Backgrounder

What on earth are we doing? 

Who´d like to live on a Pacific island? Swaying palm trees, blue lagoons, white sands, purple sunsets, warm weather every day of the year? Most of us are saying ME But who´d like to live on an island that is slowly being devoured by rising seas? Who´d like to be there as the oceans surrounding your island home begin to come gently but insistently closer and closer to your village? What will you do when you finally realise that your island home will sink completely?

Well, not really sink, but actually be swallowed by the sea?

That is the future facing the people of Tuvalu and Kiribati and their island neighbours in the Pacific. It´s not something out of science fiction. It is happening now. Tuvalu has probably only fifty years left before rising sea levels leave the people without their home. Where will the people go when their island no longer exists?

Environmental scientists tell us that the seas are rising because of global warming. In the last 100 years the global mean surface air temperature has risen from 0.3 to 0.6°C. This causes ice to melt and oceans to rise. Global warming is affecting the lives of millions of people. Many ecologists believe that the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in Central America was caused by global warming. Hurricane Mitch was a terrifying storm that caused massive mudslides to wash down mountain sides, destroying villages and towns and killing thousands of people. Global warming is affecting Australia´s climate too, and climate changes affect the way we live.

The reverse is true too. Global warming is a result of the way we live. Sean McDonagh, an ecologist, tells us that since 1970, humans have destroyed more than 30% of the natural world - forests, fresh water and marine ecosystems have all been devastated. Yet despite many warnings, Australia has backed down on our nation´s response to the Kyoto pact, an international agreement calling all nations to cut their emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases cause global warming and affect climates. They come about as a result of the burning of fossil fuels and are made worse by the continued destruction of forests and humanity´s insistence that the resources of the planet are infinite.

Our future demands that we find a way to be reconciled with the earth. We need to be in partnership with the planet, working with nature, not against it. We need to be friends with the earth. We need to receive the gifts of a wonderful but fragile creation with respect and gratitude. We need to enter into a relationship with the land. Like the Patron Saint of Ecology, St Francis of Assisi, we can then call the moon our brother, and the sun our sister. Like Indigenous peoples around the world, we can look upon earth as our mother, ready to give us all that we need to survive.

IN THE CLASSROOM ... 

Students: 

· Check out environmental concerns in picture format at the website of Planet Ark. You can also see pictures of earth care: www.planetark.org 
· Find out what these mean: Ecology, global warming, ecosystems, Kyoto pact, greenhouse gases, deforestation, insistence, infinite, reconciled. 
· Where is Tuvalua and Kiribati? Who are their closest neighbours? How far away is Australia? How long would it take to fly to Tuvalu? How would you get there by plane? Plan an itinerary. 
· Write a letter to the world from the leader of the people of Tuvalu describing what is happening to your country and asking for assistance. 
· St Francis of Assisi is called the Patron Saint of Ecology. Find out why. http://saints.catholic.org/saints/francisassisi.html Write out his famous prayer about the environment. 
· There is a Patroness of ecology- Blessed Kateri, a North American Indian. Read about her life at http://conservation.catholic.org/kateri.htm  
· Design a poster advertising an organisation dedicated to caring for the planet. Make sure your poster has the name of the organisation, its aims and strategies, and a few of its achievements. Here are some- (let Google to help you): Planet Ark, Clean Up Australia, Friends of the Earth, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace Australia, The Wilderness Society 
· Join with kids around the world at http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/nceas-web/kids/ 
· Overseas aid and development agencies are very concerned about the impact of environmental damage on the poorest peoples of the world. 

Visit the website of one of these agencies (Caritas Australia and Community Aid Abroad are some) and find a story of environmental devastation such as Hurricane Mitch. www.caritas.org.au www.caa.org.au 

Teachers: 

· http://www.edo.org.au/ngolinks.htm A list of websites many non-government organisations · http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Science/Environmental_Education Lesson plans on a wide range of topics 
· http://askeric.org/cgibin/printresponses.cgi/Virtual/Qa/archives/Subjects/Science Environmental_Education/earthday.html  Lots of ideas for classes 
· http://eelink.net  K-12 environmental education 
· http://students.prescott.edu/users/vwoodruff/greenclassroom  Working Towards a Green Classroom 
· http://www.enn.com  Environmental News Network, information and links on current events/issues concerning the environment. (check out the on-line quiz on oceans)