ODE TO ONE WATER
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
University of Miami students in Judy Hood’s Composition classes write in response to One Water
ONE WATER IN INDIA
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
In celebration of World World Water Day 2009, more than 20,000 children in 19 states in 150 locations in India viewed the documentary 1H2O, a film that explores the ever-changing relationship between human beings and water as we face a world water crisis of proportions we have never before seen. These children are part of Pratham, a citizens’ group in India that works with communities across the country to ensure every child is in school and learning well.
This map shows where many of the screenings took place with photos and data collected from the children who watched it in their schools and communities.
This joint effort was done by Pratham and ASER Centre in India and the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication, University of Miami, in collaboration with ITVS International, in the United States
View 1H2O Screenings, India in a larger map
ONE WATER IN BRAZIL
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Ana Gamboggi, Sílvia Borges and Louise Hill, researches form Centro de Altos Estudos da ESPM, have been showing school children throughout Brazil the non-verbal, 22 minute version of the film One Water. They have collected the school children’s responses to questions about what they think about water and its usage where they are from. The children have written and drawn their responses which are captured in the photo gallery on this page. Their hope is to continue to show the film to more children throughout South America.
Click here to view the map of the schools.
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Screening for World Water Week
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Screening at World Water Day 2011
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Screening at World Water Day 2011
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Water Choices Forum II
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Florida Photo Gallery: Air Show Over Marco Island
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
The Airboat, Everglades Workhorse
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
India: An Enduring Plague - Part II
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Africa’s Deadly Hospitals
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
India: An Enduring Plague - Part III
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
East Africa Photo Gallery: Malaria in Tanzania
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Artivist International Film Festival: Screening and Winner “Best Feature - Environmental Preservati
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water Workshop Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
In An African Slum, Dreaming About Things So Close, Yet So Far
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Awards
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Best Documentary award at the Columbus International Film and Video Festival
Columbus, Ohio, 2009
Winner of Best Cinematography Award and Winner Honorable Mention, Documentary Feature
Fargo Film Festival
Fargo, ND, March 2009
Short listed for Awards Jury at 7th Annual Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival
7th Annual Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival
Nevada City, CA, Jan. 10, 2009
Winner, Honorable Mention Inspirational Excellence Award, Documentary Competition, at Bayou City Inspiration Film Festival, 2008 Houston, Texas
Winner, Best Documentary at Foyle Film Festival, 2008
The Northern Ireland International Film Festival
Winner, Best Film on Sustainable Development at Cinemambiente 2008, Turin, Italy.
The 5000 euro prize is sponsored by Golder Associates.
Winner of Best Feature Environmental Preservation
5th Annual Artivist Film Festival, 2008
Images and Voices of Hope Award in the category of film for the use of
compelling imagery in bringing attention to global issues, October 2007
Winner of the AMAP Prize of €2000
EcoVision, 2007
Official Program Selection
4th World Water Forum, 2006
Winner of Documentary Award of Excellence and Best of Competition in Technical Merit
Broadcast Education Association, Festival of Media Arts, 2004
Turning to the Ocean To Cool Honolulu Skyscrapers
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water TV Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
One Water TV Screening
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Film Credits
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSED ORCHESTRATED AND CONDUCTED BY
THOMAS M. SLEEPER
PERFORMED BY
THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA
AT THE GREAT HALL OF MOSCOW P.I.TCHAIKOVSKY CONSERVATORY
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ED TALAVERA
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ALI HABASHI
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One Water TV Premiere
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Questions
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Chapter 6
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Water in Religion & Ritual
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
SS.A. 1.2.2 | The student uses a variety of methods and sources to understand history. |
---|---|
SS.A. 2.2.3 | The student understands various aspects of family life, structures, and roles in different cultures and in many eras. |
SS.B. 2.2.2 | The student understands how the physical environment supports and constrains human activities. |
Water in Religion and Ritual
Water is commonly included in the ritual and ceremony of most religions—typically having a purifying function. Religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism and Judaism, just to name a few, include ritual cleansing as part of their religious ceremonies. In Christianity, for example, people are immersed in water as part of the sacrament of baptism. In the Muslim faith, individuals proceed to their prayers only after they have ritually washed themselves.
Activity: Discovery of Themes of Water Religion
Have students talk to a local minister, priest, rabbi or other religious leader, or else a knowledgeable parent or adult friend, about how water is used in the services and rituals of a specific religious group in their community. Start off by asking students whether or not they have been involved in the use of water in any religious ceremony (a baptism, a blessing with holy water, etc.). Do they know why water was used in the ceremony?
