Overview
Why do some movies seem to go beyond entertainment and include scary messages for children? Can there be a rational environmental debate or does it need to be filled with propaganda and hype? This segment looks at the tactics some use to convince others of impending environmental doom.

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Lesson Insights

Grade level and subjects
• Recommended for grades 6-12
• Subjects: Government and Science / Technology
• Works in Classroom, Hybrid, and Homeschool settings

What students will learn
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• discuss the efforts to convince people of impending environmental crisis;
• analyze the positions of environmental activists and environmental skeptics; and
• assess the use of scare tactics in the environmental debate.

Key concepts and terms covered
Indigenous People and Propaganda.

Sample discussion questions
• What’s the best way to win an argument?
• Do you think using movies to convince people that environmental crises loom is appropriate? Is it propaganda? Explain.
• You might have heard of global warming and climate change, but have you heard of global cooling? According to Wikipedia, it was a conjecture that, because the earth’s surface between the 1940s and the 1970s had cooled, we would enter another ice age. Does that change your views of the current debate over impending environmental catastrophe? Why/ Why not?
• Is it possible that we make indigenous lifestyles seem more idyllic than they are? Explain.
• Why might the media trumpet fears of climate change and other environmental concerns?

What’s in the free teacher’s guide
This printable 11-page Teacher's Guide includes a lesson description, learning objectives, key vocabulary, a fill-in viewing guide with answer key, discussion and analysis questions, and classroom activities.

Standards alignment
Aligned to state standards — use the SITC Standards Tool to match this video to the standards in your state.