Places and Landscapes Unit 4

Unit IV: People Change Earth
Introduction
In this unit, you will learn about the human modification of the landscape and human-
driven changes on Earth’s surface and creating ecological challenges that scientists and policy
makers are struggling to address. Humans are changing the planet so fast that many scientists are
now referring to this epoch as the Anthropocene. You will also learn about our biosphere and its
future. The focus of this unit will be related ecology and physical geography.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit you are expected to:

1. Discuss the effects of using more resources;
2. Explain the principle and practice of conservation of natural resources,
3. Determine the importance and the changes in the biosphere.
Activating Prior Knowledge
Directions: Look at the pictures below. What can you say about it? Write down your
descriptions below the pictures.
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Topic: Using More and More Resources
Resources are something that is occurring naturally on Earth. It forms a significant part in
human lives. It comprises of air, water, sunlight, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and many others.
However, they are exploited by humans for economic gain. These resources are at depletion
because of the overuse. Some of these resources are available in abundance with the capability to
renew. On the other hand, some are non-renewable. Thus, it demands a responsible behaviour for
the conservation so as to ensure their sustainability.
Human beings cannot live without these resources. We depend upon the natural resources
for our development activities. If these resources are not used wisely, it will create an imbalance
in our environment. Thus, it will head us in opposition to an eco-friendly atmosphere.
In this topic, you shall learn the features of Resources. It will devote your attention to the
physically occurring resources, or, as they are more commonly called as, natural resources.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:

1. Explain the importance of resources to human lives.
2. Differentiate renewable from non-renewable resources.
3. Identify some renewable and non-renewable resources available in your
place/locality.
Presentation of Contents
RESOURCE TERMINOLOGY
A resource is a naturally occurring, exploitable material that a society perceives to be
useful to its economic and material well-being. Willing, healthy, and skilled workers constitute a
valuable resource, but without access to materials such as fertile soil or petroleum, human
resources are limited in their effectiveness.
The availability of natural resources is a function of two things: the physical
characteristics of the resources themselves and human economic and technological conditions.
The physical processes that govern the formation, distribution, and occurrence of natural
resources are determined by physical laws over which people have no direct control. We take
what nature gives us. To be considered a resource, however, a given substance must be
understood to be a resource. This is a cultural, not purely a physical, circumstance. Native
Americans may have viewed the resource base of Pennsylvania as composed of forests for
shelter and fuel, as well as the habitat of the game animals (another resource) on which they
depended for food. European settlers viewed the forests as the unwanted covering of the resource
that they perceived to be of value: soil for agriculture. Still later, industrialists appraised the
underlying coal deposits, ignored or unrecognized as a resource by earlier occupants, as the item
of value for exploitation. (Figure below)
Natural resources are usually recognized as falling into two broad classes: renewable and
non-renewable.
The original hardwood forest covering these West Virginia hills was removed by settlers who saw greater
resource value in the underlying soils. The soils, in turn, were stripped away for access to the still more valuable
coal deposits below. Resources are as a culture perceives them, though exploitation may consume them and destroy
the potential of an area for alternate uses.
RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Renewable resources are materials that are replaced or replenished by natural processes.
They can be used over and over; the supplies are not depleted. A distinction can be made,
however, between those that are perpetual and those that are renewable only if carefully
managed. Perpetual resources come from sources that are virtually inexhaustible, such as the
sun, the wind, waves, tides, and geothermal energy.
Potentially renewable resources are renewable if left to nature but can be destroyed if
people use them carelessly. These include groundwater, soil, plants, and animals. If the rate of
exploitation exceeds that of regeneration, these renewable resources can be depleted.
Groundwater extracted beyond the replacement rate in arid areas may be as permanently
removed as if it were a non-renewable ore. Soils can be totally eroded, and an animal species
may be completely eliminated. Forests are a renewable resource only if people are planting at
least as many trees as are being cut.
NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Non-renewable resources exist in finite amounts or are generated in nature so slowly

that for all practical purposes the supply is finite. They include the fossil fuels (coal, crude oil,
natural gas, oil shales, and oil sands), the nuclear fuels (uranium and thorium), and a variety of
nonfuel minerals, both metallic and non-metallic. Although the elements of which these
resources are composed cannot be destroyed, they can be altered to less useful or available
forms, and they are subject to depletion. The energy stored in a unit volume of the fossil fuels
may have taken eons to concentrate in usable form; it can be converted to heat in an instant and
be effectively lost forever.
Fortunately, many minerals can be reused even though they cannot be replaced. If they
are not chemically destroyed—that is, if they retain their original chemical composition—they
are potentially reusable. Aluminum, lead, zinc, and other metallic resources, plus many of the
non-metallics, such as diamonds and petroleum by-products, can be used time and again.
However, many of these materials are used in small amounts in any given object, so that
recouping them is economically unfeasible. In addition, many materials are now being used in
manufactured products, so that they are unavailable for recycling unless the product is destroyed.
Consequently, the term reusable resource must be used carefully. At present, all mineral
resources are being mined much faster than they are being recycled.
Natural
Resources
Non-
Renewable
renewable
Perpetual Potentially Metallic and non-

(sun, the wind, renewable Fossil Fuels
metallic
waves, tides, and (groundwater, soil, (coal, oil, natural gas,
oil sands, oil shale) (some are potentially
geothermal plants, and reusable)
energy) animals)
CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
CONSERVING THE EARTH

