Web of Life The process starts to build on the theme of diversity. The group sits in a circle with each students' card depicting who they are, displayed in from of them. ( See habitat lesson two ) One person starts with a ball of string, says who they are and who, amongst the members of their ecosystem is present, they need for survival. They then toss the ball to that ?being? while holding onto their piece of string. This process continues until everyone has met their needs. You may discover that some important elements of the habitat are missing. This is a good place to start a discussion. What does this tell us about the diversity of life? Why is each element so important? Does this same interconnectedness demonstrate itself in your human community? Who are the people in your community upon whom you are dependent or to whom you are connected in some way?
You may then demonstrate what happens when a species becomes extinct and or resources are consumed by humans. "Trees being cut down to make furniture and build houses in the local area", you then have whoever is the tree let go. You can ask who felt that and have that person let go of their string. Those who felt that effect will let go of theirs until everyone has been affected by the loss of the tree. This demonstrates very clearly how all of the lives in a habitat are interconnected.
* How does this last piece we did relate to the OH Bear game we played earlier? What does it suggest to us? (Resources are limited, effects of change, overpopulation by animals and humans)
* A follow up to his is the teaching from Midrash:
Our Rabbi's said: Even those things that you may regard as completely superfluous to Creation - such as fleas, gnats, and flies - even they too were included in Creation; and God's purpose is carried out through everything even through a snake, a scorpion, a gnat, or a frog. ( Midrash Genesis Rabbah )
How may you have differed with this teaching before this exercise? Do you agree?
How is it related to the Noah story?
What does it mean to you?
What does it say about our relationship with the Natural World? With God?
Closing:
For this exercise you will need a siddur with the morning blessings. Nishmat Chai T'varech et shemcha the soul of every living being will bless Your name. This is a blessing we say in the morning that recognizes how all creatures praise God in gratitude for having been created. it is said that each living creature sings a song in praise and some of those songs have been recorded in a texts called Perek Shirah / Chapter of Song. Rav Kook spoke of these songs when he scolded his students for plucking a leaf off of a tree and ending that song. Each student is invited to take their journals or a piece of paper, and find either the member of the ecosystem that they have chose or another member of the natural world and sit and observe that being for some time and write the song of poem that they imagine that species sings. Encourage students to write in the first person and ensure them that this will not be something they have to read out loud. This exercise takes ten to fifteen minutes.
