What Is Sustainability

Sustainability Action Project Due Date: ______

What is sustainability?

“Nine out of ten Canadians rate the environment as a top concern. Yet a study by Dr. Tom Gunton of Simon Fraser University, The Maple Leaf in the OECD, found that Canada is one the worst environmental performers in the industrialized world (http://www.davidsuzuki.org/WOL/Sustainability/).”

“Sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. It relates to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society, as well as the non-human environment. It is intended to be a means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and planning and acting for the ability to maintain these ideals in a very long term (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability).”

“If we want the next generation of Canadians to have the same opportunities that we have had, we have to start changing now. That means including the social and environmental costs of our actions in all of our decision-making processes. It means focusing on the creation of genuine wealth, like health, education and the state of our environment, rather than the accumulation of more stuff. It means moving from being wasteful and complacent, to being efficient, modern and thoughtful (http://www.davidsuzuki.org/WOL/Introduction.asp).”

“Today’s youth may be labelled ‘generation S’ (Mr Riffel)”

Why sustainability – whose responsibility is it (Government, Industry, Schools, Individuals)?

How is our Physics or Chemistry classroom different than a public Physics/Chemistry classroom?

What do Christian service and stewardship mean and how does it relate to our Physics/Chemistry class that is part of a school founded in faith? Reverence for life, social and environmental justice?

“As our teachers go, so we all go”

 Does ANYBODY require you to be sustainable? Should anybody? Does anybody give any REAL value to sustainability efforts?

Some ideas… Act Locally Think Globally

Change light bulbs, drive less, set up a personal or school carpool system (http://www.carpooltool.com/en/my/howitworks.php, http://www.erideshare.com/), plant trees, reduce water usage in the house or yard, use more environmentally friendly fertilizers, recycle more, use less hot water, start an environmentally friendly lunch club, wash clothes in cool water (new Tide), avoid paper/plastic food containers for the year (Tim Horton’s), install a programmable thermostat, turn your electronics off when not in use, purchase green energy, grow and maintain indoor plants, use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible, turn your water heater down, recycle, buy recycled products, buy organic products, set up a sustainability club, install low flow taps and shower heads, use a reusable water jug or coffee cup, volunteer with an organization working for social or ecological change, set up a school incentive system for one or more of the above ideas

More ideas at: http://www.facilities.usask.ca/sustainability/what_you_can_do.php

What is a Chemistry/Physics Sustainability Action Plan?

We must move beyond simple awareness, appreciation and knowledge. We will focus on learning “through” and “from” action, as opposed to just learning “about” action.” In order to take action we must:

a) Look at our values and attitudes b) Do some investigation and evaluation of alternatives c) Take smart environmental action through active participation/outreach d) Evaluate our actions from a scientific point of view both in terms of content and our dimensions of scientific literacy. What do I need to do and submit? Well 4 things really…

You can work individually or in groups of no more than 2. As a group you must digitally submit (my attempt at being more sustainable) the following to BOTH of your student accounts:

1) Individual before and after results from http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/calculator/english/

2) Your action plan which must, at a minimum, detail how it will address the following questions:

a. What actions are you planning to take to increase sustainability in your life, home, school? b. How can you maximize the impact of your action plan (financial, social, environmental)? c. What steps will you take to ensure that it lasts for more than the length of this class? d. What obstacles might your plan face? (Financial, social, etc.) e. What supports can you find or create for your plan? (Financial, social) f. What costs and benefits are associated with your plan (financial, environmental, social, etc.)?

3) A report of how your action plan relates to our class including:

a. How your action plan involves Physics or Chemistry

You need to become the expert on the topic you chose. For example:

If you choose to replace incandescent light bulbs with CFL bulbs and you are in Chemistry, you may want to investigate the elements and compounds required to create light from CFLs. If you are in Physics you may want to investigate the relationship between wattage, lumens and candelas in terms of incandescent and CFL equivalences.

b. How your action plan relates to four of the factors of scientific literacy (an FSL chart)

c. Quantitative environmental and financial impact analysis of your implemented actions.

An environmental impact example:

Calculations of how much C02 is produced for one 60 Watt in one year versus a 13 Watt CFL.

A financial impact example:

Calculations of how much money is saved on an electrical bill based on replacing all of your incandescent bulbs for CFL bulbs.

4) Evidence of your action plan

This should include digital copies of posters, videos, photos, emails, research and such arranged in an organized way in a folder in your student accounts.

How will I be marked?

- This project is worth 10% of your final grade. Remember, you will have other work to do so start early and use your time productively.

- Part of your mark will be based on the size of the impact your action has in terms of sustainability. For instance, if you decide to only take one small action (write on both sides of my note paper) you will not get great marks! Remember, sometimes small actions implemented by MANY people result in large impacts.

- I will determine a percentage of your grade (about 7%) and so will the rest of your class (about 3%). At the end of the year, you will have a chance to peruse all of the class projects and give an evaluation of each project. Student evaluations will be then averaged together for the 3%.

- Different projects will take on different forms and in order to accommodate this there will also be marks for various FSLs demonstrated throughout the project. These will be recorded as bonus marks in your scientific literacy checklist (which in itself is 10% of your mark).