Environmental Citizenship

This is a lesson I used to use in the Challenge and Change in Society class, but I had to drop many lessons once we took on MSIP. Now I often use it as the final assignment on citizenship in my civics classes. I have used it successfully at the fast-forward level. It's easy to get them going, and it's easy to evaluate. It's not strictly environmentally based, but it leans that way. (Sorry I can't get columns to work on here.)


Civics: Final Project Name_________________

In a 3-5 minute presentation, teach the class about one form of activism that you have explored in depth. Present the material you have gathered, then ask one or two excellent questions to provoke a class discussion on the issue.

This will be researched independently, and presented in class _______________.

You have three choices for this assignment (just choose one of the following), BUT you may do more than one (1, 2, or 3) for BONUS marks:

1. Protest in Music
* Choose a song that you feel advocates social or political change.
* Bring in a recording of the song, with lyrics on an overhead.
* Describe what the song is about; what is the artist advocating?
* To what extent is the song influential or able to incite change?
* Lead a class discussion based on the social/political change in focus.


2. The Power of One
* Research one person that has affected change through protest such as…
Julia Butterfly Hill, Kaisha Atakhanova, Stephanie Roth, Jane Jacobs, Carolyn Raffensperger Von Hernandez, Stephen Lewis, Maria Elena Farro, Corneille Ewango, Naomi Klein, Ralph Nader, Michael Moore, Maude Barlow, Judy Helfand, Craig Kielburger, your choice
* What did they do?
* What motivated them to try to change a problem in the world?
* Lead a class discussion based on the social/political change in focus.


3. Personal Activism
* Focus on a specific problem in our community right now.
* Create a thorough action plan to change this problem yourself and to
challenge other people to change the problem with you. The following
websites might help determine how best to begin developing a solution…
http://protest.net/activists_handbook/
http://www.westernstatescenter.org/archive/wupep/handbook.html
http://www.freetheplanet.org/index.html
* Lead a class discussion based on the social/political change in focus.


Evaluation:
Research / Explanation of the Issue: /10
Ability to Lead a Discussion: /10