JC Excellente Christian Academy Inc.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE.LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL. CHRISTIAN VALUES

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Earth Science
WEEK 5

Module 2
Lesson 4

TOPIC: Soil Resources

INSTRUCTION:

 Soil is especially vulnerable to erosion if it is bare or exposed. Plants therefore serve a tremendous role
in preventing soil erosion. If the soil is covered with plants, erosion is slowed down. But when soil is
bare, the rate of erosion speeds up tremendously. Here are some human activities that leave the soil
exposed and speed up erosion. We speed up erosion through the following actions.

1. Agricultural Depletion - Farming can degrade the topsoil and lead to an increase in erosion. To plant a
field, a farmer must first till the soil, breaking it up and loosening it so the new plants can take root.
Once the plants are harvested, the loose soil remains and wind or rain can easily wash it away. In the
1930s, much of the American plains suffered greatly from erosion due to non-sustainable farming
practices, creating the Dust Bowl and leading to widespread poverty and migration to the west coast.
Planting cover crops in the fall can help maintain the soil through the winter months, reducing the
amount of erosion. In addition, rotating the crops planted can help return nutrients to the soil to prevent
its degradation.
2. Overgrazing Animals - Grazing animals are animals that live on large areas of grassland. They wander
over the area and eat grasses and shrubs. They can remove large amounts of the plant cover for an area.
If too many animals graze the same land area, once the tips of grasses and shrubs have been eaten, they
will use their hooves to pull plants out by their roots.
3. Deforestation - Deforestation is another practice that can greatly increase the rate of erosion in a region.
One of the most important barriers to erosion is plant life, as long-lived trees and other species put down
roots that literally help hold the soil together. Logging kills these plants, and even if the operation plants
new trees to replace the old ones, the younger plants require years to put down the kind of root system
that once protected the soil. Timber companies utilize a variety of different techniques, such as partial
clearing and replanting, to prevent soil degradation and erosion in their work zones.
4. Mining operations are major contributors to erosion, especially on a local level. Many mining
techniques involve shifting large amounts of earth, such as strip mining or mountaintop removal. These
operations leave large amounts of loose soil exposed to the elements, and they often require large
amounts of water, which can exacerbate the erosion process. Even once the mining operation is
completed and the company replaces the earth, it lacks the established vegetation that helped it maintain
its coherency before removal, and until plants can reestablish themselves, erosion will continue to be a
problem.
5. Development and Expansion - Urban and suburban development can also exacerbate erosion,
especially if the developers ignore the natural state of the land. Construction of a building often begins
by clearing the area of any plants or other natural defenses against soil erosion. In addition, some
landscapers replace natural ground cover with plant species unsuited to the climate, and these plants may
not be as effective at preventing erosion.
6. Recreational activities, like driving vehicles off-road or hiking - Humans also cause erosion through
recreational activities, like hiking and riding off-road vehicles. An even greater amount of erosion
occurs when people drive off-road vehicles over an area. The area eventually develops bare spots where
no plants can grow. Erosion becomes a serious problem in these areas.

ENRICHMENT:
Reflection Activity: How soil can be conserved and protected for future generations?

EVALUATION:
Write a 200 word essay about your understanding of the causes of soil erosion and prevention strategies.

Module 2
Lesson 5

TOPIC: Human Activity and the Environment

INTRODUCTION:

 Describe the type of waste generated by a typical household.

 Enumerate and describe the environmental and health impact of the improper disposal of household
waste.
 Appreciate the enormity of the problem of waste disposal in the Philippines.
 Propose ways to reduce the volume of municipal waste.
 Describe the wastes produced from different sources and their effect on human health and the
environment.

Payatas is one of the many garbage dumpsite in Metro Manila. On the 10th of July 2000, a landslide of garbage
killed 218 people living on the dumpsite with 300 people still missing. The dumpsite covers an area of about 13
hectares.

Why is there a need for dumpsites, such as the Payatas dumpsite?

Table 1: Regional waste generation estimates (in million tons) in 2007 and 2010 in the Philippines (Environmental
Management Bureau, n.d.).
  Table 1 shows the estimated waste generated per region in the Philippines. Determine the amount of
waste (in million tons/year) being generated by your region. Emphasize that there is a huge volume of
waste being generated per year. Waste disposal has always been a big problem for the Philippines.
 It is estimated that, in the next 30 years, Metro Manila alone will generate approximately 230 million
cubic meters of solid waste– enough to fill the country’s largest shopping mall over 175 times (Asian
Development Bank, 2004). This then leaves us with this important question: ‘what are we going to do
with this situation?’

INSTRUCTION:

Other Sources of Wastes and their Environmental Impact

1. Industrial waste
 Waste released from manufacturing plants, such as chemical plants, cement production, textile
industries, metallurgical plants, textile, food processing, power plants, etc.

2. Agricultural waste
 Excess use of fertilizers and pesticides can cause land and water pollution.
 Rice paddies release methane to the atmosphere.
 Excess excrement from poultry and other livestock can cause eutrophication of bodies of water.

3. Mining waste
 Waste generated from the exploitation of mineral resources.
 Overburden material - ground (soil and rock) that is removed to extract the mineral deposit. Release of
overburden material to the environment as a result of improper management can cause siltation of
bodies of water.
 Acid mine drainage - water that has come to contact with oxidized rock or overburden that contains
sulphide material (coal, zinc, copper, and lead). When acid mine drainage is not properly managed, it
 can find its way into waterways and the ground water. High pH waters can be detrimental to plant and
animal life. Acid mine drainage is also associated with the release of heavy metals to the environment.
4. Biomedical Waste
 Waste generated by hospitals and other health care institutions.
 This type of hazardous waste includes infectious waste and chemical waste dangerous to people and the
environment.
ENRICHMENT:
 Republic Act (RA) 9003 provides for the establishment of the Provincial Solid Management Board.
Among the functions of the board is the development of a provincial solid management plan. As an
individual, interview or find out from the municipal officers the province’s or municipality’s solid waste
management plan and how it is being implemented. Learners should submit a short report on their
research.
 
 
EVALUATION:
 Develop materials (e.g. posters, image, video presentation, etc.) that can be used to promote recycling
in their community.