How Humans Impact the Natural World PDF

## How do humans impact the natural world? ### The environment changes as a consequence of how we develop and manage natural resources around the world. **Consider these questions:** * **Factual:** * What different values and viewpoints on the environment do people have? * What are the c...

## How do humans impact the natural world? ### The environment changes as a consequence of how we develop and manage natural resources around the world. **Consider these questions:** * **Factual:** * What different values and viewpoints on the environment do people have? * What are the characteristics of a healthy environment? * How does the environment change? * How do humans develop and manage natural resources? * **Conceptual:** * What determines how humans develop and manage natural resources? * How can managing and developing natural resources change the environment? * How can different values and viewpoints on the environment influence how it changes? * **Debatable:** * To what extent do people have the 'right' to use natural resources? * To what extent should all people have the same responsibility to care for the environment? **Share your thoughts and ideas with your partner, or with the whole class.** ### In this chapter, we will... * Find out what makes a healthy environment and how environments change. * Explore how human actions can have consequences for the environment. * Take action by suggesting options to bring about positive change in the environment. ### These Approaches to Learning skills will be useful... * Communication Skills * Reflection Skills * Critical Thinking Skills * Creative Thinking Skills ### We will reflect on the learner profile attribute... * **Principled:** Practise being principled as we consider the ways in which people use, manage, and develop natural resources. ### Assessment opportunities in this chapter... * Criteria A: Knowing and understanding * Criteria C: Processing and evaluating * Criteria D: Reflecting on the impacts of science **Key Words:** * Environment * Nature * Resource ### Do your actions have an impact on the natural world? Do you think that impact is positive or negative? ### What different values and viewpoints on the environment do people have? ### What is the value of nature? * **Aldo Leopold:** Considered the 'father' of the modern environmental conservation movement. He was a strong supporter of the idea that all people share the responsibility of environmental stewardship. **We all share the duty of protecting and caring for the environment by conserving, or preventing the waste of, the land and natural resources.** * **Leopold worried about how people used the land and the resources it holds and believed that 'We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.' ** He spent his life learning, writing, talking and teaching about ecology and conservation of nature. Many of the ideas and principles Leopold developed and shared are still valid messages - some are even more valid today in the face of the rapid social, political, economic and environmental changes that are occurring now across the planet. In this chapter, we consider more deeply what it means to be members of the 'Earth community', and what we might do, and help others to do, so that we can all be good stewards of the land that supports us. *** ### Environmental Perspectives People have different relationships with or feelings about the environment and nature. As with many things like food, sports, movies, or books - what some people really embrace or care for, others may reject or dislike. There are people who are in the middle, who are more neutral - they feel neither love nor hate, or they both agree and disagree with some aspects of something. And then there are those who don't totally love or totally hate, or totally agree or totally disagree with something, but they are not neutral either. **It is the same when we consider the environment, in particular when we think about our relationship with nature and natural resources. The beliefs and values that we have about nature and the use of natural resources are our environmental ethics, or our environmental values system.** *** ### Where do you stand on the environment? #### What are your beliefs about our relationship with nature? For this activity, your class will need three pieces of paper to create a 'spectrum' of responses to some environmental statements, which say 'Completely disagree', 'Completely agree' and 'Agree in some ways, disagree in some ways'. Next, create the 'spectrum' of responses by putting the paper with 'Completely disagree' on the wall or floor at one end of the room, the paper with 'Completely agree' at the other end, and the paper with 'Agree in some ways, disagree in some ways' somewhere in the middle. Now, holding your own piece of paper horizontally draw three boxes containing the same response categories. Connect the boxes with arrows. Next, listen to your teacher read a statement about the environment, nature, and natural resources, and our relationships with them from the list below. Think about the statement and decide how you feel about it: do you completely agree, completely disagree, or agree in some ways and disagree in some ways? Or are you somewhere in between these categories of response? Whatever you believe is fine - just be ready to explain what makes you feel that way. #### Statements about the environment... 1. Humans have the right to use natural resources as much as we want, and in any way we want. 2. Scientific and technological developments will be the solution to any problems that come from, or are related to, the environment. 3. We can use natural resources to help make our lives better, but we should create laws or other systems to be sure we use them responsibly. 4. Everything that makes up the environment, including all living things and non-living natural resources and people, has equal value and importance - we should respect everything that makes up nature. 