These "LEAGUE Learning Links” provide ten quick and easy 5-minute mini-lessons to help promote The LEAGUE’s vision and scheduled events in your classroom. You can choose from among these mini-lessons and use as many of them as you would like and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of ones, time, talents, and treasures for the common good) and to promote those philanthropic acts that have been identified as supporting The LEAGUE events. These mini-lessons will also help ensure a deeper understanding of character traits, civic engagement, and promote student leadership. It is recommended that students be encouraged to play as much of a role as possible and appropriate in presenting these lessons to their classmates.

1. Read: Chuck Cameron hunts grizzly bears in Glacier National Park without ever shooting them. Thirty years of the Endangered Species Act - laws protecting certain wild and plant life - have resulted in a doubling the number of grizzlies in greater Yellowstone National Park. Increase populations of grizzlies and seasonal declines in food sources have pushed the grizzlies into new food hunting areas. Typically these new areas include humans. Hunger causes these bears to invade campgrounds, harass hikers, and steal food, with the end result not necessarily the best for either the grizzlies or the people. That is when bear management specialists swing into action. Being the expert shooter that they are, Mark and his fellow bear management specialists shoot at these grizzlies as close to their heads as they can without hitting them in an effort to scare them back into the woods. “My job is to re-instill in the bears their natural fear of people without hurting them,” says Mark, “I have two major jobs, one is to protect these curious creatures from people and the other is to protect curious people from these creatures.”
   
   Discuss: Sometimes nature needs a helping hand. How is what we are planning for our Earth Day event like lending a helping hand? How are we "re-instilling" what is natural?  How can we encourage “curious” classmates to help us?
   
   Backpacker  (Magazine) August 2007
   
   
2. Read: There is no doubt that you want one. And it’s pretty much a guarantee that you’ll get one, someday. We are talking about a car. Did you know that when a car is assembled the process uses nearly 3,963 gallons of water? That is more than 100 times the weight of the car! Did you know that a car is made mostly of steel? Producing steel emits more carbon monoxide and hazardous waste than any other industrial process. Did you know that when a car's body is painted, it is dipped into baths of detergent, zinc phosphate and chromic acid? And that it is then submerged in a chemical that pollutes the air, just to prepare it for painting? The car is then painted by spraying it six times with a paint that includes PVC solvent. And did you know that the waste paint from the spraying process cannot be used again. It is taken to a landfill and buried. Did you know that most people use their car for about nine years and during that time the car will use more energy than was needed to make it? And did you know that the exhaust from that car, added to the exhaust from all the other motor vehicles in the world, produces the world's single largest source of the poisonous greenhouse gas known as carbon monoxide? It is estimated that there are approximately 600 million motor vehicles being driven on the streets of the world today, the biggest manufacturer of cars being Japan. At the present rate, it is believed that the number of cars on Earth will double within the next 30 years. But if you’re like most people, you still want a car. So what are some of the things we could do to enjoy the pleasure and convenience of a car and still be sensitive to these and so many other environmental concerns? Environmentalists advocate using it as little as possible; sharing it as much as possible, and keeping it as long as possible.
   
   Discuss: What kind of problems do you think we will encounter when we are approximately the age that our adult family members are now given the rapid growth of the human population and the present pace of vehicular production and usage? What are some ways that you think we might be able to avoid these problems? How might our Earth Day event address some of these or related environmental concerns?
   
   
3. Read: Vandalism. We’ve all seen it; the conspicuous defacement or actual destruction of a structure or environment against the will of its owner and/or governing body. The term Vandal identifies a 5th Century ethnic group who sacked Rome over a period of fourteen days. This group destroyed most of Rome’s historical and cultural artifacts. Vandalism, as we refer to it today, is often considered an expression of contempt. Destruction seen as a "fight against culture and/or archaeological history”. Some consider it to be an attempt to be creative. However, in today’s world it does constitute a crime. Many who study the motivations behind today’s vandalism conclude that most of those who vandalize tend to be young teens. Dr. Jeffery Chase, a licensed clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Radford University, says many times people, especially children and adolescents, will use vandalism to vent. “Vandalism to me is basically anger,” Chase says. “It can be “displacement” which, in the technical sense, means that those who vandalize wish to do something against a more threatening object or individual but choose rather to vent their anger on something safer and less likely to fight back.”
   
   Discuss: Why could vandalism be considered mainly a problem involving young people? Unlike vandalism, how can our Earth Day event be seen as an attempt to preserve our environment? Is it possible to use ones anger for “higher purposes?” If so how, if not why not?
   www.cleanlink.com/cp/article.asp?id=1131
   
   
4. Read:  This Letter to the Editor made its way into a hometown newspaper. It was a commentary by one of its readers speaking out against “smoking bans”.(Smoking bans are relatively new public policies, including laws and certain occupational and safety regulations, that restrict smoking in work and public places). “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the health of others. But this is just getting nuts! I thought this was a free country? Exactly what was the Constitution of the United States of America written for, seeing how lately it seems that everyone’s making up their own rules on how everyone else should live?”
   
