YOUR NAME:

LESSON:
SOURCE:

TIME AND DAY TAUGHT:

Number of students:
Materials required:
I.

Sean Urban
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & POLICY
Washington Law Help, Earth Justice, National
Geographic, Wall Street Journal, Opposing Views, New
York Times, Civil Conversation Reading Guide
____, _____ (50 min)
Lesson designed for class of 30 students
Articles, Handouts

GOALS: Studying Environmental Law & Policy helps students:

A.
Understand the importance of conservation.
B.
Learn about the different policy and legal issues related to pollution and
climate change.
II.
OBJECTIVES:
A.
Knowledge Objectives - As a result of this class, students will be better
able to:
1.
explain the National Environmental Policy Act.
2.
explain the Endangered Species Act
3.
understand the basic federal and state pollution laws
4.
identify the main arguments surrounding the debate about climate
change
5.
understand the roles of legislative advocacy and interest groups
B.
Behavioral/Skills Objectives - As a result of this class, students will be
better able to:
1.
interpret scientific data in a news report.
2.
read, summarize and analyze an argument.
3.
orally advocate an opinion or point of view.
C.
Attitude Objectives - Students will be better able to feel:
1.
that the law is positive and protective.
2.
that environmental issues are important in the law.
3.
that the law is created and developed through advocacy and civil
debate.
III.
CLASSROOM METHODS
A.
Introduction: Ask the class to come up with examples of environmental
disasters in their lifetime. Show a video of the Oso mudslide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weT_us6Qtro
B.
Ask students: What could have been done to prevent the tragedy? Answers
could include: forest management, stronger houses, drainage pathways.
Be creative.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA was passed in 1970 in order

to implement environmental policies that govern the use of our natural
resources. Whenever a government agency wants to start a project, they
must weigh the environmental benefits and losses. If there is a possible
controversy, they will have to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
before proceeding with the project. The EIS must include scientific data
and facts. There also must be an opportunity for public comment.
Endangered Species Act. Passed in 1973 in order to prevent extinctions
and revive threated species. Species may be listed as endangered,
threatened, or candidate.
Clean Water Act. Passed in 1972 in order to protect the streams, lakes,
rivers, and oceans.
Forbids pollution without a permit from the
Environmental Protection Agency.
Clean Air Act. Passed in 1963, it gave the EPA the power to regulate air
pollutants from cars and industrial sources. One of its main goals was to
protect the ozone layer and limit acid rain.
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
Passed in 1976. Gives the National Marine Fisheries Service the power to
regulate the fishing industry. Named after Senators from Washington and
Alaska.
Climate Change. One of the most discussed environmental issues of
today is climate change. Also known as global warming, climate change
refers to the long term changes in temperature brought about by
greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. The environmental effects of
climate change are spread out across many nations, making it a global
challenge for future generations.
Congressional Hearing Activity: Explain to students that they will be
representing different advocacy or interest groups in a hearing before the
U.S. Congress. Congress has convened a hearing to explore potential
policy and legislative reforms to protect the environment. The question
before Congress is: What can Congress do to protect the environment?
1. Divide students into five different groups.
2. Each group will be assigned to one of the articles.
3. Students should individually read through the article and fill out
the questions on the worksheet.
4. After reading through the article, students should engage in a
Civil
Conversation
to
discuss
the
articles
main
points,
agreements/disagreements with author, and critical/clarifying questions.
5. After discussing the article as a group, choose 1 or 2 students to
prepare a brief 1-2 minute Congressional testimony, which persuasively

J.

IV.

argues the perspective of the author/interest group. Encourage students

to really get into their role.
6. Presenters from each group will take turns. Other students who
are not presenting will be legislators. The legislators should take notes of
the arguments presented and think of questions to ask the presenters.
Debrief:
1. Take a poll of the students to find out which viewpoint they
found most persuasive.
2. Ask students: Which argument did you agree with most? And
why? What did you find persuasive (the evidence, reasoning,
presentation)?

EVALUATION
A. Evaluate students answers on worksheets, quality of presentations, and class
answers/questions in debriefing the activity.

Congressional Hearing Activity Worksheet

Article Title: __________________________________________________
Read through the entire selection. Pay attention to your first impression as to what the
reading is about. Look for the main points, and then go back and re-read it. Briefly
answer the following questions.
1) This article is about: ________________________________________________________________
2) The main points are:
a. ___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________________
3) In the article, I agree with:
______________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________
4) I disagree with:
______________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________
5) What scientific evidence is presented?
_________________________________________________________________
6) Do you think this issue requires Congressional action? Why or why not?
______________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________
Rules for Civil Conversation
1) Read text as if it were written by someone you really respect.
2) Everyone in the conversation group should participate in the conversation.
3) Listen carefully to what others are saying.
4) Ask clarifying questions if you do not understand a point.
5) Be respectful of what others are saying.
What did you learn from the civil conversation?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
What common ground did you find with other members of the group?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
After listening to the arguments of the other groups,

With whom do you most agree?