The Earth’s natural resources include air, water, soil, minerals, plants, and animals.
Conservation is the practice of caring for these resources so all living things can benefit from
them now and in the future.
People often waste natural resources. Animals are overhunted. Forests are cleared,
exposing land to wind and water damage. Fertile soil is exhausted and lost to erosion because of
poor farming practices. Fuel supplies are depleted. Water and air are polluted.
If resources are carelessly managed, many will be used up. If used wisely and efficiently,
however, renewable resources will last much longer. Through conservation, people can reduce
waste and manage natural resources wisely.
The population of human beings has grown enormously in the past two centuries. Billions
of people use up resources quickly as they eat food, build houses, produce goods, and burn fuel
for transportation and electricity. The continuation of life as we know it depends on the careful
use of natural resources.
The need to conserve resources often conflicts with other needs. For some people, a
wooded area may be a good place to put a farm. A timber company may want to harvest the
area’s trees for construction materials. A business may want to build a factory or shopping mall
on the land.
All these needs are valid, but sometimes the plants and animals that live in the area are
forgotten. The benefits of development need to be weighed against the harm to animals that may
be forced to find new habitats, the depletion of resources we may want in the future (such as
water or timber), or damage to resources we use today.
Development and conservation can coexist in harmony. When we use the environment in
ways that ensure we have resources for the future, it is called sustainable development. There are
many different resources we need to conserve in order to live sustainably.
Forests
A forest is a large area covered with trees grouped so their foliage shades the ground.
Every continent except Antarctica has forests, from the evergreen-filled boreal forests of the
north to mangrove forests in tropical wetlands. Forests are home to more than two-thirds of all
known land species. Tropical rain forests are especially rich in biodiversity.
Forests provide habitats for animals and plants. They store carbon, helping reduce global
warming. They protect soil by reducing runoff. They add nutrients to the soil through leaf litter.
They provide people with lumber and firewood.
Deforestation is the process of clearing away forests by cutting them down or burning
them. People clear forests to use the wood, or to make way for farming or development. Each
year, the Earth loses about 14.6 million hectares (36 million acres) of forest to deforestation—an
area about the size of the U.S. state of New York.
Deforestation destroys wildlife habitats and increases soil erosion. It also releases
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Deforestation accounts
for 15 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation also harms the people who
rely on forests for their survival, hunting and gathering, harvesting forest products, or using the
timber for firewood.
About half of all the forests on Earth are in the tropics—an area that circles the globe near
the Equator. Although tropical forests cover fewer than 6 percent of the world’s land area, they
are home to about 80 percent of the world’s documented species. For example, more than 500
different species of trees live in the forests on the small island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean
Sea.
Tropical forests give us many valuable products, including woods like mahogany and teak,
rubber, fruits, nuts, and flowers. Many of the medicines we use today come from plants found
only in tropical rain forests. These include quinine, a malaria drug; curare, an anesthetic used in
surgery; and rosy periwinkle, which is used to treat certain types of cancer.
Sustainable forestry practices are critical for ensuring we have these resources well into the
future. One of these practices is leaving some trees to die and decay naturally in the forest. This
“deadwood” builds up soil. Other sustainable forestry methods include using low-impact logging
practices, harvesting with natural regeneration in mind, and avoiding certain logging techniques,
such as removing all the high-value trees or all the largest trees from a forest.
Trees can also be conserved if consumers recycle. People in China and Mexico, for
example, reuse much of their wastepaper, including writing paper, wrapping paper, and
cardboard. If half the world’s paper were recycled, much of the worldwide demand for new
paper would be fulfilled, saving many of the Earth’s trees. We can also replace some wood
products with alternatives like bamboo, which is actually a type of grass.
Soil
Soil is vital to food production. We need high-quality soil to grow the crops that we eat and
feed to livestock. Soil is also important to plants that grow in the wild. Many other types of
conservation efforts, such as plant conservation and animal conservation, depend on soil
conservation.
Poor farming methods, such as repeatedly planting the same crop in the same place, called
monoculture, deplete nutrients in the soil. Soil erosion by water and wind increases when farmers
plow up and down hills.
One soil conservation method is called contour strip cropping. Several crops, such as corn,
wheat, and clover, are planted in alternating strips across a slope or across the path of the
prevailing wind. Different crops, with different root systems and leaves, help slow erosion.
Harvesting all the trees from a large area, a practice called clearcutting, increases the
chances of losing productive topsoil to wind and water erosion. Selective harvesting—the
practice of removing individual trees or small groups of trees—leaves other trees standing to
anchor the soil.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety of living things that populate the Earth. The products and
benefits we get from nature rely on biodiversity. We need a rich mixture of living things to
provide foods, building materials, and medicines, as well as to maintain a clean and healthy
landscape.
When a species becomes extinct, it is lost to the world forever. Scientists estimate that the
current rate of extinction is 1,000 times the natural rate. Through hunting, pollution, habitat
destruction, and contribution to global warming, people are speeding up the loss of biodiversity
at an alarming rate.
It’s hard to know how many species are going extinct because the total number of species
is unknown. Scientists discover thousands of new species every year. For example, after looking
at just 19 trees in Panama, scientists found 1,200 different species of beetles—80 percent of them
unknown to science at the time. Based on various estimates of the number of species on Earth,
we could be losing anywhere from 200 to 100,000 species each year.
We need to protect biodiversity to ensure we have plentiful and varied food sources. This
is true even if we don’t eat a species threatened with extinction because something we do eat
may depend on that species for survival. Some predators are useful for keeping the populations
of other animals at manageable levels. The extinction of a major predator might mean there are
more herbivores looking for food in people’s gardens and farms.
Biodiversity is important for more than just food. For instance, we use between 50,000 to
70,000 plant species for medicines worldwide. The Great Barrier Reef, a coral reef off the coast
of northeastern Australia, contributes about $6 billion to the nation’s economy through
commercial fishing, tourism, and other recreational activities. If the coral reef dies, many of the
fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and plants will die, too.
Some governments have established parks and preserves to protect wildlife and their
habitats. They are also working to abolish hunting and fishing practices that may cause the
extinction of some species.
Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels are fuels produced from the remains of ancient plants and animals. They
include coal, petroleum (oil), and natural gas. People rely on fossil fuels to power vehicles like
cars and airplanes, to produce electricity, and to cook and provide heat.
In addition, many of the products we use today are made from petroleum. These include
plastics, synthetic rubber, fabrics like nylon, medicines, cosmetics, waxes, cleaning products,
medical devices, and even bubblegum.
Fossil fuels formed over millions of years. Once we use them up, we cannot replace them.
Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource.
We need to conserve fossil fuels so we don’t run out. However, there are other good
reasons to limit our fossil fuel use. These fuels pollute the air when they are burned. Burning
fossil fuels also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Global warming is changing ecosystems. The oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic,
which threatens sea life. Sea levels are rising, posing risks to coastal communities. Many areas
are experiencing more droughts, while others suffer from flooding.
Scientists are exploring alternatives to fossil fuels. They are trying to produce renewable
biofuels to power cars and trucks. They are looking to produce electricity using the sun, wind,
water, and geothermal energy—the Earth’s natural heat.
Everyone can help conserve fossil fuels by using them carefully. Turn off lights and other
electronics when you are not using them. Purchase energy-efficient appliances and weatherproof
your home. Walk, ride a bike, carpool, and use public transportation whenever possible.
Minerals
Earth’s supply of raw mineral resources is in danger. Many mineral deposits that have been
located and mapped have been depleted. As the ores for minerals like aluminum and iron become
harder to find and extract, their prices skyrocket. This makes tools and machinery more
expensive to purchase and operate.
Many mining methods, such as mountaintop removal mining (MTR), devastate the
environment. They destroy soil, plants, and animal habitats. Many mining methods also pollute
water and air, as toxic chemicals leak into the surrounding ecosystem. Conservation efforts in
areas like Chile and the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States often promote more
sustainable mining methods.
Less wasteful mining methods and the recycling of materials will help conserve mineral
resources. In Japan, for example, car manufacturers recycle many raw materials used in making
automobiles. In the United States, nearly one-third of the iron produced comes from recycled
automobiles.
Electronic devices present a big problem for conservation because technology changes so
quickly. For example, consumers typically replace their cell phones every 18 months.
Computers, televisions, and mp3 players are other products contributing to “e-waste.” The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Americans generated more than 3
million tons of e-waste in 2007.
Electronic products contain minerals as well as petroleum-based plastics. Many of them

