Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes	Part A: Are humans good or bad for the environment?
20 minutes	Part B: Positive human impacts on the environment
25 minutes	Part C: Comparison of human impacts on the environment
05 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Are humans good or bad for the environment?

Step 1.

Divide your whiteboard in half.

On the left, brainstorm a list of human-driven environmental damage.

Examples might include pollution of natural waterways and plastic and garbage in the oceans, deforestation, unsustainable farming practices, strip mining, climate change, and hunting some animals to extinction. However, they also don’t have to be so extreme. Humans have cleared plenty of land to build cities. We have created roads and tunnels through mountains and under rivers.

They can also be positive. For example, humans have done a lot of work in protecting animals on the brink of extinction. We also work hard to clear invasive species from places like Lord Howe Island (although humans also introduced those species in the first place).

Step 2.

Watch:

How Do Humans Affect The Environment (youtube.com/watch?v=cvfSpsEN2qk)

Part B: Positive human impacts on the environment

Step 1.

Watch: Fire power – Australia’s friend and foe | Living with Fire #1 | ABC Australia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvQNUm2l2Aw )

Step 2.

Ensure students understand that Professor Bill Gammage’s message is that Australia’s landscape was significantly different pre-European settlement. This is due to both human action (controlled burning by Aboriginal people) and inaction (the lack of, or difference in, land management by Europeans).

Step 3.

Can students make a link between human impact on the environment and natural disasters?

Make these connections on the right-hand side of the split whiteboard.

For example, deforestation can lead to more flooding because the topsoil is more easily disturbed by heavy rains.

Unsustainable farming practices which use a lot of water can increase the risk of droughts.

Step 4.

Watch:

Greg Mullins on The Project (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=584810805622798)

Greg Mullins, a firefighter and Order of Australia recipient, adds to our understanding. He says it is not just a controlled burning issue, but that climate change is creating conditions for more frequent and more intense bushfires, and making conditions more difficult to control and fight these fires.

We’re not going to go too much into land management practices involving fire in this lesson, but you can explore this topic in detail through our Cool Burning resources,

Step 5.

You might like to touch on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report.

The report makes the point that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land (A1). You might like to take a moment to discuss with students the meaning of the word unequivocal.

However, there are also plenty of things we can do that have a positive impact on the environment's ability to be resilient, and decrease the severity of natural disasters.

Part C: Comparison of human impact on the environment

Step 1.

Independently, students will create a communication piece that contrasts an environment that is negatively impacted by humans with an environment that is positively maintained by humans.

Here are some inspiring examples to get you started:

Step 2.

As a class, brainstorm a list of ways humans can positively manage the environment.

For example, we can perform controlled burns, create more firebreaks, clear scrub and brush.

You could also expand this beyond bushfires. We could plant more trees and reduce logging to combat deforestation.

Try to keep the focus on mitigating natural disasters such as flooding and bushfires.

Students may need some time to conduct independent research on some of these practices.

Step 3.

Start by folding a piece of A3 paper in half (or using two A4 pieces, one for each drawing).

Step 4.

On the left, students create an image of an ‘unhealthy’ landscape, featuring some of the practices they have identified throughout this lesson, such as:

Floodplain harvesting
Mining
Deforestation

Step 5.

On the right, students create an image of a ‘healthy’ maintained environment and the ways humans are protecting nature and acting to help it, such as;

Reduce burnable shrubbery, either through clearance or controlled burns
Creating firebreaks
Maintaining natural waterways

Extension

Depending on where you are located, there might be some ways students can maintain their local environment through safe clean-up efforts with the help of their parents, such as cleaning out gutters, raking leaves, and creating fire breaks. It also doesn't have to be fire-related - students could pick up litter or help clean polluted swampland. Watch:

Bush Fire Fact - Don't give fire a chance (youtube.com/watch?v=KU8BM_sE-uM)

Reflection

Return to the original ‘thought-starter’ of this lesson: “Are humans ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for the environment?”

While students might like to immediately go to all the ways humans have damaged the environment, it’s important to end with hopeful examples of people and activities that people and organisations such as Minderoo have implemented to try and care for and repair the environment.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn’t work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Resilient Australia - How can humans positively impact the environment?

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