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Gulf Oil Spill:
What
happened, and who is responsible?
By
Marieke van Woerkom
To
the Teacher:
Daniel
Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, believes that environmental
awareness and action are the next frontier in the field of social and emotional
learning. During his keynote address at Morningside Center's recent conference
("Courageous Schools: Putting Social & Emotional Learning at the Heart
of Education"), Goleman called this environmental awareness "green intelligence."
See his article on the Yale Environment 360 website at: http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2190.
In the
classroom lesson below, students will develop their "green intelligence"
by considering the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Objectives
Students
will: -
share their associations with the word oil
- discover
the prevalence of petroleum based products in our lives
- watch
two video clips about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill
- discuss
who is responsible for the oil spill
Social
and Emotional Skills - compassion
for those affected by the spill
- awareness
of students' own feelings about the environmental devastation
- consideration
of cause and effect and the need to take responsibility for our actions
Materials
needed
(5
min) Gathering and Introduction
Ask
your students: When you hear the word "oil," what does it make you think
of?
Ask
students not to think too hard and share whatever first crosses their mind. If
your students need some encouragement, you can walk around your class, prompting:
"If I say oil, you say _____________" as you turn to different students.
For this gathering, you're not asking for stories, just a series of quick word
associations. Students
are likely to share associations with the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
and may also say something about the cars people drive.
(2
min) Check agenda
Explain
that in today's lesson students will explore the issue of the oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico and who is responsible for the spill.
(8
min) Do you use oil products every day? Ask
your class to raise their hands if they think they use oil products on a daily
basis. Pick
up on your students' associations from the gathering as you share some of the
following information about oil. Most
people in the U.S. use gasoline to power their cars. Gasoline is a refined version
of the thick, rust-colored, goopy substance that's been gushing out of the leaking
BP well--the same substance that's been floating in the Gulf of Mexico and washing
ashore ever since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April
20, 2010. This substance, which makes up the oil slick, is known as crude oil.
Besides providing us with fuel for our cars and other methods of transportation,
this oil is also processed for other uses, including: running electrical power
plants, lubricating squeaky doors or wheels, and in the production of healthcare
products, medicines, plastics and many other everyday products we use around the
house and at school. Among the products made in part with oil: Ammonia,
Anesthetics, Antihistamines, Artificial limbs, Artificial Turf, Antiseptics, Aspirin,
Auto Parts, Awnings, Balloons, Ballpoint pens, Bandages, Beach Umbrellas, Boats,
Bubble Bath, Bubble Gum, Cameras, Candles, Car Battery Cases, Carpets, Caulking,
Combs, Cortisones, Cosmetics, Crayons, Credit Cards, Curtains, Deodorants, Detergents,
Dice, Disposable Diapers, Dolls, Dyes, Eye Glasses, Electrical Wiring Insulation,
Facial Cleanser, Faucet Washers, Fishing Rods, Fishing Line, Fishing Lures, Food
Preservatives, Food Packaging, Garden Hoses, Glue, Hair Coloring, Hair Curlers,
Hearing Aids, Heart Valves, Heating Oil, Ink, Insect Repellant, Insecticides,
Linoleum, Lip Stick, Milk Jugs, Moisturizer, Nail Polish, Oil Filters, Panty Hose,
Plastic Bags, Perfume, Petroleum Jelly, Rubber Cement, Rubbing Alcohol, Shampoo,
Shaving Cream, Shoes, Toothpaste, Tires, Trash Bags, Upholstery, Vitamin Capsules,
Water Pipes, Yarn. Ask
your students for another show of hands to see if they think they use oil products
on a daily basis. Based
on this list of products, do they think it would be easy to cut oil consumption
out of their lives altogether? And
yet there's only so much oil in the world. The earth has a limited supply, which
is why oil companies continue to seek new places to drill for oil--including in
the deep seas, where drilling is risky and technologically challenging.
(15
min) Microlabs - Reflections on Two Video Clips Have
your students to watch two ABC news clips. The first clip (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/oil-spill-reaches-gulf-coastline-10517269)
was shot in the first
few weeks of the spill, on April 30, 2010. (Note that this early report vastly
understates the amount of oil being leaked.) The second piece (http://abcnews.go.com/gma/video/oil-washes-ashore-florida-beaches-10823571&tab=9482931§ion=4765066)
was shot on day 46 of the disaster (June 3, 2010). Note that the videos contain
disturbing images of the oil-covered animals. Before
asking students to break into small groups, give them a chance to share any feelings
they have about the video clips. The images of wildlife affected by the spill
may hit a chord with your students. Give them a few minutes to talk, if necessary
using some of the tips and pointers from Teaching In a Time of Crisis at http://www.teachablemoment.org/middle/crisis.html. In
small groups ask your students to discuss the following: - What
has been done about the oil spill so far, according to the videos?
- Who
is affected by the oil spill, according to the videos?
-
Who else do you know has been affected by the oil slick so far?
-
Who else might be affected in the coming months and even years?
(15
min) Who is Responsible?
In
the first video, the journalists say that BP is "the company responsible
for the [oil] well leak." In the news over the past few weeks, there has
been a lot of finger-pointing. Different people, institutions and companies have
been blamed for the spill, which is already one of the biggest natural disasters
in the history of the U.S. Who
do you think is responsible for the oil spill? Rank
the following players in the oil spill disaster from who is most responsible (1)
to who is least responsible (8). ____
BP, the company that rented the rig to drill for oil in the deep waters of the
Gulf ____
President Obama, for expanding offshore oil drilling and gas exploration, even
though he knew that ultra deep sea drilling is a technologically extreme and very
risky type of oil drilling ____
Transocean Ltd., the company in charge of the oil rig maintenance ____
Hyundai Heavy Industries, the makers of the oil rig ____
All of us for using too many oil-based products ____
Government safety inspectors who didn't check the rig as regularly as they were
supposed to ____
The people in charge on the rig, who ignored the warning signs that a blowout
was going to happen ____
Congress members and other political leaders who have failed to enact policies
to drastically reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels (including oil)
In
pairs or groups of three, ask students to compare their rankings and discuss.
- Back
in the big group, ask students what they learned in their pairs/triads. You might
also ask:
- How
do students think this discussion might affect them personally?
- Can
students think of ways we could use less oil-and conserve energy in general?
- Do
they know of other sources of energy we could use besides oil?
(5
min) Closing
End
the lesson with the same word association game you played in the gathering. See
if your students' associations have changed as a result of the day's lesson.
Marieke
van Woerkom is an educator and trainer who works with Morningside Center. She
has helped young people and adults around the world learn skills to resolve conflict
and foster cross-cultural understanding. We
welcome your thoughts and suggestions about this activity. Please email us at:
info@morningsidecenter.org.
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