Originally appears in the Summer 2007 issue
How is a healthy environment connected to human rights? A healthy environment is a human right. Without clean water, fresh air and fertile soil for growing food, it is hard to get an education, raise a family or work for a better society. A healthy environment is the foundation of a sustainable society and economy.
Yet in many areas of the world, the right to live in a healthy environment is compromised by resource extraction and manufacturing processes that pollute the air, water and soil, and provide little benefit to local communities. The consequences are often tragic. In 1995, for example, Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed because he spoke out against the environmental devastation of his homeland by multinational oil companies. As oil pipelines were built across their land, his people, the Ogoni, had died from hunger and disease. All the while, consumers around the world were fueling their homes and cars with oil from the Niger Delta, most of them oblivious to its social and environmental impacts.
Industry and trade are powerful tools. When used well, they support human rights, contribute to social stability and foster practices that sustain the natural environment. At its best, the manufacture of goods requires no more resources than can be renewed, and the waste from one activity becomes the raw material for the next. It creates employment and enriches people’s lives, helping them feed and clothe themselves and supplementing what they themselves produce. Under these conditions, health, education and culture flourish, and people become linked in a thriving economic community in which one person’s need matches another’s product.
Then there is trade at its worst. In this scenario, resource extraction and production leave a community poorer than before, its soil, water and air deteriorated. Some profits go to local people in the form of low-wage incomes, but most leave the community. With their environment damaged and wages low, it is difficult for people to feed themselves, let alone support a flourishing culture and educate their children. Trade such as this does not link people in positive ways. Consumers know little about the people and places that created the products they use, and those who create the products benefit little from the trade relationship.
If we are to help make trade a positive tool that sustains environments and supports human rights, a first step is to learn about the origins of the products we use. Our cell phones, shoes, bananas… where and how are they produced? How do they affect people and places around the world? The following activities introduce the concept of human rights and help students understand that human rights and social stability are compromised when the environment is compromised. Through life-cycle analysis of everyday items, students discover the environmental and social impacts of the things we buy and are encouraged to research alternative products and processes.
Bill of Rights
In our busy lives, we seldom stop to consider what makes our existence possible. This exercise challenges students to examine the necessities of life and introduces the concept and diversity of human rights. Students then create a bill of rights that ensures that everyone is able to enjoy these rights.
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: chart paper or blackboard
Background: In 1948, the United Nations developed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that outlines the “inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” These include civil and political rights, such as the right to free speech and the right to organize. They also include social and cultural rights, such as the right to form a family or own property.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a starting point. Many other documents followed. In 1972, the Stockholm Declaration linked human rights and environmental protection. It declared that people have the right to live in a world where the physical environment supports a dignified life. Each person also has the responsibility to protect and improve the environment in order to ensure the well being of future generations.
Procedure:
- Give the class the following scenario: You are marooned on a new planet, one that is very similar to Earth. You are responsible for developing rules for your new society.
- Ask the students to list at least five things they will need to survive and be happy. These might be physical needs, such as food; they might be social needs, such as friends; or they might be psychological needs, such as love. Students may include some silly ideas, but must have at least five serious ideas. Allow five minutes for them to complete their lists.
- When the students have completed their lists, divide the class into groups of three or four. Ask the members of each group to pool their ideas and create a new list of the rights that they all agree are important.
- Ask the groups to use the rights they have selected to design a bill of rights that ensures everyone’s needs are met. For example, if it is agreed that everyone needs food, the bill of rights might read, “On our planet, everyone has the right to have three meals a day.” If they decide that people need friends, they might say, “On our planet, everyone has the right to choose their friends.” Students should think also about civil and political rights. These are the rights that help people organize and speak out in order to get what they need. For example, if people do not have enough food, they might organize a farmers’ cooperative. If they do not feel physically safe, they might lobby for laws and community support to reduce crime. Allow 15 minutes for the groups to draft their bill of rights and prepare to discuss them with the class.
