09
Pollution
1. SHORT SUMMARY
• Total duration of this lesson: 45 minutes
• What will the students learn:
o What pollution means and what the different types of pollution are
o What the different causes of pollution are
o What some of the impacts of pollution on people’s health, the environment, and
people’s quality of life are
o What some of the ways pollution can be prevented are
• What will the students do during this lesson?
o Brainstorm
o Explore causes and effects
o Watch videos and answer questions
o Work in teams and present results from in-class research
• What skills are the students going to improve?
o Analysis and synthesis of information
o Empathy and emotional intelligence
o Digital competence
o Teamwork skills
o Holistic thinking and system thinking
o Responsibility
o Presentation and discussion skills
o Sustainability mindset
o Business analysis skills
• Cross-curricular links:
o Biology
o Geography
o Chemistry
o Entrepreneurship / economy
• Materials needed:
o Multimedia projector
o Laptop / computer with speakers
o Internet connection in the classroom (if there is no Internet in your classroom,
you can download the online videos in this lesson in advance and bring them on
a flash drive, or alternatively you can ask students to form groups and use their
smartphones/tablets in order to watch the videos)
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Remind the students that last time they learned a lot about waste, the different ways to manage
it and even found out about several creative ideas for sustainable businesses that transform waste
into valuable and desirable products. Ask those questions to the students to open up the lesson:
• What do you think pollution is?
(3 min.)
CORE
2. INTRO – THE GIST OF IT
• What might the difference and connection between waste and pollution be?
Definitions of pollution and pollutant that you can display to the students after you have collected
several of their answers:
Pollution: the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that brings about
changes that affect our normal lifestyles adversely.
Pollutant: a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil. Can be in the form of liquids (e.g.
water contaminated with chemicals), solid materials (e.g. plastic bottles), or gases (e.g. exhaust
fumes from cars or factories).
CORE
3. THE THEORY
(15 min.)
Show the following picture to the students and ask them several questions:
• What do you see on the picture?
• What kind of pollution is this? (Air pollution)
• What do you think is the cause for this pollution? (This is probably a coal power plant or oil
refinery that emits a large volume of toxic substances in the air in the process of producing
energy for our economies and households.)
Source: http://cf.ltkcdn.net/greenliving/images/slide/144139-850x563r1-Coal-Burning-Power-Plant.jpg
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Lesson 09
Ask the students:
• What other types of pollution, except for air pollution, are there? (Make sure you mention
these if the students don’t think of them: water pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution,
radioactive pollution, thermal pollution, light pollution, visual pollution.)
Collect several answers from different students until you have the full list of 8 types of pollution.
Tell the students that now is time for a research task that they will have. Divide the class into 8
teams and assign each team one type of pollution. Each team’s task is to identify as many sources
of this type of pollution as possible. They can use brainstorming and the Internet. There should be
one person on each team taking notes. Give the teams 5 minutes to collect information and then
ask each team to report their results.
For your information here are some possible sources of the 8 different types of pollution:
1. Air pollution – cars, forest fires, volcanoes, construction and demolition of buildings, coal
power plants, mining, oil refineries, burning discarded plastic, burning wood releasing small
particles into the air, etc.
2. Water pollution – littering water reservoirs with all kinds of waste, industrial waste spills,
organic matter decaying in water supplies, fertilizers leaching from soil into groundwater, oil
spills, natural disasters (e.g. flash floods), etc.
3. Soil pollution – waste and sewage spills into soil, heavy use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, deforestation, mining, oil spills, landfills, household littering, etc.
4. Noise pollution – traffic (especially motorbikes), airports, construction, concerts, manufacturing plants, etc.
5. Radioactive pollution – nuclear power plant accidents, mining of uranium, improper nuclear waste disposal
6. Thermal pollution – power plants, urban sprawl (in general cities have a lot of concrete and
cars which trap heat and increase temperature), deforestation, air pollution particles that
trap heat, etc.
7. Light pollution – city lights in large cities, billboards, nighttime sports games and entertainment, etc.
8. Visual pollution – power lines, skyscrapers, construction sites, abandoned sites, windfarms, etc.
Some quick facts (taken from: http://www.livescience.com/22728-pollution-facts.html) you can
choose to use if you want to reinforce some of the types of pollution:
• In 2010, Americans produced about 250 million tons (226.8 million kilograms) of garbage,
consisting of product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps,
newspapers, appliances, paint and batteries. That’s about 4.3 pounds (1.95 kg) of waste per
person per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• According to the United Nations, 783 million people around the world do not have access
to clean water and around 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. Adequate
sanitation helps to keep sewage and other contaminants from entering the water supply.
