Teacher's Guide

Episode 1: "RIVERS OF DESTINY"

Overview

"Rivers Of Destiny" focuses on four rivers — the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Jordan and the Mekong.  Each locale serves as an example of what can happen when human beings tamper with the natural system of a river.  Without thoughtful planning, the consequences can be disastrous.  But if communities work together, a balance can be achieved between the needs of people and the needs of the river.  The people who live in the Mississippi River community of Grafton, Illinois were forced to endure the uncertainties of annual flooding until the government built levees to control the problem.  But the construction of levees left the people with even more serious environmental problems.  Over fishing and deforestation are having dramatic impacts on the Amazon River.  Can a balance be found that preserves this river basin which is so critical to Brazil's inhabitants?  The Jordan River sustains a narrow ribbon of life through a dry and barren desert.  Access to its waters is essential for survival but the river is heavily guarded.  Southeast Asia's Mekong River is at the heart of economic growth in the region.  How can the nations that depend on the Mekong for their new-found prosperity exploit the river without doing permanent damage?  The flow of sediment into the Mississippi River delta has been altered by upstream development and flood control.  As a result, large areas of wetland are disappearing and the shrimping industry is in decline.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Explain the importance of rivers in the natural balance of life on Earth.
2. Identify what happens when people tamper with a river's natural system.
3. Offer suggestions for dealing with the outcomes of human intervention.

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Pre-Viewing Activities

Introduce the following key terms to students:

• Aquatic feeding ground — an area from which water-life obtains food.
• Deforestation — the chopping down of trees from a specific area.
• Delta — a fan-shaped outgrowth of sediment at the mouth of a river.
• Flood plain — a strip of relatively flat land bordering a stream, river or lake that conveys the overflow of floodwaters.
• Levee — an embankment built alongside a river to prevent high water from flooding surrounding land.
• Rain forest — a woodland with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches and marked by broad-leaved evergreen trees forming a continuous canopy.
• Runoff — that part of precipitation that cannot immediately be absorbed into the surrounding earth.
• Water pollution — the presence or addition of any contaminating substance in water that restricts the use of the water.

To familiarize students with the locations featured in the program, use a wall map, desk map or atlas and have students locate:

• Mississippi River
• Grafton, Illinois
• New Orleans
• Amazon River
• Andes mountain range
• Jordan River
• Jerusalem, Israel
• Mekong River

After the students have found each of the locations, begin a discussion to discover what they already know about these regions, rivers or mountains.  Have the discussion center on environmental problems that they may be familiar with, such as the destruction of the Amazon rain forest.

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Post-Viewing Discussion

Mississippi River  

1. If the actual amount of rainfall along the Mississippi River hasn't really changed over the past 90 years, what caused the flooding in Grafton?  (Answer: Deforestation and the addition of concrete and asphalt to the wetlands accelerated runoff and flooding.)
2. What are some of the results of the flooding?  (Answers will vary.)
3. Have students discuss any flooding problems that have occurred locally or in nearby areas.  Ask them: "How has this flooding resulted in changes in the way of life for the community?"  "What efforts are being made to deal with this problem?"

Amazon River  

1. What mountain range is the major source of water for the Amazon River?  (Answer: the Andes)
2. How much of the world's fresh-flowing water is discharged by the Amazon River?  (Answer: one sixth)
3. What causes the Amazon River to invade the flood plain each year?  (Answer: dense tropical rains during the rainy season.)
4. What are some of the consequences of this flooding?  (Answers: An underwater forest is created which serves as an aquatic feeding ground to over 3,000 species of fish.  The flooding also renews the fertile soil of the flood plain.) 
5. What do you think the results will be on the fish if people continue to destroy the rain forest?  (Answer: fewer and smaller fish)
6. What effect do you think the destruction of the rain forest will have on you?  And, why would it be in your best interests to protect the rain forest?  (Answers: Plants used for producing medicines would be lost along with animal species.  Destruction of the rain forest could affect global warming/the Greenhouse Effect and influence air quality.)
7. How did the fishermen of Sao Miguel increase this year's catch?  (Answer: They limited the size of the catch and worked with farmers to protect the floodplain.)
8. Can you cite any examples of groups in your community which have worked together to improve the environment?  (Suggestions: Alliance for Clean Rivers and Keep America Beautiful)

