SAI SPIRITUAL EDUCATION LESSON PLAN€¦ · Web viewREPLACE ALL YOUR BATTERIES WITH RECHARGEABLE...

SAI SPIRITUAL EDUCATION LESSON PLANCEILING ON DESIRES

ENERGY

GROUP: 2 VALUE: Nonviolence SUBVALUE: Respect for the Balance of Nature

MATERIALS NEEDED: PowerPoint equipment (if available), reproductions of game pieces (attached), cut into squares; copies for each student of Life Application worksheet and “Protecting the Environment – Actions We Can Take” (attached)

SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE (purpose of lesson): To learn that our indiscriminate use of the earth’s resources can impact the entire world.

QUOTE: “In order to protect Nature, man has to practice a ceiling on desires.” – Sathya Sai Baba

OPENING: THREE OMS / PRAYER / REPETITION OF GOD’S NAMEPrayer: “The light of God surrounds me

The love of God enfolds meThe power of God protectsThe presence of God watches over meWherever I am, God is and all is well.”

INTRODUCE TODAY’S SUBVALUE AND DISCUSS QUOTE AFFIRMATION: “I protect nature by conserving energy in my daily life.”

SILENT SITTING / MEDITATION (Can relate to subvalue/spiritual principle.)

DEVOTIONAL GROUP SINGING: (Choose song to reinforce subvalue/spiritual principle.)Song: This Land is Your Land (words and music by Woody Guthrie)

Chorus:This land is your land, this land is my landFrom California, to the New York IslandFrom the redwood forest, to the gulf stream watersThis land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highwayI saw above me an endless skywayI saw below me a golden valleyThis land was made for you and me

Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footstepsTo the sparkling sands of her diamond desertsAnd all around me a voice was soundingThis land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strollingThe wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rollingThe fog was lifting a voice come chantingThis land was made for you and me

Chorus

STORY-TELLING / LESSON (Relate the story to the subvalue/spiritual principle.)Story: “Our Activities Can Impact Animals and Environment All Over the World”

(Note to teacher: If PowerPoint presentation found on CD in this manual is used, use the attached script – numbers coincide with slides; otherwise read the text (attached) slowly to allow students to use their imaginations)

PRE-STORY QUESTION(S)What are some ways to conserve energy?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (These should relate to story, subvalue, and affirmation.)1. Which of your activities contribute to impacting Antarctica? (Hand out sheet (attached) on

how we can decrease our impact on the environment)2. How can you change your activities to decrease your impact on Antarctica and on the

environment?3. Are there any things your family can do to decrease their impact on the environment?4. We are living on a planet with limited resources. Manufacturing processes usually demand

great expenditures of energy, mostly from non-renewable sources and their use often pollutes in some way. If we put a “ceiling on desires,” how can we help to conserve resources and reduce pollution?

ACTIVITY (Design or choose, to provide an experience of the subvalue/spiritual principle.)

Review Life Application from previous week.

1. Have students come up with slogans about protecting the environment.2. Flannel Board Game (attached)

LIFE APPLICATION (Assign for practice in the subvalue / spiritual principle during the week.)1. Write down how many ways you conserved energy this week. Share with the class next

week.2. You're a reporter for an assignment called Saving Energy. Your job is to take pictures of

people wasting energy and to write a caption for each photograph. (If you cannot use a camera, then cut out pictures and write your own captions.)

OUR ACTIVITIES CAN IMPACT ANIMALS AND ENVIRONMENT ALL OVER THE WORLD

(Note to teacher: If PowerPoint presentation is used, use the attached script – numbers coincide with slides; otherwise read the text below slowly to allow students to use their imaginations)

Picture the continent of Antarctica – a vast white wilderness of ice, snow and snow-capped mountains. Antarctica is 13,000 miles away from the United States. To compare – Puttaparthi is about 8,500 miles away. Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, highest, and driest place on earth. In the summer temperatures are always 30 - 40 degrees below freezing and the winds can be 200 mph (compare this to local winter temperatures). In fact it's so cold that a glass of water would freeze before it hit the ground. The reason Antarctica is so cold is because it is covered by an icecap that is 2 miles thick. In addition to this harsh weather, Antarctica is surrounded by the roughest seas in the world, and these seas are filled with icebergs, which make traveling there very difficult and dangerous. Do you think anybody would want to live there permanently?

