Earth Day: The Lorax

The Lorax is a great story to share with your students around Earth Day (or any other time, for that matter).

There is a video available, but I'm partial to reading to my students (and they seem to enjoy it as well). 

Following the telling of the tale (or the watching of the DVD), have your students consider the following:

• What does a "Thneed" represent?
• List some "Thneeds" in our society today.
• Who does the "Once-ler" represent?
• How was the "Once-ler" irresponsible?
• What could the "Once-ler" have done to protect the natural resources while still manufacturing "Thneeds"?
• Did the "Once-ler" feel that he was part of the Truffula Land?  Explain.
• Can we separate ourselves from our natural environment?  Why or why not?
• The "Once-ler" excuses himself with "Well if I didn't do it, then someone else would."*  Is this a valid excuse?  Why or why not?
• Who does the "Lorax" represent?

*In the video version (at least in an older version, it looks like there's a newer edition, which I haven't seen, so I don't know if it's word-for-word the same or not). 

Earth Day: Picture THIS: Taking Human Impact Seriously



Grass scraped away by winter snowplowing. 

 I love this idea, presented in the March 2010 NSTA Science Scope Journal. 

In it, students are challenged to take 20 pictures that document human impact on their local community.

The pictures are assembled and captions are added, to create the finished product.  I imagine the finished product could be digital (PowerPoint, website, etc.) or a hard copy. 

At first thought, it seems like this should be easy enough - human impact abounds.  But, at least for me, the real challenge is determining how to use photography to document that impact.  And it takes some thought and creativity to come up with 20 quality photos that meet the challenge.