Teachers, if you are looking for a great STEM learning project which could help students understand health, climate change, politics and power, look to our polluted skies.
Will Maryland choose to reduce greenhouse gases and pollutants to improve the health of our citizens and reduce the harm from global warming? Or will we walk away from these reductions to fight a perceived threat of cheaper power production in neighboring states?
This is an open question.
The state set a ambitious goal in April for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but the path for creating those reductions is not clear.
When Governor Hogan began his administration, he refused to publish air quality regulations which would have required older, highly polluting coal fired power plants to reduce their emissions or close. Now, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is considering whether Maryland will leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to reduce a perceived power cost advantage of neighboring states. The argument is that if neighboring states can produce power more cheaply by polluting heavily, then Maryland would suffer from the pollution without profiting from the generation.
This project enables students to learn about the health and environmental costs of our dependence on fossil fuels and to consider which power sources are the most socially, economically and environmentally viable.
In the following six video clips, advocacy groups, the Secretary of the MDE and citizens testify in support of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and in support of Maryland remaining in the multi-state cap and trade program to help reduce dependence on fossil fuels. No one testified in favor of leaving RGGI, but Ben Grumbles, the Secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment discussed the possibility of the state withdrawing from the agreement.
What are the arguments which your students find most persuasive? Should Maryland consider the health and environmental costs of pollution when it calculates the price of energy?
What path would they suggest for the future of Maryland?
You can find additional materials in the resource section or email me at shan@coolgreenschools.org to create a project fitted to your class.
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