also contain hazardous materials that can leach out of landfills into the soil and water supply.
Many governments are passing laws requiring manufacturers to recycle used electronics.
Recycling not only keeps materials out of landfills, but it also reduces the energy used to produce
new products. For instance, recycling aluminum saves 90 percent of the energy that would be
required to mine new aluminum.
Water
Water is a renewable resource. We will not run out of water the way we might run out of
fossil fuels. The amount of water on Earth always remains the same. However, most of the
planet’s water is unavailable for human use. While more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is
covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is freshwater. Out of that freshwater, almost 70 percent is
permanently frozen in the ice caps covering Antarctica and Greenland. Only about 1 percent of
the freshwater on Earth is available for people to use for drinking, bathing, and irrigating crops.
People in many regions of the world suffer water shortages. These are caused by depletion
of underground water sources known as aquifers, a lack of rainfall due to drought, or pollution of
water supplies. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.6 billion people lack
adequate water sanitation. More than 5 million people die each year from diseases caused by
using polluted water for drinking, cooking, or washing.
About one-third of Earth’s population lives in areas that are experiencing water stress.
Most of these areas are in developing countries.
Polluted water hurts the environment as well as people. For instance, agricultural runoff—
the water that runs off of farmland—can contain fertilizers and pesticides. When this water gets
into streams, rivers, and oceans, it can harm the organisms that live in or drink from those water
sources.
People can conserve and protect water supplies in many ways. Individuals can limit water
use by fixing leaky faucets, taking shorter showers, planting drought-resistant plants, and buying
low-water-use appliances. Governments, businesses, and non-profit organizations can help
developing countries build sanitation facilities.
Farmers can change some of their practices to reduce polluted runoff. This includes
limiting overgrazing, avoiding over-irrigation, and using alternatives to chemical pesticides
whenever possible.
Application
Answer the questions briefly but substantially.

