• Commons Sense -Investigates the need for resource management and introduces the importance of sustainability. Commons Sense is a fast paced video that follows host Greg Grandy and his student reporters as they explore the concept of a "commons."

The video begins in Massachusetts at Old Sturbridge Village. Here one of the residents explains the significant role that the village commons played in the lives of the town's people. He further describes how some villagers took advantage of this common resource for personal gain that resulted in abuse of the resource. Like our ancestors, we are now faced with the questions of how to best use and conserve our resources.

The concepts of carrying capacity, resource depletion and habitat degradation are explored in the context of cod fishing in New England, an alligator harvesting in Louisiana. Concerns that have risen with some of the less obvious "commons," such as the continent of Antarctica, our surrounding landscape and even space itself, are presented.

All of the videos in the Enviro- Tacklebox™ Module III are correlated to the National Science Education Content Standards for Middle School Students and to the Excellence in EE -Guidelines for Learning (K-12).

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commons
capacity
resource
depletion
resource
depletion
community
conserve
share
responsible

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