*Note: Many teachers are reluctant to talk about religion in public school classrooms because they are concerned about issues of the separation of church and state. Discussing religion from a historical and cultural point of view is perfectly alright. What is not acceptable in a public school classroom is to teach dogma, or to pass judgment on specific religious practices. This is necessary as part of maintaining the religious freedom of students guaranteed as part of the Constitution.
Have students review the following summary questions:
- How is water used in different religious traditions?
- What role does art play in representing how religion uses water?
Exploring One Water
Look at the following clip of worshippers bathing in the Ganges River. How is water used as part of ritual in other religions?
In Christianity, for example, what role does water play in baptism? How is holy water used? In what way is water used in Judaism or Islam?
Thinking about the ways water is used in religious rituals provides insight into the role that water plays in shaping the religious and spiritual consciousness of different cultures. In the following activities, students will explore how water and water themes are incorporated into religion.
Consider the Quote
““Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.” ” —Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) Canticle of the Sun circa 1225
Extension Activities
Elementary School & Middle School Students
Middle School & Secondary School Students
Chapter 5
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Virtual Water & Your Water Footprint
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
SC.A. 1.2.1 | The properties of materials (in this case, volume) can be compared and measured. |
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SC.B. 1.2.1 | The student knows how to trace the flow of energy in an ecosystem. |
SC.G. 2.2.2 | The size of a population is dependent upon the available resources within its community. |
SC.H. 1.2.1 | It is important to keep accurate records and descriptions of experiments. |
Virtual Water: How Much Water Does It Take to Produce Things?
“Virtual water” refers to the amount of water it takes to grow or manufacture something. The phrases “embedded water,” “hidden water,” and “embodied water” refer to the same concept. Understanding how much water it actually takes to grow a plant or manufacture an item is essential to understanding how we can protect our fresh water resources.
Did you know that people in the United States consume about 2,500 cubic yards of water per year; that it takes just under 150 quarts of water to produce every cup of coffee we drink; that the manufacture of a small car takes roughly 400,000 quarts of water, and that building a small home requires roughly 5 million quarts of water?
Activity: Determining Your Water Footprint
Do you know how much water you use in a year? This is your “water footprint.” You can find out by visiting the following website, which has a water footprint calculator:
Water Footprint
http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home
Find out what your specific consumption is per year. If you don’t know your family’s annual income, use the figure of $48,000 for your “gross yearly income.” The calculator estimates in cubic meters. A cubic meter is slightly larger (about 39 inches) than a box one yard high, wide and deep.
Using the calculator, determine the water footprint for someone in the United States, Egypt, Fiji, Turkey, and China. Why do you think there are such large differences between some of the countries?
Have students review the following summary questions:
- If water is a limited and finite resource, should some countries be allowed to consume much more water than others?
- Are some uses of water better than others (for example, producing basic food rather than luxury goods)?
- When we consume water to make different products, are we, in fact, consuming other people’s water (Hint: If it takes water to create a pair socks that we buy from China, then we are consuming Chinese water, and the amount is therefore part of our water footprint).
All of us need to be concerned with how scarce useable water is on the Earth. Even those of us who live in places where water seems plentiful have an obligation not to waste water. In the following activities, students should become more aware of water conservation issues and how they can contribute to protecting this precious resource.
Consider the Quote
“Every human should have the idea of taking care of the environment, of nature, of water. So using too much or wasting water should have some kind of feeling or sense of concern. Some sort of responsibility and with that, a sense of discipline.” — The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso
Exploring One Water
Would you use water as carefully as the Indian woman does, taking a small amount to bathe her child, wash clothes, and water a tree? How do you use water on a day-to-day basis in your family?
Extension Activities
Elementary School Students
If you have a sink in your classroom, have students leave the water running full blast and ask each of them to pretend to brush their teeth—just like they do every day. Instead of running the water down the drain, collect it in gallon milk bottles. Then measure the amount of water that has been used. Have students compare this amount with how much water would be required to just wet their toothbrush and rinse (assume that at most this would take a quart of water).
Have students now estimate how much more water they use by leaving the tap running (ten times, twenty times as much per brushing). Have students calculate how much water they consume in a week by leaving the water running; how much in a year; how much in an eighty-year lifetime.
Multimedia
Have students create posters about how to save water by not letting the water run when they brush their teeth.
Middle School Students
Have students complete the following survey and then have them compile the statistics on their use of water for a year.
How much water do you use in the bathroom? Seventy-five percent of all water use takes place in the bathroom. Answer the following questions to determine how much water you use every day.
- How often do you brush your teeth each day? __________ X See Below = __________
If you turn off water while brushing, write 1 quart. If you leave the water running while brushing, write 4 gallons. - How long do you spend in the shower? __________ X See Below =__________
If you have a low-flow showerhead, write 2 gallons; If you have a standard showerhead, write 5 gallons. - How many times per day do you flush the toilet? __________ X See Below =__________
If you have a low-flush toilet, write 3 gallons. If you have a standard toilet, write 5 gallons.
