Section
1.2: The Environment
Activity
1.2.1: What is the Environment?
 Figure
1.2.1 shows the main components of the natural environment.
 What
is missing from Figure 1.2.1?
Draw
a picture, a diagram, a systems diagram or a concept map to show what
the term environment means to you or write your own definition of the
environment.
Compare
your definition with that of Professor Smyth Box
1.2.1, Chairman of the Secretary of State’s Working Group that
produced SOEnD, (1993)Learning For Life, Scottish Office, Edinburgh.
Learning for Life is Scotland’s National Strategy for Environmental
Education. Explain whether you agree with Professor Smyth’s definition
or not.
Activity 1.2.2: Human Dependence on Natural Systems
Using
the information in Table 1.2.1:
Draw
a systems diagram to show how dependent human beings are on the natural
environment. (Figure 1.2.2
is an outline for this diagram).
Activity 1.2.3: The Ecological Shadow of Food
Look
at a number of food labels in your home or the foodstuffs you use for
a particular meal, find out from which country these foods come?
Complete
Table 1.2.2 to show
the number of foods that come from each country. What proportion of
the foods are local, national, regional or from other parts of the world?
UK is national, any other part of Europe is regional, anywhere else
is global.
Plot
these countries on a map of the world. Place a dot in each country for
each foodstuff that comes from that country. Link the dots. From which
continent do most of the foods you have found come? This map shows the
ecological shadow that your meal or your food has cast.
How
many of the foods come from Scotland? How many come from the rest of
the United Kingdom, from England, Wales, or Northern Ireland? Which
foods have travelled farthest? Why might it be desirable to use locally
produced foods? From where does most of the food we import come? Why
might it be desirable to import some foods from the less economically
advanced countries of the world? Which methods of transport would be
most desirable for these imports?
Is
it desirable to reduce our ecological shadow? Why might it be desirable
to reduce our ecological shadow? What disadvantages might there in reducing
our ecological shadow? |
