schools.reep.org - Secondary resources: Activity 4.2





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SECONDARY RESOURCES

ACTIVITY 4.2 - HOW DO PEOPLE TRAVEL?

AIM

To introduce pupils to some of the problems caused by modern methods of transport, in particular the problem caused by motor transport. This issue is too complex to explore in full here, so this unit focuses on the perceived need for speed in modern society. In many pilgrimage traditions the method of transport is linked to the purpose of the journey - indeed "slowness" is often seen as a virtue. By exploring the Japanese Buddhist Shikoku pilgrimage, the pupils are helped to reflect on the fact that speed is not always as important as they are led to believe.

THE ACTIVITY: PART ONE

Look at the charts from the last section. Using another sheet this time record how these journeys are made.

Look at the results. Pupils could make some comparative bar charts e.g. to show how the children in the class get to school. Private car transport will figure prominently in most children's lives.

Background: The contemporary environmental/political debate on the problem of transport is centred on the dependence on motorized transport and the reluctance of most people to use public rather than private transport. The desire for private motor transport is generated by the need for speed, privacy and control. The negative consequences are both local and global, from poor air quality at particular road junctions through to the melting of the polar ice-caps as a consequence of global warming. Individuals seem reluctant to make the connection between their own use of car transport and either of these local effects, or the larger, more long-term global. These issues are complex and impossible to explore fully here. For a fuller overview of the problems caused by motor transport, backed by statistical evidence, see Professor John Whitelegg's Critical Mass: Transport, Environment and Society in the Twenty-First Century (Pluto Press 1997).

As an introduction to the debate the pupils could be asked to produce an audit of the cost and benefits of private car transport. Once again the format can be fairly simple e.g. a worksheet with two headings:
- What are the benefits of cars?
- What are the disadvantages of cars?
Present the sheet to the children without prior discussion. Then use the completed individual versions of the individual sheets to construct a whole-class version.

Acknowledge that public transport is inadequate but in this context use class discussion time to draw attention to the 'severity of the price that has to be paid' (see Whitelegg, pp.17-18):

Atmospheric pollution
The Department of Health estimates that in Britain 10,000 people per year die as a consequence of air pollution. People in cities die 18 months earlier than they would otherwise. This tends to affect the poor and ethnic minorities more than other groups as the rich, although making more use of private car transport; have the money to move away from traffic pollution. Motor transport also contributes to the increase in greenhouse gasses and therefore to climate change, with its attendant disastrous environmental and human consequences.

The threat of violent death
In Britain on average

i. 10 people are killed in traffic accidents each day (3,600 per year; perhaps 500,000 people killed worldwide per year)
ii. 120 people are seriously injured.
iii. Half of accidental deaths to children per year occur on the roads.
iv. Roads are perceived by parents as dangerous places and children are forbidden to play outside. The increase in heart disease and obesity among Britain's population has been directly related to this enforced incarceration of children in their homes.

Urban decay
Most children live in towns. A walk along a busy road soon reveals the negative consequences of mass car transport. Vast numbers of serviceable houses are abandoned or run-down along main roads because of the dirt, noise and danger caused by cars. Less obviously, perhaps, small shops - and even whole town centres - are closed as car-dependent shopping malls proliferate on the edge of town.

After a full discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of private motor transport, ask the pupils to describe their feelings and reactions.

Using adverts: bring the different perspectives into focus for younger pupils by asking the children to bring in various magazines, e.g. Sunday supplements or the Radio Times, and then cut out all the adverts for cars.
- Are there any adverts for any forms of public transport?
- For bikes?
- What advantages do the car adverts offer the consumer?
On one half of a display board mount the different car adverts. On the other half mount the adverts for public transport - if there are any. If not, then the children can design their own adverts - either public health adverts warning of the dangers and disadvantages of cars, or adverts which advocate a form of public transport.

THE ACTIVITY: PART TWO

PILGRIMAGE: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEBATE

This activity, exploring issues of speed/slowness and action/reflection, involves researching the Japanese Buddhist Shikoku pilgrimage, followed by 100,000 people per year.

Materials: Ask the pupils to look at David Turkington's excellent website on the pilgrimage at home.owc.net/~dturk/shikoku.html. (For future reference, you could download the site or make copies of useful pages.)
Textbooks and encyclopaedias can also be used but they do not often include much about Japanese Buddhism.

For a reflection on the value of travelling slowly, see Don Weiss's site - www.mandala.ne.jp/echoes/

Background discussion
1. Speed as a virtue
  Our society values fast food, exciting films, roller-coaster sensations, instant repairs... Conversely queues, delays and boredom are nightmares which we all dread. Ask pupils to think about the idea that the more we individually pursue speed, the more we collectively grind to a halt.
2. A religious perspective
  Refer to the work done in Part I, especially the perceived advantages of private car transport for speed, privacy and control. These incentives are powerful and not necessarily bad; nevertheless, religious perspectives can question whether they are always and everywhere good.
3. Pilgrimage - taking time In the past, pilgrimages were inevitably slow.
  - They covered great distances.
  - Horses were the quickest means of transport - but usually people travelled on foot.
  - Political disputes and general lawlessness could mean long detours had to be taken.
  But this slow pace was often seen as a virtue and often pilgrims slowed their pace even more when they got nearer their destination. Why?

Shikoku pilgrimage work

Working in groups, using the downloaded website, pupils can find out information about one of the following topics:
- Where does the pilgrimage take place?
- How many temples are visited?
- Who is Kobo Daishi (Kukai?)
- What do the pilgrims wear?
- What happens at each temple?
Information about each topic can be shared and, together; the class can consider how to go on pilgrimage. Note that there is no correct way of making the pilgrimage - in modern Japan most pilgrims go by coach. Some take several years to complete the circuit, visiting a few shrines each year.
However, some still choose to go on foot. Why? Which method would the pupils prefer and why?

Look at Don Weiss's website [www.mandala.ne.jp/echoes/]. For him and others who choose to go by foot, slowness clearly adds to the intensity of the experience. Only by travelling slowly can the mind focus on the experience and purpose of the pilgrimage. It allows the total attention that would be impossible for a high-speed traveller. The slow traveller has, in Weiss's words:

Eyes		to see the temples and statues, pilgrims and priests, rivers and mountains.
Ears		to hear the prayers and sutras in the temples, and the birds singing sweetly in the trees.
Nose		to smell the incense and spiciness of the cedars, the great forests of the mountains of Shikokou.
Tongue		to taste the food at the pilgrimage inns and the fruit and chocolate that I ate as I walked along the road.
Body		to feel the heat and cold, the hard roads and muddy trails, the pilgrimage clothes I wore, the walking stick in my hand.
Mind		My mind. Always at the centre, to absorb all this, and be absorbed in it.

Pupils could use this format to write their own descriptions of a special journey.

To help reflection:
1. Listen to two contrasting pieces of music as a stimulus - Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, say, with Debussy's L'aprés-midi d'un faune.
2. Write two contrasting poems on the subject of speed and slowness (along the lines of Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso!). As with the music, the poems should create opposite moods.
  - Speed could be suggested by reference to sirens, screeching tyres, the rattle of rails, hair blowing, blurred images, g-forces pushing you on a fairground ride, blizzards etc..
  - Slowness could be suggested by the tick of a clock; a summer breeze, a lazy river near its source, a flower taking a day to open, a dandelion seed in the air, snow flakes.