1. 1 Perspectives

Your perspective is basically your opinion about a specific thing. Turn to a classmate and share your perspective on the following statements:

• Climate change threatens the future survival of the human species.

• Migration into the UK is too high.

• It is the responsibility of big businesses to do everything that they can do prevent environmental harm.

Now pick one and discuss how your perspective on that issue has influenced your choices and actions.

Different people have different perspectives. The IB mission statement encourages us to "understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right." 

Discuss: how can people have different perspectives but both be correct? 

Later, we will meet people whose life experiences may lead them to have a different perspective on climate change to us. 

In pairs, write two questions that will help us understand the perspective of these people. Questions could focus on what their perspective is, or where it comes from (e.g. what experiences do they have of climate change, how does it link to any religious views etc.). We'll select two questions per person as a class.

Ask any additional questions you have to the ESS Perspectives Chatbot:

Some things that I value include:

• Honesty

• Justice

• Freedom

Think about what things you value.

Open and copy the doc below. Complete the document.

What Halcyon values can you see in these materials? 

Think, Pair, Share: what values differ and lead to the tensions between Coca Cola and Greenpeace? 

Designing good surveys is a complex skill. 

Make graphic notes on the advice found on the Mr G website. You can work in pairs or alone.

Now create a survey (Google Form, TypeForm etc.) that will help you understand "the perspectives shown by a particular social group towards environmental issues."

In pairs, give feedback on the forms based on Mr G's guidance.

Your perspective on something is your view on a particular issue. 

Your worldview is your big picture way of seeing the world. 

The Bribri people live in the mountains and islands of southern Costa Rica and northern Panama both on reservations and non-protected areas.

The Bribri social structure is organized in clans. Each clan is composed of an extended family. The clan system is matrilineal; that is, a child's clan is determined by the clan his or her mother belongs to. This gives women a very important place in Bribri society since they are the only ones that can inherit land and prepare the sacred cacao (Theobroma cacao) drink that is essential for their rituals. 

Cacao, as in most of the indigenous groups in southern Costa Rica and northern Panama, has a special significance in Bribri culture. For them the cacao tree used to be a woman that Sibú (God) turned into a tree. Cacao branches are never used as firewood and only women are allowed to prepare and serve the sacred drink. Cacao is used in special occasions, ceremonies and in certain rites of passage such as when young girls have their first menstruation. Currently there exists several Bribri women's associations that produce organic, hand made chocolate that helps them in their livelihoods.

Discuss in pairs: how do the similarities and differences between your own worldview and that of the Bribri result in you having different values and perspectives? 

Add notes about worldviews to your 1.1 document. 

Read the following text. Discuss in tables: How does it influence your perspective on Bribri culture? 

The Mercian people are a warlike island people known for their complex and unusual social structure. Their society contains many regional groups, but shared customs include the consumption of stimulants, seasonal rituals and elaborate rules governing public restraint.

Social interactions are frequently ritualised through the consumption of a infusion of leaves and the secretions of livestock; conflicts can arise regarding the correct method of preparation. Several important annual festivals descend from an ancient monotheistic belief system. During the winter ceremony, households decorate a tree and exchange gifts wrapped in the dried and stained pulp of the same tree. A spring festival is celebrated with gift eggs, produced using a roasted seed obtained by trading with other groups. The wardead are commemmorated by attaching flowers to garments.

Public life is regulated by the queue, a temporary social formation in which individuals arrange themselves according to time of arrival. Those who violate the order are rarely challenged openly, but may be subjected to sighing, staring and ritual muttering.

You'll learn a lot more about systems in 1.2!

We'll do an example EVS as a whole class.

Draw an EVS for one of the characters from Mizou. Add it to your notes document with an explanation of what it is.

(I queried this confusing syllabus point to the IB and received the following: "Perspectives and value systems will be the expression used from now on." I think we could therefore re-write the 1.1.8 to say:

There are three broad categories of perspective (and thus Environmental Value Systems): these are ecocentrism, anthropocentrism and technocentrism

1.1.7 could therefore become  A systems diagram can be used to model the inputs affecting our perspectives and the outputs resulting from our perspectives.

Return to the three topics at the topic of this page.

Form sentences that begin "I'm thinking about this from an [ecocentric/anthropocentric/technocentric] perspective and I think..."

Add to your notes document.

This is an example of a Behaviour Over Time (BOT) graph. Here are a few more:

Draw a behaviour over time graph for one of the following:

• littering

• eating meat 

• how traditional lifestyles in indigenous cultures are being replaced by modern ones

You will need to specify where in the world you are thinking about. 

Add it to your notes doc. 

Copy and complete the circles of action thinking routine below:

In pairs, design a poster that seeks to convince people which of these events were the two most important. Research at least 3 each before shortlisting two. When designing the poster, think about the values, perspectives and worldviews of your audience; how can knowledge of these help you convince them? 

Canva is a good tool for posters. 

This task will be formatively assessed through ManageBac.