- As each group presents their rights to the class, organize the rights into categories, such as social, economic, cultural and civil rights. Include a column on “the right to a healthy environment.” Ask which of these rights they consider most important. Why?
- When you have finished compiling the groups’ ideas, your class will have a document that likely bears some similarity to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (on-line at <www.un.org/Overview/rights.html>). Review the UN Declaration and discuss differences and similarities between the students’ list of rights and those in the Declaration. If differences are noted, discuss possible reasons for these differences. Is anything missing from the Declaration?. Point out that the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not make a direct connection between human rights and a healthy environment. This connection was made in 1972 in the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, commonly known as the Stockholm Declaration.
- Brainstorm things that could prevent people from having certain human rights. For example, a government may make laws that prohibit people from forming unions. A natural disaster might prevent people from obtaining enough food. Environmental damage such as water contamination might threaten people’s health.
- Brainstorm ways in which societies ensure that people have rights. For example, societies have constitutions, laws and law enforcement, as well as advocacy organizations, civil society organizations and unions. These documents and organizations work to achieve a balance between individual rights and the good of society at large. Individual civil and political rights, such as freedom of expression and freedom of speech, allow people to work for other human rights.
The Land Game
People thrive when they live in a healthy environment with ample resources to support social, cultural and economic activities. The Land Game, which is similar to musical chairs, helps students understand the connection between a healthy environment and a healthy society. The game shows how scarcity of resources and stress on the environment can cause social unrest, and how people can work together to solve environmental and social problems.
Time: 45 minutes, with debriefing
Materials: 8½” x 11″ paper (10 sheets more than the number of students), music CD and player or other music source
Procedure:
- Before the activity begins, find or clear an area large enough for your group to walk around in. Place pieces of paper on the floor, one or two meters apart. Begin with about 10 more pieces of paper than there are students in the class.
- Ask the students to position themselves so that each person is touching one of the pieces of paper with a toe or some other part of the body. More than one person can touch the same piece of paper.
- Introduce the game by telling the students that in this activity they will play the role of farmers in a developing country who rely on sales of their crops to support their families. Explain that the pieces of paper on the floor represent arable land. When the music starts, they are to move around, planting seeds and hoeing their fields (demonstrate these actions). When the music stops they must find a piece of land and touch it. Anyone who cannot find space on a piece of land must leave the game and go to the side of the room as an observer.
- Start the music and let it play for 30 seconds or so. Then remove one piece of land and stop the music. As you remove each piece of farmland, you may wish to give a reason for the loss (you could make dice with different reasons on each face and roll a die each time you remove land). Reasons for removing land might include the following:
- The government has rezoned this land for a new housing development
- A lumber company has deforested the nearby mountainside, causing flooding and erosion in your fields
- The government has leased this land to a multinational company for growing export crops
- Your fields are situated near gas wells, and methane seepage from the wells is killing your crops.
Start the music again and repeat the rounds until there is only one piece of land left. At that point, you may stop and debrief the class or go on to play round two (see Step 5) and debrief both activities at once.
- Return all of the pieces of land to the floor. Explain that in the second round, no one can go to the sidelines. Everyone must use the land that is available. It is interesting to watch how a class grapples with the need to fit everyone on the remaining land. However, if you feel that this needs pre-teaching, explain that, once again, land will become limited, but this time they must work together to use and steward the land that remains. Ask the groups to think of one or two plans for doing this, and discuss the plans as a larger group before the game begins again.
Debriefing
Reorganize as a class and discuss the following questions:
- What do the pieces of paper symbolize?
(In the game, the pieces of paper symbolize land. However, they can represent a variety of things that people need from the environment, such as food, water and fuel.)
- How did you feel during the first activity?
(Students may have felt frustrated or competitive, or experienced any number of other feelings. Discuss the reasons for these feelings.)
- What in real life might this activity symbolize?
