I’m also adding it to my page of journals with open online archives.

Thanks Larry

Pollution has been defined as a resource in the wrong place. That’s also a pretty good description of the company’s profits. The great plumes of money that have been bursting out of the company’s accounts every year are not BP’s to give away. They consist, in part or in whole, of the externalised costs the company has failed to pay, and which the rest of society must carry.

Does this sound familiar? In the ten years preceding the crash, the banks posted and disposed of stupendous profits. When their risky ventures failed, they discovered that they hadn’t made sufficient provision against future costs, and had to go begging from the state. They had classified their annual surplus as profit and given it to their investors and staff long before it was safe to do so.

I also like this line, about the fact that (while clearly not being a Marshallese company) the rig is registered in the Marshall Islands.

Flags of convenience signify more than the place of registration: they’re an unmistakable sign that responsibilities are being offloaded.

A lot of students aren’t aware of the underlying assumptions in traditional economics, how corporations are allowed to externalize costs and avoid liability. Business is always a popular topic, and an introduction to alternative economic points-of-view (like these) can be really engaging for students.

And for more on the Gulf oil spill, be sure to check out this list of resources by Larry Ferlazzo. As usual, it’s quite comprehensive and includes a lot of good stuff.

War Games: Seeing Iraq Through the Eyes of Children is a powerful video slideshow depicting some of the games Iraqi children are now playing, after years of violence.

And Larry has also put together a great list of sites to learn about the Gulf oil spill. Drill, baby, drill.

In addition, they have activities on human rights, animal protection, and culture. They even have a collection of quick activities that can be done in 5 to 15 minutes.

Finally, check out the Humane Connection blog, a place where the folks at the Institute share ideas and new teacher resources.

(Thanks Larry!)

ACT Responsible is a Swiss non-profit that attempts to use the talents of advertisers to address environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Their gallery is full of images and short videos that could be great visual prompts for activities on a wide variety of issues. For starters, check out highlights in The Best Adverts to Save the Planet, a slideshow available from the Guardian.

Facing the Future has a collection of activity-based, global issues lesson plans for students of all ages. In addition to the great stuff they offer for sale, they have a ton of materials available as free downloads. I especially like the lesson plans from Engaging Students Through Global Issues, and the Climate Change curricula. Finally, don’t miss their collection of graphs and other graphics. They cover a range of issues and could readily be used for discussion activities.

The International School Studies Association at the University of Denver has a large collection of links to lesson plans that deal with global issues. They break them down thematically (Cultural Studies, Environmental Studies, Economics, etc.) and by grade level.

My collection of links to global issues-themed video games might also work well with K-12 students.

Larry Ferlazzo’s blog has a ton of K-12 materials, and his “Best of” series includes ideas for teaching about social justice issues, environmental issues, Darfur, the recession, and many other issues.

For America-centric lesson plans, the Library of Congress and National Archives both have collections of lesson plans on race, war, gender and other topics. One great thing about these sites is the inclusion of primary sources — documents and images from history that can convey these issues more powerfully to students. The National Archives site also has a series of worksheets to use for analyzing documents, pictures, maps and so on.

Finally, I invite you to look at lesson plans from the Patel Center’s Global Schools Project. These lessons are not made specifically for ESL students, but they could certainly be adapted for them. I am currently working on a Patel Center program for teachers from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and my students will be adding their lesson plans to this resource.

Please feel free to share other good K-12 resources in the comments!