Source
Project Wild - Secondary Activity Guide, Pgs. 193-194.

Objectives
Students will be able to: 1) distinguish between actions that are harmful and those that are beneficial to the environment; and 2) evaluate the appropriateness and feasibility of making changes in their behaviors related to the impact their actions have on the environment.

Method
Students develop and use a “Personal Code of Environmental Ethics.”

Background
The major purpose of this activity is to provide students with the encouragement and opportunity to look at their own lifestyles in light of their impact on natural resources and the environment.

Materials
None needed

Duration
one or two 30-45 minute periods

1. Involve the students in discussion about the impact each of us has each day on aspects of environment - from using electricity to make breakfast, to putting on clothes that were derived from some natural resources and transported to us by some means, to use of the varied products we choose and employ each day, to our choice of recreation and entertainment. We are consumers, and our impact is formidable.
2. Ask each student to work alone to devise a “Personal Code of Environmental Ethics.” This code may be written or not. Emphasize the importance of the code being for the person who creates it. The code should take into consideration daily actions that are harmful to the environment, and those which are beneficial; the students should consciously create their code based on actions they believe are beneficial, or at least not harmful, to elements of the environment. We will always have some impact; we can make choices about the kinds of impacts we make, their extensiveness, etc.
3. Ask for any volunteers to share the “Code.” They might share the entire code or a segment of it. They might describe the thinking that went into the decisions they made in constructing their code. Students might illustrate a part of their code, (if they chose not to write it ) to convey a major idea. Encourage the students to ask each other questions about the codes in the spirit of learning more about each person’s priorities, but not in a judgmental approach. The purpose is for each student to evaluate his or her own priorities in a responsible consideration of day-to-day actions that affect the environment, but not to be critical of another student’s approach to the same problem. In this way, each student is simply encouraged to take responsibility for his or her own actions.
4. Encourage the students to try using their codes, keeping track of how easy or difficult it is for them to live by them. “Progress reports” are appropriate, again in the spirit of each person paying attention to his or her own actions and bearing responsibility for them.

Extensions and Variations

1. Reflect for a few minutes on your daily life. In fact, close your eyes and follow yourself through a typical day. What natural resources do you use? What choices do you make that have an impact on the environment? What choices do you make that have an impact on wildlife and its habitat? What choices do you make that have an impact on other people, here and elsewhere on the planet? If you could, what things, if any, would you change about your daily life in order to have a more beneficial, or less harmful impact on the environment? What things, if any, do you already do that you think are helpful, or at least not harmful, to the environment? Brainstorm ten words that come to mind when you think of actions and behaviors you value. Create a sentence, paragraph, or poem that might capture the essence of your own “Personal Code of Environmental Ethics.”
2. Develop a “life map”. It could include where you want to live, whether you want a family, what kind of home, transportation, food sources, job , recreation, etc. Look at the costs and benefits of your choices - for you personally, other people in your community, wildlife, other natural resources, etc.

Evaluation
List five environmental issues.

List one way that your directly or indirectly contribute to an environmental problem.

Identify, describe, and evaluate one way you could lessen your role in contributing to an environmental problem.

Make at least one change in your lifestyle that will reduce your role in contributing to an environmental problem.