(When resources such as clean water and fertile land are scarce or inaccessible, people may have difficulty meeting their basic needs. A scarcity of resources can cause feelings of insecurity and frustration and even lead to social unrest or conflict between land users.)
- Why are resources scarce? (Scarcity can occur as a result of natural disaster, overuse or degradation of a resource, or political decisions that result in inequitable access to resources. Since we live on a finite planet, all non-renewable resources are naturally limited. Even renewable resources, such as water and forests, can be polluted or damaged and take a long time to recover. Political decisions, such as the privatization of common resources, can make resources scarce for some.)
- What happened in the second game? How did it differ from the first game?
(In the second game, students had to find a way to fit everyone onto the remaining land. They may have stopped to talk about how best to do this. They may have created a resource management agency. They may have even organized to take back some of the land that was removed.)
- In real life, what are some ways to solve the problems of resource scarcity?
(Individually, or in community, we can work to minimize our use of resources and find ways to recover them, such as by recycling or reusing waste products. If the resources are renewable, we can work to replenish them. Governments can develop laws and other policies that encourage people to conserve resources and ensure equal access to resources. We can also create organizations that help manage resources. For example, community forests allow people to be the managers of their local environment, working collaboratively to steward a precious resource.)
Extensions
- On the back of each piece of paper (land), write one of the rights from the students’ Bill of Rights (e.g., the right to clean water, clean air, adequate food, a place to live and education). At the end of the game, turn over the pieces of paper to reveal the rights that were taken away as each piece of land was removed. Brainstorm the ways in which loss of land or livelihood can be linked to the loss of other rights.
- Ask two or three students to play the role of a social elite or powerful corporation who has the right to decide how land will be used. They will perform the task of stopping the music and removing the pieces of land, explaining as they do their reason. For example, they might decide to drill an oil well or lay a pipeline.
Hidden Lives: Life-cycle Analysis of Everyday Objects
This exercise demonstrates that consumer goods have social and environmental impacts and introduces the concept of product life-cycle analysis.
Time: One class period, with a follow-up independent assignment
Materials: “Hidden Scandals, Secret Lives” handout, “Tell their Stories: Life-cycle Analysis” handout, poster paper
Background: Just as we have human rights, we also have a responsibility to safeguard the rights of others. As consumers of products, we are all participants in global trade, and our choices shape environments and societies throughout the world. It is our responsibility to become conscious consumers: to learn about the impacts of the products we use and to make choices that support a clean environment, a sustainable economy and a flourishing society for all. Introducing students to product life-cycle analysis gives them a tool they can use to guide their choices as consumers.
Life-cycle analysis is the tracking of a product and its environmental and social impacts, from the time the raw materials are mined or harvested, through production, transportation, consumption and, finally, disposal or recycling. Although it is hard to quantify all of the potential impacts of a product, life-cycle analysis is a useful concept because it allows us to make more informed choices as consumers. We may feel good about buying organic bananas, but a life-cycle analysis will reveal that a great deal of greenhouse gas is emitted in transporting them to us, and might lead us to consider purchasing locally grown fruit instead.
Procedure:
- Give students the handout “Hidden Scandals, Secret Lives.” Review it with the class as a preface to the assignment. Using the example of the cotton t-shirt or gold necklace, draw a chart or schematic on the board as you identify the various stages in the product’s life cycle (e.g., for a gold necklace, extraction, refining, forming into bars, shipping, reforming into a necklace, packaging, marketing, and transportation to retail store). For each of these stages, brainstorm with the class the potential environmental and social impacts.
- Give students the handout called “Tell Their Stories” and review the requirements of the independent research assignment. The students are to develop a poster that tells the story of an everyday object. The poster can take the form of an illustrated timeline, flow chart or web that shows the impacts of the product as it progresses through the different stages of its life cycle.
