Warm Up #10 What are some ways that humans change Earth?

Ch. 6 Interactions Within Ecosystems Lesson 3: Humans and Ecosystems

Essential Questions In what ways do humans affect ecosystems? What can humans do to protect ecosystems and their resources?

How can you conserve resources by reusing items? ACTIVITY One of the simplest actions individuals can take to protect the environment is to reuse items. Many of the items that you use today can be made into something else and used again. What are some items the you have seen that can have more than 1 use? What could the new use be for the item?

Affecting the Environment About 3.5 billion years ago, microscopic organisms (cyanobacteria) were the only organisms around and lived by photosynthesis and changed the environment by releasing lots of oxygen into the environment Animal 911 – Video Lake Waste - Demo

Using Natural Resources What are renewable and nonrenewable resources?

Using Natural Resources Renewable resources – resources that can be replenished by natural processes at least as quickly as they are used Food, water, oxygen Nonrenewable resources – natural resources that are used up faster than they can be replaced by natural processes Coal, oil, natural gas Resource depletion – the exhaustion of one or more resources in an area

Understanding the Effects of Pollution When we do things, the actions have unintended consequences Burning fossil fuels lead to smog formation or acid rain and an increase in global warming Using chemical fertilizers to farmland lead to harmful algal blooms in nearby lakes and streams CFC use leads to damage in the ozone layer

Protecting the World Develop renewable energy resources that can reduce pollution Making and enforcing environmental laws Endangered Species Act - 1973 Clean Air Act – 1970 Clean Water Act – 1972, expanded in 1977 and 1987 Making steps in each of our daily lives to reduce impact on planet

Making a Difference Restore – plant tress, remove trash to clean up areas Rethink – come up with ideas to carry out daily tasks without harming the environment Reduce – using fewer resources Reuse – repair broken items instead of replacing them, buy used instead of new, invent new uses Recycle – instead of putting things in the dump