In this scenario, please pick one of the personas below. For the rest of the lesson, please consider the pros and cons raised by the forum options from the perspective of this stakeholder (character names generated by https://www.behindthename.com/random).
At the beginning of the forum, the participants introduced themselves and responded to the following questions:
- What concerns do you have about the Grumpy Manatee Lagoon in your community or throughout the GML region?
- What makes this issue real for you?
Rosa Delgado: “Hi everybody - I’m Rosa. I’m 62 years old and I’ve lived near the lagoon my whole life. I think it is just the most beautiful place in the world, but I’m really worried about pollution. Everywhere I go, there is trash. It’s like people just don’t care anymore.”
Raj Siskind: “Hello - I’m Raj, and I’m a science teacher at the local high school – go Grumpy Manatees! I’ve been taking my students out on field trips to sample water quality around the lagoon for five years now. My students love it, getting outside the classroom and doing hands-on work. But they are also getting a little stressed out – the water quality at all of our sample sites is getting worse, and during one field trip, we came across thousands of dead fish on the shore.”
Maria Willoughby: “Hi. I’m Maria - Mr. Siskand is actually my teacher. I’m really worried about climate change and the future. I’ve been going to protests and I’ve tried to live more sustainably, but it isn’t enough. We all need to work together to make sure our community isn’t underwater, or destroyed by horrible storms, in 50 years.”
Paul Peynirci: “Hello everyone, I’m Paul. I’m a fisherman, and in the summer, I also take tourists out on boat trips. As a business owner, I’m pretty pro-development, and I’ve been involved in the Grumpy Manatee Chamber of Commerce and local planning committee. But I’ve also had some tourists complain about how polluted the lagoon is, and last year was pretty bad for fishing, so I’m worried too.”
Before continuing to the next page, pick one character, and go through the scenario from their perspective. Use your imagination to picture the person and add more details about their lives, and what they care about.