5. Countries can develop economically by using natural resources in a responsible way. 6. There are plenty of natural resources to maintain, and continue to improve, human lifestyles, and if not, we will be able to think of some way to get around it. 7. People have the responsibility to care for, protect, and save nature and natural resources. When your teacher says so, move to the area of the spectrum that best represents how you feel in response to the statement. Share what you believe and why according to your teacher's instructions. As you listen to your classmates, you may reconsider or think about the statement from a different perspective - that is okay! Feel free to move around the spectrum as your views change and become more clear. Once everyone has had a chance to share and explain their views about the statement and you have settled on where you are on the spectrum, write the statement number on your personal spectrum in the position where you stand on this issue. So, after the first four statements, your personal spectrum might look something like this: Completely disagree | Agree in some ways, disagree in some ways | Completely agree ---- ### What are the characteristics of a healthy environment? #### Healthy Environments A sports team is successful when it is made up of different players, each playing their own position but cooperating and working together. If a soccer team of 11 goalkeepers were on the pitch, they would not have a very successful match. They would not know whose responsibility it was to guard the net, and they would not have all the skills associated with the other positions. An orchestra produces beautiful music because so many different people are playing different instruments and notes, which they rehearse and synchronize together. Similarly, the environment is successful when there are a variety of different species, each with its own role, but dependent on the others. As you know from what you have studied about food webs and species interactions, each species is important in the flow of energy from sunlight throughout the ecosystem. The interactions between different species - like predation, herbivory and competition, as well as symbiotic relationships like mutualism, parasitism and commensalism - result in balanced population sizes. When population sizes are balanced, the resources in the environment are not overused, and there are enough resources to support all the species. **This variety of different species is called biodiversity, and it is one of the key features of a healthy environment, or, more specifically, a healthy ecosystem.** #### Biodiversity Think of some of the different roles that different species play in an ecosystem. What would happen if some of the species no longer lived in the ecosystem? *** ### What is the current state of biodiversity in the world? How is biodiversity protected? #### Biodiversity **Biodiversity is key to the health of an ecosystem so that all the processes that living things depend on can occur. ** If you think back to what you have learned about ecosystems, you will remember that plants are vital, as they convert the energy of sunlight into usable forms of energy for other organisms, and produce oxygen needed for respiration through the process of photosynthesis. Decomposers like worms, insects and bacteria are crucial for breaking down dead matter and replenishing the nutrients in the soil, allowing plants to grow. Animals in the ecosystem feed on plants and on other animals, keeping populations in balance, and all organisms release carbon dioxide into the environment during respiration, which is required for photosynthesis in plants. Another reason why a wide variety of species is important for ecosystem stability is that if the population of one species is significantly reduced, there are other species with a similar role in the ecosystem that remain and keep the system in balance. For example, if large numbers of rabbits in an ecosystem were wiped out by a virus, but there was still a healthy deer population, the deer would help keep the population of grasses and other plants under control. Furthermore, because the abiotic conditions in an ecosystem do not stay the same throughout the year, a high biodiversity means that there are more likely to be species adapted to the various conditions at different times. This makes it possible for the necessary species interactions to occur all year long. *** ### How does the environment change? #### Although we often refer to healthy ecosystems as 'balanced' or 'stable', it does not mean that they will never change. If we look at the trees of the temperate forest we can see an example of natural changes that an ecosystem experiences. #### When changes occur naturally in an ecosystem, there are systems and cycles in place that allow the organisms that live there to survive or recover from the changes. For example, some animals - like bears, bats and chipmunks - survive the winter months when little food is available by hibernating, so they can still be strong enough to reproduce in the spring. Many plants are adapted to survive the destruction of forest fires. Indeed, the seeds of some species, such as giant sequoias, actually need fire to initiate the process of germination so that new trees can grow. Even after a devastating natural event causing massive destruction, such as the eruption of the Mount St Helen's volcano in Washington State, in the United States of America, in 1980, ecosystems are able to recover. #### What are some natural changes that occur in different ecosystems? Consider different ecosystems around the world, and try to come up with examples of natural changes for each one. *** ### Activity: It's only natural #### Describe the term 'natural resources' and source photos or drawings of both biotic and abiotic natural resources and where they are found. If possible, use your phone or camera to take your own photos. Otherwise, you can search for images online or