April 2000: Earth Day and Ecology

Did you know it is Earth Day's 30th birthday? Check out these interdisciplinary teaching ideas, TV programs, and online resources developed each month around a specific theme.

Teaching Ideas

Unmasking the Mandrill

The rain forest of Gabon, a small county on the western coast of Africa, is the home of the mandrill, a primate with bright blue and red facial markings that resemble a mask. Gabon is one of the least developed countries in Africa and contains many natural resources such as wood and oil, along with great deposits of uranium, manganese, gold, and iron. Over the years logging activities within Gabon's rain forest have expanded; threatening to unmask the mandrill by reducing the very habitat that it depends upon for food and shelter.

Present the concept of sustainable development to your students. Sustainable development encourages economic growth that improves human welfare without wasting environmental resources or harming the biological systems that life depends on. Next divide the class into various stakeholder groups that would most likely be found in Gabon, i.e., government representatives, business entrepreneurs, environmentalists, and indigenous people. Have each group research and share with the entire class the likely positions that their assigned group would take in further developing Gabon. The following online resources can assist your students in their research: www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/mask/, www.panda.org/resources/publications/sustainability/people/gabon.html, and www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/County_Specific/Gabon.html. Last, convene a sustainable development summit requiring each of the stakeholder groups to work toward a development agreement that ensures the future economic and environmental well being of Gabon.

As an extender activity go to www.pbs.org/journeytoamazonia/teacher_world.html and divide your students into the following stakeholder groups Occidental Petroleum, Uwa tribe, Environmental Activist, and the Colombian Ministry. Allow time for each of the stakeholder groups to research their positions. Next convene a mock court hearing to address Occidental Petroleum’s request to drill for oil in Columbia on the ancestral land of the U’wa tribe.

Have your students compare and contrast the various stakeholder group positions with those recently expressed in the Unmasking the Mandrill activity. Are there any similarities in the ways that each stakeholder group reacts to the further development of the rainforest in Gabon and the Amazon? Are there any differences? Why?

If your students are interested in protecting the Amazon and other rainforests around the world, go to www.pbs.org/journeytoamazonia/teacher_act.html and find out what they can do at home, school, and the community to help.

Eating on the Run

For a polar bear every meal is like a trek down the frozen food section of your local grocery store. That's because the polar bear makes its home in the vast frozen lands of the Arctic, where the search for its favorite food, the elusive and tasty ringed seal, often takes this solitary hunter on a journey that can range over a few hundred miles to thousands of miles. In fact, polar bears can run at speeds up to 25mph and one particular bear roamed as far as 3,000 miles back and forth across a huge range while looking for its next meal. Talk about eating on the run!

How far could your students roam in search of their next meal? For this activity let's assume that over a one year period a very hardy, or perhaps hungry, polar bear can roam as far as 3,000 in its continuous efforts to find food. That would roughly equal a little over 8 miles a day. Pair each of your students together and using a stop watch have them determine how long it takes each of them to jog one time around a 1/4 mile track. Then calculate how much time it would take to travel one mile. Have each student combine their time with their partner's in order to average how long it would take for the two of them together to travel one mile.

Next assign each pair of students a direction in which to travel, and have each pair calculate how many miles they could roam at a rate of eight hours per day for an entire year.  Using your school as the starting point and with a world atlas in hand, have your students determine where in the world (end point) had their "roaming" taken them in their search for food. What are the culinary specialties found within the area where your students' journeys ended? Have each pair share their "polar bear" roaming stories with the class. To learn more about polar bears check out these online sites: www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/whitebear/ and maple.nis.net/~bearwork/polars1/13seawrl/pbbigindex.html.

 

IdahoPTV and PBS Programs

Don't miss these programs airing in April!

Cadillac Desert
Airs Friday, April 7, 2000 at 1:00 a.m./12:00 midnight MT/PT
Cadillac Desert chronicles the battles over water rights, especially in the desert southwest. Over 40,000 dams have been constructed in American Canyons and valleys this century. They changed the land completely and forever, making it wet where it was dry, dry where it was wet and produced great cities and farms where none could ever be in nature. It is the story of tremendous demands for water set against the reality of Earth’s physical limits to supply it.

EcoSpeak: Coming to an Understanding
Airs Friday, April 21, 2000 at 1:00 a.m./12:00 midnight MT/PT
This program clarifies environmental issues from a scientific perceptive so that students, using critical thinking skills based on accurate information, can make intelligent and thoughtful decisions about their environmental concerns.

Global Warming
Airs Tuesday, April 18, at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT
FRONTLINE and NOVA join forces to address one of the most complex and important challenges facing the world today: global warming. Does the release of greenhouse gases threaten the future of life on the planet? According to many politicians and scientists, the answer is yes; Earth is already experiencing the portents of a potential global catastrophe. But is the evidence really so clear? Does it demand drastic changes in the lifestyle of developed countries and in the way their industries operate?

Hidden Worlds River Jordan: Waters of Life
Airs Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00 p.m. MT/PT
From the Sea of Galilee to the Red Sea, the Jordan River Valley provides shelter for wildlife struggling to survive long periods of drought in the Holy Land. The Valley’s deep rift is a thoroughfare for migrant storks, pelicans, buzzards and eagles on their way to and from Africa, as well as home to gazelle, foxes, and lizards.

