Year 9 Geography: Environmental Change and Management

Year 9 Geography

• The course covers class climate care, communication, consistency, and assessments.
• Assessments include an online quiz (20%) and a yearly exam (30%) covering environmental change and management, and human wellbeing.

Environmental Change & Management

• Environmental change is any alteration or modification in the natural environment, which can be caused by natural or human activities.
• Environmental management entails strategies and actions to protect and sustain the environment.
• Included in the course are videos to help understand current environmental issues and management strategies.

Worldview

• A worldview is a collection of beliefs and values concerning how people perceive the world.
• Two contrasting worldviews are human-centered and earth-centered.
• Human-centered prioritize the value of humans above everything else, viewing nature as a resource.
• Earth-centered emphasizes the importance of the natural world, considering humans as part of nature and prioritizing environmental health.
• Indigenous strategies have deep roots in the land and are important to sustainable management.

Ecological Footprint

• A measure of how much land and resources a person or a population needs to sustain their lifestyle.
• A larger ecological footprint reflects greater demands on Earth's resources, a smaller footprint suggests sustainable living habits.
• Daily activities, like energy use, transportation, food consumption, waste generation, water use, and consumer choices impact the ecological footprint.

Carbon Cycle

• The carbon cycle illustrates how carbon is exchanged between the atmosphere, oceans, soil, rocks, and living organisms.
• Key processes include:
  • Carbon dioxide is present in Earth's atmosphere
  • Plants absorb CO2 during photosynthesis.
  • Animals release CO2 during respiration.
  • Decomposers break down dead organisms.
  • Soil stores carbon from decayed matter.
  • Oceans absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
  • Burning fossil fuels releases CO2 into the atmosphere

How have Humans Changed the Carbon Cycle?

• Human activities contribute to increased atmospheric CO2.
• Fossil fuel burning is a key human activity disrupting the carbon cycle.
• Deforestation reduces the Earth's capacity for absorbing CO2.

How does Excess Carbon Impact Marine Environments?

• Excess CO2 dissolves in seawater, resulting in ocean acidification.
• Ocean acidification lowers the pH of seawater, impacting marine organisms.

Environmental Issues

• Problems arising from human activities damaging the natural environment.
  • Climate change causes rising global temperatures and extreme weather events.
  • Pollution affects humans and wildlife causing air problems, water problems, and soil problems.
  • Exploitation of wildlife leads to endangerment, disruption of ecosystems, and extinction.
  • Deforestation diminishes biodiversity, reduces CO2 absorption, and increases erosion.
  • Water scarcity reduces access to clean drinking water and impacts agriculture.
  • Plastic waste negatively impacts marine life and ecosystems.

Climate Change

• Graph showing an increase in global average temperatures, in comparison to the 1951-1980 average.
• Human activity is a key cause of this climate change.
• Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and agriculture are all primary causes.

Pollution

• Pollution kills approximately 8.3 million people annually.
• Causes of pollution include emissions from vehicles and improper waste disposal.
• Pollution impacts human health with respiratory issues and pollution of water bodies.
• Also, affects wildlife by polluting the soil, plants and aquatic ecosystems.

Exploitation of Wildlife

• Leading countries with threatened species include Madagascar, Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, Australia, Philippines and Colombia.
• Causes include illegal wildlife trafficking, deforestation, urbanisation, agriculture, and overfishing.
• Effects include endangering species and disrupting ecosystems.

Deforestation

• Shows the annual change in global forest areas in 2015, highlighting deforestation and afforestation.
• Causes include clearing land for crops and livestock and growing urbanisation.
• Effects include loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction and reduction in capacity to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

Water Scarcity

• 25 countries are currently experiencing extremely high water stress.
• Causes include excessive water use in agriculture, industry, and domestic purposes, and contaminated water sources.
• Effects include lack of access to clean drinking water, diseases, and reduced water which impacts food production.

Plastic Waste

• Global plastic production has risen significantly since 1950.
• Causes include high demand for plastic products and inadequate recycling and waste management.
• Effects include harming marine life through plastic debris in oceans, littering, and cleanup costs.

Recycling

• Activities involve placing items in appropriate recycling and landfill bins.
• Some items are recyclable, and some must disposed of in landfill.

Marine Environments

• Marine environments encompass aquatic environments with high salt content like oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries.
• They consist of plants (sea grasses, phytoplankton, algae), and diverse animals including fish, crustaceans, mammals, corals, and sea anemones.
• Marine environments are crucial for food, source of raw materials for medicine, and provide building materials.
• They also provide key defense against hazards.

Coral Bleaching

• Stressed corals expel their algae partners, leading to a loss of color, known as bleaching.
• Factors contributing to coral bleaching include rising sea temperatures, due to climate change, runoff and pollution, and overexposure to sunlight.

The Great Barrier Reef

• The Great Barrier Reef's health is affected by issues like coral bleaching and the Crown-of-Thorns starfish.
• The Crown of Thorns starfish is a threat to the Great Barrier Reef due to overfeeding.
• Human activities contribute to the outbreak of crown-of-thorn starfish.

Trophic Cascades

• Trophic cascades refer to indirect effects on multiple other species within an ecosystem due to changes in one species population.
• Example presented in the slides is the Yellowstone National Park Food Web.
• Removal of predators like wolves can lead to a surge in the deer population, impacting the primary producers through overconsumption.

Skills - Topographic Maps & Area Grid Reference

• Topographic maps illustrate geographical features like hills and valleys using contour lines of elevation/altitude.
• Contour lines indicate elevation on Earth's surface. Close lines indicate steep slopes, while lines farther apart indicate flatter slopes.
• Area references provide a general location, whereas grid references give pinpoint exact positions on the map using easting (horizontal) and northing (vertical) coordinates.

War on Waste

• This is an observational activity using video on environmental issues, identifying human impacts and management strategies.

Revision Questions

• Questions include identifying worldviews, explaining ecological footprints, and correlating Australia's footprint to the global one; as well as how overconsumption affects the ecological footprint globally.