Lesson Plan January 15th (Tuesday) Pre-Lesson Activities (15 minutes) (Hot chocolate container should be opaque.

.) On Board: 1) Welcome! Please fill out an index card with your name, major, year, and up to 3 environmental issues that interest you. 2) Help yourself to hot chocolate. 3) Grab a paper cup even if you dont take hot chocolate well need it for an exercise later. Names Ice breaker (two truths & a lie) Instructor Introductions Teachers will introduce each other Hot Chocolate Discussion (10 minutes) Questions (1) Was there enough for everyone? (2) Yes/No. Why? (Yes, b/c there arent a lot of students. No, b/c assumption that the teacher would provide enough for everyone there were plenty of cups and b/c container was opaque, unclear how much was available.) (3) What would have changed the outcome? How would the quantity leftover change if there were more students? How would the quantity leftover change if this was the only drink you could have all day? Would students have rationed themselves if they knew how much was available? What about if they knew how much was available but no one was looking/there were no consequences? (4) Does any individual own the drink? On board: Collect the factors that affect whether there is enough in the end: -how much is available to start -how many people want it -how badly people need it -invisibility of actions/fact that you wont be caught Garrett Hardin, Tragedy of the Commons (turn to p. 25 in book): famous essay on the phenomenon we just experienced.

Tragedy of the Commons (20 minutes)

Video explanation of Hardins concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZFkUeleHPY Explain via Drawings 1) Draw a square on board, with 10 stickmen around it. Teacher 1: Okay, lets work through this. This is a pasture and these are 10 ranchers who share the pasture in common. The pasture can handle 100 cows; after that, it will start to be overgrazed. What happens to land when it is overgrazed? (Less grass; dry, cracked soil; weeds; erosion.) Because 100 cows is all it can handle without being overgrazed, we can say that its carrying capacity is 100 cows. Teacher 2 (Writes carrying capacity on board.) Teacher 1: Imagine that each of these ranchers puts 10 cows on the pasture. Any problem? (No.) The carrying capacity is met. Now, one of the ranchers has the bright idea to add another cow, for a total of 11 cows from him. What benefit will he get from doing this? (He will get the benefit of ranching one more cow, which he can sell or slaughter later.) We call that a positive utility. What does utility mean? (Benefit.) Theres also something called negative utility can you guess what that means? (Cost.) What happens to the pasture when you add one cow over the carrying capacity? (It gets degraded, just a little.) Who bears that cost? (Everyone shares the cost.) How much cost does the rancher who added the cow bear? (He has 1/10th of the cost.) Teacher 2 (Writes chart with +utility and utility, ) Teacher 1: So, does the rancher want to add a cow? He gains +1 cow and loses -.10 from overgrazing so hes up by .9. (Yes.) Teacher 2: (Writes the math.)

Teacher 1 & Teacher 2 switch roles. Teacher 2: The problem here is that much of the cost is external to the rancher who adds a cow, because its spread around to all the ranchers who use the common pasture. The cost that the rancher causes that he doesnt bear is called an externality. Teacher 1 (Writes externality on the board.) Teacher 2: Imagine other ranchers decide to do the same thing. They start adding cows, and getting the full benefit of those cows, while spreading the costs to the entire group. But one person is virtuous and doesnt add cows. What happens to him? (He bears costs caused by everyone else.) Ultimately, as the ranchers add more and more cows, the whole system will collapse the pasture will be so dry and grassless that it will be worthless for grazing, and everyone loses. Teacher 2: How could the legal system help in this situation? What legal tools could you use? Teacher 1 (keeps chart) fences (privatization); petition; statutory law; common law [Explain what statutory and common law are.] Teacher 2: Now, weve been talking about ranchers consuming, or using up a resource. What was that resource? (Grass.) That is, people are taking out from a common. But tragedy of the commons also occurs when people put into a common. What would people put into a common that would damage it. (Pollution.) 2) Draw a circle on the board Teacher 2: Imagine you have a lake, and on the shore of the lake, you have some company that is dumping into the lake; say its a leather factory. The leather factory produces toxic waste products.

What can it do with this waste? (Treat it. Dump it into the lake.) Treating it expensive or cheap? (Expensive.) Dumping it into the lake expensive or cheap? (Cheap.) So the company saves money by dumping into the lake. Lets think again about the externalities. Who is bearing the cost of this pollution? (People who use the lake fishermen, boaters, tourists; people who drink from the lake the community.) What are the legal solutions here? Teacher 1 (keeps chart): fences? (no) cant fence pollution in a lake; statutory law Clean Water Act or state equivalent; common law. Teacher 1: Now, weve been talking about small, closed systems, but what about the ocean, or the air can you all think of a recent environmental disaster in the ocean dealing with pollution? (BP Oil Spill.) BP oil spill clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=airwW0DrOw 3) Draw ocean with shore. Teacher 1: From what you saw in the video, what were the harms from the spill? (Oil in the water. Oil evaporating into the air. Dispersant in the water. Dispersant evaporating into the air.) Who felt the costs from the spill? (Fishermen; businesses on the shore; people breathing the air especially children, grandmothers; environmentalists on behalf of animals, ocean vegetation.) Using what weve learned so far, how might the law bring the cost back to BP? Teacher 2 (keeps chart): statutory law: Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act; common law nuisance (well learn about next class); criminal law (we wont be dealing with a lot but good to know about). Teacher 2: In many of these situations, theres a David and Goliath dynamic. The big guy (industry)

Salty Problem (20 minutes)

pollutes or consumes resources with the externalities falling on the little guys (Sierra Club; grandmothers with weak lungs; hunters, fishers, users of the resource). Teacher 1: Some environmental problems are big and dramatic, like the BP oil spill. Some go under the radar and seem small, but can have serious effects. Take salting the roads. This is a problem that has not yet met its legal solution. [Cue slide show.] Teacher 2: Why do we salt the roads? (Safety salt lowers the melting point of ice, causing it to melt faster.) But are salted roads really safer? Why might they not be? (People drive faster/more recklessly.) What might be problems with salt? (corrodes telephone cables, electric lines, etc.; kills trees; gets into drinking water). Teacher 2: Look at the bottom of your cups. [Roles: grandmother with hypertension, Sierra Club member, salt industry representative, city official, state environmental agency official] [Ask the students with each position to articulate his/her position. Remind students to think about costs/benefits.] Teacher 1: Who will prevail? Who has the stronger position based on the arguments? What else plays in here? Political/economic considerations remember David and Goliath. Segue to tomorrows reading: another David and Goliath situation, between a cement company and the neighbors who are suffering from the pollution. We dont expect you to understand all of the law, well dive in to that tomorrow but we do expect you to have a good grasp of the facts: who the players are, what the harm is, and what relief they are seeking. -Syllabus review -Requirements of course -This is the first time were teaching this course we invite your feedback -Laptop policy

Closing (10 minutes)

-We expect no background in law dont be intimidated -If you do well, you can be certified to take law school classes -Assignment for tomorrow