See also Spring Themes.

According to the article, Go Green, Get Rich - 8 Technologies for a Green Future, dated Feb. 1, 2007. the planet's most pressing environmental problems - global warming, energy shortages, overfishing, pollution - may seem too large to be solved with today's technology.  However, a lot of bring minds are working on futuristic projects that promise to make the world greener while making entrepreneurs some green.

This theme does not mean that we have to frighten out students, but everyone, from young to old, needs to know the best ways to take care of our environment, save energy, etc.

Some emerging green technologies reviewed in this article would make interesting explorations for your students:

1.  Home Hydrogen Fueling Station -  scientists in Australia have developed a prototype of a solar-powered hydrogen fueling station for your garage.  This subverts the problem of the multibillion-dollar expense of building national networks of pipelines and fuel stations, and eliminates the problems that today most hydrogen is produced by burning fossil fuel to create hydrogen gas - not exactly a clean and green process.  Real world tests of the system were to begin early this year at RMIT University in Melbourne.

2.  Environmental Sensor Networks  -  wireless sensors, small as a dime, could be lining lake beds and ocean floors, buried in the ground, and floating in the air.  They will be sniffing the air, water, and soil for chemicals and pollutants and detecting changes in temperature and pressure.  Arizona state University scientist Joe Way has already deployed them in San Diego Bay and the canals of Venice to keep watch on heavy-metal levels and mercury contamination.  Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of California at Berkeley, meanwhile, have created a coin-soze solar cell that could power the transmitters for sensor networks that one day might monitor a river or a by for leaking pipelines.

3.  Toxin-Eating Trees -  Phytoremediation, a technology that uses vegetation to absorb hazardous waste from industrial plants and other polluters.  Researchers at York University in Britain have identified bacteria living in the roots of poplar trees and produce an enzyme that zaps residue from RDX, a chemical compound used by the military and industry.  Another team, from the University of Georgia, has transplanted a gene from bacteria that helps neutralize mercury contamination into a common flower.

4.  Nuclear Waste Neutralizer -  Recycle the radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.  Scientists at the government's Argonne National Lab near Chicago are devising a chemical technology called Urex+ that extracts reusable uranium and separates out cesium, allowing four times as much waste to be packed in nuclear burial grounds.  It would also leave the plutonium encased in other elements, rendering it all but useless to terrorists..

5.  Autonomous Ocean Robots - a robot that can monitor water quality, ma fish habitats and survey threatened coral reefs.  Could also detect drops in fish populations, as well as be dispatched to help with underwater gas and oil exploration.  Starbug, the robot, should start rolling off the assembly line late this year, according to the robot's designer, scientist Matthew Dunlabin of CSIRO.

To read more about these ideas, please see the article, Go Green, Get Rich - 8 Technologies to Save the World, online at
CNNMoney.com, or send for the magazine, Business 2.0. Any of the above issues would be worth exploring in an interdisciplinary, project-based unit.

Also, please visit our web site for Spring Unit Themes.