Multimedia
Have students create a Power Point™ presentation or poster that explains how much water can be saved by low-flow showerheads and smaller flush toilets.
Secondary School Students
The water footprint of a nation is the amount of water needed for the consumption of goods and services of the country. In the United States, the average water footprint is 2,500 m3/cap/yr. In China, the average water footprint is 700 m3/cap/yr. Assume that fresh water is going to become an increasingly scarce resource. Now imagine that you are a scientist/policy maker trying to make the use of water more equitable. Write a position paper, one page in length, that would outline a policy for making water consumption and use more equitable. Consider the idea of special taxes, incentives, and so on.
Multimedia
Create a Power Point™ slide show that presents how much water it takes to produce specific consumer goods, such as cars, houses, as well as food, such as a half-pound hamburger or a loaf of bread.
Chapter 10
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Acid Rain
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
SC.A. 1.2.1 | The properties of materials (in this pH) can be compared and measured. |
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SC.A. 1.2.5 | Materials made by chemically combining two or more substances may have properties that differ from the original materials. |
SC.G. 2.2.3 | Changes in the habitat of an organism may be beneficial or harmful. |
Acid Rain & pH
Water pollution comes in many forms. Some are obvious and highly visible, like an oil spill or trash floating in a lake. Other forms of water pollution can be difficult to detect. Acid rain is not obviously pollution, but can cause great damage to water ecosystems by lowering the pH of the water. Acid rain is rain that has been made acidic by certain pollutants in the air. An acid is a substance that has a very low pH. The scale for measuring pH runs from zero (the most acidic) to 14 (the most basic or least acidic). A substance that has a pH of 7 is neither basic nor acidic and is called “neutral.”
Human activities are the main cause of acid rain. Cars, power plants, and factories release many different chemicals into the air that change the mix of gases in the atmosphere. These pollutants cause acid rain. Acid rain can be extremely harmful to forests. Acid rain that seeps into the ground dissolves nutrients that trees need to be healthy and also make it difficult for tree roots to absorb water. These trees become weaker and more prone to damage from infections, insects, and cold weather. Acid rain is also very harmful to lakes and streams. Most lakes and streams have a natural pH level between 6 and 7.
Acid rain, however, has caused many lakes and streams to have much lower pH levels. This increase in acidity can be deadly to aquatic wildlife, including fish, insects, frogs, plankton, and aquatic plants. The chart shows the pH scale, examples of common liquids with different pH levels, and the effect of lowering pH on aquatic life.
Activity: The Effect of Acid Rain on Radish Plants
In the following activity you will test the effects of simulated acid rain on growing plants.
Materials Needed
- a pack of radish seeds
- bag of potting soil
- three small pots
- permanent markers
- tap water
- vinegar
- graduated cylinder
- ruler
- two clean cups
- pH test strips
- copy of Acid Rain Activity Worksheet on page 57
To test the effects of acid rain on radish plants, follow the steps below:
- Fill one clean cup with tap water and the other cup with vinegar.
- Using the pH strips, measure the pH of each liquid and record on the acid rain data sheet.
- Label the three pots A, B, and C with the marker.
- Fill each pot with potting soil and poke several small holes in the bottom for drainage.
- With your finger, make a hole 4 cm deep in the soil in each cup.
- Place five radish seeds in each hole and carefully cover the seeds with soil.
- In Pots A and B, use the graduated cylinder to water the seeds with 50 ml of water.
- In Pot C, water the seeds with 50 ml of vinegar.
- Place all three pots in the same growing area.
- Check the plants each day, using the ruler to measure and record their growth on the data sheet.
- Add 20 ml of water every other day to Pots A and B. Add 20 ml of vinegar to Pot C every other day.
- After one week, continue to water Pot A with 20 ml of water every other day. Water Pots B and C with 20 ml of vinegar every other day. (Note that Pot B has now switched from water to vinegar).
- Continue measuring and recording plant growth each day for a three-week period.
- After plants have grown for three weeks, create a bar graph from your data to compare the growth of the plants in the three pots.
Have students review the following summary questions:
- What can you conclude based on your data?
- What effect did changing Pot B to a vinegar mixture have on the growth of the radish plant?
- What effect does acid rain have on plant growth?
Exploring One Water
Look at the following clip to see how pollution affects the local environment in Louisiana.
Consider the Following Poem
“There is nothing softer and weaker than water,
And yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things.
For this reason there is no substitute for it.” —Lao-Tzu circa B.C. 550
Extension Activities
Elementary School Students
Review with students the ways fresh water can become polluted. Talk with them about ways they can help prevent certain water pollution. List them on the board.
