The Great Debate for Going Green in Small Town Maine

Developed By: Adam Pomeroy  


Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion|Credits

Introduction

In your small town tension is growing between the community and the town board. The community thinks that it would be best to have everyone make small changes in their daily life to make a greater impact on making the environment healthier along with improving personal health and decreasing the budget in the long run. The town board disagrees and wants to take a different approach to get the desired solution. The board members think that making larger scale changes would be much more beneficial and they have aligned with several large surrounding communities in an effort to make the larger changes they want. After researching their areas both teams are going to create a campaign ad that will answer the important questions and misconceptions of their side. The catch is that funding is tight and each team only has enough funding for a 6.5 minute ad.



Introduction|Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion|Credits

Task

Prepare to present your opinion of the town going green to the town selectmen. This community is striving to adopt environmentally practices that will also benefit personal health and needs to hear the research that you have been doing. Your campaign ad is from the view point of either:

Team 1: Those that think being efficient with the small things is the best way to be more environmentally friendly.

Team 2: Those that think bigger and more drastic changes are required to be more environmentally friendly.

 

 

Process

In your small town tension is growing between the community and the town board. The community thinks that it would be best to have everyone make small changes in their daily life to make a greater impact on making the environment healthier along with improving personal health and decreasing the budget in the long run. The town board disagrees and wants to take a different approach to get the desired solution. The board members think that making larger scale changes would be much more beneficial and they have aligned with several large surrounding communities in an effort to make the larger changes they want. After researching their areas both teams are going to create a campaign ad that will answer the important questions and misconceptions of their side. The catch is that funding is tight and each team only has enough funding for a 6.5 minute ad.


TEAM1:Those of you who have been assigned to the green committee are to research methods that can be used to make a greener community and healthier person. Your group is to research methods that look at What can be done by each member of the community around their house. The changes that could be made would be to increase recycling, increase the efficiency of the house, reduce energy consumption, reduce waste and to change landscaping to be more environmentally friendly.Remember that your are looking for methods that community members can do at home for little or no cost. (click on TEAM1 to go to the Team1 Resources)



TEAM2:Not everyone believes that making small changes will have a significant impact to the environment and to personal health. Your team is to look at methods that help get people of the "grid". These methods are geared towards making their own energy such as solar power and wind farms. The changes that you think should be made are more large scale and require the town to spend money.You are to research the impact that would be received if a majority of the community houses were put on solar power or wind power. You are also to come up with findings for the benefits of mandating that all new houses built must be built in a green way, using green materials and being highly energy efficient. How would these changes be better then making a lot of smaller changes. Remember your team is researching large scale methods that will significantly impact the environment for the better.  (click on TEAM2 to go to the TEAM2 Resources)

Both Teams: At the end of the webquest you need to click on the image at the top of the page (the heart shaped earth) and take the ecological footprint quiz. You then need to individually blog about your own personal reactions to the quiz and to the research that you did and to the presentations made by all teams.


Introduction|Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion|Credits

Resources

TEAM1

Earth 911 (Tips on Going Green) Building Green Go Green Initiative
10 Ways to Go Green and Save Green Home Energy Audits Making Your Own Clean Energy
Offsetting Emissions Benefits of an Electric Car/
Electric Cars
Personal Wind Farm/
Another Example
Energy Consumption Impacts

TEAM2

Background on Geothermal
/ More Geothermal
Footprint for Local Government Wind/Hydro Background\
Personal Wind Farm/
Another Example
Building Green Greening the Community Through Landscaping Making Your Own Clean Energy
Energy Star Homes Solar Energy Background
/  A Maine Based Company (For an Idea of Cost and Output)
National Renewable Energy Lab
Benefits of an Electric Car/
Electric Cars
Energy Consumption Impacts



Introduction|Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion|Credits

Evaluation

Take a look at the rubrics that everyone will be graded on:Rubric.Those that go over the allotted time will be penalized and all information that is given over the 6.5 minutes will be disregarded.It is important that teams work together in a professional manner making sure that the task is completed to specification and is done on time.Before coming into the class on presentation day the rubric needs to be printed off and filled out.  

Introduction|Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion|Credits

Conclusion

 Now that you are an expert on your side of the debate would you like to change positions and why or why not? Is it possible to make changes in the community as a whole to become greener? How about a single household? Can one person really make an impact for the better? Should people continue living the way that they do when there are such simple and cost effective methods that do not impact the environment as much? 

 


Credits

Introduction|Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion |Credits

Heart Shaped Earth
Green Light Bulb image
Man's Footprint on the Planet
Background
Emission Free House