1. Consider yourself as an environmentalist, how can you promote conservation of our natural
resources? Enumerate at least five (5) ways and explain each.
2. Explain the impact of humans to our natural resources. Cite concrete examples to support your
answer.
Feedback
Directions: Read the following statements provided below and identify what is ask by the
statements. Write your answer on the space provided before each number.
__________ 1. It is naturally occurring, exploitable material that a society perceives to be useful

to its economic and material well-being. Resources
__________ 2. They came from sources that are virtually inexhaustible. Perpetual
__________ 3. Any resource that cannot be replaced during the time of a human life span. Non-
renewable
__________ 4. Sources that can be destroyed if people use them carelessly. Potentially
renewable
___________ 5. The heat generated deep within the Earth. Geothermal energy
__________ 6. Refers to the practice of caring for the natural resources. Conservation
__________ 7. Used to power vehicles like cars and airplanes, to produce electricity, and to cook
and provide heat. Fossil fuels
__________ 8. A method of soil conservation in which crops such as corn are planted in
alternating strips across a slope. Contour Strip Cropping
__________ 9. It destroys wildlife habitats, increases soil erosion and releases greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere which contributes to global warming. Deforestation
__________ 10. These are organic matter (wood, plants, animal residues, etc.) that contain stored
solar energy. Biomass fuels
Topic: Using Resources Changes the Biosphere
Introduction
All living things that live on this earth comes under the environment. Whether they live on
land or water they are still part of the environment. It plays a significant role to support life on earth.
The environment can be understood as a blanket that keeps life on the planet sage and sound. But
there are some issues that that are causing damages and changes to life and the ecosystem of the
earth.
In this topic, it will based in an Earth systems approach in which you will become familiar
with the concepts of biosphere and how resources changes its features. You shall learn the
consequences of using resources and its impact to our environment.
Learning Objectives

1. Define biosphere.
2. Explain the relationship between the resources and the biosphere.
3. Discuss the importance of biosphere to humans and other living things on earth.
WHAT IS BIOSPHERE?
The biosphere is the living part of the planet. It stretches from the upper troposphere at an
altitude of 15 km, where living microorganisms such as bacteria have been found (DeLeon-
Rodrigueza, 2013), down to over 1.5 km below the seafloor, where cells of microbes have been
extracted (Roussel, 2008). The majority of the biomass in the biosphere is around the Earth’s
surface in the oceans and on land. In the biosphere, life interacts with physical and chemical
processes in the atmosphere, water and land with complex feedbacks between the systems some
of which are well known, while other feedbacks are not yet fully understood. Altering one part of
the biosphere can have profound consequences for other parts. Therefore, humans have caused
substantial impacts by altering the nature of the atmosphere, water and land via pollution,
modifications for food supply, and urban or industrial development.
Interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere and lithosphere

How does the biosphere work?

Throughout the evolution of life on Earth, from primitive organisms to the present set, all
life forms have found ways to obtain energy, acquire nutrients to build organic molecules, and
reproduce. Energy from the sun is captured by photosynthesizing organisms called autotrophs, or
producers that can harness solar energy to convert inorganic molecules into organic molecules --
the building blocks of life. These organic molecules store energy and are consumed by other
non-photosynthetic organisms called heterotrophs, or consumers. This seemingly simple process
-- grass being eaten by deer, for example -- took billions of years to develop. Through the
process of evolution, species diversify to fill the available opportunities for existence, creating an
ever changing set of plants and animals found in the Earth’s biomes from tundra to rainforests.
Diversity of Life
Life is ubiquitous on Earth, yet biological productivity varies greatly from deserts to
rainforests. Some 1.9 million species have been named, but there are an estimated five to thirty
million or more species making up the biodiversity of Earth. Many of the unidentified species are
in particularly hard to get to places, such as Antarctic Ocean environments, or extremophiles
living where it is intensely hot or cold or acidic. Below foot and beneath the sea, thousands if not
millions of different organisms are teeming, many are unidentified as there just hasn’t been
enough time and attention to sort out all these small life forms.
Coral reef in Papua New Guinea. Coral reefs are sometimes referred to as the rainforest of the
ocean because of the superabundance of life contained within them. All told, 90,000 unique species of
marine plants and animals have been identified in coral reefs.
Phytomass, or the mass of plants, is estimated to be about 500 to 800 GtC (billion tons of
carbon). Estimates of the mass of heterotrophs are dominated by large uncertainties regarding the
mass of organisms living in the soil, deep below the soil, and in ocean sediments. Prokaryotes,
simple organisms without a nucleus (bacteria and archaea), alone may be equal in mass to that of
plants. Land and ocean heterotrophs other than prokaryotes make up a relatively small
contribution to the total mass. Estimates of the total mass of the biosphere are more than 1 TtC
(trillion tons of C) and perhaps as much as 4 TtC.
Rainforest in Blue Mountains, Australia. Much of the world’s biodiversity is found in the

rainforests scattered about the globe. Despite the vital importance of rainforests to human life and the
Earth system as a whole, they are under constant threat from humans who take over these life-
saturated forests for farming and other uses.
How is the biosphere changing?

The suite of species on Earth at any given time is continually changing through the process
of evolution. Over geologic time, more species have gone extinct than exist today. A dramatic
example of this change is past extinction events. Paleobiologists and geologists have pieced
together evidence in the geologic record of five mass extinction events reducing the Earth’s
biodiversity to a portion of its full potential. A notable example is the mass extinction 65 million
years ago that coincided with the end of the age of dinosaurs.
Abrupt change in the physical and chemical factors fundamental to life are key in mass
extinctions. After each mass extinction the diversity of life slowly recovers to fill the ecospace
available in the Earth’s environment. This process can take millions of years of evolution.
Potential causes for mass extinctions in the past include massive and sustained volcanic
eruptions and impacts from comets and/or asteroids – both causing consequent alteration of the
atmosphere from the lofted debris that blocks incoming sunlight. Sustained or very rapid climate
change and sea-level change are also possible explanations of past mass extinctions.
Since the last ice age, human activity changing land use has been a dramatic factor in the
disruption of species habitat. For example, about 35% of ice-free land is devoted to human
agriculture, and as a consequence of this expansion, species are forced into environments in
which they are ill suited to survive. Since the industrial revolution, human activity has altered air
and water quality and is forcing a change in climate. These factors, in addition to land use
change, interact in complex ways to affect biodiversity. Many scientists consider our present age
a 6th mass extinction. An estimate of extinction from future climate change (projected in the
range of 3.6 to 5.4 deg F) when compounded by other human impacts to biodiversity, finds that
20 to 30 percent of the identified species known today could be lost along with the ecosystem
services they provide.
The importance of the biosphere