Multimedia
Have students draw pictures of the causes of water pollution in their community.
Middle School Students
Review with students the ways fresh water can become polluted. Talk with them about the places where they think water pollution might be going on in their community or in other parts of the country. Have them compile a descriptive list of water pollution sites (local and national).
Multimedia
Use the local community list generated by students to go out and document with photographs the sources of water pollution that they can find in their communities. Have them create a bulletin board exhibit or website with their photographs.
Secondary School Students
Have students research in their community to find out if there is a site that has serious water pollution. Have them try to discover who is responsible and what can be done about the problem. This activity can culminate in the writing of an action letter to a local government official or representative, or to the newspaper.
Multimedia
Have students create a film showing a water pollution problem in their local community. In the film, have them suggest actions that can be taken to solve the problem. Post the film to a website such as YouTube.
Chapter 8
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Water in Art, Literature & Music
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
VA.B. 1.2.1 | The student understands that subject matter used to create unique works of art can come from personal experience, observation, imagination, and themes. |
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VA.B. 1.2.3 | The student knows how to identify the intentions of those creating works of art. |
VA.C. 1.2.1 | The student understands the similarities and differences in works of art from a variety of sources. |
SC.H. 1.2.2 | The student understands how artists have used visual languages and symbol systems through time and across cultures. |
Representations of Water in Art
Water and oxygen are the most important elements for sustaining human life. We cannot live without water. Water surrounds us. We live on a water planet. It should not be surprising, therefore, that water is often a theme found in art. Drawings by the great Renaissance painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci give us a sense of water’s movement and dynamic quality. In Japanese culture there is perhaps no more famous image than The Breaking Wave Off Kanagawa (also called The Great Wave), by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).
In Western music there are few more famous pieces than George Frideric Handel’s (1685-1759) Water Music, an orchestral suite that was written for the King of England. Sea shanties and water songs are a worldwide tradition. Water is also the subject of poetry found around the world, from the Muslim/Sufi poet Shaikh Abu-Said Abil-Kheir (967-1049) “Mansoor, that whale of the Oceans of Love” to the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) “I taste a liquor never brewed.”
Activity: Discover Themes of Water in Art
In the following activity, students will explore representations of water in art. The activity will take them online to search for materials on the Internet.
They will be required to find a painting, an engraving, or some other graphic piece of art that represents water. Students will have to develop an argument that explains why they think a particular work represents or portrays water in a special or unique way.
Have them make a print, at least 4x6 inches, of the work. Have them accompany the print with a short statement (for younger children, a sentence; for secondary students, a paragraph) that summarizes why they have chosen the work.
Then, using paper, pencil, colored markers, or any other convenient medium, have them create a work of their own that represents the same theme as the artwork they have chosen (in the case of the illustrations found above, this would be the movement of water).
Students should feel free to use traditional methods of drawing and painting, as well as techniques such as collage.
The works done by students can be collected together and put onto a bulletin board, or they can be scanned and put up as an exhibit on a website.
Have students review the following summary questions:
- How is water represented in different artistic traditions and different cultures?
- Are there universal themes in the representation of water in art across different cultures? If yes, what are these themes?
Consider the Following Poem
“The taste, by the American writer
Jack Keroauac (1922-1969):
The taste of rain—Why kneel?”
Exploring One Water
Look at the following clip of the celebration of Suneori Amagoi, in Tsuvugashima, Japan.
Video clip coming soon.
Thinking about how water is represented in art gives us the opportunity to explore our personal selves and to be creative. In the following activities, students will use water to explore different artistic mediums and to create art of their own.
Extension Activities
Elementary School Students
Have students bring in at least five or six images of water from a newspaper, a magazine, or from something printed off the Internet. Have them create their own collage from the images. Encourage them to add their own drawings or words to their collages. The collages they create can be shared and talked about, as well as used for a bulletin board display.
Multimedia
Color copy the collages created by the students and use them to make a giant collage pasted down to several poster boards or a giant piece of brown wrapping paper. You can also scan the collages with the students and have them put together a slide show of the class’s work.
Middle School Students
Have students compile a collection of poems that use water as a major theme. An excellent resource is the website Poetry Chaikhana: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Themes/Water.htm). This site includes collections of poems organized by different themes, including water. Have the students choose a poem they like and copy it electronically for inclusion in a class anthology. Have them write a paragraph introducing the poet and his or her work.
Multimedia
Have students write their own poems about water and then, using a digital recorder, have them recite their work. Create a Power Point™ presentation with the text of the poem and a “clickable” reading of it by its student creator. The materials created can be distributed as CD-ROM anthologies, or they can be posted on a website for others to see and hear.
