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Moving Beyond “It’s a Personal Choice”

by Marsha  Rakestraw “It’s a personal choice.” If you’ve been a humane educator or changemaker for any length of time, you’ve probably heard those words frequently. You may even have said them yourself. We use them when we want to justify the choices we’re making and remove any sort of ethical consideration or right-or-wrong-ness from…

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Why You Should Use These Images to Inspire Climate Change Action

by Marsha Rakestraw While images of polar bears clinging to bits of ice or of widespread deforestation might motivate those of us who are biophiliacs, many people find them uninspiring. Images can influence and galvanize us, but it matters what those images depict. When it comes to climate action, photos of polar bears and protesters…

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Resources: Dead Zone header

Solutionary Unit: Dead Zones in Gulf of Mexico

What Do the Primary Causes of Death in the US Have to Do With the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico? What are the biggest killers of people in the U.S. today? What is the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico? How can these two seemingly disparate problems possibly be connected? This unit…

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train station

A Gathering Crowd: Functions & Rates of Change

Is human population growth threatening to overshoot and jeopardize the earth’s carrying capacity?  If so, what can be done about it? In this activity, students will be able to: describe and model human population growth during the past 600 years with an exponential function, considering both the total amount of growth and average and/or instantaneous…

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Resources: Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

Participants explore the hidden lives of their everyday stuff by investigating how ordinary products come into existence & who/what has been helped or harmed in the creation & distribution of that product. Recommended for grades 6 and up. Time: 45 minutes to several weeks   Common Core Standards for this activity (pdf): Download Common Core…

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