The continued functioning of the biosphere is dependent not only on the maintenance of
the intimate interactions among the myriad species within local communities but also on the
looser yet crucial interactions of all species and communities around the globe. The Earth is
blanketed with so many species and so many different kinds of biological communities because
populations have been able to adapt to almost any kind of environment on Earth through natural
selection. Life-forms have evolved that are able to survive in the ocean depths, the frigid
conditions of Antarctica, and the near-boiling temperatures of geysers. The great richness
of adaptations found among different populations and species of living organisms is the Earth’s
greatest resource. It is a richness that has evolved over millions of years and is irreplaceable.
It is therefore startling to realize that our inventory of the Earth’s diversity is still so

incomplete that the total number of living species cannot be estimated more closely than between
3 and 30 million species. Decades of continuous research must be carried out by systematists,
ecologists, and geneticists before the inventory of biodiversity provides a more accurate count.
The research has been slow. Only recently, as the extinction rate of species has been increasing
rapidly, have societies begun to realize the interdependence of species. To sustain life on Earth,
more than the few animal and plant species used by humans must be preserved. The flow of
energy and the cycling of nutrients through ecosystems, the regulation of populations, and the
stability of biological communities, all of which support the continued maintenance of life, rely
on the diversity of species, their adaptations to local physical conditions, and their coevolved
relationships.
Despite the limited scientific knowledge of most species, ecological studies during the 20th
century made great headway in unravelling the mechanisms by which organisms coevolve with
one another and adapt to their physical environment, thereby shaping the biosphere. Each new
decade has produced a steady stream of studies showing that the biological and physical
elements of the Earth are more interconnected than had been previously thought. Those studies
also have shown that often the most seemingly insignificant species are crucial to the stability of
communities and ecosystems. Many seemingly obscure species are at risk worldwide of being
dismissed as unimportant. The effect that the loss of species will have on ecosystems is
appreciated only by understanding the relationships between organisms and
their environments and by studying the ecological and evolutionary processes operating within
ecosystems.
The need to understand how the biosphere functions has never been greater.
When human population levels were low and technological abilities crude, societies’ impact on
the biosphere was relatively small. The increase in human population levels and the harvesting of
more of the Earth’s natural resources has altered this situation, especially in recent decades.
Human activities are causing major alterations to the patterns of energy flow and nutrient cycling
through ecosystems, and these activities are eliminating populations and species that have not
even been described but which might have been of central importance to the maintenance of
ecosystems.
The biologist Edward O. Wilson, who coined the term biodiversity, estimated

conservatively that in the late 20th century at least 27,000 species were becoming extinct each
year. The majority of these were small tropical organisms. The impact that this freshet of
extinctions would have on the biosphere is akin to receiving a box of engine parts and discarding
a portion of them before reading the directions, assuming that their absence will have no
negative repercussions on the running of the engine. The following sections describe how many
of the biological and physical parts fit together to make the engine of the biosphere run and why
many seemingly obscure species are important to the long-term functioning of the biosphere.
Application
Identify a natural resource found in your locality or in your barangay. Have a picture of
that place and explain how it improved the lives of the people in your community. Cite concrete
examples to support your answer.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________
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Feedback
Direction: Write TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if it is incorrect. Put your
answer on the space provided before the number.
________ 1. The atmosphere is the living part of the planet. False
________ 2. The non-photosynthetic organisms called heterotrophs, or consumers. True
________ 3. Evolution is the process which species on Earth at any given time is continually
changing.
________ 4. Human do not cause any impact to the biosphere. False
________ 5. The Earth is blanketed with many species and many different kinds of biological
communities. True
Topic: The Future of the Biosphere
Introduction
For most of the past 12,000 years, Earth’s climate was relatively stable and the biosphere
was resilient and healthy. Geologists call this period the Holocene. More recently, we have
moved into what many are calling the Anthropocene, a far less predictable era of human-induced
environmental change.
The world is falling apart as days and years passed by because of the actions of modern
humans and our improvidence. Climate breakdown is devastating the planet, wildlife disappears
at ever-increasing rates, and social polarization and the worldwide trend towards political
authoritarianism sets the stage for civil unrest or even war.
The underlying problem and the most existential threat we are facing today is the
annihilation of ecosystems through destruction and pollution. This massive anthropogenic
disruption causes unprecedented global warming and a myriad of other accompanying problems,
such as the degradation of ecosystems and the concomitant food insecurities and social
instability, and soaring inequality. In this lesson, you will be oriented about the things that might
happen in our biosphere in the next years to come. You will also be enlightened about the factors
affecting the future of the biosphere.
Learning Objectives

1. Explain what will be biosphere look like in the next decades and centuries
2. Analyze the factors affecting the future of the biosphere
3. Compare the biosphere before and at present.
THE FUTURE OF THE BIOSPHARE

