Lesson 7: Environmental Challenges
Getting Started
In this lesson, you will begin to investigate local laws that are intended to encourage stewardship that protects the oceans. Stewardship is an ethical practice by organizations, communities, and others to plan and manage environmental resources to prevent or lessen the loss of habitat and aid a habitat's recovery. It is important to understand the role of laws and their enforcement as a form of stewardship. For this lesson, you will learn more about how your local area plays a role in helping protect the Earth's ocean reservoirs. You will investigate the primary goal of stewardship — recognizing and limiting the harm that pollution can cause.
Stuff You Need
- Painless Earth Science by Edward J. Denecke, Jr. (green edition)
- Protecting Earth's Water Supply by Ron Fridell
- phone book and phone
Ideas to Think About
- What are some ways to help protect the environment?
- What are some sources of harm to the environment?
- How effective are laws for protecting the environment?
Things to Know
- Stewardship is the practice by organizations, communities, and others to plan and manage environmental resources to prevent or lessen the loss of habitat and aid a habitat's recovery.
- Pollution is the introduction of harmful waste products, chemicals, and other substances not native to an environment.
- A rapid increase in the death of fish in an area as a result of oxygen depletion caused by the decomposition of algae is called a fish kill.
- Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter.
Skills
- Use technologies and information systems to research, disseminate findings to others, gather, visualize, and analyze data. (S)
- Use information systems to identify scientific needs, human needs, or problems that are subject to technological solution, as well as locate resources to obtain and test ideas. (S)
- Recognize that the good health of environments and organisms requires monitoring of the hydrosphere, water quality standards, methods of water treatment, maintaining safe water quality, and stewardship. (S)
Introducing the Lesson
In this lesson, your child will investigate local laws that are designed to encourage stewardship that protects the oceans. The goal is for your child to understand the role of laws that protect water and the importance of their enforcement. Your child will learn more about how your local area plays a role in helping protect the Earth's ocean reservoirs. The major objective for the lesson is two-fold: 1) to encourage your child to investigate how local governments encourage stewardship and 2) to help your child recognize how stewardship is intended to limit the harm that pollution from local populations can cause.
Materials: Painless Earth Science by Edward J. Denecke, Jr. (green edition), Protecting Earth's Water Supply by Ron Fridell
Read pages 122-124 in Painless Earth Science. Then read pages 8-15 in Protecting Earth's Water Supply, starting with "Water on the Move." You will read about sources of pollution, the effects of pollution, and ways that pollutants enter the water cycle at different stages. Answer these questions:
Questions
- Is pollution a result of overpopulation or bad practices?Pollution is not the result of overpopulation. Rather, it is the result of industrial practices for farming use and creation of products.
- What are three ways that pollutants enter the water cycle?Answers may vary, but may include the following: chemical pollutants released into the air and spread out through the atmosphere; chemical runoff from fertilizers; sediment runoff into water; sewage leaking into water supplies.
- How do practices such as recycling lessen pollution?By recycling, pollution is reduced in a few ways. Recycled materials can be reused, so the production of new raw materials is reduced. Second, recycling lessens what goes into a landfill or other waste disposal area, increasing the amount of time a landfill area can be used while reducing harm to the environment. Finally, recycling develops a stewardship mentality — an understanding of personal responsibility.
- Where does most of the moisture in the earth's atmosphere come from?Most of the moisture comes from the oceans via evaporation.