TAKING CARE OF THE
PLANET
Our earth has a limited amount of
resources. Thank goodness
mother nature is a good recycler!
We have already learned that nature recycles
energy, water, carbon and nitrogen, and those are
just a few.
We’ve also learned that organisms tend to
maintain a balance of species in an ecosystem
because of a food chain or food web.
Do you remember
what would happen
if there were very
few beetles or
snails in the food
chain?
There wouldn’t be enough food for the fish;
they would die out. Then there wouldn’t be
enough food for the big fish and platypus.
BALANCE
Nature, left alone, tends to be
really good at maintaining a
proper balance. We learned
that balance was called
homeostasis.
But…nature isn’t left alone. Humans live on the
planet and they are constantly altering or
changing nature. Sometimes those alterations
are unhealthy for the environment.
INTERDEPENDANCE
All living things depend on their
environment for survival. We learned
all about that when we studied food
chains and energy pyramids.
So, if people don’t take care of the
environment, it harms the organisms
that live there. In some cases it
affects the entire earth. Eventually,
it will harm people, too.
Mistreating the environment makes the Earth sick!
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
A few of the more
common environmental
problems are
1) Pollution
2) Global Warming
3) Resource Depletion
How People Damage The
Environment
Unwanted or harmful changes in the environment
are called pollution.
We will briefly address water, air and land pollution.
WATER POLLUTION
Our bodies are more than 50% water and we require a lot
of water for our cells to function and keep us running.
Although the surface of the earth is 70% water, only about
3% of that water is freshwater, and we are able to drink far
less than 1% of that.
We are polluting so much of our water through our
everyday actions, like those shown in the pictures below.
 We are also polluting our water with industry and farming.
AIR POLLUTION
• We need air to stay alive,
but how clean is the air we
breathe?
• Some of the activities we do
daily put polluted air in our
environment.
• Humans pollute the air by
driving a car, using
electricity and burning
waste.
LAND POLLUTION
• Land pollution comes
from many sources.
• Industry, farming,
household activities and
littering, to name a few.
• Chemicals can leak into
the soil where they can
pose problems for
humans and animals for
many, many years.
RESOURCE DEPLETION
We have already learned that our
planet has limited resources and
that mother nature is a good
recycler of some of those
resources.
40%
Americans consume
of
the resources being used around
the world, yet we make up only
5% of the population.
That is like having 20 pieces
of pizza to split between 20
people. Then one person
takes 8 pieces and the rest
have to split the remaining
12 pieces.
If everyone in the world
consumed as much resources
as Americans do, we would
need five earths to support
us.
RENEWABLE AND NON-RENEWABLE
RESOURCES
• Some resources are renewable. You can use trees
to make wood and paper products, but you can also
replant them.
• Other resources are non-renewable. Once you
use them they are gone for good. Oil is a nonrenewable resource. We use oil for fuel and plastics
among other things.
• But we can run out of both resources. Even
renewable resources must not be consumed
faster than we can replace them.
GLOBAL WARMING
Global warming may be the most significant
problem facing our world today. Basically global
warming is a gradual increase in the planet’s
overall temperature. This increase results in all
sorts of climate change.
What causes global warming? Let’s try to keep
it simple.
1) The sun warms up the earth. The earth’s atmosphere
usually traps just enough heat to keep us at the right
temperatures.
2) Scientists have discovered that too much CO2 gas (carbon
dioxide) causes more heat to be trapped. This results in
rising temperatures.
3) We are putting more and more CO2 in the atmosphere
because of our need for energy. Every time we drive our
car or turn on a light we are putting CO2 in the air.
4) This temperature increase is causing our ice at the poles to
melt which then causes higher temperatures.
5) It is a cycle, only this time a bad one.
That was a lot of information. To make it
easier and more fun to learn, click on the
link below and go listen to earthman sing
his song about global warming. It is a
great tune, and you can pause as you
listen to write down information.
Click on the link below to learn more about global warming.
The Earthman Project - Climate Crisis Jam
WHAT CAN WE DO?
So, the earth has limited resources, and
humans are using them up and misusing
them. We are destroying our only home.
We have recognized the problem, how
do we solve it?
We can recycle. Some scientists
think we should recycle
everything in our homes, not just
plastics , cardboard and bottles.
We can talk to adults about recycling,
conserving water, and minimizing
pollution.
WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?
We can replace our light bulbs with energy
saving bulbs.
We can bike, bus or walk whenever possible.
We can turn out
lights and save on
electricity.
We can grow our own garden
and eat organic food.
SO WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
 We’ve learned that we have limited resources.
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Some are renewable and some are not.
We’ve also learned that all organisms on the
planet are dependent upon those resources and
each other.
If we use up or misuse our resources, we can put
ourselves and the planet out of balance.
We are using up resources such as water, energy,
fish, and minerals.
We are also misusing our resources in the form of
water, air and land pollution which is leading to
environmental problems such as global warming.