What makes Antarctica special is that nobody lives there permanently. Scientists travel there to conduct research, and tourists visit because it is so incredibly beautiful and because of all the animals – there are 75 million animals, including whales, seals, penguins and many other birds and fish found nowhere else on earth – so it is a very breathtaking place. Since nobody lives permanently in Antarctica, do you think that our actions affect Antarctic’s environment and wildlife? Unfortunately they do.

Even though it is so far away, Antarctica is connected to the rest of the world. Do you know how? The seas that surround Antarctica are the southern extremes of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans – these are the same oceans that surround the rest of the world. So anything that enters the oceans from anywhere in the world can travel to Antarctica. And of course, the air is connected, so anything that is put into the air can travel to Antarctica. And it does. So why is this important?

Antarctica’s animals are uniquely adapted to their harsh environment which means that any changes can hurt them. This means that when the animals are exposed to pollution or a change in the temperature of the air or water, they can suffer. For example, penguins have waterproof feathers which help them to maintain their body temperature when they dive for food. Seals and whales maintain their body temperature with a thick layer of blubber (fat). Do you know why it is important to maintain your body temperature?

So how are we affecting Antarctica?

POLLUTIONBecause the air and water throughout the world are connected, pollution that we put into the air and water from the rest of world gets into the seals and penguins. What is pollution?

These pollutants: coat fur and feathers and destroy the waterproofing of the feathers concentrate in the fat and destroy its insulation Pollutants are eaten with the food and destroy the immune system – which is the part of our body that helps us fight disease. This leads to sickness, death and abortions, and passes through the mother’s milk to the young.

GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming affects Antarctica too. What causes global warming? The main cause is carbon dioxide (CO2) from energy sources – for example from cars and electricity. Global warming increases the temperature of the air, and in Antarctica causes the ice caps and ice shelves to melt and huge icebergs to break off from the continent. These ice shelves are where the animals nest and raise their young, so there are fewer places for this. Under the ice shelves are small plants called phytoplankton and small fish called krill. These are eaten by all the other animals. So when the ice shelves melt,

there is less food for the animals to eat. And when the ice caps melt, sea levels can rise – which could be bad news for cities along the coast.

OZONE DEPLETION

The ozone layer above Antarctica is being destroyed from chemicals that we put into the air. What is the ozone layer? These chemicals are found in air conditioners, aerosol spray cans, fire extinguishers, and pesticides. Ozone depletion harms Antarctica’s animals because more of the sun’s harmful rays are allowed to reach the earth’s surface. These rays harm the immune system, increase susceptibility to diseases, cause cataracts, and destroy krill – their food source – because the rays penetrate the water.

OIL DRILLINGMany countries want to drill in Antarctica right now because of the high price of fuel. They think that there is cheap oil in Antarctica – but even if it is cheap, it is not cheap to the environment. What can oil drilling do? An oil spill is very likely because of icebergs and the rough seas.If there is an oil spill: The oil can destroy the animals’ immune systems. Oil could coat their food, and kill it, and any that was eaten could then poison the animals. Oil could coat the feathers and skin and destroy the fat layer so the animals aren’t able to stay warm when they are in the ocean looking for food or when they are on land taking care of their babies.

So now you have an idea of what can happen if we do not limit our desires – we can affect the environment of an area far, far away from here – and all of its seals, penguins and whales.

SAI SPIRITUAL EDUCATION----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SCRIPT TO ACCOMPANY POWERPOINT PRESENTATION ON ANTARCTICA

