Teacher's Guide

Episode 4: "ON THE BRINK" (25 minutes)

Overview

"On the Brink" explores the connections between environmental pressures and political and social instability.  Environmental degradation and poverty are often linked: poverty can lead to damaging environmental practices, especially in over-populated areas, and a damaged environment can compound poverty.  The conditions of poverty (over-crowding, hunger, disease, lack of food and clean water) result in desperation, which can, in turn, lead to political instability, violence, corruption and terrorism.  Video segments explore these connections by focusing on case studies in Bangladesh, South Africa, Peru, and Haiti.  Finally, the issues are brought closer to home through the last segment, which focuses on poverty and the movement of migrants from Mexico and Central America across the border of the United States.  Thus, students will consider the potential effects of instability in developing countries with stability in the United States. 

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Explain how environmental degradation can lead to poverty, disease, and hunger.

2. Identify the connection between human population growth and degradation of the environment.

3. Describe how instability in foreign countries can affect stability in the United States.

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Pre-Viewing Activities

1. Introduce the following key terms to the students:

   monsoon — season of wind and heavy rain in India and adjacent countries

   arid — land that is excessively dry; too dry to support agriculture

   deforestation — the clearing of trees from a forest

   soil erosion — when soil is washed away by running water, wind, or ice

   land reforms — measures designed to establish a more equitable distribution of land, especially for agricultural purposes

   impoverishment — a condition of being weak, poor and depleted of nutrients; can refer to people and/or to the environment

   guerrilla warfare — fighting by an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

   counter-insurgency effort — military activities designed to thwart insurgencies such as a guerilla warfare

   coup — a sudden overthrow of a government or leader by a small group of people already having some military or political authority

   conquistador — any of the Spanish conquerors of Peru, Mexico and other parts of America in the 1500s

   smuggling — to illegally and secretly bring items or people into or out of a country

   Coyotes — smugglers of illegal aliens from Mexico to the United States © 2003 Screenscope, Inc. Page 2 of 2 On the Brink: Study Guide

   deport — to force someone to leave a country by official order

   environmental refugees — people who flee their home or country to seek refuge elsewhere due to extreme environmental conditions such as erosion of good soil for crops, lack of drinking water or severe pollution

   2. To familiarize students with the areas in the program segments, use a wall map, desk map or an atlas and have students locate
   

   • India

   • Bangladesh

   • Bay of Bengal

   • South Africa

   • Peru

   • Haiti

   • Mexico and U.S. border

After the students have found each of these locations, begin a discussion to discover what they already know about these regions.  Have the discussion center on environmental problems that they are familiar to the students.

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Post-Viewing Discussion

Bangladesh

1. As you watched the first scene, what general observations did you make about the city: its conditions, what people were doing, and how they were doing those things.  (You may want to revisit that segment with your students.)  How are the conditions different from what you experience?  (Answers: Students may notice many people use bicycles for transportation; buses are very old; people are cooking and bathing on the street; water is obtained at a central water pump, not from running water in homes; conditions are very crowded; people sit on the street while selling goods.)
   
2. What is the average income in Bangladesh?  (Answer: $225/year.)  Why did people from Bangladesh move to Calcutta, India?  (Answer: They were trying to escape the conditions of extreme poverty in Bangladesh, and were trying to find a better way of life.  However, in many respects, Calcutta had similar conditions.)
   
3. How are the people of Bangladesh plowing and harvesting?  How does this compare to methods you have seen or learned about in the United States?  (Answer: People were using hand tools or tools pulled by oxen rather than tractors and other mechanized equipment.)

South Africa

1. Where do most people live when they arrive in urban areas?  (Answer: They often live in illegal shanties or squatter settlements that are set up on the edge of town.  The conditions are very tough: no electricity, running water, hospitals, and sanitation systems.)
   
2. What is the city of Alexandra trying to do to help migrants?  (Answer: An $80 million government initiative provides money for homes, schools, and health facilities.)

Peru

1. Why are the peasants in the high Andes so poor?  (Answer: The terrain is very dry, so cultivation of crops is difficult.  Farmers generally produce just enough food to live for a year.  In years of drought, there is hunger.)
   
2. Why are millions of peasants moving to Lima, Peru?  (Answer: They are leaving their subsistence way of life in hopes of economic opportunity.)
   
3.  What two circumstances led to the rise of the Shining Path?  (Answer: Land scarcity and impoverishment.)

Haiti

1. What are the two most significant environmental pressures facing Haiti?  (Answer: Loss of forests because wood is used as charcoal for cooking; severe soil erosion due to deforestation, so fertility of soil for crops is poor.)
   
2. Why has so much of the forest been cut down?  (Answer: Wood is used as charcoal for cooking; Haitians don't have access to gas or electric stoves as we do.  Trees are also cut down for farmland.)

Illegal Immigrants along the Mexico-United States Border

1. Why is so much debris found in such an isolated desert?  (Answer: Thousands of migrants try to enter the United States on foot each day.  They must carry food and water with them.)
   
2. Who is being recognized in the street ceremony in Douglas, Arizona?  (Answer: The hundreds of migrants who perish each year from heat and dehydration while trying to enter the United States.)
   
3. Why are so many people trying to leave Mexico, Central, and South America?  (Answer: Acute poverty and environmental degradation, which make their lives more difficult.)
   
4. What happens to people who get caught while crossing the border?  (Answer: They are put in detention centers where they are asked questions and held until they are returned to Mexico.  Most of them will attempt to cross the border again.  On any given day, an average of 20,000 people are held in detention centers.)

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Special Projects

1. Compare the number of people per square mile in your town, city, or state to the number of people per square mile in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  Have your students work in small groups to discuss how life would be different in your hometown if it were as densely populated.  What services would need to be provided to accommodate the higher number of people?  In what ways would the quality of life improve or suffer?  How might a higher population affect the local environment?

2. Research the projected population for your area in 10-20 years.  Compare that to the projected population in the developing countries highlighted in this film.  Make graphs showing the projected growth rates for both areas.  Which graph shows a higher rate of growth?  Ask the students to consider various explanations for the results and present them to the class.  Discuss the repercussions of these trends socially, environmentally, and politically.

3. Conduct research to compare trends in developing countries compared to developed countries.  Visit the World Resources Institute's web site for data (www.wri.org/).  Go to the Earth Trends section on Population, Health and Human Well-being.  You can obtain data tables or compare statistics from selected countries.  Consider the following:

   • birth and death rates
   • life expectancy
   • literacy rate
   • school enrollment
   • population density
   • population growth rate
   • access to water and sanitation
   • poverty
   • nutrition
   • immunization rates
4. After comparing the data for various countries, consider the political, social, and environmental repercussions of these trends.
   
5. Take part in a global role-playing simulation on a large world map.  The World Game Institute offers school programs for entire schools as well as kits that schools can use www.worldgame.org.  The Middle School World Game Workshop simulation is an experiential learning opportunity on world and environmental issues, designed for middle school students.  It takes place on a 26' X 12' world map, and invites students to develop solutions to global problems.  Population, income, nutrition, and education are some of the many factors that students compare.
   
6. The saga of immigration is a quintessential American experience.  Ask your students to interview members of their households to learn about the immigration experiences in their own families.  Who immigrated here, when, from where, what did they have to overcome, and what happened after they arrived?  Ask the students to share their family histories on posters or oral reports.