Final Reflection
The price of oil has started to decrease. While it will never go back to where it was before the spike, it has become moderately affordable again. So what now? Can we go back to the way it use to be? What are our options?
Reflection
Now that the situation is stabilizing, students should be thinking ahead about how to avert future oil crises. Students should reflect upon personal, community, and governmental changes that need to be made. Use the following questions to help guide their reflection:
• How do we balance our short-term desire for energy’s benefits with the long-term risks and costs of procuring it?
• What long-term changes does the government need to make to start to break our oil dependence?
• What can you do to decrease your carbon footprint? How can you motivate others to do the same?
• Will you resist slipping back into old habits? If so, how?
Taking It Further
Now that you have time to start thinking about the permanent changes to your lifestyle, what about changing where you get your energy? Illianaspeedstr has started trying find oil-free sources of electricity on the World Without Oil Team Blog:
http://community.livejournal.com/worldwithoutoil/16312.html
While he did not have much luck, it appears others are finding alternative sources. To take it further today, research where your energy comes from. Does your electric grid draw from a wind farm? Does your energy company allow you to select a green energy source? Make sure to post your findings on your blog. If you can, add photographs, drawings, or video!
Day 5 - Responsibility
Today we are talking about responsibility. What should the government do? What should we do? After Hurricane Katrina the government - at all levels, but especially at the federal level - was heavily criticized for its slow response to the obvious emergency. Two years later, we experienced a much different response in San Diego County, when the local government with state and federal support executed a series of successful actions during the October 2007 wild fires.
Additionally, what about community and personal responsibility? Do you have a responsibility to be prepared for an emergency?
Reflection
During a crisis, being properly prepared for an emergency can make all the difference. The same can be said for having a strong network of friends and families that can face a difficult situation together. For this lesson, student reflections should focus on the following questions:
- How prepared were you for an oil crisis? Your family? How prepared was your immediate community?
- Who do you have to turn to? How have those people responded?
- What has your community done to in order to limit suffering and other long-term problems?
Taking it Further
Being prepared appears to have made a big difference for individuals during this crisis. For others, working together in small and large communities is opening a way to collectively cope and move forward. For today’s challenge try one or more of the following ideas:
- Explore your community - take pictures or video of your surroundings, interview your neighbors, and assess your community’s ability to handle an emergency.
- Create your own personal emergency kit - using the FEMA or other local resources, stock an emergency kit at your home. Use photos or video to show what’s in it.
- Try and find your town’s, city’s, or county’s emergency preparedness plan. How readily can you obtain a copy? Read and assess the plan. Do you think your area is being pro-active enough? Why or why not
Day 4 - Elasticity and Food Miles
Reflection (Select One)
A. For this lesson, students should focus their reflections on the greater economic changes happening around them as oil-dependent industries struggle or fold. Use the following questions to help guide their reflection:
- What businesses in your community have closed? Has anyone lost a job?
- What actions are you taking to become self-sustainable? Is it possible or are your prospects in your immediate community limited?
- How are you getting from one place to another?
B. Without proper planning, food shortages pose a significant problem in a World Without Oil. In this reflection the students should consider the following questions:
- How has the oil crisis limited the supply of food in your community?
- What is the long term prognosis for food production in your region? Are you concerned?
- What solutions do you want to implement to counter the problems currently being faced in the oil crisis?
Taking it Further (do one or both!)
1. Over the last 100 years, our food network has experienced delocalization. Most people no longer rely upon their immediate area for most of their food. To take it further today, your challenge is to find that local food.
This WWO mission asks you to find a farmer, visit your local farmer’s market, or pick something from your own garden. Take pictures or video of the whole experience (including cooking and eating it!), and then post it on your blog. Good luck and enjoy that fresh local produce.
2. As the oil shortage creates dramatic economic shifts, people are needing to redefine many of their day-to-day activities. PeakProphet at Notes from the Heartland asks us to look at a life beyond oil.
In this post he challenges you to look at what you do and how much energy it consumes. Then try and find ways to reduce or eliminate that consumption. To take it further today, read PeakProphet’s post and complete his mission. Make sure to post your list to your blog and add any drawings, photographs, or video that might help illustrate your potential life changes.
Take It Further #1
Some of life’s best lessons are learned by listening to the words of those who have experienced events that have shaped our world. To take it further today, find a parent, grandparent, or family friend that remembers the 1973 and/or 1979 oil crises. What exactly do they remember? How did they have to change their lives? Are they surprised that the United States continues to be so dependent on oil? Do they think the lessons of the 1970s have been lost, and if so, why? Share the responses through your blog, a video interview, or a podcast.
Previous Articles
Welcome to World Without Oil - World History
This blog serves as the center for Mr. McDowell's World History students as they transverse a World Without Oil. These lessons are based upon those found on the World Without Oil Web site. WWO is an alternative reality game; the responses on this blog and the linked student blogs are a continuation of that game. None of these events have occurred, yet.