2 Picture the continent of Antarctica – a vast white wilderness of ice, snow and snow-capped mountains.

3Antarctica is 13,000 miles away from the United States. To compare – Puttaparthi is about 8,500

miles away. 4Antarctica is the coldest, 5windiest, 6highest, and driest place on earth. In the summer

temperatures are always 30 - 40 degrees below freezing and the winds can be 200 mph (compare this

to local winter temperatures). In fact it's so cold that a glass of water would freeze before it hit the

ground. 7The reason Antarctica is so cold is because it is covered by an icecap that is 2 miles thick. For

all this snow and ice, Antarctica is classified as a desert – it gets less than 2” of snow annually. 8In

addition to this harsh weather, Antarctica is surrounded by the roughest seas in the world, 9and these

seas are filled with icebergs, which make traveling there very difficult and dangerous. Do you think

anybody would want to live there permanently? 10

What makes Antarctica special is that nobody lives there permanently. 11Scientists travel there to

conduct research, 12and tourists visit because it is so incredibly beautiful and because of all the animals

– there are 75 million animals, including 13whales, 14seals, 15penguins 16and many other birds and

17fish found nowhere else on earth – 18so it is a very breathtaking place. Since nobody lives permanently

in Antarctica, do you think that our actions affect Antarctic’s environment and wildlife?

Unfortunately they do.

Even though it is so far away, Antarctica is connected to the rest of the world. Do you know how? 19The

seas that surround Antarctica are the southern extremes of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans –

these are the same oceans that surround the rest of the world. So anything that enters the oceans from

anywhere in the world can travel to Antarctica. And of course, the air is connected, so anything that is put

into the air can travel to Antarctica. And it does.

So why is this important?

Antarctica’s animals are uniquely adapted to their harsh environment which means that any changes can

hurt them. This means that when the animals are exposed to pollution or a change in the temperature of

the air or water, they can suffer. 20For example, penguins have waterproof feathers which help them to


maintain their body temperature when they dive for food. 21Seals and whales maintain their body

temperature with a thick layer of blubber (fat). Do you know why it is important to maintain your body

temperature?

So what are we doing to Antarctica?

POLLUTION

Because the air and water throughout the world are connected, pollution that we put into the air and water

from the rest of world gets into the fat of seals and penguins. What is pollution? These pollutants: 22

coat fur and feathers and destroy the waterproof feathers 23

concentrate in the fat and destroy its insulation 24 , 25

Pollutants are eaten with the food and destroy the immune system – which is the part of our body that

helps us fight disease. 26This leads to sickness, death and abortions, and passes through the mother’s

milk to the young.

GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming affects Antarctica too. What causes global warming? The main cause is carbon dioxide

(CO2) from energy sources – for example from cars and electricity. 27Global warming increases the

temperature of the air, and in Antarctica causes the ice caps and ice shelves to melt 28and huge icebergs

to break off from the continent. These ice shelves are where the animals nest and raise their young, so

there are fewer places for this. 29Under the ice shelves are small plants called phytoplankton and small

fish called krill. These are eaten by all the other animals. So when the ice shelves melt, there is less food

for the animals to eat. 30And when the ice caps melt, sea levels can rise – which could be bad news for

cities along the coast. 31

OZONE DEPLETION

32The ozone layer above Antarctica is being destroyed from chemicals that we put into the air. What is

the ozone layer? These chemicals are found in air conditioners, aerosol spray cans, fire extinguishers,

and pesticides. 33Ozone depletion harms Antarctica’s animals because more of the sun’s harmful rays

are allowed to reach the earth’s surface. These rays harm the immune system, increase susceptibility to

diseases, cause cataracts, and destroy krill – their food source.


OIL DRILLING

Many countries want to drill in Antarctica right now because of the high price of fuel. They think that there

is cheap oil in Antarctica – but even if it is cheap, it is not cheap to the environment. What can oil drilling

do? 34An oil spill is very likely because of icebergs and the rough seas.

If there is an oil spill:

The oil can destroy the animals’ immune systems.

35Oil could coat their food, and kill it;, and any that was eaten could then poison the animals.36

Oil could coat the feathers and skin and destroy the fat layer so the animals aren’t able to stay warm

when they are in the ocean looking for food or when they are on land taking care of their babies.

37So now you have an idea of what can happen if we do not limit our desires – we can affect the

environment of an area far, far away from here – 38and all of its seals, 39penguins and whales.40


SAI SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

Ceiling on DesiresEnergy

LIFE APPLICATION

Name______________________________

Date________________________________

1. Repeat the affirmation every day: “I protect nature by conserving energy in my daily life.”2. Write down how many ways you conserved energy this week. Share with the class next week.3. You're a reporter for an assignment called Saving Energy. Your job is to take pictures of people

wasting energy and to write a caption for each photograph. (If you cannot use a camera, then cut out pictures and write your own captions.)


PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT – ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE

1. CONSUME LESS! In America, we have grown used to an environment of plenty, with an enormous variety of consumer products always available, and constant enticement to buy “more,” “new,” and “improved.” Energy is consumed in the manufacturing and transport of everything we buy, which means there are fossil-fuel emissions at every stage of production. A good way to reduce the amount of energy you use is simply to buy less. Before making a purchase, ask yourself if you really need it. Can you make do with what you already have? Can you borrow or rent? Can you find the item secondhand?

2. BUY THINGS THAT LAST, repair rather than discard, and pass on items that are no longer needed to someone who can make use of them.

3. “PRECYCLE” – reduce waste before you buy. This means try to purchase items with less packaging. Discarded packaging materials make up about 1/3 of the waste clogging our landfills. Vast amounts of natural resources and fossil fuels are consumed each year to produce the paper, aluminum, glass and Styrofoam that hold and wrap our purchases. Of course, some amount of packaging is necessary to transport and protect the products, but all too often manufacturers add extra wrappers over wrappers and layers of unnecessary plastic. Give preference to those products that use recycled packaging, or that don’t use excess packaging.

4. Bag your purchases in a REUSABLE BAG – or just don’t take a bag for your purchases. Paper bags destroy trees. Plastic bags use oil. They both clog up landfills. On the other hand, cloth bags look good, last for a long time, and don’t hurt the planet. So just say “no thanks!” Get into the habit of carrying a bag when you go shopping.

5. Carry your own REFILLABLE BOTTLE for water or other beverages. 24 billion gallons of bottled water are consumed annually and 65% of the bottles end up in landfills. It takes 1.5 million barrels of crude oil to produce these bottles. It’s much better to buy a reusable bottle and fill that with water. If you don’t like the taste or quality of tap water, consider buying an inexpensive water purifier or filter.

6. RENT OR BORROW A CD/DVD instead of buying it. About 100,000 CDs and DVDs are thrown out every month. Unless you’re going to watch the movie a million times, you don’t need to own it!

7. TURN OFF APPLIANCES, heating and air conditioning when you’re not using them.

8. UNPLUG COMPUTERS AND OTHER ELECTRONICS when you’re not using them. Computers and electronics use energy even when turned off – 75% of the electricity used to power electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. So be sure to unplug them, too, or plug them into a surge protector and run off the surge protector to really turn them off. A screen saver is not an energy saver. Unplugging reduces the machine’s carbon dioxide emissions by 83%.

9. CHARGERS ARE LOSERS. Video game and cell phone battery chargers are tricky little vampires. They actually use electricity whenever you put them into the wall, even if they’re charging nothing but thin air. Solution? Unplug them. Store them in a dark drawer, not in the wall.

10. REPLACE ALL YOUR BATTERIES WITH RECHARGEABLE ONES. Americans throw away 180,000 tons of batteries each year! Batteries have toxic metals in them like mercury and lead acid. When they’re not discarded properly, they may leak these toxins into the soil or the water system. You can use rechargeable batteries over and over, and they can be recycled when they can no longer be charged.

11. RECYCLE PAPER, BOTTLES, METAL AND PLASTIC whenever you can. Producing products from recycled materials requires much less energy compared to using new materials. Recycled paper uses 60% less energy than virgin paper. Producing one ton of paper from recycled pulp


saves 17 trees, and 390 gallons of oil, and conserves 4,200-kilowatt hours of energy – enough to heat a home for half a year. One tree has the capacity to filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air.

12. Use your consumer power. Buying CLIMATE FRIENDLY GOODS – such as energy-efficient light bulbs or electronics – can encourage manufacturers to go green. As noted above, choose items with less packaging – this also helps save energy.

13. WALK, BICYCLE or take the train or bus. Only ask to be driven if you must. Cars add far more carbon per person to the air than public transport. Taking the bus or carpooling uses less fuel because lots of people are using the same vehicle rather than everybody having their own. Riding your bike or walking uses no fossil fuels are at all!