Kratts Creatures
Airs weekdays at 3:00/2:00 p.m. MT/PT and repeats at 5:00 p.m. PT only.
From Costa Rica's lush rain forests to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to Africa's dusty savanna, Kratts Creatures is the first wildlife series designed specifically to excite kids about all kinds of wild creatures in exotic lands as well as in their own backyards by getting them right into nature. Host-brothers Martin Kratt and Chris Kratt, with degrees in zoology and biology, respectively, take a radical approach to wildlife filmmaking: they help kids not only see a baboon but feel what it's like to be a baboon. On their far-flung expeditions into the world's jungles, forests and oceans, the Kratts literally swim with sharks in the Caribbean, camp out with baboons in Africa and get completely turned around searching for the Tasmanian Tiger in Australia.

The Living Edens: Denali: Alaska's Great Wilderness
Airs Sunday, April 2 at 6:00/5:00 p.m. MT/PT
The Indians called Alaska's Mount McKinley--the highest mountain in North America--"Denali," meaning "the high one." This preserved wilderness is the snow-swept home to hearty dall sheep, moose, caribou, wolves and grizzly bears. During the long winter, temperatures plunge to sixty degrees below zero and nights are twenty hours long, making Denali one of the most brutal and uninhabitable environments on the planet. The animals that live in Denali have adapted to enduring the winter -- many of them hibernating deep under the frozen ground. Even during the winter, Denali comes alive with solar winds that collide with the atmosphere causing intense Northern Lights. As spring thaws the deep ice, and Denali's plants and animals reappear for the summer, Denali bursts with activity once again.

The Living Edens: Patagonia: Life at the End of the Earth
Airs Sunday, April 9 at 6:00/5:00 p.m. MT/PT
Here giant elephant seals battle with terrific force to win a mate, killer whales command the Sea of Valdez and penguins convene by the thousands. "The Living Edens" explores the brutal conditions faced by the Patagonia wildlife and the circle of life and death that's played out during the active summer season.

The Living Edens: Namib: Africa's Burning Shore
Airs Sunday, April 16 at 6:00/5:00 p.m. MT/PT
Namib is a 2,000-kilometer strip of land on the southwestern coast of Africa where the cold Atlantic Ocean and searing Namibian desert join. The arid land is obscured and enriched by a mist created by the cold Benguela current. Jackals and hyenas struggle to survive on this sandy desert stage. With few watering holes, animals must roam the beach and seek nourishment from the bountiful marine life.

The Living Edens: Manu: Peru's Hidden Rain Forest
Airs Sunday, April 23 at 6:00/5:00 p.m. MT/PT
Along the eastern base of the Andes is a great red and winding river named Manu -- the lifeblood and main highway for the Manu Biosphere Reserve. Cascading down from the dry, grassy plateaus at 4,000 meters, and falling into a tangled cloud forest of dwarf trees, giant begonias, orchids and fern, Manu emerges into a spectacular land replete with howler and spider monkeys, snakes, rare river otters, leaf cutter ants, harpy eagles, jaguars, sloths, anteaters, tapirs, coatis, skimmer birds, egrets and macaws. The Manu Biosphere Reserve offers a look at the abundance of life in the rare Amazonian wilderness.

The Living Edens: Etosha: Africa's Untamed Wilderness
Airs Sunday, April 23 at 6:00/5:00 p.m. MT/PT
Africa's Etosha is a vast and ancient land of seasonal paradox. During the blooming of the wet season, spring boks, elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals, zebras and giraffe thrive. It is also an Eden that slowly disappears when heat, drought and thirst put all life at risk, except for the opportunistic vultures.

Mister Rogers Neighborhood
Airs weekdays at 1:00/12:00 p.m. MT/PT
To present "Earth Day" messages in ways that are appropriate for young children, during Environment week Mister Rogers offers ideas about recycling and goes snorkeling in the Florida Keys with marine biologist Sylvia Earle.

Nature: Wisdom of the Wild
Airs Sunday, April 2 at 8:00/7:00 p.m. MT/PT
From ancient times to modern, human lives have been influenced by animals. This NATURE episode illustrates some of the surprising ways in which animals help teach, heal and strengthen people in body, mind and spirit. The program also explores the way humans continue to observe and emulate animal behavior to learn nature’s lessons.

Nature: Obsession with Orchids
Airs Sunday, April 16 at 8:00/7:00 p.m. MT/PT
This program filmed in Madagascar, Thailand, the Caribbean, the United States and at the World Orchid Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, examines the orchid’s remarkable ability to flourish in almost any climate by depending upon "collaborators" -- such as bees, hummingbirds, moths and even humans -- for reproduction.

Nature:Earth Trek
Airs Sunday, April 23 at 8:00/7:00 p.m. MT/PT
Around the world, seasonal changes impel a wide variety of creatures to begin epic migrations to ancient feeding, mating and breeding grounds, sometimes covering thousands of miles and employing ingenious methods of reaching their destinations. NATURE follows several of the most spectacular and perilous of these travels. Some of the creatures include whooper swans, the monarch butterfly, the sockeye salmon and wildebeest.

Nature: Great White Bear
Airs Sunday, April 30 at 8:00/7:00 p.m. MT/PT
This episode explores the world of the charismatic polar bear and features unprecedented film footage of life inside a den where a mother polar bear tends to her newborn cubs.

Planet Neighborhood
Airs Friday, April 14, at 1:00 a.m./12:00 midnight MT/PT
Planet Neighborhood looks at the ways creative people cross the nation are using down-to-earth concepts and innovative technologies in their quest to preserve the environment.