Eco-work in popculture

  • Target group: Secondary, VET, Higher education
  • Focus: Imagine and invent the world as you career
  • Activity: Advising and counselling, Educating
  • Form: Group
  • Duration: 45 minutes

Inspiration for the tool

Participants of the Innovation Factory in Poland

Rationale: Why is this needed?

Demonstrating that both eco-friendly and eco-destructive attitudes surround us – also in pop-culture.

Objectives

By the end of the activity, participants will be able to:

  • consider the eco-friendliness or harmfulness of various professions.

Resources needed

  • For each team – a table to fill out with characters who are eco-friendly and those who have a destructive impact on the planet.

Activities

Each team of students is given a table divided into three sections:

  1. Movies/TV series
  2. Games (board/computer games)
  3. Books/fairy tales

The task for each team is to list, in the appropriate column, characters who:

  • engage in planet-friendly, pro-climate actions,
  • destroy natural resources and act destructively toward people and animals, etc.

Examples:

  • eco-friendly: Moana, Pocahontas, 
  • eco-destructive: Sauron, Aquaman.

Tip: Before giving students a table to be filled out, the facilitator can play a short clip of a movie (e.g. WALL-E – robot collecting trash in post-apocalypse Earth; Moana – restoring the balance of nature and protecting her island’s ecosystem) or read aloud a brief excerpt of a book/story featuring an eco-friendly character. Then students will be asked to reflect on this clip/excerpt.

Reflections/Consolidation of learning

  • What professions/roles would these characters hold in real life?
  • Which professions are more common: those that are eco-friendly or those with destructive elements? What values do they represent?
  • How can these themes be useful for your own career exploration? Can they serve as inspiration? Would you like to be viewed in your future job as an eco-friendly character? Taking into account your plans, how can you incorporate eco-friendliness?

TABLE

Characters who engage in planet-friendly, pro-climate actionsCharacters who destroy natural resources and act destructively toward people and animals
Movies/TV series
Board/Computer games
Books/fairy tales