Advocacy Project: Breathe-Freeville Mystery

Breathe-Freeville Mystery

Purpose: 
To teach students the various forms of air pollution caused by automotive transport.


Background:
When it comes to getting from place to place people tend to want the shortest route possible.  As a result, automotive transportation - such as cars and trucks - seems to have been the best option.  However, using automotive transportation as opposed to alternative modes - biking and city transit - seems to be leaving a harmful footprint on our world.  Automotive transportation releases and emits air pollutants into the atmosphere.  


Air pollution affects everyone, and with current traffic levels air quality in urban as well as rural settings is worsening. Once released into the air, exhaust emissions are breathed into the body and transported into the bloodstream; which is then carried to all the body's major organs.  It has been estimated that air pollution - of which vehicle emissions are the major contributor - is responsible for 24,000 premature deaths in the UK every year.  Health concerns affiliated with exhaust emissions are illnesses such as cancer and asthma.  In order to reduce the amount of people being affected we need to be aware of what exhaust emissions are being released and how detrimental these air pollutants are to the environment as well as our health and well-being.


Instructions:
We need your help!  There has been a terrible incident in the town of Breathe-Freeville!  It appears that everyone in the city has started to develop different health illnesses and they are not sure what's causing it!  After interviewing each victim the city has concluded that all victims were outside at the time of each incident and that the suspect has been known to strike at any hour of the day.  The city has narrowed it down to six suspects but need further assistance, so to solve this mystery they have decided to call you, the health educator detective, to help get their city get back to the way they once knew! 


Your mission: To interview each suspect and figure out how to fix the situation.  Below you will find your name along with a link to the suspect you need to conduct your background check on. To do this successfully you will want to use at least one other resource to site your answers the questions about the suspect.  Once you have your answers report back to me so, together, we may figure out who has been up to this nasty act! Good luck detectives!
Detective and Suspect:

1. Calista - Druscilla de Spilla (aka Benzene (C6H6))
2. Kristy - Punky Carbone (aka Carbon Monoxide)
3. Samantha - Red Haze Harry (aka Nitrogen Oxides)
4. Alyssa - Petite la Wheeze (aka PM2.5) 
5. Adam - Fossil Phil (aka Carbon Dioxide)
6. Sarah - Burnice D'Smog (aka Formaldehyde)

- Cards courtesy of New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation

Background questions to answer:

1. Suspect (name of air pollutant)
2. Motive (where does pollutant come from)
3. Crime (what health effects is it having on citizens/environment)
4. Lock 'Em Up (Alternative resources we could use/do to replace/reduce the pollutant)
5. Case File (what did you learn from this activity)

PS.. Does anyone know how to get rid of extra spacing? When I push 'enter' once extra spacing comes with it!