8.0 Types of Curriculum Activities which could Complement the Sustainability theme.

In order to emphasize the over-arching principles of marine environmental sustainability the following are a few suggestions for educators:

  • Forensics Stations:
    What is wrong here? Present a problem, provide the tools for investigating the crime scene, solutions and recommendations. Call it “CSI is all wet”. The crime scene could be beach closure results from the dept. of public health, along with locations of sewer fields and outfalls or storm sewers and agriculture runoff.. information on patterns of rainfall and runoff could be part of the evidence.
  • Energy budget of a disturbed seabird or mammal escaping from boats and human activity:
    • total food taken from our waters.
      effluents added
      traffic in waters
      disruption to nesting areas
      boat traffic..speed kills.
      Mariculture facility locations and indications of the level of their sustainability
      Worst-case scenario collision pictures of boats with marine mammals etc… for example.. something like this video: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/vidinjureseal.htm
  • The roles and obligations of foreign tourists: connections with activities of specific countries with the sustainability of ocean resources. Disclose which countries have the best and worst records for marine resource sustainable practises. Who has better laws, rules for protection, also some positive examples of how some marine food dependent countries — Japan, Taiwan, HK have or have not met the responsibilities. Full disclosure on “scientific whaling” would be appropriate for instance.
  • A three pronged diagram.. Social, environmental economic .. How does southern Vancouver Island rate ?
  • A Google map type of pop-up where dive spots are represented and related back to the ecosystems that they represent.
  • Commercial diving and sustainability of resources.
  • Economic benefits of diving enterprize. This can be one of the subsets of what the ocean provides as a service emphasis for no take to keep it sustainable.
  • A large flowchart showing (clickable) the spinoffs for our economic activities from such things as diving The marine industries of the Georgia strait.. the positive things that are happening
  • .How marine industry can be sustainable.
    Environmental Impact
  • First Nations. What are their traditional and current methods of interacting with marine resources.
    How does the mythology relate to the sea? statements.. examples .. case studies, their value for sustainability..
  • An interactive way of accessing all the current marine sustainability research projects going on in the British Columbia Coastal and open ocean area.
  • Highlight case studies of how we restore eel grass beds: why is eel-grass important as habitat, how we can lessen destruction, how we can lobby for its preservation, beauty of the sea grasses… as the only monocots in the sea.. ecosystem roles..
  • Energy budget of the ocean shores.. how kelp contributes energy and materials through the decomposer food web,
  • Ecosystem Integrity : define an ecosystem in terms of its structure and function. Have what if scenarios developed so that students can see how manipulating/changing/impacting on an ecosystem can have wide reaching implications.

8.1 The Southern Vancouver Island Marine Ecosystem Map.

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