The World in an Apple & Vegetarianism

Summary

Part One of this lesson uses an apple to demonstrate our dependence on the earth's fragile biosphere (region of the earth's crust and atmosphere occupied by living matter). Students will appreciate how little productive land there is in the world. Part Two is a worksheet (revisit: where-the-f*ck is the worksheet?) to help students understand what a vegetarian eats and some simple arguments supporting vegetarianism. Remind students that Japan has a long history of vegetarianism, and that respect for all living things is one of the major beliefs of both Buddhism and Confucianism. Make sure students understand the connection between saving the environment and choosing to go veggie.

Level: *

Grammar

Vegetarian vocabulary, dictionary practice.

Materials

One apple, knife, food picture cards, vegetarian worksheet.

Part I: "The World In An Apple" Procedure

1. Slice an apple representing the Earth into quarters. Set aside three of the quarters to represent the world's oceans.
2. Slice the remaining quarter into two pieces. Set aside one piece to represent the land that people cannot live on. The remaining 1/8 of the apple represents the land where people live.
3. Slice this piece into four sections and set aside three of the sections. These represent areas too rocky, too steep, or too cold to produce food.
4. Carefully peel the remaining 1/32 slice of the apple. This peel represents the earth's surface, the skin of the earth's crust, the topsoil on which humanity depends. It's less than 5 feet deep and can produce only a fixed amount of food. Due to erosion and over-farming, we lose 24 billion tons per year. It takes 100 years for one inch of topsoil to form.
5. Eat the apple with the class so as not to waste food!

Part II. Vegetarianism

There are two main reasons why people who care about the environment become vegetarian. The first reason is the heavy burden that livestock production puts on the land. It takes 8 kg of grain to make 1 kg of meat. Much more vegetables and grains can be grown on the land required to support livestock. For example, on one acre of prime land, 30,000 pounds of carrots, 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 50,000 pounds of tomatoes or 60,000 pounds of celery can be produced, but only 250 pounds of beef can be produced on the same land. Furthermore, if everyone in the world ate the diet of someone living in an industrialized country, there wouldn't be enough food for even half of the world's population. The second reason is the inhumane treatment of livestock. The animals' living quarters are often dark and cramped, and they are killed in painful ways.

Have the class complete the worksheet on vegetarianism. Show pictures of the different foods for the first quiz.

Review

Hold up pictures of various Japanese food and ask students if a vegetarian would be able to eat it. Have students design a menu for a vegetarian.

Acknowledgments

Adapted from "Planet Earth pages", compiled by Jim Petrie in Green Teacher Magazine, pg. 34. Issue #46 Feb.-March 1996, Toronto, Canada.

Contributed by Anne Thompson, ALT.