 Caring for the Environment |
Issue 98 |
Living in harmony with the environment
The way that human beings live and survive involves interacting with our environment. We depend on the natural world for our very survival. We use water from rivers to drink, we grow our food using the soil, we catch fish in the sea, we use timber from forests to build our homes. All human economic activity uses natural resources. We rely on our natural environment for our standard of living. Everything we do has some impact on our natural environment. We therefore have to take care that we do not cause too much stress on our environment by our actions.
Every time that we do something as simple as turn on a light we are using up resources. We are altering our environment. We set off a whole chain of events that have consequences of which we are barely aware. How was the light globe produced? How was it packaged? How do we dispose of the packaging or the globe that has blown?
How is the electricity produced? In Australia, most electricity is produced in coal-fired power stations. Coal has to be mined, it has to be transported to the power station, it has to be burnt so as to provide heat for boiling water to create steam which is then used to drive a turbine which produces the electricity. The electricity needs to be relayed to your home via a whole series of wires and cables. Trees are cut down to make telegraph poles, metal needs to be mined and manufactured into wires and then coated with protective plastic.
All these processes involve the using up of natural resources. The burning of fossil fuels like coal or oil pollutes the atmosphere and contributes to the warming of the Earth's atmosphere.
Who would have thought that the simple act of flicking on a light switch could have such consequences?
The question that needs to be asked is can we keep on doing what we are doing or will future generations have to suffer a lower standard of living as a consequence of what we are doing today? If what we do today means that the soil will not be able to grow crops in the future or if the trees we cut down today mean that timber will not be available to our children or grandchildren or if we take too many fish from the sea so that that fish population will decline or even disappear, then we have stolen from the future to pay from the present.
The United nations has recognised this problem in its Millennium Development Goals. Goal number 7 states that the principles of environmental sustainability will be incorporated into countries' policies and that environmental damage already caused will be reversed. This recognises the fact that we depend on the environment for our wellbeing and also that the health of the environment depends on us.
Poverty can add extra pressure on the environment as people are desperate to maintain a basic lifestyle they may not be able to take environmental consequences of their actions into account. They may be desperate for fuel to cook food and to keep warm and remove vegetation. This may then destabilise the soil so that it will more easily wash away in floods and then reduce the ability of that ground to grow crops. So the cycle of poverty and environmental destruction continues.
Sometimes the decisions of people in foreign countries can cause environmental damage in developing countries. On the island of Bougainville, located just to the north of the Solomon Islands, a huge open cut copper mine was developed by the Australian mining company, CRA. This mine gouged out a huge chunk of the island, affecting the forests and the water supplies. This meant that traditional sources of food and water were destroyed. The local landowners were so angered by this that some took up arms and forced the mine to close.
The reconciliation process after this conflict (which was about land use and environmental destruction) is still under way today. Part of that reconciliation process is about getting people back to their land again so that they can support themselves and their families once again.
An example of a development project in Bougainville that follows the principles of sustainable development is Caritas' Bougainville Rehabilitation Project. After the civil war in Bougainville ended, many people returned to their homes after being forced to flee for many years, only to find that their lands had been neglected and so needed to be rehabilitated. This was to ensure that the land would be productive into the future as well as in the present. This project recognises the interdependence of people and their environment so that people can continue to support themselves and their families into the future by caring for their environment.
Activities Across the Curriculum
For teaching and learning activities about the Bougainville conflict and its aftermath as well as its history and natural features go to
ozspirit.info/2004/84b.html There are links to pictures of the Panguna copper mine as well as links to the role of women in the reconciliation process.
Mathematics
Go to www.wwflearning.co.uk/filelibrary/
pdf/crispin.pdf to see projects that relate sustainability with Mathematics. There is a project on oil spills and on population
HSIE/SOSE
1) The article looks at the environmental chain of events caused by switching on a light. In small groups, discuss the environmental consequences of driving to the shops. Discuss your findings with the rest of the class. Do you think that driving cars will be sustainable in the long term? Give reasons for your answer.