1. The world’s human population is growing explosively.
A Growing Population
The current world population of 6
billion people is placing severe strains on the
biosphere. How did it grow so large? For the
past 300 years, the human birth rate (as a
global average) has remained nearly constant,
at about 30 births per year per 1000 people.
Today it is about 25 births per year per 1000
people. However, at the same time, better
sanitation and improved medical techniques
have caused the death rate to fall steadily,
from about 29 deaths per 1000 people per
year to 13 per 1000 per year. Thus, while the
birth rate has remained fairly constant and
may have even decreased slightly, the
tremendous fall in the death rate has produced
today’s enormous population. The difference
between the birth and death rates amounts to an annual worldwide increase of approximately
1.4%. This rate of increase may seem relatively small, but it would double the world’s
population in only 39 years!
The annual increase in world population today is nearly 77 million people, about equal to
the current population of Germany. 210,000 people are added to the world each day, or more
than 140 every minute! The world population is expected to continue beyond its current level of
6 billion people, perhaps stabilizing at a figure anywhere between 8.5 billion and 20 billion
during the next century.
The Future Situation
About 60% of the people in the world live in tropical or subtropical regions (figure 30.2).
An additional 20% will be living in China, and the remaining 20% in the developed or
industrialized countries: Europe, the successor states of the Soviet Union, Japan, United States,
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Although populations of industrialized countries are
growing at an annual rate of about 0.3%, those of the developing, mostly tropical countries
(excluding China) are growing at an annual rate estimated in 1995 to be about 2.2%. For every
person living in an industrialized country like the United States in 1950, there were two people
living elsewhere; in 2020, just 70 years later, there will be five.
The age structure of a population determines how fast the population will grow. To predict
the future growth patterns of a population, it is essential to know what proportion of its
individuals have not yet reached childbearing age. In industrialized countries such as the United
States, about a fifth of the population is under 15 years of age; in developing countries such as
Mexico, the proportion is typically about twice as high. Even if most tropical and subtropical
countries consistently carry out the policies they have established to limit population growth,
their populations will continue to grow well into the twenty-first century (figure 30.3), and
industrialized countries will constitute a smaller and smaller proportion of the world’s
population. If India, with a 1995 population level of about 930 million people (36% under 15
years old), managed to reach a simple replacement re- productive rate by the year 2000, its
population would still not stop growing until the middle of the twenty-first century. At present
rates of growth, India will have a population of nearly 1.4 billion people by 2025 and will still be
growing rapidly.
Population Growth Rate Starting to Decline
The United Nations has announced that the world population growth rate continues to
decline, down from a high of 2.0% in the period 1965–1970 to 1.4% in 1998. Nonetheless,
because of the larger population, this amounts to an increase of 77 million people per year to the
world population, compared to 53 million per year in the 1960s.
The U.N. attributes the decline to increased family planning efforts and the increased
economic power and social status of women. While the U.N. applauds the United States for
leading the world in funding family planning programs abroad, some oppose spending money on
inter- national family planning. The opposition states that money is better spent on improving
education and the economy in other countries, leading to an increased awareness and lowered
fertility rates. The U.N. certainly sup- ports the improvement of education programs in
developing countries, but, interestingly, it has reported increased education levels following a
decrease in family size as a result of family planning.
Most countries are devoting considerable attention to slowing the growth rate of their
populations, and there are genuine signs of progress. If these efforts are maintained, the world
population may stabilize sometime in the next century. No one knows how many people the
planet can support, but we clearly already have more people than can be sustainably supported
with current technologies.
However, population size is not the only factor that determines resource use; per capita
consumption is also important. In this respect, we in the developing world need to pay more
attention to lessening the impact each of us makes, because, even though the vast majority of the
world’s population is in developing countries, the vast majority of resource consumption occurs
in the developed world. Indeed, the wealthiest 20% of the world’s population accounts for 86%
of the world’s consumption of resources and produces 53% of the world’s carbon dioxide
emissions, whereas the poorest 20% of the world is responsible for only 1.3% of consumption
and 3% of CO2 emissions. Looked at another way, in terms of resource use, a child born today in
the developed world will consume as many resources over the course of his or her life as 30 to
50 children born in the developing world.
Building a sustainable world is the most important task facing humanity’s future. The
quality of life available to our children in the next century will depend to a large extent on our
success both in limiting population growth and the amount of per capita resource consumption.
2. Improvements in agriculture are needed to feed a hungry world.
The Future of Agriculture
One of the greatest and most immediate challenges facing today’s world is producing
enough food to feed our expanding population. This problem is often not appreciated by
economists, who estimate that world food production has expanded 2.6 times since 1950,
more rapidly than the human population. However, virtually all land that can be cultivated
is already in use, and much of the world is populated by large numbers of hungry people
who are rapidly destroying the sustainable productivity of the lands they in- habit. Well
over 20% of the world’s topsoil has been lost from agricultural lands since 1950. In the face
of these massive problems, we need to consider what the prospects are for increased
agricultural productivity in the future.
Finding New Food Plants

How many food plants do we use at present? Just three species—rice, wheat, and corn—
supply more than half of all human energy requirements. Just over 100 kinds of plants supply
over 90% of the calories we consume. Only about 5000 have ever been used for food. There
may be tens of thousands of additional kinds of plants, among the 250,000 known species, that
could be used for human food if their properties were fully explored and they were brought
into cultivation.
Agricultural scientists are attempting to identify such new crops, especially ones that will
grow well in the tropics and subtropics, where the world’s population is expanding most rapidly.
Nearly all major crops now grown in the world have been cultivated for hundreds or even
thousands of years. Only a few, including rubber and oil palms, have entered widespread
cultivation since 1800.
One key feature for which nearly all of our important crops were first selected was ease of
growth by relatively simple methods. Today, however, techniques of cultivation are far more
sophisticated and are able to improve soil fertility and combat pests. This enables us to consider
many more plants as potential crops. Agricultural scientists are searching systematically for new
crops that fit the multiple needs of modern society, in ways that would not have been considered
earlier.
Improving the Productivity of Today’s Crops