______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Who made the best argument?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

NAVY TRAINING BLASTS MARINE MAMMALS WITH HARMFUL SONAR

Wildlife protection agency challenged for not doing its job
January 26, 2012
San Francisco, CA A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups today sued the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins,
porpoises, seals, and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of
California, Oregon, and Washington.
Earthjustice today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California
challenging NMFSs approval of the Navys training activities in its Northwest Training Range
Complex. The lawsuit calls on NMFS to mitigate anticipated harm to marine mammals and
biologically critical areas within the training range that stretches from Northern California to the
Canadian border.
These training exercises will harm dozens of protected species of marine mammalsSouthern
Resident killer whales, blue whales, humpback whales, dolphins, and porpoisesthrough the use
of high-intensity mid-frequency sonar, said Steve Mashuda.
The Navy uses a vast area of the West Coast for training activities including anti-submarine
warfare exercises involving tracking aircraft and sonar; surface-to-air gunnery and missile
exercises; air-to-surface bombing exercises; sink exercises; and extensive testing for several new
weapons systems.
In late 2010, NMFS gave the Navy a permit for five years of expanded naval activity that will
harm or take marine mammals and other sealife. The permit allows the Navy to conduct
increased training exercises that can harm marine mammals and disrupt their migration, nursing,
breeding, or feeding, primarily as a result of harassment through exposure to the use of sonar.
The Navys mid-frequency sonar has been implicated in mass strandings of marine mammals. In
2004, during war games near Hawaii, the Navys sonar was implicated in a mass beaching of up
to 200 melon-headed whales in Hanalei Bay. In 2003, the USS Shoup, operating in
Washingtons Haro Strait, exposed a group of endangered Southern Resident killer whales to
mid-frequency sonar, causing the animals to stop feeding and attempt to flee the sound.
The Navys mitigation plan for sonar use relies primarily on visual detection of whales or other
marine mammals by so-called watch-standers with binoculars on the decks of ships. If
mammals are seen in the vicinity of an exercise, the Navy is to cease sonar use.
The litigation is not intended to halt the Navys exercises, but asks the Court to require NMFS to
reassess the permits using the latest science and to order the Navy to stay out of biologically
critical areas at least at certain times of the year.
From Earth Justice

U.S. Climate Has Already Changed, Study Finds, Citing Heat and Floods
By JUSTIN GILLIS
MAY 6, 2014
The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States,
scientists reported Tuesday, with water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing
in wet regions, heat waves becoming more common and more severe, wildfires growing worse,
and forests dying under assault from heat-loving insects.
Such sweeping changes have been caused by an average warming of less than 2 degrees
Fahrenheit over most land areas of the country in the past century, the scientists found. If
greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane continue to escalate at a rapid pace, they said,
the warming could conceivably exceed 10 degrees by the end of this century.
Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the
present, the scientists declared in a major new report assessing the situation in the United States.
The report is the latest in a series of dire warnings about how the effects of global warming that
had been long foreseen by climate scientists are already affecting the planet. Its region-by-region
documentation of changes occurring in the United States, and of future risks, makes clear that
few places will be unscathed and some, like northerly areas, are feeling the effects at a swifter
pace than had been expected.
Alaska in particular is hard hit. Glaciers and frozen ground in that state are melting, storms are
eating away at fragile coastlines no longer protected by winter sea ice, and entire communities
are having to flee inland a precursor of the large-scale changes the report foresees for the rest
of the United States.
The report was supervised and approved by a large committee representing a cross section of
American society, including representatives of two oil companies.
One of the reports most striking findings concerned the rising frequency of torrential rains.
Scientists have expected this effect for decades because more water is evaporating from a
warming ocean surface, and the warmer atmosphere is able to hold the excess vapor, which then
falls as rain or snow.
The report pointed out that while the country as a whole still had no comprehensive climate
legislation, many states and cities had begun to take steps to limit emissions and to adapt to
climatic changes that can no longer be avoided. But the report found that these efforts were
inadequate.
There is mounting evidence that harm to the nation will increase substantially in the future
unless global emissions of heat-trapping gases are greatly reduced, the report warned.
From the New York Times

