Chemistry Teacher Teaches Students To Go Green: Shares Background
Posted by carrie_roll
Cordell Bowman, a chemistry teacher here in the United States, emailed us at GreenJoyment to talk about his own experiences of going green. We asked him if he would write his story about becoming interested in going green, and what it means to him to teach his chemistry students how to go green.
So, this is his story, and what he does to share green ideas and concepts with the people whom he teaches every day.
Many folks from my generation, like myself, grew up “green” on the farm. In those days, being “green” meant you did not know much. In my early years on the farm we farmed with horses, milked cows by hand. The only electricity we had was a kerosene generator in our basement that we used sparingly. Our house was heated by the wood we cut and stored for winter. It was wartime and everybody saved everything including gum wrappers (aluminum). All soda bottles (that rare treat with dad at the country store) were recycled, 2 cents each. The soda cost 3 cents so returning the bottles meant “free” soda!
Many people walked everywhere. My dad was a school teacher and worked seven miles from home so we had a vehicle. But if someone was walking along the road we picked them up even if it was the skunkskinner (whew!! the car was a bit smelly for some days). That was how people cared for each other.
My mother canned everything. Our basement was full of canned garden and orchard produce, canned wild blackberries.
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“If someone was walking along the road we picked them up, even if it was the skunkskinner (whew!! the car was a bit smelly for some days). That was how people cared for each other." |
We harvested huge quantities of wild black walnuts, hazelnuts, chinkapins . All the neighbors knew the same places so we would try to be there first, also ahead of the squirrels, but if the neighbors got there first, it was their patch or tree for the day.
The feed company sold dairy feed in printed sacking that could be made into shirts and dresses for growing boys and girls. Our mom was good at that too. The cups in the sacks for dipping feed could serve as cups for drinking when the sack was empty.
We rarely wore shoes in summer and even in school when it was warm we went barefoot. That would not work in chemistry classes today.
When I joined the Peace Corps after college I learned a lot about how other people reduce waste. I am sure Jonathan and Carrie know all about that.
I taught school in a town in Ecuador whose main industry was leatherworking. The school was a Technical high school which meant the students learned how to make things out of wood or metal, or how to cook and sew. The local artisans knew how to get the most out of a piece of leather by using off cuts from a suitcase to make a purse or wallet. Indigeneous Indians who lived in a small village adjacent collected all the dung in the streets to fertilize their garden plots. Lots of lessons to be learned about conserving.
I believe teachers can be a real influence in teaching green. I also believe, whenever we can we should teach by example. When I taught further away I rode my bike or took the bus to school or a combination of the two. Now I live close enough I can walk (about a mile). I do organic gardening and I bring fruit to school to share with my students. Students can see that it is possible to walk to school and to grow things at home. When I taught biology, we grew plants from seed that the students took home to plant for their own vegetables. One of my colleagues at another school teaching biology actually has a produce market done by the students on campus with things they grow right at the school.
As a chemistry teacher it is easy to relate chemistry to environmental concerns. I have shown Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” to every class I have taught since it came out. I believe this film can be a real eyeopener for students to the potential dangers of fossil fuel extravagance. We always have a discussion after the movie which gives a chance for students to challenge Gore’s assumptions and conclusions. I believe it is important for each of us to find how best we can respond to the energy challenges we face.
So much of the air, water, and land pollution is related to chemistry that environmental and green concerns are unavoidable. Textbooks are becoming much more focused on environmental challenges so it is a matter of helping students actually focus on these challenges. There are also available from science suppliers model solar powered cars (can be assembled by students -more for physics). Also available are model cars that use sunlight to do electrolysis of water. The hydrogen and oxygen are then used in a fuel cell to power the vehicle. So the model car can run on both solar power directly or on stored solar power to be used in the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell.
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"In physics class, students also build bridges made totally from organic materials: Wood (no plywood), string, cardboard. No glue, no plastic, no metal. I got this idea from my cousin who built bridges in Central America during the war totally out of wood." |
In physics class students also build bridges made totally from organic materials: Wood (no plywood), string, cardboard. No glue, no plastic, no metal. I got this idea from my cousin who built bridges in Central America during the war totally out of wood. I also use my background when explaining to students how scarce metal was in the wartime. The government even stopped making steel pennies and made pennies out of cardboard. They were called tokens but they were really used as pennies.
In my classroom we recycle everything possible. The students (school wide) actually have a system wherein at the end of the day student volunteers pick up all recyclables in containers provided for each classroom. I have not found a way to avoid throw-away plastic gloves (very much needed for safely handling chemicals) so if anyone has an answer I would be grateful. We have high windows at the back of the room so many days we need no artificial light for class.
Students can form environmental clubs in which they can discuss ways of making their own lives more green as well as helping the school become a greener place.
We make ice cream as a project in chemistry. Some of the students really love it and planned on making it lots in summer at home. We also make flubber which is great fun (and very inexpensive with ingredients from the grocery) and can be refrigerated for play later.
I think it is important for teachers to make our students aware of global environmental and energy challenges. These students will be helping make political decisions as young adults, some of them even before they graduate from high school. They are also forming consumption habits which can influence all of their future lives.
Thanks Cordell, for being so willing to chare your knowledge and experience! This has inspired a whole new project for the GreenJoyment community. We are looking for the best “green” stories – your stories – of what you have done in your life to go green, perhaps stories of what it was like to grow up green, and/or what you are doing to make a difference in your community. If you have a “green story” you would like to share, click the button below!
Maybe your story will be featured here on GreenJoyment!
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2 Responses to “Chemistry Teacher Teaches Students To Go Green: Shares Background”
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M.A.I.Prasad says:
If each and every one of humans think this way no any environoment crysis on this earth
I would love to see some information on switching to solar electricity when you don’t hve a lot of money…anything to tell me how to make a switch without investing a lot of money (I don’t have).
Like maybe using trickle solar chargers for my laptop or anything similar.
Thanks, and I love GreenJoyment!