By: Esther Zack @ Target Science
Purpose of the Activity:
This activity is intended to have students interact with the issue of the existence of a recycling facility in a community. After reading an article recounting an actual situation, students will have an opportunity to advocate a certain point of view and argue its merits in a simulation of a county Board of Supervisors meeting.
Life Sciences, Section A--Living ThingsThe following quote from the California Science Framework, 1990 (Chapter 6--Science Processes and the Teaching of Science, Section E: Values and Ethics p. 158) illustrates the goal of the simulation activity:
Any thorough learning experience regarding values and ethical considerations makes use of rational decision-making skills. Students need to analyze issues by resolving ambiguities, taking into account the most relevant values of the decision makers, balancing the advantages and drawbacks of alternative solutions, and projecting the likely consequences of a particular choice. By combining such a decision- making procedure with pertinent scientific and technological information, students move toward achieving scientific literacy.
As students work through this activity, encourage them to base their opinions on scientific principles as well as on social values and ethics. This type of activity represents the highest level of thought processes that students can engage in-- synthesizing information and making evaluations.
Concepts derived from the California Science Framework that this activity encompasses are as follows:
A-4
How do humans interact with other living things?
Humans are part of the biosphere and are dependent upon it. ... They need to exercise judgment, care and planning in their use of natural resources including plants, animals, soil, and water, and in their practices of disposing of wastewater and materials.
Life Sciences, Section C--EcosystemsC-4
What are the responsibilities of humans toward ecosystems?
Land use, pollution, energy use, and application of technology all involve ethical considerations for individuals and society. Conservation is not simply an ethical question; it is in the vested self-interest of humans to conserve and respect nature.
Humans are unique among the earth's organisms in their intelligence and adaptability. Humans can choose to change their behavior and plan to provide for the needs of future generations.
Pollution comes in many forms: [such as] the introduction of unnatural substances into an ecosystem ... . In addition, visual, auditory, and thermal pollution not only detract from human appreciation of natural ecosystems but also affect adversely other organisms living in them.
The Story of One Neighborhood's Dilemma
The Los Angeles Times says neighborhood residents of this community of 65,000 people call it "la montaña de la muerte" because they feel it's leading them to their death. This mountain is a giant pile of chopped concrete from the quake damaged Santa Monica Freeway, crushed asphalt and a mixture of other debris piled more than 60 feet high and weighing over 600,000 tons. It will eventually be crushed and ground in a recycling process and resold as roadbase or for other commercial uses.
Residents in this mostly immigrant community complain that not only is the pile unsightly, they are firmly convinced it is the cause of many respiratory and other health problems they have been experiencing. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (the agency that licenses the dump) conducted a study and did not find any health risks related to the accumulated rubble.
The people, however, backed by an outside environmental group from San Francisco commissioned their own study which showed a very high concentration of airborne particulate matter in the vicinity. They complained that the AQMD study was not thorough enough. City officials rejected this study, saying the area has been heavily industrialized for a long time which could also explain health problems.
Initially city officials, anxious for jobs and income, encouraged the establishment of the recycling business there, and imposed few restrictions on it. All went relatively well until the ' 94 Northridge quake and the earthquake rubble accumulated at the site. It grew unexpectedly rapidly until its present size today. The owner of the recycling business has listed all the methods he has used to reduce the effects of the rubble on the neighborhood, including installing a mesh screen to block the view, watering the pile to keep down the dust, planting trees and abandoning night operations to cut back on noise. He has even signed an agreement with the city to cease bringing in shipments by early May and eventually to clear the lot by February of 1997.
Residents, and even some City Council members, remain skeptical of this agreement, however, and say that they fear the recycler may want to continue use of the site for the upcoming massive industrial development project in the Alameda Corridor. Their fears emerged when fliers recently appeared offering the site for recycling of "nonhazardous" soils contaminated with diesel fuel and oil.
The County Board of Supervisors will hear residents' complaints at their next session to referee between the residents of the community who oppose the dump site, and city officials. They will render a decision on the future of the recycling company in the area.
Procedure: Ask the students to think of situations in which they have had to explain their point of view to someone in a convincing way (e.g., explaining to their parents that they want to go somewhere with their friends, they want their curfew extended, or they want an increase in their allowance). Tell them that often in the community situations arise which require that a decision be made. Groups that have opinions on various sides of the situation will come before a decision-making body to state those opinions and attempt to influence the decision, much like students trying to influence their parents to decide in their favor. The decision-makers, like the parents, take all sides into consideration and then render a decision based on the validity of the arguments presented.
In the following activity, students will be given an opportunity to "argue" a case for a certain point of view about plans for the recycling site situated in a neighborhood of Los Angeles.
- Divide the class into groups of 4-5 students. Give each group an identity corresponding to one of the groups involved in the case study. One group will be designated the five Board of Supervisors.
- Have students read the account of the recycling business and caucus with each other on how best to present their argument for their point of view on the issue. Give them about 15-20 minutes for group discussion. (You can make this project more complex -- especially in secondary--if you want them to do their own research, and/or gather visual aids such as charts or pictures to assist in their presentation.)
- Each group selects a spokesperson and is given 5 minutes to address the Board to present their case. (Draw numbers to determine who presents first.) A timekeeper should be appointed by the Board.
- After all presentations, the board members caucus to decide on a course of action based on the presentations and their own concerns. They then state what the policy will be on the future of the recycling site.
Groups presenting to the Board of Supervisors: 1. Neighbors United:
Neighborhood residents who oppose the dump due to perceived health factors, and are suspicious of the deal struck between the recycling business and the city.
2. Better Environment for a Better Community:
An outside activist organization that organizes local citizens to oppose/promote various environmental issues.
3. Pro-recycling Site City Council Members and Mayor:
They advocate attracting businesses to the city and feel that this recycling company has thoroughly followed all the rules imposed on it. Also, it has brought jobs to the community, which is economically depressed.
4. Anti-recycling Site City Council Members:
A portion of the Council opposes the recycling company and wants stricter limits on what companies can do business in the community.
5. "Use It Again, Sam"Recycling Company:
The recycling company that leases the site from the city. The owner claims to have abided by all rules imposed on his company, and finds it astonishing that environmentalists would be in opposition to a recycling operation that actually conserves natural resources.
Concluding Question: 1. How did it feel to perhaps be advocating a point of view you did not necessarily agree with? How did it affect your thinking?
2. How do you think scientific evidence should be gathered and considered in making such decisions as siting waste or recycling facilities in populated areas, or even in relatively unpopulated areas?
3. Why do you think separate scientific studies on the effects of a waste or recycling facility on an area can turn out to be entirely opposite from each other?
4. What do you think is the role of every citizen in issues of waste and recycling?
5. What are your ideas on how we can solve the problem of waste buildup and disposal?
Waste Not, Want Not is a part of LAEP
Learning Exchange.