Anna Smith
ELCA Walk for Water
Do-it-Yourself Track Experience ELCA World Hunger
This guide features all the information necessary to recreate the interaction Walk for Water track in your own community or congregation.
Local/ Personal Context:
Community Mapping Pg. 6. Produced by Polaris Institute.
A lesson that gives youth the chance to explore water in the place they call home and create a local context by mapping out the water resources in their surrounding area.
Lesson Plan: ‘Thirst‘ Written by Terri Carta. Produced by PBS.
This is a discussion guide to supplement the hour long documentary Thirst. Although the full video is currently unavailable online, this guide is an important learning and activity resource. It touches on themes of water privatization and The Commons. The guide features a mock town hall meeting activity surrounding the city council, citizens and water supplier’s role in privatization issues.
Water Bingo Pg. 7. Produced by Polaris Institute.
This game allows youth to interact with each other by filling out spaces with information like “has heard of or been to a protest to protect water,” or “has had to boil or filter their water for it to be safe enough to drink.”
Water Footprint Calculator Made by National Geographic.
An online, interactive resource that allows people to calculate much water they consume based on a variety of factors such as their home, diet and energy consumption.
Global Context:
Lesson: Village Voices Pg. 24. Produced by The Water Project.
This is a simulation which gives youth an insight into solutions to water crises from various perspectives: Geologist, Climatologist, Public Health Officer or Village Elder.
Race to Development Water & Hunger Toolkit. ELCA World Hunger.
This activity is a simulation which informs youth about the difficulty to obtain water daily faced specifically by women. They will go through a variety of tasks listed on situation cards.
Tragedy of the Water Commons Produced by Water.org.
A lesson guide that introduces youth to The Tragedy of the Commons by using an interactive, visual representation. This resource also helps youth connect The Tragedy of the Commons to the global water crisis.
Creating and Building:
Build Your Own Watershed Produced by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
This activity allows youth to learn about the importance and creation of watersheds while also discussing the pollution issue watersheds are facing.
Mock Muck Produced by Water.org.
In this activity, youth will attempt to purify dirty water using various techniques.
Way to Flow – Water Irrigation Written by Jaimie Schock. Produced by TryEngineering.
Irrigation is a very crucial component of water issues around the world as it helps farmers sustain their livelihood. This activity gives youth the opportunity to learn about irrigation systems by designing and creating their own.
Discussion and Advocacy:
Water and Society: Day Two Pg. 5. Produced by The Water Project.
This guide includes a game to introduce youth to what a commodity is and leads into a discussion/ debate about if water is a human right or a commodity.
Waters of the United States: Enforcing the Clean Water Act Produced by ELCA Advocacy. Coupled with the resource-Writing to Public Officials
These resources can be used to encourage youth to get involved with water-related advocacy.
Final Reflection Resources:
Becoming Changemakers Made by Polaris Institute.
This is a great resource to help youth generate ideas and examples of action that they can take with water crises.
Closing and Action section of Water Toolkit.
This can be a really helpful reference to give ideas for future involvement with water issues.
Water, Holy Water (Must fill out information before downloading). Produced by Creation Justice Ministries.
This resource has information about various topics surrounding water, but also gives ideas for creating a water themed worship service.
Anna Smith is an ELCA World Hunger intern working with Hunger Education this summer. She is currently a student at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.
