Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to help students gain an understanding of the importance of water conservation.
Overview: While water is practically everywhere on Earth, freshwater resources are scarce and fragile, requiring us to be conscientious about conserving this life-giving resource. This lesson highlights the importance of conserving fragile freshwater resources.
Objectives: Students will be able to name many of the benefits we derive from water. Students will be able to explain some of the most serious threats to water resources, including groundwater overdrafting, over-fishing, and pollution, and will be able to describe some ways that ethically motivated conservationists are working to address those threats.
Key Concepts:
• Water plays a critical role in supporting all life on Earth.
• Pollution and overuse threaten water resources, making fresh water a depleting resource in many places.
• People are taking actions to conserve water and make decisions regarding its use in an ethical manner.
• The concept of community is an important basis for ethical responsibility.
Video Segments:
Michal Kravcik, Slovakia, 1999
When Slovakia faced the challenge of providing drinking water to city residents, government officials revived a Communist-era plan to build a large dam on the Upper Torysa River. Hydrologist Michal Kravcik thought this was a bad idea—bad for the rural environment of the area and bad for the people whose villages would be flooded. Kravcik started a grassroots organization called “People and Water” to oppose the dam. He developed an alternative that used smaller dams to provide what he claimed would be the same amount of water at a fraction of the cost and with minimal impact on the environment. This democratic, decentralized plan empowered rural Slovakians, allowing them to pursue livelihoods that preserve their cultural heritage and protect the environment.
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Jorge Varela, Honduras, 1999
Along Central America’s Pacific coast, the mangrove-forest habitat once supported rich wild shrimp fisheries, while also helping to protect communities from the devastating effects of hurricanes. But the privatization of coastal land and the development of industrial shrimp farms for aquaculture have cut off subsistence fishers from their traditional resources. Jorge Varela, leader of a grassroots organization composed of fishers, farmers, salt extractors, children, and other coastal residents, has worked to limit the expansion of the shrimp farm industry and create wildlife and fishing refuges to protect important coastal lagoons.
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Hirofumi Yamashita, Japan, 1998
Isahaya Bay was once one of the largest and richest tidal mudflats in Japan. However, the Japanese government didn’t realize the value of this ecosystem; first, they planned to drain the wetlands to create farmland, and then they proposed to build a wall across the bay for flood protection. Hirofumi Yamashita felt that these plans were misguided and ignored the human and ecological communities of the coast. Despite the strong opposition led by Yamashita, the government went ahead with construction of the sea wall in 1997.
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