Planning for the future Key words: lichen, freshwater invertebrate, pollution, sustainable

Areas of high air pollution have fewer lichen species growing

POLLUTION Lichens indicate the level of air pollution. Simple the more species of lichens growing the cleaner the air. Freshwater invertebrates indicate the level of freshwater pollution. The wider the range of these invertebrates the cleaner the water. Some will not tolerate any pollution whilst others will only live in polluted rivers! How can we use this information to analyse pollution levels? How reliable is this?

Objective How do we plan for the future and balance the needs of people and the needs of the environment? Success Criteria By the end of the lesson I: know that lichens are indicators of levels of air pollution and freshwater invertebrates are biological indicators of freshwater pollution know that in the development of new housing for the increases on population pressures, areas that have already been used (brown fields) should be redeveloped and reused.

Housing Needs The world’s population is growing and needs suitable housing. It is important not to use up green areas of the countryside called green fields. Rather areas that have previously been built on should be used. These are called Brown field sites. Brown field sites are often contaminated with chemicals and it is expensive to clean them up.

Protecting SSIs Sites of Special Scientific Interest often have rare or endangered organisms growing or particularly interesting or unique landscape.

How much waste? Every year, billions of tonnes of paper, plastics, synthetic materials, metal and wood are thrown away. On average, each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish each year. Being; solid waste – such as plastic, metal, paper and other man-made substances Photo credit: Paco Navarro (www.ohestudio.com) chemicals – such as herbicides and pesticides, crude oil and waste from industrial processes.

What are the options? What methods are there for disposing of waste materials? Landfill is the cheapest solution, but sites quickly become full and the waste contaminates the surrounding air, soil and water. Incinerating waste reduces volume, but often produces toxic chemicals. Recycling materials allows them to be useful again, and reduces the need to use more raw materials. Teacher notes See the ‘Making Polymers’ chemistry presentation for more information on disposing of plastics. Composting uses natural biological processes to decompose organic materials, but cannot be used to dispose of non-biodegradable waste.

What is the best solution? The best way to deal with waste is to produce less of it! It takes 100 kg of resources to make 10 kg of shopping, and most of that ends up in the bin. If products were redesigned to be biodegradable or easier to recycle, the amount of waste and disposal costs would be significantly reduced. Photo credit: Vicky S Teacher notes More information on recycling is available at www.acrr.org. How could you reduce the amount of waste you produce?

Task 1: Biodegradable plastics Listen and take notes of the evidence provided, then form a balanced judgements about some of the major environmental issues facing society today.

Supermarket plastic bags Britain gets through between 10 billion and 17 billion plastic bags every year. They all carry a recycle symbol but most are just thrown away. In the Republic of Ireland there is a tax on each bag. People take their own shopping bags instead. The British Government are studying the Irish example.

Supermarket plastic bags Each one takes 100 years to rot….. …except this one Biodegradable plastic bags…which supermarket would you shop? This is not the only supermarket to use biodegradable bags.

Symphony plastics make a range of biodegradable plastic products. www.degradable.net Look out for their flash animation on: http://www.degradable.net/how/summary.shtml See also http://www.biopac.co.uk/ They have lots of pictures of their products and ‘environmental information’

Multiple-choice quiz Teacher notes This multiple-choice quiz could be used as a plenary activity to assess students’ understanding of human impact on the environment. The questions can be skipped through without answering by clicking “next”. Students could be asked to complete the questions in their books and the activity could be concluded by the completion on the IWB.

Environmental issues How will global warming affect us?

Blog n: a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences [syn: web log] Using a blog, people can write anything they want. Over the next screens, we have taken excerpts from two blogs written in the future; the first from John Green and then one from Jenny Grey. What do you notice about the worlds in which they live? TASK 2: Read through the excerpts and then discuss the conditions of the world in which they live.

The first tomatoes of the season today. They are growing really well The first tomatoes of the season today! They are growing really well. We should have the main crop within a few more weeks. The compost we added last season seems to work really well. John Green: 01.03.2080

Snow. Nathan got so excited because he could make a snowman Snow! Nathan got so excited because he could make a snowman! Of course he came in freezing cold and crying a few hours later but that’s what little brothers are like! John Green: 30.11.2083

My place at college has come through My place at college has come through. I’ll have to travel 100 miles to the university which is quite a big trip but it should be great. If all goes well I should be a qualified solar engineer within 3 years! John Green: 15.08.2085

That was the blog written by John Green That was the blog written by John Green. What did you notice about the world in which he lives? The next blog is written by from Jenny Grey, who lives in a very different world to John...

Had some news from Shireen’s family today Had some news from Shireen’s family today. The treatment didn’t work and she died last week. That makes three from that family. The Government still says it’s nothing to do with the radioactive waste leak in 2075 but I don’t know… Jenny Grey: 08.09.2080

Managed to find some fuel today Managed to find some fuel today! Only a few litres but enough to drive into town. There’s a new club opened last week. With my own car and fuel to put in it, I’m bound to have a good time! Watch this space. Jenny Grey: 29.02.2083

Another storm near Newport Another storm near Newport. The centre of the old town was completely submerged – the sea defences just couldn’t cope. They say another 50 years and carbon dioxide levels should start to fall again. Good news for some, I suppose, and that might mean that sea levels will start to fall again some time – but I won’t hold my breath! Jenny Grey: 19.10.2085

How we respond to global warming issues now will decide which one of the two blogs is the more likely outcome. Given the actions that the world is taking at the moment, what sort of future can we expect in 2090? TASK 3: Sort these activities into two groups: those that probably led to John Green’s world and those that probably led to Jenny Grey’s world. Waiting for conclusive proof of global warming before acting Cutting back on fossil fuel use Cutting down the rainforests to make fields for cattle Hoping for a new energy-efficient technology to reduce emissions Switching to energy-efficient devices Planting more trees

EXAM In 1997 the World Climate Summit took place in Kyoto. Agreement was reached to control global warming by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. List two possible consequences of global warming. (2) (b) One of the most important greenhouse gases is methane (i) What are the two main sources of methane? (2) (ii) Why has the amount of methane produced increased steadily over the past 200 years? (2) Another group of greenhouse gases are the oxides of nitrogen. State the main source of these gases. (1) (d) State two ways in which deforestation may also contribute to global warming.

Objective How do we plan for the future and balance the needs of people and the needs of the environment? Success Criteria By the end of the lesson I: know that lichens are indicators of levels of air pollution and freshwater invertebrates are biological indicators of freshwater pollution know that in the development of new housing for the increases on population pressures, areas that have already been used (brown fields) should be redeveloped and reused.