• According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 80 percent of
the pollution in marine environments comes from the land through sources such as runoff.
Water pollution can severely affect marine life.
• Air pollution kills more than 2 million people each year, according to a study published in
the Environmental Research Letters journal.
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• Research has shown direct links between noise and health, including stress-related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference and hearing loss. For example, a study by the
WHO Noise Environmental Burden on Disease working group found that noise pollution
may contribute to hundreds of thousands of deaths per year by increasing the rates of coronary heart disease.
• About 7 million premature deaths annually are linked to air pollution, according to WHO.
That is one in eight deaths worldwide.
• Research published by International Journal of Science and Research estimates that over-illumination wastes about 2 million barrels of oil per day and lighting is responsible for onefourth of all energy consumption worldwide.
Extra option: If you have some extra time and would like to “cheer” the students up with an animated video on the role of humans in world pollution, you can play this thought-provoking video
created by the British renowned animator Steve Cutts:
“Man”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGMYdalClU (3:36 min.)
After watching the video, you can ask these questions to the students:
• Judging from the video, what is man’s relationship with nature?
• How does environmental pollution impact back on people?
• Do you agree with such a portrayal of today’s world?
Tell the students that pollution can have adverse impacts on people’s health, on the environment
and on people’s quality of life. Of course, not all waste is hazardous. A lot of the waste generated
is not dangerous – such as construction material (wood, concrete, bricks, glass, etc.) and medical waste (bandages, surgical gloves, surgical instruments, discarded needles, etc.). The hazardous
waste however, such as waste from mining, petroleum refining, pesticide manufacturing and other
chemical production or household waste from paints and solvents, motor oil, fluorescent lights,
aerosol cans, and ammunition, can be potentially harmful to human health and the environment.
In this section you have the opportunity to explore the dangerous impacts of pollution and the benefits of preventing it through three case studies. Choose one of them to present to your students
and discuss with them.
1) Option 1: The devastating effects of gold mining
The case study is based on this video by Seeker Daily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq0p5tnFnWs (4:30 min.). Before playing the video, ask the following questions (you can also write them
on the board):
• Has gold mining been on the rise in the last decades? (Yes, half of all the gold mined in the
world has been mined in the past 50 years.)
• What are the biggest problems associated with gold extraction? (Mountain top removal,
contamination of groundwater with the chemicals used for the extraction, this contaminated water seeps into drinking water sources causing stomach cancer, illnesses in livestock
and killing off of fish.)
• What happened to the local people? (They were exploited without receiving a salary which
reflects the true cost of the work they are doing and the fact that many people in the area
get sick because of the chemicals, therefore they started protesting.)
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(10 min.)
OPTIONAL
4. CASE STUDIES
Lesson 09
• Can you give some ideas how to solve these problems?
After the video has finished playing, collect answers from the students.
2) Option 2: The amazing benefits of composting
Before you present the video to the class, initiate a short discussion with the students asking the
following questions:
• What might be some good ways to address food waste?
• Have you ever heard of composting or tried it yourself? (Composting is a way of breaking down food wastes in order to make compost, which is beneficial for keeping your soil
healthy so that plants will grow from it. Instead of throwing away food scraps, you can include them in an organic compost pile.)
• Are there composting bins around the area you live in?
How to Make Organic Compost at Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOQZuUHYlnk
(4:20 min.)
After playing the video, add the questions below and initiate a discussion:
• Do you think composting is something you could do at home?
• How has your point of view on food waste changed after that video? (Actually we shouldn’t
view organic food remains as waste but as a valuable resource that we can use over and
over again to support the growth of our own plants. This is the way nature works – there is
no concept of waste in nature because every leftover is cycled as a raw material for another
process.)
• What can be done to increase the number of composting facilities in your community?
3) Option 3: The inspiring story of Boyan Slat and his Ocean Cleanup
Explore the story of Boyan through this website: http://brightvibes.com/411/en/solving-the-worlds-oceanic-plastic-pollution-problem. Let the students review the website on their
own and initiate a discussion around the following questions:
• What is the problem Boyan is solving?
