Houses, some with floor space of less then 100 square feet, can leave a small carbon footprint. This article describes those "tiny houses," and gives additional reasons some people choose to live in them. Photos of several are included. The Climate Kids website is a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.

The mining of our country’s natural resources is not just a simple matter of finding the desired ore and digging it up. Important economic and environmental considerations are involved in any mining venture. These include property costs, mining equipment costs, operational costs, and land reclamation costs. Fines for violations of environmental regulations may also be incurred. If a mining corporation is to make a profit, the value of the recovered ore must be greater than the sum of all of its mining costs plus any environmental fines. In this lab you will create a mining corporation and attempt to run a cookie mining operation that is both profitable and environmentally sound.

Students will simulate the action of and in some cases the consequences of mining for minerals.

Understand how humans can have a positive or negative impact on the environment.

An important component of Project based learning is the peer and self evaluation portion that is ongoing and also culminating. This is a good template to get started.