   Discuss: Our Earth Day is all about helping make our school, our community, and our world a better place in which to live. Do I have a responsibility to uphold the rights of others? Do others have a responsibility to uphold my rights? In what ways will our participation be a display of our mutual rights and responsibilities to us and each other as referenced in our U.S. Constitution? How much of what we are planning to do during our Earth Day event might be the result of a lack of appreciation for rights and responsibilities of others?
   
   
5. Read: In medical terms, tunnel vision is when someone can see only what is directly ahead and little if anything side to side or top to bottom. Animals are physically much better at seeing around them than humans are and probably for very good reason. For them, it could be a matter of life and death. The term tunnel vision also has another meaning in the human world. When someone is unwilling to listen to another person’s point of view, convinced by his or her own convictions or understandings, it is said that person “suffers from tunnel vision.” They can “see” only what they want to see. In this respect it’s a lot like looking at the sky through a straw and being convinced you’ve seen the entire sky. Or convinced that is all that you want or need to see. Many scientists are concerned that the world is experiencing tunnel vision when it comes to issues of global warming. “The Big Thaw” already occurring in the Siberian permafrost is moving five times faster than predicted. And the summer Arctic sea ice has already shrunk by 20 percent. Add to this the climate changes that have resulted in unprecedented droughts and floods, earthquakes and hurricanes. It is estimated at the present rate by the time our own children graduate from elementary school the Glacier Parks will be all gone. How can this be avoided or at least slowed down? Environmental scientists are convinced that it is our quest for materialism and the glorification of growth that fuels climate change. According to his most recent book Deep Economy, Bill McKibben, an environmental writer, proclaims our need to reclaim the small scale family-oriented lifestyles. We need to avoid when and where possible falling into the materialism or consumption trap. We need to claim and act out our stewardship responsibilities for the Earth. Not only for ourselves but also for the sake of the generations to follow.
   
   Discuss: Despite what side of the issue you might be on concerning global warming, “what if it were true”? What if the climate that has sustained life on this planet for thousands of years is changing? How is our Earth Day event an attempt to see the big picture? When it comes to our environment, do our parents have a responsibility to us? Do we have a responsibility to the next generation? If so why, if not why not? How might our Earth Day event be seen as a way of avoiding the materialism/consumption trap? Be seen as a way of reclaiming our stewardship responsibilities to our Earth?
   
   
6. Read: Just a few years ago before the close of school for the summer, it was announced that Someplace Middle and High School would be closing and not reopening in the fall. Declining enrollments and budget cuts forced the school’s closing. It was decided that those who had attended there would now be required to attend Consolidated Middle and High School, in a neighboring school district. Parents from both schools were angered by the decision. Someplace’s parents did not want their children to leave and Consolidated parents did not wanting those children to come. The students seemed okay with it though. Many of them worked together in local stores and businesses during the summer months. Others played recreational sports on the same team or hung out at Walden Lake or Barney’s Malt Shop. Many of them had been friends for quite some time. The kids from the two schools talked.
   
   As the new school year approached a few of the students from both schools decided to get together and decide what to do to make the transition a bit easier, especially for their parents. They decided to seek the support of a local gardener to purchase three trees. Two maple trees and an oak. Once accomplished they planted these young trees in a cluster at the entrance of Consolidated’s football field, Under the oak tree which stood between the two maples, the students placed a hand painted sign that read: We have come together to share our strength, our beauty, and our comfort. Like these trees we will live together hand in hand. Today these trees have grown. The proud oak tree stands between the two maples and their branches have reached out to each other as if to show their strength and unity to all who entered there…. and the once hand painted sign, while it still bears the same message, now does so in polished bronze.
   
   Discuss: These students used nature as a way to bring people together. How might our Earth Day event do the same? Sometimes it takes young people to show the way to older folks. How might what we are planning to do impact our teachers, our family members, and our community?
   
   
7. Read: An environmentalist is anyone who cares about the natural environment and is doing something about it. Environmentalists are often laughed at and referred to as tree huggers, flower children, granolas, earth muffins, liberals, nature lovers and hippies. All an environmentalist wants is for everyone to use the Earth’s water, air, and other natural resources, like trees and oil, minerals and plants, animals and forests, without wasting or polluting them. Most everyone is an environmentalist.  None of us want to breathe polluted air or drink polluted water. The difference between someone who cares about what they take into their body and someone who cares and does what he or she can to make the environment more healthy and sustainable is the distinction that upsets some people. Most people would rather just care and do nothing. It’s easier. Environmentalists know that to care about our natural environment is very important, but so is doing something about keeping it from being wasted or polluted.  They stand ready to pitch in and help in any way that they can even though it doesn’t always make them popular.
   
   Discuss: How does our Earth Day event show that we care about our environment? What is it that we need to do to show that we care? How does our participation in our Earth Day event make us environmentalists? Doing may not make us popular with everyone? How can we prepare ourselves to deal with that?
   