Searching for new crops is not a quick process. While the search proceeds, the most
promising strategy to quickly expand the world food supply is to improve the productivity of
crops that are already being grown. Much of the improvement in food production must take
place in the tropics and subtropics, where the rapidly growing majority of the world’s population
lives, including most of those en- during a life of extreme poverty. These people cannot be fed
by exports from industrial nations, which contribute only about 8% of their total food at present
and whose agricultural lands are already heavily exploited. During the 1950s and 1960s, the so-
called Green Revolution introduced new, improved strains of wheat and rice. The production of
wheat in Mexico increased nearly tenfold between 1950 and 1970, and Mexico temporarily
became an exporter of wheat rather than an importer. During the same decades, food production
in India was largely able to outstrip even a population growth of approximately 2.3% annually,
and China became self-sufficient in food.
Despite the apparent success of the Green Revolution, improvements were limited. Raising
the new agricultural strains of plants requires the expenditure of large amounts of energy and
abundant supplies of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, as well as adequate machinery. For
example, in the United States it requires about 1000 times as much energy to produce the same
amount of wheat produced from traditional farming methods in India.
Biologists are playing a crucial role in improving existing crops and in developing new
ones by applying traditional methods of plant breeding and selection to many new,
nontraditional crops in the tropics and subtropics.
Genetic Engineering to Improve Crops

Genetic engineering techniques (discussed in chapter 19) make it possible to produce
plants resistant to specific herbicides. These herbicides can then control weeds much more
effectively, without damaging crop plants. Genetic engineers are also developing new strains of
plants that will grow successfully in areas where they previously could not grow. Desirable
characteristics are being introduced into important crop plants. Genetically modified rice, for
example, is no longer deficient in ascorbic acid and iron, providing a major improvement in
human nutrition. Other modifications allow crops to tolerate irrigation with salt water, fix
nitrogen, and carry out C4 photosynthesis
New Approaches to Cultivation

Several new approaches may improve crop production. “No-till” agriculture, spreading
widely in the United States and elsewhere in the 1990s, conserves topsoil and so is a desirable
agricultural practice for many areas. On the other hand, hydroponics, the cultivation of plants in
water containing an appropriate mixture of nutrients, holds less promise. It does not differ
remarkably in its requirements and challenges from growing plants on land. It requires as much
fertilizer and other chemicals, as well as the water itself.
The development of new kinds of food, such as microorganisms cultured in nutrient
solutions, should definitely be pursued. For example, the photosynthetic, nitrogen-fixing
cyanobacterium Spirulina is being investigated in several countries as a possible commercial
food source. It is a traditional food in Africa, Mexico, and other regions. Spirulina thrives in
very alkaline water, and it has a higher protein content than soybeans. Ponds in which it grows
are 10 times more productive than wheat fields. Such protein-rich concentrates of
microorganisms could provide important nutritional supplements. How- ever, psychological
barriers must be overcome to persuade people to eat such foods, and the processing required
tends to be energy-expensive.
3. Human activity is placing the environment under increasing stress.
Nuclear Power
At 1:24 A.M. on April 26, 1986, one of the four reactors of the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant blew up. Located in Ukraine 100 kilometers north of Kiev, Chernobyl was one of the
largest nuclear power plants in Europe, producing 1000 megawatts of electricity, enough to light
a medium- sized city. Before dawn on April 26, workers at the plant hurried to complete a series
of tests of how Reactor Number 4 performed during a power reduction and took a foolish short-
cut: they shut off all the safety systems. Reactors at Chernobyl were graphite reactors designed
with a series of emergency systems that shut the reactors down at low power, because the core is
unstable then—and these are the emergency systems the workers turned off. A power surge
occurred during the test, and there was nothing to dampen it. Power zoomed to hundreds of
times the maximum, and a white-hot blast with the force of a ton of dynamite partially melted
the fuel rods and heated a vast head of steam that blew the reactor apart.
The explosion and heat sent up a plume 5 kilometers high, carrying several tons of
uranium dioxide fuel and fission products. The blast released over 100 mega curies of
radioactivity, making it the largest nuclear accident ever reported; by comparison, the Three
Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979 released 17 curies, millions of times less. This
cloud traveled first northwest, then south- east, spreading the radioactivity in a band across
central Europe from Scandinavia to Greece. Within a 30-kilometer radius of the reactor, at least
one-fifth of the population, some 24,000 people, received serious radiation doses (greater than
45 rem). Thirty-one individuals died as a direct result of radiation poisoning, most of them
firefighters who succeeded in preventing the fire from spreading to nearby reactors.
The rest of Europe received a much lower but still significant radiation dose. Data indicate
that, because of the large numbers of people exposed, radiation outside of the immediate
Chernobyl area can be expected to cause from 5000 to 75,000 cancer deaths.
The Promise of Nuclear Power