• What triggered Boyan to start doing something about the problem?
• What solution did he come up with and why is it so attractive, compared to other methods
of cleaning the ocean?
• How did he raise the money to build a prototype?
• What skills and education do you think Boyan needed so that he can invent this kind of
solution?
5. ENTREPRENEUR PROFILES
(15 min.)
OPTIONAL
How can pollution be prevented through smart and green business ideas? Here are two inspiring
examples you can relate to your students. Choose one of them and follow the steps described below.
1) Option 1: Global Algae Innovations and CEO Dave Hazlebeck:
Global Algae Innovations is a company based in San Diego, which designs an innovative technology
to make algae production more efficient and consistent. It produces biofuel and proteins from algae.
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Pollution
First, play the video directing students’ attention to the questions underneath:
How Algae Could Change The Fossil Fuel Industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCNkmi7VE0I (5:11 min.)
• Which types of pollution does this business solution tackle? (Prevents air pollution, prevents water pollution, prevents soil pollution through preventing deforestation)
• What are the advantages of growing algae?
• If someone offered to you to buy energy produced from algae to power your home, would
you agree?
After collecting several answers, direct the students’ attention to the company website: http://
www.globalgae.com/. Let the students explore the site for a couple of minutes. They have to try to
find information that will help answer the questions below:
• What are the mission and vision of Global Algae Innovations?
• What are the values that guide the company?
• How does the technology work?
• What might some of the risks of starting up such a business as compared to a traditional
fuel production business be? (Possible answers are higher costs associated with the development of an innovative technology, higher risk because of the uncertainty whether the
technology can be developed in a capacity to reach the real market.)
• How important do you think are the mission, vision and values for a company?
• Would you invest in Dave’s company?
Let the students work in groups and share the results of their research after that.
2) Option 2: EcoScraps and CEO Dan Blake
EcoScraps is a sustainable company that repurposes food waste that would otherwise have gone
to the landfill and turns it, through composting, into a quality premium garden soil that can add
value back into people’s gardens. Fruit and vegetable produce waste is an important component of
their compost, which is mixed with a source of cellulose (generally ground up bark or wood fines) to
provide just the right ingredient mix of Carbon to Nitrogen. Under the proper conditions (frequent
turning and mixing), the all-important microbes perform the vital task of turning the raw ingredients into superior performing compost.
Before presenting the videos, pose the following questions and discuss with the students:
• What do you think the phrase “you don’t have to choose between doing good and making
money” means in the context of business?
• What problem do you think EcoScraps is solving?
Then go on to play the two videos and ask the students to pay attention to the questions below:
News on Main: EcoScraps Strikes Gold With Garbage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TebbsLy9yhA (2:37 min.). An interview with EcoScraps’ Dan Blake.
EcoScraps composting facility in Phoenix turns fruit and vegetable waste into high-grade lawn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kz8foPCUHU (3:49 min.). An interview with EcoScraps’ vice
president of operations.
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Lesson 09
• How did Dan come up with the idea to create the business? (He noticed how much food was
being wasted at an all-you-can-eat buffet and began to search for solutions. He saw there
could be a business opportunity in using waste as a raw material for a great product.)
• What did Daniel do in the very beginning? (A lot of research and experiments at home until
he became a subject master.)
• What challenges did they face in the beginning? (Didn’t have enough equipment and cashflow to buy the necessary equipment. They were sincere with their prospective clients, telling them they would need to wait a couple of months until they could supply the ordered
products.)
• How important do you think finding your first customer is? Who was EcoScraps’ first customer?
• What are the company’s future goals?
• Do you think such a business is possible in your community?
Initiate a discussion where the students could share their answers to the questions and point of
view on this sustainable business.
6. PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES
(20 min.)
CORE
Below you will find several ideas for practical activities you can do with your students so that the
learning outcomes and knowledge gained in the previous sections of the lesson can be reinforced.
Choose one of the activities and follow the advice below. Some of the activities can be done in
teams, others individually – the choice is yours.
1) Play the SimCity Pollution Challenge
In SimCity EDU: Pollution Challenge! you are the mayor of a city and it’s up to you to make sure your
citizens are happy. How do you keep your citizens happy? Well, people want jobs so they can earn
money to buy important things – like food and video games – but, they also want to live in a green,
healthy environment. As mayor, it’s your responsibility to make sure your citizens are employed
and content, while also keeping pollution levels down and maintaining a healthy planet. Progressing through several missions, players engage in activities that assess their ability to problem solve,
understand complex systems and read and interpret data from diagrams. SimCityEDU gives players
the opportunity to navigate real world challenges associated with urban planning and pollution in
a highly engaging format.