14. USE RECYCLED PRINTER/COPIER PAPER AND DOUBLE-SIDE whenever possible.

15. USE LESS PAPER. Every year, more than 900 million trees are cut down to make paper items.

USE SPELL-CHECK AND GRAMMAR-CHECK before you print out a draft. Use redline and strike-out functions to edit electronic drafts to avoid printing and marking paper drafts.

DOWNLOAD REFERENCE MATERIALS and save and/or transmit them electronically; print out only the necessary pages.

DON’T MAKE EXTRA COPIES, or more copies than you need; save files and print them when needed.

USE THE BACK OF USED COMPUTER PAPER FOR SCRATCH PAPER and note pads. REUSE BINDERS AND FOLDERS.

16. PACK LUNCH IN REUSABLE PLASTIC CONTAINERS AND REUSABLE BAGS; wash and reuse ceramic/plastic/metal cups, mugs, plates and cutlery to avoid disposable ones.

17. ELIMINATE USE OF STYROFOAM CUPS AND PLATES – they cannot be recycled. Biodegradable alternatives exist for plates, cups, bowls, cutlery, etc., and prices are getting competitive.

18. CONSERVE WATER. Take shorter showers, and always turn off the tap when you’re not using water – for instance, when washing your hands or brushing your teeth. You can turn it back on to rinse. Only 2% of all of the water on Earth is fresh drinkable water. So it is very important that we use as little as possible.

19. CONSERVE HOT WATER. Heating water is one of the major draws on household energy. You can cut energy use by taking showers instead of baths, taking shorter showers, and turning down the temperature of the hot water in the shower.

20. DON’T WASTE FOOD. Water, fertilizer and pesticides are used to grow it, packaging is used to keep it fresh and ship it, and fuel is used to transport it. Most of the food in the grocery store has traveled over 1000 miles to get there. North Americans waste enough food each day to feed thousands of people for a year! If possible, buy food that was locally grown, with the least amount of packaging.

21. BE GREEN AT SCHOOL. Do you recycle at school? Do you always turn off the lights? Think about how much energy would be saved at your school if everyone turned off the lights when they left the room. Think about how much would get recycled if everyone recycled everything that they possibly could! The more we can reduce, reuse, recycle and conserve resources at school the less our environmental impact will be.


22. PLANT AND CARE FOR TREES. Join or create an environmental club. You could do an energy “audit” to explore how your school could save energy and how it might be able to use renewable energy.

23. LET OTHERS KNOW. Share what you’ve learned with others. Tell your family, friends, classmates and teachers about climate change and what they can do to participate in the solution. Write a letter to the school newspaper, or even to your local newspaper.

24. WRITE TO YOUR POLITICAL LEADERS. Petition for cleaner cars, better public transport, or renewable energy.

25. COMPUTE YOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT. Humans need resources to survive, and we call these resources "the L.A.W.S. of nature:" Light (Energy, really), Air, Water and Soil (or Shelter if you prefer...). We also tend to use more than the basic essentials. Everything we use from toothpaste to televisions came from the earth in one form or another. This is not a bad thing as long as we don't take more than the earth can provide. Your ecological footprint is not the same as the one you make with your foot, it is much bigger! An ecological footprint is how much space or land you need to survive. Visit http://www.islandwood.org/kids/impact/footprint.php to compute your footprint.

Cool green websites:

http://www.meetthegreens.org/http://www.scholastic.com/actgreen/http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/http://www.kidsforsavingearth.org/index_high.htmlhttp://www.nrdc.org/greensquad/?gclid=CO6AneHXi5QCFQoFGgodpSFeVwhttp://www.epa.gov/kids/http://www.greengorilla.com/http://www.unahi.org/living-green.htm

http://www.unahi.org/living-green.htm

http://www.greengorilla.com/

http://www.epa.gov/kids/

http://www.nrdc.org/greensquad/?gclid=CO6AneHXi5QCFQoFGgodpSFeVw

http://www.kidsforsavingearth.org/index_high.html

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/

http://www.scholastic.com/actgreen/

http://www.meetthegreens.org/

http://www.islandwood.org/kids/impact/footprint.php

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