draw your own pictures. #### Describe the cultural, economic, environmental, ethical, political, or social factors that affect the use of natural resources. Present your information to the rest of the class. You might choose to use a graphic organizer. #### As we saw in the Where do you stand on the environment? activity, we can think about our relationship with and beliefs about nature on a spectrum. At one end are those who feel that we do not have to manage or care for natural resources because we will be able to develop technology in time to overcome any environmental problems. From this viewpoint, shortages in natural resources or changes in the environment are not a concern because, through scientific development, we will find solutions to make life on Earth possible and comfortable for humans. These beliefs are **technocentric**, because they put technology at the focus or centre of our interactions with nature. #### At the other end of the spectrum are people who feel that we have a duty and responsibility to treat everything in nature with respect and care, as all of the biotic and abiotic things in nature play important roles in maintaining a healthy global community. People who feel this way can be described as **ecocentric**, because they believe that the needs of all things coming from nature should be the focus or centre of life on Earth. #### Somewhere in the middle of the spectrum are those who feel that humans are the most important species on the planet, and, therefore, can use and develop natural resources for economic growth - as long as we regulate what we use through political or social solutions, such as laws and taxes. Those who feel this way can be described as **anthropocentric**, because they consider humans to be at the focus or centre of environmental systems. Of course, most people do not agree 100% with any of the response categories. Some tend to share more beliefs with the technocentrists and feel that our technological developments give us access and rights to use natural resources in any way that we want in order to develop our societies, while others tend to share more beliefs with the ecocentrists, believing that we need to care for nature as well as we care for ourselves. *** ### How can managing and developing natural resources change the environment? Because natural resources are a source of income, countries manage how they exploit, or develop, them in different ways. Most countries have a governmental agency or ministry that is in charge of monitoring researching and protecting natural resources, so that they are hopefully exploited in a sustainable way. However, because many natural resources, such as fossil fuels, timber (trees), and the land itself, have such high monetary value, countries depend on the extraction and sale of their natural resources as a large source of income for the country. Some of the currently more economically developed countries (MEDCs), such as those in North America and in Western Europe, have been developing and exploiting their natural resources, such as coal, land and timber, since the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while some of the currently less economically developed countries (LEDCs), such as Brazil, India and China, have recently begun exploiting their natural resources, including oil, natural gas, timber and land. Intergovernmental agencies, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), are working with governments around the world to establish a way for countries to find environmentally sustainable solutions to development and avoid the overexploitation of natural resources. The consequences of exploiting natural resources are not limited to a reduction in the quantity of the resource itself. In fact, the entire process of extracting the resource from the land, getting it to and from processing plants, and processing it into forms that we use, has many consequences. For example, in order to get access to timber, oil and land for development in the Brazilian rainforest, it is necessary to build roads that can support large vehicles in previously untouched natural areas. Building the roads means the habitats of different plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and mammals are disrupted or even destroyed. This causes a reduction in biodiversity. Furthermore, some indigenous tribes who live in these remote areas are forced to leave their homes, where they have lived sustainably from the land for generations. The vehicles that take the workers to and from the natural area and that are used to carry out the extracted resources, as well as the extraction machinery, all pollute the environment with exhaust fumes and fuel spills. The factories that are used to process the resource require fossil fuels for power, large amounts of water, and, often, dangerous chemicals that are a risk to the environment as well as to the health of people who work there. Moreover, the people who are hired to extract the resource, such as miners, and to process the resource in factories, may be exposed to dangerous working conditions, work long hours, and receive low wages. *** ### Activity: Everything changes #### Read the titles of the graphic, and, if present, the labels on the x and y axes #### Look for a legend or key and read what it represents #### Identify the units #### Read the caption #### Identify trends * What increases and when? * What decreases and when? * What stays steady? * Are the increases and decreases slight, gradual, sudden or sharp? Once you have considered those points, and perhaps some others that you think of, summarize what you understand from the graphics and complete the table. Many changes in ecosystems are not natural, and are therefore difficult for organisms to survive and recover from. These changes mainly result from human actions. Some human actions directly change an ecosystem, such as deforestation to clear land for building or ranching. Other human actions indirectly change an ecosystem, such as the melting of polar ice caps as a result of climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. *** ### Activity: Case study - processing petrochemical products #### Read the information about petrochemicals over the next few pages. While reading, write down the points that you find most interesting and questions that you have. Read the information silently, or out loud with your partner or class. Then, write or discuss your response to the questions below. #### Questions... 