To access the game: http://www.glasslabgames.org/games/SC.
Getting started guide for teachers: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/playfully-games/SC/
guides/SCE+quick+start+guide.pdf. Please, register as a teacher first and try the game yourself before you assign it to the class. Registration and game download are free.
2) Video presentation about pollution
Create a video presentation that warns people of the devastating effects of pollution and urges
them to take personal action. What tips can you give them to prevent pollution? Choose one type
of pollution and one continent/country/city and concentrate on them. This activity can be done in
groups or individually.
3) My energy needs
List all the things/activities in your daily life for which you need energy. Do you know where the energy you and your family consume for your daily needs come from? Is it from a sustainable source
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Pollution
or from a source that damages the environment? Research online and attempt to find that out. If
you are not able to find readily available public information, what do you think that means? This
activity can be done in groups or individually.
4) Take a “Where on Earth” quiz
These puzzles are designed to inspire understanding of the physical, biological and human processes
that influence our home planet and cover topics from Archaeology to Zoology. Some of the resources concern pollution too. Several resources for discovering and revealing the meaning of image
features may help new geographical detectives to solve the challenging quiz questions.
To access the quizzes: https://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/quizzes/.
5) Take an air pollution quiz or solve a crossword
To access the quiz: http://www.epa.state.il.us/kids/fun-stuff/quiz/air-quiz.html
To access the crossword: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/teacher/aireverywhere/aae_2010_
crossword.pdf
6) Play the Pollution Board Game
The Pollution Game allows students to simulate in a game the progressive contamination of our
environment and then try to reverse the contamination to preserve the environment. During this
game, students will experience the antagonisms and frustrations of trying to change technology
and social behavior.
To play the game, you will first have to order and buy it: https://boardgamegeek.com/
boardgame/18948/pollution-game.
You can ask the following questions to the whole class and collect several answers from volunteers.
Alternatively you could ask the students to fill in their answers individually in written form in the
worksheet provided:
• What kind of pollution do you see and experience in your everyday life in your community
or city?
• What do you think can be done for this pollution to be prevented and who has to take action – the government, the citizens, the non-governmental organizations, the municipality,
the businesses?
• What do you think it takes to start a successful innovative business that deals with the pollution problems?
• Express the most important thing you learned in this lesson with only one word.
8. A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE
Tell the students that next time they will be taking a closer look into another area where the human
civilization has left its imprint and created challenges to be solved – biodiversity and biodiversity
loss.
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(5 min.)
CORE
7. REFLECTION
Lesson 09
9. HOMEWORK
CORE
Tell the students that for next time they will have the task to watch a video that is related to the
topic of the next lesson – biodiversity loss. Tell the students to pay attention to the following questions when watching:
“A Sixth Mass Extinction Has Begun & It’s Our Fault”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP7SnjHHVY0 (5:08 min.)
• What were the first five mass extinctions in Earth history caused by?
• Which human activities cause the mass extinction of biodiversity nowadays?
• How much faster is the current extinction rate from the natural rate?
10. ADDITIONAL LINKS
These are additional resources that you as a teacher can use in order to prepare for the lesson
broadening your knowledge. You can also use these resources by assigning them to the students
as out-of-class reading/viewing.
• “Pollution – Crash Course Ecology #11”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdDSRRCKMiI (09:21 min.). Hank talks about the last major way humans are impacting the environment in this penultimate episode of Crash Course Ecology. Pollution takes many forms
- from the simplest piece of litter to the more complex endocrine distruptors - and ultimately, humans are responsible for it all.
• “9 Worst Effects of Pollution”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU5O748s7Us (8:45
min.). 9 of the most devastating examples of environmental neglect. These are the worst
effects of pollution on the planet.
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Worksheet
Pollution
Lesson 09
What kind of pollution do you see and experience in your everyday life
in your community or city?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
What do you think can be done for this pollution to be prevented and who has to
take action – the government, the citizens, the non-governmental organizations, the
municipality, the businesses?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
What do you think it takes to start a successful innovative business
that deals with the pollution problems?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Express the most important thing you learned in this lesson with only one word.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________