Pollution Solution
- Environment and Human Impact -

Objectives

Identify the problems caused to the environment and society by an oil spill and the subsequent clean-up operations and discuss them in class.

Materials

•	List of fictitious characters
•	Optional: newspaper or magazine articles, information from the internet about oil spills

Procedure

1.	Prepare yourself for a role-playing discussion in class. Take up the role of one of the fictitious characters listed in the table below. Write some notes that would be taken to a press conference held to find out what happened when a tanker went aground and caused an oil spill along a coastline. 

2.	As a reporter you should ask questions about (a) the chain of events that led to the oil spill, (b) how each party helped with the cleanup operation, and (c) how the spill affected their lives. 

3.	Use the library and the internet to access articles about recent oil spills. 

Fictitious Characters

Name	Position	
Captain Shipley	Captain of the tanker that went aground	
Mrs. Petrol	Spokesperson for the Giant Oil Corporation	
Mrs. Swap	Head of cleanup operations	
Mr. Scout	Head of the airborne surveillance team (reporting to Mrs. Swap)	
Mrs. Cirrus	Spokesperson of the National Weather Service	
Mrs. Marchand	President of the local merchants’ association	
Mr. Greene	Spokesperson for a national conservation group	
Mr. Hook	Spokesperson for the local fishing community	
Mrs. Wright	President of the Town Council	
Mrs. Labb	Scientist at Innovate Corp., a bioengineering firm	
Mr. Ivory	Salesperson for Kleen-Up Supplies, Inc.	
Mr. Byrd	Conservationist from the National Fish and Wildlife Service Office	
Mrs. Goodley	Spokesperson for volunteers	
Mrs. Interested	Reporters	
Mr. Talkative