1. What effect does the variety and popularity of petrochemical products have on the demand for petroleum? 2. What might be some economic, environmental, or political factors associated with the production and use of petrochemical products? 3. Using the facts you have learned about how fossil fuels are formed and processed, make a judgment on the extent to which the use of and demand for petrochemical products contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect and climate change. 4. What are the implications of using petrochemical products when searching for ways to reduce the amount of CO2 that is released into the environment from processing fossil fuels? 5. What are the environmental impacts of the disposal of unused or unwanted petrochemical products? 6. What are some actions that people can take to reduce the environmental impacts of using petrochemical products? *** ### Activity: Natural resources in our lives * **Make a copy of the table.** * **Research in order to find out how people get access to the following natural resources:** fossil fuels, plants, animals, rocks, soil and minerals, and find products or uses of them. * **Indicate whether the natural resource is renewable or non-renewable.** Be sure to cite the sources of your information. | Natural Resource | How people get access to it | How it is used (specific examples) | Renewable or non-renewable? | Consequences of using the natural resource | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Water | Using Pumps to get it from underground wells; collecting it from lakes or rivers, collecting it from rain; collecting it from the ocean and removing it from the salt | Drinking, cooking, hygiene (showering, brushing teeth), washing and cleaning, irrigating crops, hydroelectric power | Surface Water (like Lakes and Rivers) is Renewable; Groundwater under the surface of the Earth is Non-Renewable | | #### Some natural resources take so long to form inside the Earth that once we use them up, they will be gone. These are **non-renewable resources**. For example, the petrol and gas we use to run our vehicles and heat our homes formed over millions of years as tiny, dead sea plants and animals got buried and compressed under layers of rock by huge amounts of pressure and heat, until they were transformed into petroleum and natural gas. Because that process of turning the remains of dead organisms into fossil fuels takes so long, once we use up the fossil fuel reserves we have in our Earth, we will not have access to any more. #### Other natural resources are 'refreshed' by natural cycles and processes. For example, the water that forms lakes, rivers and oceans is replenished through the water cycle, a process that occurs constantly all over the world. These types of natural resources are called **renewable**. *** ### Take action!: An App for the environment You will use what you have learned about the changes that occur in the environment as a consequence of our development and management of natural resources to identify an aspect of conservation that you would like to support with the creation of an app that people can use to help themselves make decisions that contribute positive environmental change. Remember, there is no requirement for exactly what your app must do, but it must help the user understand the relationship between humans and the condition of the environment, and offer suggestions or guidance for how we can take actions that contribute to positive change in the environment. **Before you begin, search online for environmental apps or eco-friendly apps in order to see some that already exist. Use your findings as inspiration for your own app.** Perhaps you want to take an app that already exists and make it specific to your area. Maybe you want to refine one of the apps so it is better suited for teenagers. Or maybe you want to come up with a completely new idea based on your interests and environmental values. You can choose how you would like to share your app design. For example, maybe you would like to do a slideshow or video, or maybe you would like to create a paper-based design. Whatever you choose to do, your design must include the following: 1. Name of the app 2. Description of the app * What are the environmental issues that the app will address? * How will the app contribute to environmental conservation? * What environmental values does the app support? * What positive environmental changes can come as a result of using the app? 3. How and when people will use the app 4. Possible challenges or shortcomings of the app * How might cultural, economic, environmental, ethical, political, or social factors impact the use and success of your app? 5. Diagrams or drawings of what the app would look like when it is being used. 6. Appropriate citation of resources you used to develop your app. **Note:** If you would like to try and actually build your app, you could search online or on youtube.com for how to build an app for free. **Share your app with your class - what are some other ideas for apps that your classmates have come up with?** **Then, discuss with your class how the members of your school community may be able to benefit from the idea of your app, even if you cannot actually build it.** For example, are there any 'shopping guidelines' that you may have included in your app that you can share with people to help raise awareness of the products they might avoid or opt for in order to support positive environmental change?