Secondary School Students
Have students listen to classical works that focus on water such as Smetana’s “The Moldau,” Debussy’s “La Mer,” and Handel’s “Water Music.” Have them use one of these works, separately or in a group, in a medium of their choice (dance, rap, poetry, etc.) to create an artistic representation of water.
Multimedia
Sea songs and shanties that focus on water as a theme are a tradition found across many cultures. Have students research this type of music and, if they are musicians, have them perform and record examples. These can be posted by the students on YouTube or a website. A particularly helpful website for this activity is Songs of the Sea (http://www.contemplator.com/sea/index.html).
Chapter 11
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
The Effects of Damming Rivers
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
SC.B. 1.3.51 | The student uses various geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report geographic information. |
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SS.B. 1.3.4 | The student understands how factors like culture and technology influence the perception of places and regions. |
SC.B. 2.3.6 | The student understands the environmental consequences of people changing the physical environment in various world locations. |
Damming Rivers
A dam is any structure that is built across a flowing body of water to control or alter the water’s flow. People have been building dams for millennia. Eight thousand years ago, the Sumerians built dams along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq. The purpose of dams is to improve quality of life by providing drinking water and supporting economic growth by diverting water for power, flood control, and agricultural irrigation. Today, most of the world’s large rivers are dammed. It has been estimated that there are currently more than 40,000 large dams (over 15 meters high) and 800,000 small dams around the world.
In many ways, these dams have been successful. Irrigation of the Western United States, for example, has allowed large-scale farming to flourish in arid conditions. India’s irrigation systems have enabled that country to become a self-sufficient producer of food for over one billion people. Dams have helped in reducing the life-threatening problems of famine as a result of drought, devastation from floods, and disease.
Despite these benefits, the widespread damming of rivers has come under increasing criticism due to a wide range of unintended negative consequences. The adverse effects of dams include the disruption of ecosystems, the decline of fish stocks, the forced resettlements of communities, and, in some cases, increases in disease. New damming projects face increased opposition. Despite this, the world’s largest dam is nearing completion in China.
China’s Yangtze River is the world’s third largest river. It stretches for 3,700 miles across China and provides life-sustaining water for millions of people who live in the Chinese countryside. It irrigates the majority of the crops that feed the rest of country. The Yangtze’s life-giving waters can also cause devastation and death. Throughout thousands of years of Chinese history, the Yangtze has flooded on an average of about once every ten years. These floods have caused great losses of life and infrastructure. As more and more businesses and factories sprung up along the river, there were increased calls to dam the Yangtze. After decades of debate, construction of the Three Gorges Dam was begun by the Chinese government in 1994. Originally scheduled for completion in 2007, delays have pushed the completion date back to 2011.
Critics of the Three Gorges Dam continue to warn that when the project is completed, it will destroy the delicate ecosystem of the river, killing many of the fish and dramatically increasing pollution of the Yangtze as it becomes increasingly stagnant. Further, the flooding of the area behind by the dam will bury archaeologically valuable temples and burial grounds, as well as causing the forced displacement of between four and five million people.
Activity: The Three Gorges Dam
In the following activity, you will prepare for a debate on the whether the Chinese government should complete the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
Find information about the area that would be affected by the dam.
Start with the following website: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec97/gorges_10-8.htmlFrom there, conduct additional on-line searches to gather more information about the Three Gorges Dam project.
- From the information you gather, fill in both the benefits and the costs columns of the Three Gorges Dam Activity Worksheet on page 58.
- Make a decision about whether you are in favor or against the Three Gorges Dam.
- Your teacher will assign you to “pro” and “con” teams to have a debate on the statement: The Three Gorges Dam is a benefit to the Chinese people.
- Remember that when you have a debate, the goal is to present facts and evidence and not just to argue with the other team.
After the debate, consider the following summary questions:
- Did any of your opinions about dams change as a result of the debate? Why or why not?
- If your city was planning to build a new dam, what advice would you give the mayor?
- Do you think the importance of dams is different in developed and developing countries? Why or why not?
Exploring One Water
Look at the following clip of the Three Gorges Dam in China.
Consider the Quote
“The creation of huge reservoirs allows some control over the flow of the river itself…But the [river] is not just a machine. It is an organic machine…For no matter how much we have created many of its spaces and altered its behavior, it is still tied to larger organic cycles beyond our control.” —Richard White, The Organic Machine, commenting on the Hoover Dam
Extension Activities
Elementary School Students
Google Earth is an online mapping software, as well as a tool for viewing, creating, and sharing site/location-specific information. Download Google Earth to your computer or library classroom and take a tour with your students of your local community. Have them note where bodies of water such as rivers and streams are located. Create a poster-size hand-drawn map with the assistance of your students.