2) Calculate the environmental footprint of your school, office or home. Go to www.epa.vic.gov.au/
Eco-footprint/EF_Calculators.asp Were you surprised by the result? From what you discovered is your lifestyle environmentally sustainable?
3) Go to www.globalgang.org.uk/goats/launch5.htm to play a game where a goat becomes an environmentally sustainable creature by eating waste, providing food and milk and providing manure for growing crops. Explain how a cow or a chicken could be used to improve people's lives and care for the environment.
4) Go to www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/
education/ and answer the following:
- What has been happening to the environment at the same time as the lives of people are getting better and better?
- As many of us are better off, what has been happening to other people?
- What is meant by the word "sustainable"?
- What is involved with "development"?
- What does "sustainable development" mean?
5) Go to www.wwflearning.co.uk/filelibrary/pdf/
spr_01_-_sec.pdf for more ideas and activities on sustainable development.
6) The United Nations has declared 2005 to 2014 to be the Decade for Education for Sustainable development. Go to www.wwflearning.co.uk/
filelibrary/pdf/spr_05_main.pdf for more information.
7) For some interactive games and quizzes on climate change go to www.environment-agency.gov.uk/
fun/369960/?version=1&lang=_e This site also ha links to activities and quizzes on other environmental topics like air, water, energy, waste etc. More games can be found at www.epa.gov/kids/game.htm
8) Go to cyberschoolbus.un.org/mdgs/index.html and click on the green icon number7. Then click on "About this goal". Read this section including the "read more" section and answer the following:
- What does goal 7 aim to do?
- Give an example of how poverty and the environment are linked.
- How do the other goals depend on this goal?
- How do poor people usually make their incomes?
- What environmental issue do these people face every day?
- How does the limited access to natural resources affect women in developing countries?
9) Go to www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/teachers/
globciti/profdev/activity6.htm for another teaching and learning activity about sustainable development
10) Test your environmental knowledge by trying the eco-maze quiz at
www.grida.no/geo2000/pacha/ecomaze/index.htm
11) Go to www.unep.org/tunza/youth/
What_you_always_wanted_to_know/
State_of_%20Environment/index.asp and research one of the environmental issues on this page. Share your findings with a person near you who researched a different topic.
Design and Technology
Design an energy efficient home in this interactive activity at www.think-energy.com/
Students/ks3_students/activities/activityEight/
index.asp
Religion
1) Nelson Mandela said in a speech recently:
"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom."
Discuss the difference between charity and justice.
Compare poverty with being imprisoned. How can they be seen as the same?
2) Go to www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/pc05/materials/
materials/Caritas%20Australia_Project%20
Compassion%202005_Schools_
SecondaryStories_Web.pdf Read the second story about Aloysius. Answer the following:
- Why did Aloysius and his family have to leave their home?
- What happened to people's land while they were forced to stay away from their home?
- What was the purpose of the Rehabilitation program?
- How do you think that you can "farm" fish?
- How is taking care of the environment linked to the education of children in this story?
- Brainstorm the positive chain of events which started with the setting up of Aloysius' fish farm.
- Complete the activity on the bottom of this page (page 2).
For practical suggestions to improve the environment, go to
www.onebigvillage.com.au/onebigvillage/OBV_Files/
get_involved.pdf
Find out more about sustainable development projects by reading about the projects supported by Caritas Australia at www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/index.htm You can support these projects by supporting Project Compassion. See www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/pc05/index.htm for more details about the campaign as well as fundraising ideas.
Go to www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/
pp.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=183708 for ideas on how to get involved in the Millennium Development Goals campaign.
Contact your Federal Member of Parliament to urge them to throw their support behind the efforts of world leaders like Nelson Mandela to end poverty. Read the full text of his speech at www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/apps/nl/
content2.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=175513&
content_id={0C915C1B-A1FA-4FEC-A1B6-
9CB1152B15A0}¬oc=1
You can find contact details of Federal politicians at www.aph.gov.au/house/members/index.htm They will only act if we tell them we care.