Pollution During the Middle Ages (and Today)

Today the students read the stories of Nelly the Sniggler and Drogo the Tanner. First, though, we had to figure out what it means to "sniggle"!

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Some students decided that sniggling could mean snoring and giggling at the same time. Charles humorously demonstrated the fine art of simultaneous snoring and giggling.

Eventually, we discovered that sniggling refers to fishing for eels and frogs. It turns out that eels were a very popular food during the Middle Ages.

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Next, we learned that the process of tanning animal hides was an important technological breakthrough, because leather is more durable than rawhide.  Unfortunately, tanning produces a significant amount of waste, and medieval tanners often threw the waste directly into the streams and rivers.

Snigglers (like Nelly) did not like tanners. Snigglers thought the tanners were polluting the streams and hurting the eels and frogs. 

The stories about pollution during the Middle Ages led to a fascinating discussion about the ways that important technologies (on which we all depend) continue to cause pollution.  

The students discussed various types of pollution, and I asked them to choose one source of pollution or environmental damage that they think will be especially difficult to decrease.  I also challenged them to come up with a suggestion for how the government could contribute to "solving" this source of pollution. Here are some of their responses: 

Henry, Jay, Kimball and Nikki: The biggest current problem is that humans are cutting down too many trees. Our suggestion is that the government pass a law that would require timber companies to plant at least one new tree for each tree that is cut down.

Jago, Natalie, Caroline and Gresh: The biggest current problem is that automobiles are releasing too much pollution into the atmosphere.  Our suggestion is that the government pass a law that would require American car-makers to build more electric cars and fewer gasoline cars.