Multimedia
Copy the map you have created with your students to a web page or create a Power Point™ page. Have students collect together photographs of different bodies of water in their community and have them insert them into the map.
Middle School Students
Have students visit the “Rising Sea Level Animation,” created by Zoltán Büki, available on Google Earth. Have them create a list of ten major cities from around the world that will be flooded if sea levels continue to rise because of global warming.
Multimedia
Use the local community list generated by students to go out and document with photographs the sources of water pollution that they can find in their communities. Have them create a bulletin board exhibit or website with their photographs.
Secondary School Students
Who owns the water in a river? Is it the people at the headwaters or the beginning of its flow, or is it everyone over whose land the river flows? If a river is totally blocked by a dam, is it just “tough luck” for the people below the dam? Have students explore online the history of the Colorado River. Ask them to write a brief history (two pages double-spaced) of how the water rights for the seven states the river runs through have been dealt with by politicians and the government.
Multimedia
Have students create a multimedia history using Power Point™ of Water Rights Issues and the Colorado River.
Chapter 9
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Life in a Drop of Water
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
SC.A. 2.2.1 | Materials may be made of parts too small to be seen without magnification. |
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SC.F. 1.2.3 | Living things are different but share similar structures. |
SC.G. 1.2.7 | Variations in light, water, temperature, and soil content are largely responsible for the existence of different kinds of organisms and populations. |
Microscopic Aquatic Life
You know that many organisms live in the water – fish, dolphins, whales, seaweed, or manatees might come to mind. Most of the organisms that live in the water, however, are too small to see with the naked eye, and we generally do not think about them. Plankton are microscopic, single-celled aquatic organisms with limited swimming abilities. They are classified into two groups: phytoplankton (plants) and zooplankton (animals). Phytoplankton are very important to other larger aquatic organisms as well as to people. They are the basis of nearly all aquatic food chains and also produce about 80% of the oxygen we breathe. Phytoplankton, like all plants, make their own food through photosynthesis.
Phytoplankton occur in many shapes, including disks, rods, chains, and spines. There are three major types of phytoplankton: diatoms, dinoflagellates, and coccolithophores. Diatoms float and usually live where the waves and currents push them around. Dinoflagellates are plankton with two tails (flagella) that beat to push the organism around. Coccolithophores are spherical and covered with chalky discs that shed off the organism and sink to the ocean floor.
Zooplankton are floating or weakly swimming animals that rely on water currents to move. They are usually larger than phytoplankton, ranging from microscopic creatures like rotifers to easily visible jellyfish. Zooplankton are also an important part of aquatic food chains. Some zooplankton are primary consumers, eating phytoplankton, and others are secondary consumers, feeding on other zooplankton. Zooplankton are the favorite food of many marine animals such as fish and baleen whales.
Is it possible for you to see phytoplankton or zooplankton? In the following activity, you will use your naked eye, a magnifying glass, and a microscope to find out.
Activity: What’s in a Drop of Water?
Find out what organisms you can see in a sample of water
Materials Needed
- three water sample jars
- samples of fresh and salt water
- a permanent marker
- magnifying glass or hand lens
- microscope
- petri dishes, baby food jars, or other small clear or white colored glass containers
- microscope slides and cover slips
- copy of Life in a Drop of Water Activity Worksheet on page 57
Follow these steps:
- Choose a location or locations to collect your samples. Ideally, collect a fresh water sample from a stream, another from a pond or lake, and a saltwater sample from the ocean.
Note: It may be necessary for the teacher to collect samples in advance of this activity or ask students to bring water samples from the surrounding area. - Collect 1-liter samples from each water location. When collecting, dip your container into the water at the water’s edge making sure to get any algae or plant life present. Quickly remove the container to ensure that most of your organisms do not escape.
- Use a permanent marker to write the location and date for each sample on each “water sample” container.
- Bring samples back to the classroom for observation.
- With your naked eye, observe, sketch, describe and count the type and number of visible organisms found in each sample. Record your data in the naked eye column of the worksheet. The samples can be transferred to a petri dish, baby food jar, or other shallow clear or white container. Containers can also be placed on a white sheet of paper for easier viewing.
- Next, observe the water samples using a magnifying glass or hand lens. Again, sketch, describe, and count the type and number of visible organisms found in each sample, recording your data in the magnifying glass column of the worksheet.
- Finally, observe the water samples using the microscope. Again, sketch, describe, and count the type and number of visible organisms found in each sample, recording your data in the microscope column of the worksheet.
- Discuss your observations in groups and as a class.
- Create a graph to compare and analyze your collected data.
Have students review the following summary questions:
- What types of animals did you find in the pond water?
- Did the type of water sample change the number and kinds of organisms found? Why or why not?
