GREEN NINJA
TEACHER SUPPORT MATERIALS
NAME OF GREEN NINJA VIDEO: The Crude, The Bad, and The Ugly
MAIN TOPIC OF VIDEO: Recycling of Motor Oil Products (Oil and Filter)
Click HERE to watch this episode! (Link)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Frame:
1. What are the uses for motor oil? Be as specific as possible.
2. What is crude petroleum? Be as specific as possible.
3. Why do storm drains have the following sign: DO NOT DUMP - FLOWS TO BAY.
Be as specific as possible.
Focus:
1. How can used motor oil be recyclable? Be as specific as possible.
2. How can used motor oil filters be recyclable? Be as specific as possible.
3. What are the environmental benefits of recycling motor oil products (oil and
filters)? Be as specific as possible.
Follow-up:
1. How can you be a part of the movement to recycle used motor oil products? Be
as specific as possible.
2. How can used motor oil impact aquatic ecosystems? Be as specific as possible.
3. Why does it make economic sense to make recycled motor oil products? Be as
specific as possible.
ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Frame:
1. Motor oil is used a lubricant for engines especially for automobile engine. It
makes the car engine run better. Most cars like mine (Toyota Corolla 2000)
undergo a motor oil change every 3 months or 3,000 miles. Another way to
determine whether your car needs an oil change is to open up the motor oil
compartment and using the dipstick, determine whether the oil is dirty. Clean
motor oil is usually golden. When it gets black, its time for an oil change.
2. Crude petroleum is the gooey substance that is pumped/extracted from the
ground or from the seabed. Crude petroleum is then shipped to refineries where
there undergo further processing into products such as jet fuel, asphalt, candle
wax (yes, the kind that’s on your birthday cake!), automobile gasoline, and diesel
for heavy trucks and ships. Increasingly, petroleum products are becoming part
of our menu as petroleum is commonly used in pesticides, which are sprayed on
www.greenninja.org
GREEN NINJA
TEACHER SUPPORT MATERIALS
our food products. Next time, you enter buy a McDonald’s Happy Meal, think of
the many petroleum products used.
3. Next time you walk by a storm drain (if you don’t know what one looks like, its
usually a small, rectangular hole on the side of the sidewalk). Unlike household
sewage (wastes from your sink or toilet) which ends up in sewage lines to be
treated in a sewage treatment facility, whatever ends up in a storm drain ends up
in the creek or a river, eventually making its way to the bay and the ocean. Its
function is exactly as stated; it is a storm drain, which is used to take away runoff
that is produced during a rainstorm.
Focus:
1. Motor oil can become recyclable as technology has increased through the rerefinement process of motor oil.
2. Motor oil filter can become recyclable because the steel in it can be recycled and
become other steel products.
3. The environmental benefits of recycling motor oil products include less
dependence on crude petroleum. In addition, it will reduce the amount of carbon
dioxide produced as motor oil products are made. Lastly, in addition to carbon
dioxide being produced, other side products produced include sulfur dioxide,
suspended particulate matter such as ash, which pollutes the air.
Follow-up:
1. Students can use a variety of multimedia methods to inform the public such as
videos in the form of a public service announcement, posters around the school
encouraging the recycling of motor oil products (oil and filter) and discouraging
the dumping of used motor oil into storm drains. Most importantly, students need
to be able to translate the environmental reasons stated above into common
every day language so the community will buy in. Depending on the age of the
student, multimedia can be in several languages and can varied in terms of the
depth of scientific knowledge.
2. Use motor oil as a petroleum based product affect the aquatic ecosystem in
many ways. Firstly, it will damage aquatic life both plant and animal. For example,
motor oil will leave an oily sheen on top of the water due to its density thereby
potentially coating marine organisms with oil if dumped in large amounts.
Secondly, motor oil due to its refined nature contains organic solvents, which are
harmful to the aquatic environment. Thirdly, some of these solvents such as
PCBs are water insoluble, which can potentially bio-accumulate and bio-magnify
in the aquatic ecosystem.
3. This question will give students the opportunity to “think outside the box” as high
school students will wonder how economics is connected to science. As stated in
the video, the recycling of motor oil will lead to less dependence on imported oil.
This implication creates more than just economic issues but also creates political
sensitivities as the ones implicating that US involvement in Iraq was due to oil not
weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, the older and more informed the
students, the richer and more diverse the lesson.
www.greenninja.org
GREEN NINJA
TEACHER SUPPORT MATERIALS
ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND LEARNING EXPERIENCES:
1. Have students bring in household items they believe contain petroleum-based
products.
*This activity can be modified for different age groups. For example, for a lower
elementary grade classroom, a teacher can restrict the type of material brought
in so the petroleum connection is obvious. For older students especially high
school students, each student group of 4 can be assigned to bring in petroleumbased products from different consumer groups. For example, one group can
bring in petroleum-based products from food products. Then each group can
present to the class where and how petroleum was used to product the item. My
favorite is a McDonald’s Happy Meal where students determine the
ingredients/components of each Happy Meal item.
2. Before having younger students put a drop of cooking in a cup of
water, ask
them to write down what will happen. After putting in a drop of oil, ask them to
write them what happened. Most importantly, ask them why it happened.
3. For older students, consider setting up a scenario where students simulate an oil
spill and ask them to write down how to cleanup the spill.
Credit: This teacher resource has been adapted from content originally developed
by Chung Khong.
www.greenninja.org