Explain that it may be difficult to find information about the life cycle of a particular brand of product because much of this information is proprietary. Instead students should describe a possible or a typical life cycle for the product they choose. For example, research on the gold necklace might reveal that some of the world’s gold comes from South America. Students could research the impact of gold production in South America and investigate how gold is processed and transported.
Younger students who are just learning about research can work with one of the examples provided in the “Hidden Scandals, Secret Lives” handout. They can identify the environmental and social impacts outlined in the case study, add some of their own, and research alternatives using the suggested resources.
Each poster should contain:
- a summary of the product’s story, or life cycle, accompanied by illustrations.
- a description of at least three environmental impacts at different stages in the product’s life cycle.
- a description of at least three ways in which the product affects people.
- a description of ways in which the product supports or hinders human rights
- a description of actions being taken to reduce or eliminate negative impacts of the product (suggest to students that they research the work of local or global organizations or individuals who are working to make these changes).
- a strategy for personal change (things the student can do to reduce the negative impacts and increase the positive impacts of the product)
The completed posters can be the basis for a short class presentation, or the posters can simply be exhibited for all to see. As extensions, students could develop mock advertisements that describe the impacts of a product and suggest alternatives.
Resources
Reducing impact
Center for a New American Dream, <www.newdream.org>. Information on changing consumption habits and conserving resources at home and school.
Rees, William and Mathis Wackernagel. Our Ecological Footprint. New Society Publishers, 1996.
Ryan, John C. and Alan T. Durning. Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things. Northwest Environment Watch, 1997.
Human rights
Amnesty International, <www.amnesty.org>. Reports on human rights issues around the world.
Human Rights Internet, <www.hri.ca>. Teaching resources on human rights.
Human Rights Watch, <www.hrw.org>. Reports on human rights issues around the world.
Sierra Club, Defend the Defenders. Free 20-minute video that connects the environment and human rights; available at <www.sierraclub.org/human-rights/amnesty/>.
United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, <www.un.org/Overview/rights.html>.
Fair trade
Global Exchange, <www.globalexchange.org>. Fair trade and the impact of trade on human rights.
Oxfam, <www.maketradefair.com>. Oxfam’s “Make Trade Fair” campaign website has examples of fair trade around the world.
Hidden Scandals, Secret Lives
Hidden scandals and secret lives…there is a story behind every product that you own. To understand all of the impacts of a product, you need to look into its past and learn about its life cycle. A product’s life begins when the materials it is made from are mined, harvested or extracted. These raw materials are combined with energy and labor to create a product. There may be several stages of production. For example, gold may be formed into bars, which later become jewelry. After the product is made, energy is used to transport it to distribution centers and then to stores. Sometimes the use or consumption of the product also uses resources. For example, during the time that you own a favorite piece of clothing you will wash it many times, and this requires water and energy. Finally, the product wears out and either goes to a landfill as waste or becomes raw material for a new product.
Cotton T-shirt
Although your favorite T-shirt is made of natural fiber, it is likely anything but natural. In fact, it took about 150 grams of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers to grow the cotton it is made of. Cotton is the world’s most heavily sprayed crop, accounting for one-quarter of all insecticides used. Most of the pesticides sprayed on cotton are toxic to humans and other animals, and half are carcinogens. These substances get into the air, water and soil where cotton is grown, accumulate in plants and animals, and cause serious health problems for farm workers and those who live near cotton fields. Less than 0.5 percent of the world’s cotton is grown organically. And whether organic or not, cotton is a thirsty crop, requiring 7,000 to 29,000 liters of water for each kilogram produced.
After harvest, cotton is processed to remove seeds and debris, compressed into bales, and transported to mills where it is spun into thread and woven into cloth. Cotton textiles are usually dyed and often treated with chemicals such as fire retardant and formaldehyde to reduce wrinkling and fading. The fabric is then sewn into garments. Many of the cotton T-shirts on our store shelves are made in developing countries, often by low-paid workers in “sweatshop” factories. During the time that you own your T-shirt, you will use water and energy to wash and dry it many times. Later, you might pass it on to a friend or a charity; or, if it wears out, you might use the cloth as a polishing rag. Eventually, however, it is likely to be thrown away: in the U.S. alone, three million tons of fabric goes to the landfill every year.