- Would you expect to find the same organisms in each sample all year round? How could you test your prediction experimentally?
Exploring One Water
Look at the following clip of mosquitoes spreading the malaria infection to humans.
Consider the Following Poem
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” —Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It, 1989
Extension Activities
Elementary School Students
Some of the most beautiful scientific drawings ever created are the work of the German scientist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919). Many of them are of microscopic animals found in seawater such as Radiolarians. Have students go online and collect a portfolio of his work, finding out who Haeckel was and what were the subjects of his illustrations.
Multimedia
Have students create a slide show using Power Point™ or a bulletin board display of Ernst Haeckel’s drawings of microscopic sea life.
Middle School Students
Microscopic sea animals such as Radiolarians and various other planktons have the same shapes and structures as soap bubbles made with soap bubble frames. Have students construct a square soap bubble frame using pipe cleaners or light-weight wire. When dipped in a soap solution, the bubble formed assumes the same shape as certain types of Radiolarians. Why does this happen? A soap bubble is a minimal surface. It takes the most physically efficient form possible—free standing, this is a sphere. When stretched on a square frame this shape is a trapezoid bubble with a square bubble in the center. A triangular frame gives a triangular trapezoid.
Video
A video recording with instructions for completing this activity can be referenced at the One Water curriculum website.
Have students compare these shapes with the following drawings of Radiolarians made by Ernst Haeckel. Have them try to conclude why these shapes are the same. (The Radiolarian’s skeleton takes the most energy efficient shape possible, the same as a soap bubble).
Multimedia
Have students create a slide show on Power Point™ of Radiolarians as compared to soap bubble frames.
Secondary School Students
The architect Peter Stevens in his book Patterns in Nature has shown that the stress lines found in rocks, dried mud, and even the cracked surface of an ancient Chinese vase follow the most efficient and stable lines of stress possible. In general, when most elastic substances are placed under stress, they will fracture into hexagonal shapes, meeting one another at angles of approximately 120 degrees. Individual snowflakes and the cells of plants and animals assume this basic hexagonal form. The cells in the eye of a common housefly take on these hexagonal shapes. Even the shells of tortoises have hexagonal configurations that repeat the shapes and forms that soap bubbles can take. As discussed above, the skeletons of the tiny sea creatures, Radiolarians, are remarkably similar in form to soap bubbles formed with differently shaped wire frames. Have students go online to research and write a 3 to 4 page double-spaced paper outlining how patterns are found in nature, even among the smallest animals and plants found in fresh water ponds or the ocean.
Multimedia
Have students create a Point Point™ presentation, a website or short film on patterns found in nature. Keywords that will help them on Internet searches include Darcy Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form, and Fibonaccian sequences.
Chapter 7
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Water & Disease
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
SC.G. 1.2.1 | Plants, animals, and protists interact in different ways. |
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SC.G. 2.2.2 | The size of a population is dependent upon the available resources within its community. |
SC.H. 1.2.2 | A successful method to explore the natural world is to observe and record, and then analyze and communicate the results. |
Cholera, Dr. Snow, and the Origins of Epidemiology
John Snow (1813-1858) was a British physician who became interested in finding ways to prevent the cholera epidemics that struck London in the 1840s. Cholera is a disease that is transmitted via water and food caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Snow wrote an article in 1849 in which he theorized that the disease was transmitted by infected water. His theory contradicted the more popular belief that the disease was caused by poisonous vapors.
In 1854, there was a particularly bad outbreak of cholera. Snow began collecting data, specifically mapping where the deaths occurred from the disease. He found that the center of the neighborhood where the deaths occurred had a well that had been used by all of the people who died. After he had the handle to the well removed by public officials so that no one could use it, the epidemic came to an end. While he could not determine the specific cause of the disease (something that would not take place for some years), he identified, through a process of deduction, the source of the disease’s transmission—i.e., infected water.
Activity: Finding the Source of the 1854 London Cholera Epidemic
In the following activity, you will look at the map of the 1854 cholera outbreaks in just the same way John Snow did. Can you determine which of the London water pumps was the carrier of the disease? Use the same logic that Snow did and see if you can come up with the same answer.
Materials Needed
John Snow’s map showing the cholera outbreak of 1854 in London. Each line indicates an individual who died from cholera. There are thirteen water pumps included in the map. There are 578 recorded deaths noted on the map.
Print off the Snow map from the Knowater website. Divide it into thirty-six equal squares as shown below.
Count up the total number of deaths in each square of the map. Then have students find the water pump which is closest to the heaviest concentration of deaths. It should lead them to the Broad Street Pump, which was, in fact, the site responsible for the infections. This method that the students have used is essentially the same one as that employed by John Snow over 150 years ago. His approach is widely recognized as the beginning of modern epidemiological research.