   
8. Read: Four high school boys pitched their tents on a sand dune along a remote section of Lake Michigan. They were anticipating a fun-filled 4th of July weekend which was to include lots of swimming, exploring and shooting off fireworks. The boys had stocked up with all sorts of pyrotechnic items. They had purchased these items from a seasonal vendor whose business was set up outside a grocery store in their home town. Little did they know then that their weekend would change their lives forever!  All week long the local newspaper had warned its readers of the dry conditions that existed in the area. Everyone was encouraged to take all precautions with camp fires and such. On the 5th of July, the local newspaper carried the sad story of a fire that had broken out along the shores of a remote section of Lake Michigan. While a preliminary investigation revealed that some campers must have also been caught in the fire it was later discovered that these campers must have survived the blaze. The blaze that claimed a number of home in the area. A few days later, filled with remorse and fear, these four boys came forward. They admitted that they started the fire. They had become frightened when they were unable to put out the blaze started by their fireworks, and fled the scene without telling anyone. “We really goofed up,” one of the boys confessed. “We got scared and ran. We felt so cool about being out there on our own. We just were not acting responsibly enough…. we are so sorry.”
   
   Discuss: Each year the Bureau of Land Management reports that millions of acres of natural forest are destroyed by fire most of which is caused by humans. The results of such massive devastation are incalculable in terms of financial loss not to mention loss of wildlife and other equally important building and medicinal products. Earth Day is a day set aside to commemorate the incalculable benefits that our Earth provides. How is our Earth Day event a commemoration of the incalculable benefits that our Earth provides? How is what we have planned for our Earth Day event one way to show that we are acting responsibly toward our environment? How can we encourage others to heed the warning and not “goof up” when it comes to our environment?
   
   
9. Read: The Adopt-a-Road Program is typically sponsored by county agencies. It solicits private citizens to assist with litter removal along designated routes. Besides presenting a poor appearance, litter and trash can cause traffic hazards. It can also negatively affect drainage and wildlife. The Adopt-a-Road Program encourages private citizens to show their community-pride by making a positive statement for a clean, attractive community. It also helps the county reduce costs by designating certain times of the year when roadside trash can be collected and placed in specially identified bags. These bags will then be picked up by the county for proper disposal. The following is a comment made by one Adopt-a-Road volunteer, “Besides the typical cigarette butts and packages, beer and pop bottles, fast food containers, and the occasional note from the teacher or someone’s homework assignment, can you guess what I find the most of? If you guessed water bottles, you are correct! Water bottles! Now I ask you, why would someone spend a dollar or two to purchase bottled water in the first place if it were not for the fact that they were concerned about drinking water coming from the ground or a tap? And why would they be leery of drinking water from a tap or well? I can only guess it’s because they fear that the water from these ground sources might be polluted. Does the fact that they toss their water bottles on the very ground they refuse to drink water from, because they think it’s polluted, make any sense to you?”
   
   Discuss: How does tossing trash out of a car window create pollution? How would you respond to this Adopt-a-Road volunteer’s question about water bottles? How can we show and encourage our peers that everyone needs to respect and take responsibility for the condition of our Earth? How is our planned Earth Day event an attempt to accomplish this?
   
   
10. Read: Erika Ceballos and Joanna Chang helped coordinate Vancouver's International Day of Action for the Canadian Seals. It was a protest that took the form of a "Funeral Procession for the Seals". Protesters dressed in black and acted somberly for the procession and carried several seal-sized coffins. They talked to passers-by about the inhumane killing of seals. They chanted into bull horns drawing a lot of attention from both the public and the media.
    
    This year, by late March, the Canadian seal killers armed with clubs and rifles will go again to the nursery floes of the harp and hood seal. They will massacre these seals on what is referred to as the largest mass slaughter of marine mammals on this planet! Over three million baby and adult seals have been killed in this way over the past three years. While regulations and quotas exist, they are often exceeded. In Newfoundland last year, The Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans exceeded their quota by 32,000 animals and their estimate of a "sustainable" hunt by more than 50,000. Hunters, armed with clubs and other illegal weapons, beat to death the baby seals in front their mothers, who often die trying to save their pups. Male adults too are often injured or killed. Veterinarians who have performed post-mortem examinations among some carcasses chosen randomly reveal that almost 50% of those seals where skinned alive.
    
    Through their efforts, Erika and Joanna were able to distribute flyers of information to hundreds of people who passed by. Many were interested and expressed support of the protest. A write-in protest campaign was underway hoping to encourage political leaders to put a stop to this extremely cruel slaughter of innocent seals in Canada.
    
    Discuss: Protests are one way to seek the common good. Alerting the public to inequalities and inequities so as to work together to make positive changes is what a protest is all about. Are you aware of other types of “protests”? In what ways is a written petition for change a positive way to work for the common good? As we look to our Earth Day event, what might be some of our concerns that we could share with our local, state, and national leaders? In what ways might a “letter of concern” be a way of participating in environmental issues?