Gold necklace
There may be gold in the hills, but is it worth mining? In South America and on Africa’s Gold Coast, gold mines contaminate water and damage the health of humans and animals. Gold extraction and refining is a complex process involving chemicals and electricity. Gold is mined from surface deposits or veins, or may be extracted during the production of other metals.
In South America, small-scale gold miners use water cannons to extract gold from surface mines. The water blasts away fragile soil and vegetation, creating holes that fill with water, attracting mosquitoes that spread malaria. Sometimes miners use mercury to extract gold. Much of the used mercury goes into local rivers, where it changes into methyl mercury. This form persists in the environment and accumulates in the food chain. Miners and local residents affected by mercury poisoning develop tremors and brain damage. In large-scale gold refining, cyanide is used to purify the gold. In Peru, where a large gold mine drains into four watersheds, local people say that the cyanide-polluted water is destroying their pastures and killing their animals.
Once gold is extracted and refined, it is made into bars and shipped around the world. Most gold remains in bars, as global currency. The rest is made into jewelry or medical or electronic equipment, or is combined with other metals.
Tell their Stories: Life Cycle Analysis Poster
Gold necklace: Gold mining often involves the use of toxic chemicals.
Cotton T-shirt: Cotton is the most heavily sprayed crop in the world.
Can of motor oil: The search for oil can cause conflict both within and among countries.
Banana: Workers spray pesticides without adequate protective equipment.
Coffee: Forests are cleared for plantations, damaging local habitat, soil and water.
Computer: Developing countries process toxic electronic waste.
Plastic toy: PVC plastics cause cancer and kidney and reproductive disorders.
Cell phone: A metal found in cell phones fuels war and the destruction of habitat.
Telling the Story
Choose one of the products listed above and create a poster that tells its story. Describe and illustrate the life cycle of the product from the time its raw materials are mined or harvested through production, transportation, consumption or use, and disposal. Answer these questions:
- Where do the raw materials come from?
- Who lives in the area where the product is made?
- Who makes the product?
- What materials, energy and labor are used during different parts of the product’s life cycle?
Identifying Impacts
Once you have learned about your product’s life cycle, try to identify a few of the impacts the product has on people and the environment.
- What are three ways that this product affects the environment? Describe environmental impacts that occur at different stages in the product’s life cycle.
- What are three ways that this product affects people? At least one example should show how an environmental impact of the product hurts or helps local people. Think also about ways in which the product affects local cultures and economies.
- Think back to the Bill of Rights that the class made. What human rights are affected by this product? Are the impacts positive, negative, or both positive and negative? For example, gold mining helps people make a living but may make it difficult for them to lead a healthy life.
Making Change
Include in your poster actions that are being taken, or could be taken, to change the way this product affects people and the environment.
- What are people doing about these impacts in the place where the product is made?
- What are people doing globally, as individuals or as part of an organization?
- What can you do?
There are many ways to make change. As consumers, we can choose not to buy a product. We can use products that are made locally, fairly, or with more ecologically sound materials and processes. We can also volunteer with nonprofit organizations that raise public awareness of the impacts of products, promote fair trade, and lobby industry and governments for changes in the way products are made.
On-line resources for further study:
The World Gold Council, <www.gold.org>. Gold industry.
Centre for Economic and Social Rights, <http://cesr.org/>. Environmental and social impacts of the gold industry.
OXFAM America, <www.oxfamamerica.org/>, search “gold mining.” Articles and research on the environmental impacts of gold mining.
Human Rights Watch, <http://hrw.org/>. Human rights in the gold industry.
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Tricia Edgar coordinates education programs at the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre in North Vancouver, British Columbia.