by Betty Wong | 5 Jan 2023 | Climate decoders, Economy, Educators' Catalog, Environment, Writing's on the Wall
Turn on the tap, and the world’s most valuable commodity pours out. Maybe it’s time to invest in water — to line our pockets and protect our planet. Clean water pours from a hose. Credit: Cassio Henrique. Getty Images. This article is the seventh in a...
Water is one of the most important commodities in the world. It is also tradable as companies seek to make money by purifying and distributing it. Some organizations that are pushing for climate change action are investing in water companies to pressure private industry to be better stewards of water. These investments in water stocks are proving to be financially profitable.
Exercise: The story identifies a list of companies that provide water or water infrastructure: IDEX Corp., Xylem Inc., Danaher Corp., Ecolab, Roper Industries, Pentair Plc, Ferguson Plc and American Water Works Co. Inc. Divide students into investment teams with $1 million each to invest. Have them first brainstorm ways water and systems for providing water could be improved in their area or elsewhere. Then have them look up the website of one or more of those companies to see if they can tell what the company does to improve water supply or quality. Would their $1 million invested in that company help towards the improvements they identified as needed?
by Alexandra Gray | 21 Dec 2022 | Media Literacy, Technology
Algorithms that track the terms we plug into search engines determine what appears on the pages we pull up. Why does that feel so creepy? SEO concept by Anya Berkut/Getty Images More and more, we seem to get ads related to topics we plug into a search engine — long...
by Tira Shubart | 14 Dec 2022 | Climate decoders, Educators' Catalog, Science, Space, Writing's on the Wall
Oh Tang! If our seas rise too high there are exoplanets to settle. But hope you like freeze-dried food, because it’s a long trip out there. This illustration shows a fictional astronaut on Mars, as viewed through the window of a spacecraft. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)...
Fearing the prospect that our seas will rise and our climate will get too hot to make life comfortable on Earth, some smart people are thinking about new homes in outer space. But is there a so-called Planet B we could actually reach in a spaceship and what would life be like there? In an entertaining article that takes us through time and space, correspondent Tira Shubart explores these possibilities and comes to the conclusion that maybe we should concentrate our money and energy on cleaning up our own backyard.
Exercise: Shubart tells us that it is unlikely that Mars could be made habitable for humans. But let’s say that your students could come up with the technology that would make that possible. What would they need to produce to make Mars a place where people could live? Have them brainstorm a list of devices that would solve the problems Shubart discusses in the article. Then ask them to come up with a list of ways we could clean up our environment on earth.
by Marcy Burstiner | 13 Dec 2022 | Contests, Environment, European School Brussels, News Decoder Updates, Writing's on the Wall
News Decoder has launched a series of projects, funded by the European Union, to help teachers integrate climate change into the classroom. Students at the Climate Academy designed and created a mural in the grounds of their school evoking the rights of young people...
by Maria Ermanni | 9 Dec 2022 | Contest winners, Educators' Catalog, Health and Wellness, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Student Posts, Technology, Youth Voices
Social media can harm a young person’s mental health. Can youth be taught to use the platforms responsibly and avoid excessive consumption? Teenage girl under pressure to achieve (Ikon Images via AP Images) This article, by high school student Maria Ermanni,...
While there are positive aspects to social media platforms, they can also pose mental health risks. There is the fear of missing out and pressure to become more beautiful, slimmer, cooler and sportier. Student Maria Ermanni of Realgymnasium Rämibühl in Zürich talked to an expert about the positives and negatives of social media for teens and reached the conclusion that while social platforms have become an indispensable part of our daily lives, the responsibility for safe media use lies with the user.
Exercise: Have students write a paragraph that describes their best and worst experience with social media. Then ask them to consider whether they think that there should be limits on what people can post and share on social media, and if yes, what those limits should be. Ultimately, do they think that the benefits of social media outweigh the negative toll it has taken on the mental health of young people?
by Aralynn Abare McMane | 8 Dec 2022 | Contests, Educators' Catalog, Environment, European School Brussels
Winners of a worldwide competition will get cash prizes as well as coaching from News Decoder and publication on the News Decoder site. Announcing the Climate Champion Profiles storytelling competition Teenage journalists worldwide are invited to profile someone who...
News Decoder is a member of a consortium of organizations implementing a multifaceted project to engage youth with climate change issues and actions. In this article, News Decoder Adviser Aralynn Abare McMane invites high school students across the world to identify and interview someone in their community working to solve the climate crisis in a significant way, then write an article or produce a video or podcast about that person for submission to a worldwide contest.
Exercise: Find an individual in your community who is trying to fight climate change in a real way. Have students research that person by looking up relevant websites and reading any news articles that have been done or watching any videos that feature that person. Then invite the person to talk to your class and have students prepare questions they would need answered in order to write a profile of that person. Have each student write a profile and submit the best one to the The Writing’s on the Wall Climate Champions Storytelling Competition.
by Deborah Charles | 29 Nov 2022 | Climate decoders, Decoders, Environment, World, Writing's on the Wall
Food systems contribute greatly to climate change. Cooling the planet might require shaking up our meal plans. Substitute meat brands at a supermarket in Westchester County, New York, 16 February 2021. (STRF/STAR MAX/IPx) This article is the fifth in a series of...
by Sue Landau | 22 Nov 2022 | Climate decoders, Decoders, Environment, Writing's on the Wall
It’s not too late to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, decarbonize industry and adapt land-use to trap carbon in soil and plants. A solar panel sits near a street in Lagos, Nigeria, 20 August 2022. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) This article is the fourth...
by Jeremy Lovell | 9 Nov 2022 | Climate decoders, Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Environment, Writing's on the Wall
Climate change requires global, systemic action if we are to save Earth. But each of us can help bring pressure for the painful changes needed. Greta Thunberg at a climate strike outside the United Nations in New York, 30 August 2019 (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) This...
Can one person’s actions really help save our planet? The news on climate science is often bleak but Correspondent Jeremy Lovell tells us why we should each think of ourselves as one of a billion climate activists environmental advocate Greta Thunberg seeks to mobilize. And together we can push governments and corporations for changes that can save our planet.
Exercise: Have students come up with a short list of steps they think your national or regional government should and could take to fight climate change. Have each student write a letter to the president or your governor asking them to push for legislation that would accomplish this.
by Tira Shubart | 8 Nov 2022 | Educators' Catalog, Russia, Space, Technology, Ukraine
Despite conflicts on Earth, satellites orbit in peace. But use of Elon Musk’s Starlink to aid Ukraine has Russia looking to the sky with hostile eyes. A rocket booster carrying three Gonets-M satellites and the first Skif-D satellite of the Sfera programme lifts...
While all kinds of international conflicts occur on the ground, up in space things have been pretty peaceful. We depend on peace in the skies because such things as social media, multiplayer video games, Google classrooms and Zoom sessions rely on satellites bouncing signals across the earth. Correspondent Tira Shubart tells us why tensions on the ground in Ukraine could disturb the tacit and explicit agreements over satellites in the sky.
Exercise: Let’s imagine that each student has been hired to draw up an international agreement to govern and protect satellites that need to cross the skies over international borders. What are the five most important considerations that would have to be included in this treaty? Some things to consider are: The citizens in every country want fast and reliable Internet; people want their privacy protected; and countries are concerned about the possible military use of satellites.
