poster for each of the following issues: power, solid waste/garbage, waste/sewer, and transportation. You will need to mark on this poster the choices students made and keep them posted throughout the experience. You will need a poster that lists the price of homes including the sell back price, property with sell back price, price of trees to plant on property and sell back price of those trees. Finally you will need a poster with the price of the different vehicles and sell back prices.

Power options /
  • Nuclear power – tax of 10 beans per person.
  • Large scale hydroelectricity – tax of 5 beans per person.
  • Fossil Fuel(coal, natural gas)– tax of 1 bean per person.
  • “Green energy” Solar/wind/small scale hydro power - tax of 1 bean per person.

Garbage Collection options /
  • Recycling center – tax of 10 beans per person
  • Landfill/transfer station – tax of 3
beans per person
  • Cheap landfill – tax of 1 bean per person
  • Open dump– no charge

Waste/sewer /
  • Large scale community water and sewer system – tax of 3 beans per person
  • Cheap/minimum community water and sewer system- tax of 1 bean per person
  • Individual well and septic system– tax of 5 beans per person

Transportation /
  • Decide to provide mass transit system – tax of 4 beans/corn per person for 4 years.
  • Individual cars- tax of 2 beans/corn per car per year.

Supplies: For a class of 30 I try to have at least 30 of each type of house and vehicle.

Trees: I try to have about 300, knowing that I can put them back in the forest for other students to use to purchase their houses if needed.

Property:For a class of 30 I try to have at least 60 pieces of twine cut for property. It is helpful to put a small piece of tape on the ends of the twine to keep it from unraveling.