Film+Annotation+11

Allison Mrugal 11/26/15 Film Annotation 11: Sust. Ed., 4280-01 Prof. Fortun
 * Pipe Dreams **

Prompt: View [|Pipe Dreams](40 minutes) about the proposed extension of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Describe the film, then briefly describe two ideas for curriculum that could be delivered to high school kids living in areas near existing or proposed pipeline to prepare them for dealing with related issues throughout their lives. Also describe how you think students throughout the United States should be taught about issues of this type. Is it only important to teach such issues in regions directly impacted?

Response: As the United States continues to rely on crude oil, the Keystone XL pipeline offers oil imports to the United States from Canada. The project introduces numerous problems. Because the (now approved) pipeline sits on the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest in the United States, potential leaks from it could damage the water supply for millions of Americans. Leaks are not uncommon to Trans-Canada pipelines and occur extremely frequently. Although Trans-Canada representatives ensure that the Keystone XL pipeline will be a spill-proof operation, if spills ever were to occur, the company claims that oil clean-up in the region would return the land in better condition that it was before the pipeline. Despite these claims, Trans-Canada spill detection systems fail and leave thousands of gallons of spilled oil to be detected by citizens who are sparsely located across the midwest. While the EPA (not Trans-Canada) is burdened by endless oil clean-up, the implementation of the Keystone XL pipeline further destroys democratic interests in the United States. Anyone residing in property desired by Trans-Canada for the Keystone XL pipeline must succumb to eminent domain a forfeit their land. While the Obama administration issued a permit saying that the Keystone pipeline is in our national interest, clean energy remains a more sustainable solution economically and environmentally. In order for the United States to see the enormous potential in clean energy, the Obama administration must provide the proper incentive to the private sector.

In order to educate American children to press the Obama and future administrations for sizable policy change, current educational curricula in areas affected by existing and proposed pipelines should instill in kids the capacity to understand complex issues and act proactively on them. Children located near the Keystone Pipeline should be able to understand not only the basic information associated with its construction (the who, what, where, when, why), but also the maintenance required for the system and the impact that it has on the environment. A potential curriculum for these students would:
 * Gage student knowledge of the five W’s associated with the construction of the Keystone Pipeline by informally asking the students questions
 * Ask students to draw pictures of ways that the pipeline affects them (including their health, environment, and society)
 * Personify corporate and governmental actions using role play to understand how decisions are made.
 * Perform research projects based on areas of intervention that interest them
 * Leave students with written information about what they can do to help themselves, their neighbors, and country.

Another potential curriculum to educate high school students affected by the Keystone Pipeline would ask them to build a pipeline in a fictional town (or country) that they have already physically modeled together in the classroom. This would ask students to draw on internal and external resources and communities. They will understand how its construction involves large scale tradeoffs and must collaborate to create sustainable and regenerative solutions.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Students are often vaguely informed of the social and environmental decisions made around them that affect them. As a result, educators are responsible for introducing the complexity of these issues to students often for the first time. They should embody positive energy and interactive activities that are memorable and ask students to relate to the issues personally. Educators should allow students to work together to promote peer education, which, for example, simulates real world interaction when managing complex environmental issues. Interaction of this type would also promote the building community relationships and cooperation, which is needed amongst neighbors in regions directly impacted.