As Scientists Examine Landslide, Questions About Logging's Potential Role

By Warren Cornwall
APRIL 1, 2014
Scientists hoping to better understand what triggered the tragic landslide in western
Washington are eyeing two prime suspects: rising groundwater that weakened slideprone soils, perhaps exacerbated by logging; and the Stillaguamish River, which
persistently chewed away at the bottom of the hillside.
The March 22 landslide wiped out an entire neighborhood near the small town of Oso,
leaving at least 27 dead and another 22 missing. But answers to what caused the hillside
to come thundering down that Saturday morning remain elusive.
Even as the search for victims continues, researchers are preparing to descend on the
mountain to conduct a post mortem of the slide. They want to figure out what set the
giant slide loose, to see if anything can be done to prevent such disasters in the future,
and to learn if human activities played a part in triggering it.
"We have a full-scale laboratory experimentof course, a very tragic oneand we can
learn a lot," said Joseph Wartman, a civil engineer at the University of Washington in
Seattle.
The geology in the Stillaguamish River Valley is a recipe for landslides. Loose sand and
gravel, deposited by rivers draining glaciers during the last ice age, sit on a clay layer
that stubbornly resists soaking up water. An unusually rainy month can create more
water pressure in the ground as water pools above the clay. That can weaken the forces
holding together a steep slope, leaving it vulnerable to collapse.
Add to that a river that has historically eroded the edge of the hillside as it cuts its way
downstream. That can also eventually set off a landslide, like pulling out one too many
blocks in a game of Jenga.
Some are also asking if logging could have helped deliver a final nudge. The plateau
above the slope has been logged repeatedly over the last century, and the hillside slid
numerous times on a smaller scale.
A 1988 geomorphologist's report noted an apparent pattern of logging followed within
years by landslides. The slope slidshortly after it was logged in 2005.
Trees act like sponges, catching rain before it hits the ground or soaking it up from the
soil. Clear-cut logging could result in as much as a 51 percent increase in the amount of
water seeping into the ground, according to the model.
"The question is, 'What was the trigger? What was the threshold that was exceeded?'"
Wartman said. "Whether we will be able to know that, I'm not sure."
From National Geographic

Iowa Hunter Shoots Rare Grey Wolf, Mistaking it for Coyote

By Allison Geller,
Tue, May 13, 2014
An Iowa hunter shot a rare gray wolf, seen in the state for the first time since 1925,
thinking it was a similar-looking coyote.
DNA testing has just confirmed the animals species. The unnamed hunter shot the
female wolf in February in Iowas Buchanan County. While wolf-hunting is illegal in the
state, it is perfectly legal to shoot coyotes.
Examining his kill, the hunter realized he may have made a mistake and brought the
carcass to the states DNR office in Manchester. There biologists took DNA samples.
I was surprised, but not that surprised, DNR furbearer specialist Vince Evelsizer told
the Gazette, Large animals can cover great distances, and state lines mean nothing to
them.
Wisconsin and Minnesota both have sizeable wolf populations. DNA from the wolf that
was shot, a healthy female weighing in at about 70 pounds, was similar to the species
found there.
Wolves were protected under the Endangered Species Act in all of the continental
United States from 1974 until 2009, when the gray wolf was removed from the list. But
as a designated furbearer, it still has protected status in Iowa.
The appearance of the wolf in Iowa confirms that once-endangered big predators have
re-entered Iowa, including the black bear and mountain lion.
Wolf sightings in Iowa are extremely rare. The last valid record is from Butler County in
the winter of 1884-1885. The timber wolf that was shot in 1925 may have escaped from
captivity.
DNR Conservation Officer Scott Kinseth said that the hunter would not be written up, as
he had made a genuine mistake and had cooperated with the DNR.
He did have a message for other hunters going forward.
They are protected animals. We know they are here. Make sure of your target. If in
doubt, don't shoot.
From Opposing Views

Scientists Warn of Melting Ice Sheet, Rising Sea Level

By ROBERT LEE HOTZ
May 12, 2014 7:34 p.m. ET
Six rapidly melting glaciers in Antarctica are destabilizing one of the world's largest ice sheets, a
process which, if unchecked, could release enough water to raise sea levels world-wide
significantly in centuries to come, two groups of scientists said Monday.
On the basis of decades of satellite measurements and aircraft observations, researchers at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University
of California at Irvine calculated that the glaciers' retreat may have already "reached the point of
no return."
An ice sheet is part of a vast, continent-size ice capoften miles thickthat is drained by
flowing glaciers the way a lake is drained by streams.
By themselves, the Antarctic coastal glaciers already contribute as much to sea-level rise every
year as, for example, the melting Greenland ice sheet in the Arctic. All told, melt water from the
Antarctic glaciers could raise sea level by four feet, the researchers said at a news conference
held by NASA. Their findings have been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research
Letters.
The researchers said that the rapid melting was caused by broad patterns of climate change,
including rising regional temperatures, warming ocean currents, and changing wind patterns.
In recent years, overall global surface temperatures haven't risen as quickly as in the past, even as
emissions of so-called greenhouse gases have continued to grow, leading some skeptics to
suggest that global warming has already peaked.
In all, Antarctica holds about 60% of the planet's fresh water, locked into the millions of cubic
miles of polar ice. Polar-ice experts worry about how the changes in these glaciers will affect the
stability of the continent's vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which contains enough fresh water in
its ice to increase sea levels around the world by 10 feet or so.
Until now, polar experts were confident that the coastal glaciers, which were anchored to the sea
floor, held the ice sheet in place. As the glaciers have been undercut in recent years by warming
ocean water, they have floated free of the sea bottom and melted more rapidly.
In an independent computer study released Monday, researchers at the University of Washington
concluded that the coastal melting may have already set in motion the slow collapse of the West
Antarctic ice sheet.
By their calculations, to be published this week in Science, it could take from 200 to 900 years
for the entire ice sheet to melt, they said.
From the Wall Street Journal