Jordan River  

1. Which mountain is the source of the Jordan River?  (Answer: Mount Hermon)
2. What makes the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea unusual?  (Answer: They are below sea level.)
3. Why is water so critically important here?  What impact does the Jordan River have on the desert?  (Answer: There is very little rain; the river enables people to grow food.)
4. Why must people who live in Israel and Jordan be careful how much water they use?  (Answer: Because it is a very limited resource which can run out.)
5. Should we in the United States be careful how much water we use?  (Student discussion)
6. Is fresh water a finite or an infinite resource?  (Answer: Finite but recyclable)

Mekong River  

1. Find all the countries the Mekong River flows through.  (Answer: Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam.)
2. What has made available goods in the Mekong delta that used to be scarce, resulting in an economic boom?  (Answer: New trade pacts between Mekong River nations.)
3. What are some of the environmental threats brought on by the prosperity and development in Chau Doc?  (Answers: struggling sewage systems; runoff waters polluted by fertilizers and pesticides that drain into the river.)

Mississippi River Delta

1. What does New Orleans have in common with the Dead Sea?  (Answer: Much of the city lies below sea level.)
2. Is a river's course fixed forever or can it change?  How did this threaten New Orleans?  (Answer: It can change.  The Mississippi threatened to change course away from New Orleans, leaving the port dry.)
3. Why are the wetlands of a delta so fertile?  (Answer: because a river deposits nutrient-rich sediment across the delta.)
4. What impact are the concrete levees having on sedimentation on the delta?  (Answer: The levees are reducing the amount of sediment that is deposited.)
5. What is happening to the farmland and fresh-water wetlands in the delta?  (Answer: They are being washed away and inundated with salt water.)
6. To continue discussions, talk about the difference between the Mississippi and the Amazon rivers; how one is free-flowing and the other is constrained by levees; how one experiences a natural annual flood cycle while the other is prevented from flooding (in theory).  How would the Mississippi be different if you removed all the levees and dams?  Have the students think of other rivers around the world as similar examples.
7. Now that we have looked at problems caused by the intervention of people along these four rivers, what have we learned from our effort to control our environment?  (Student discussion)

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Special Projects

Complete the following activity to demonstrate how plants help prevent the erosion of soil. In one aluminum pan, place grass sod.  In another pan of the same size, place dirt.  Use a block of wood to form a slope under each pan.  Put a hole at the bottom end of each pan to allow water to run off.  Place a tray under each hole to catch the runoff.  Using a watering can, quickly pour a quart of water into the top of each pan.  Observe both pans as the water flows down each tray.  Also observe the water that collects in each tray following the runoff.  Discuss.

Find students from another area of the state, the country, or anywhere in the world to serve as pen pals.  Discover what environmental issues they face and what actions they or their communities plan to take.  You can begin your search for electronic pen pals at Epals (http://www.epals.com) where your students can connect with classrooms in over 90 countries.

To demonstrate that pollutants are not easily removed from the water cycle through natural filtration, conduct the following two-part experiment:

Using a strainer or flour sifter as the filter, layer (from the filter up), the following materials: absorbent cotton, course clean sand and clean pebbles.  Pour muddy water slowly into the filtering system and observe the results.  Let students discuss what is happening and how the water is purified. 

Using the filtering system from the previous demonstration, introduce a pollutant into the ground water by adding food coloring to the muddy water.  Slowly pour the "polluted" water through the filtering system.  It is important that students observe the water filter over time to see that the "polluted" water cannot be removed naturally by the water cycle.