Have students review the following summary questions:
- How do logic and deduction lead to scientific knowledge?
- Can we treat a disease such as cholera without actually understanding what causes the disease? Why or why not?
Exploring One Water
In the film, Hindus are shown drinking water from the River Ganges. Is this celebration of water as a source of health potentially dangerous from a disease perspective?
Even though it is part of their religious belief that the Ganges water is good for one’s health, should people be prevented from drinking it? How could the water be made safer?
Consider the Quote
“It is an extraordinary fact that the deliberate introduction of poisons into a reservoir is becoming a fairly common practice. The purpose is usually to promote recreational uses, even though the water must be treated at some expense to make it fit for its intended use as drinking water. When sportsmen of an area want to improve fishing in a reservoir, they prevail on authorities to dump quantities of poison into it to kill the undesired fish, which are then replaced with hatchery fish more suited to the sportsmen’s taste. The procedure has a strange Alice-in-Wonderland quality. The reservoir was created as a public water supply, yet the community, probably unconsulted about the sportsmen’s project, is forced either to drink water containing poisonous residues or to pay our tax money for treatment of the water to remove the poisons - treatments that are by no means foolproof. ” —Rachel Carson (1907-1964), “Surface Waters and Underground Seas,” Silent Spring, 1962
All of us need to be concerned with protecting our drinking water. Are there water pollution problems in the town or area where your students live? In the following activities, students will learn about pollution and how to prevent it.
Extension Activities
Elementary School Students
Create a list with students of the different ways water can become polluted. Talk with them about how we can help prevent pollution.
Multimedia
Have students write a contract that outlines ways they will try to prevent water from becoming polluted in their homes and at school.
Middle School Students
Have students work in teams to compile a list of ten ways that groundwater can be kept clean. This includes things like making sure that old paint around their homes is not poured down a drain, but taken to a hazardous waste disposal site. Similarly, batteries need to be taken to waste disposal sites and not simply thrown away. Have students design and create posters pointing out five ways people can do things around their homes to make sure that our groundwater remains as safe as possible.
Multimedia
Have students create a slide show talking about how to dispose of hazardous materials found around the house so that they will not cause damage to groundwater.
Secondary School Students
Have students go to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s superfund site for Florida (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/fl.htm). Have them find three sites in their county or as nearby as possible and have them summarize in a brief one-page report what types of problems there are at sites, their cause, and what has to be done to get them cleaned up.
Multimedia
Have students create a film for YouTube or some other public site documenting hazardous or potentially dangerous conditions affecting water in their community or a nearby area.
Chapter 12
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Cory A. Buxton
Quotes About Water
Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmark | |
SC.A. 1.2.2 | 75 percent of the surface of the Earth is covered by water. |
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SC.B. 2.2.2 | Reducing, reusing, and recycling natural resources improves and protects the quality of life. |
SC.D. 1.2.5 | Changes in the habitat of an organism may be beneficial or harmful. |
SC.H. 2.2.1 | The student understands the environmental consequences of people changing the physical environment in various world locations. |
Thinking About Water
The following quotations about water are taken from a wide range of authors and historical time periods. What they all hold in common is the importance of water to human life. Use the quotes as points of discussion with your students. You may wish to post them on a board on a daily or weekly basis, or have students use them as the basis for a journal entry, an essay, a report or a multimedia presentation.
“Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.” —Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997)
“Water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights.” —The United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, Environment News Service, November 27, 2002
“Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to it. People move when there is too little of it. People move when there is too much of it. People journey down it. People write, sing and dance about it. People fight over it. And all people, everywhere and every day, need it.” —Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Green Cross International quoted in Peter Swanson’s Water: The Drop of Life, 2001
“Multinational companies now run water systems for 7 percent of the world’s population, and analysts say that figure could grow to 17 percent by 2015. Private water management is estimated to be a $200 billion business, and the World Bank, which has encouraged governments to sell off their utilities to reduce public debt, projects it could be worth $1 trillion by 2021. The potential for profits is staggering: in May 2000 Fortune magazine predicted that water is about to become ‘one of the world’s great business opportunities’, and that ‘it promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th.’” —John Louma, “Water Thieves,” The Ecologist, March 2004
“No one has the right to use America’s rivers and America’s Waterways that belong to all the people as a sewer. The banks of a river may belong to one man or one industry or one State, but the waters which flow between the banks should belong to all the people.” —Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), 36th U.S. President, signing the 1965 Clean Water Act
“We used to think that energy and water would be the critical issues for the next century. Now we think water will be the critical issue.” —Mostafa Tolba of Egypt, former head of the United Nations Environment Program
“You don’t miss your water until your well runs dry.” —Old country proverb