Our industrial society has grown for over 200 years on a diet of cheap energy. Until
recently, much of this energy has been derived from burning wood and fossil fuels: coal,
gas, and oil. However, as these sources of fuel become increasingly scarce and the cost of
locating and extracting new deposits becomes more expensive, modern society is being
forced to look elsewhere for energy. The great promise of nuclear power is that it provides
an alternative source of plentiful energy. Although nuclear power is not cheap—power
plants are expensive to build and operate—its raw material, uranium ore, is so common in
the earth’s crust that it is unlikely we will ever run out of it.
Burning coal and oil to obtain energy produces two un- desirable chemical by-
products: sulfur and carbon dioxide. The sulfur emitted from burning coal is a principal
cause of acid rain, while the CO2 produced from burning all fossil fuels is a major
greenhouse gas (see the discussion of global warming in the next section). For these
reasons, we need to find replacements for fossil fuels.
For all of its promise of plentiful energy, nuclear power presents several new
problems that must be addressed before its full potential can be realized. First, safe
operation of the world’s approximately 390 nuclear reactors must be ensured. A second
challenge is the need to safely dispose of the radioactive wastes produced by the plants and
to safely decommission plants that have reached the end of their useful lives (about 25
years). In 1997, over 35 plants were more than 25 years old, and not one has been safely
decommissioned, its nuclear wastes disposed of. A third challenge is the need to guard
against terrorism and sabotage, because the technology of nuclear power generation is
closely linked to that of nuclear weapons.
For these reasons, it is important to continue to investigate and develop other
promising alternatives to fossil fuels, such as solar energy and wind energy. The generation
of electricity by burning fossil fuels accounts for up to 15% of global warming gas
emissions in the United States. As much as 75% of the electricity produced in the United
States and Canada currently is wasted through the use of inefficient appliances, according to
scientists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Using highly efficient motors, lights, heaters,
air conditioners, refrigerators, and other technologies already available could save huge
amounts of energy and greatly reduce global warming gas emission. For example, a new,
compact fluorescent light bulb uses only 20% of the amount of electricity a conventional
light bulb uses, provides equal or better lighting, lasts up to 13 times longer, and provides
substantial cost savings.
Carbon Dioxide and Global Warming
By studying earth’s history and making comparisons with other planets, scientists have
determined that concentrations of gases in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide, maintain
the average temperature on earth about 25°C higher than it would be if these gases were absent.
Carbon dioxide and other gases trap the longer wavelengths of infrared light, or heat, radiating
from the surface of the earth, creating what is known as a greenhouse effect. The atmosphere
acts like the glass of a gigantic greenhouse surrounding the earth.
Roughly seven times as much carbon dioxide is locked up in fossil fuels as exists
in the atmosphere today. Before industrialization, the concentration of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere was approximately 260 to 280 parts per million (ppm). Since the
extensive use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been
increasing rapidly. During the 25-year period starting in 1958, the concentration of carbon
dioxide increased from 315 ppm to more than 340 ppm and continues to rise.
Climatologists have calculated that the actual mean global temperature has increased
about 1°C since 1900, a change known as global warming.
In a recent study, the U.S. National Research Council estimated that the concentration
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would pass 600 ppm (roughly double the current level)
by the third quarter of the next century, and might exceed that level as soon as 2035. These
concentrations of carbon dioxide, if actually reached, would warm global surface air by
between 1.5° and 4.5°C. The actual increase might be considerably greater, however,
because a number of trace gases, such as nitrous oxide, methane, ozone, and
chlorofluorocarbons, are also increasing rapidly in the atmosphere as a result of human
activities. These gases have warming, or “greenhouse,” effects similar to those of carbon
dioxide. One, methane, increased from 1.14 ppm in the atmosphere in 1951 to 1.68 ppm
in 1986—nearly a 50% increase.
Major problems associated with climatic warming include rising sea levels. Sea levels may
have already risen 2 to 5 centimeters from global warming. If the climate becomes so warm that
the polar ice caps melt, sea levels would rise by more than 150 meters, flooding the entire
Atlantic coast of North America for an average distance of several hundred kilometers inland.
Changes in the distribution of precipitation are difficult to model. Certainly, changing
climatic patterns are likely to make some of the best farmlands much drier than they are at
present. If the climate warms as rapidly as many scientists project, the next 50 years may see
greatly altered weather patterns, a rising sea level, and major shifts of deserts and fertile regions.
The greenhouse effect. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily increased since
the 1950s (blue line). The red line shows the general increase in average global temperature for the same period of
time.
Source: Data from Geophysical Monograph, American Geophysical Union, National Academy of Sciences,
and National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Pollution
The River Rhine is a broad ribbon of water that runs through the heart of Europe. From
high in the Alps that separate Italy and Switzerland, the Rhine flows north across the industrial
regions of Germany before reaching Holland and the sea. Where it crosses the mountains
between Mainz and Coblenz, Germany, the Rhine is one of the most beautiful rivers on earth.
On the first day of November 1986, the Rhine almost died.
The blow that struck at the life of the Rhine did not at first seem deadly. Firefighters were
battling a blaze that morning in Basel, Switzerland. The fire was gutting a huge warehouse, into
which firefighters shot streams of water to dampen the flames. The warehouse belonged to
Sandoz, a giant chemical company. In the rush to contain the fire, no one thought to ask what
chemicals were stored in the warehouse. By the time the fire was out, streams of water had
washed 30 tons of mercury and pesticides into the Rhine.
Flowing downriver, the deadly wall of poison killed everything it passed. For hundreds of
kilometers, dead fish blanketed the surface of the river. Many cities that use the water of the
Rhine for drinking had little time to make other arrangements. Even the plants in the river began
to die. All across Germany, from Switzerland to the sea, the river reeked of rotting fish, and not
one drop of water was safe to drink.
Six months later, Swiss and German environmental scientists monitoring the effects of the
accident were able to report that the blow to the Rhine was not mortal. Enough small aquatic
invertebrates and plants had survived to provide a basis for the eventual return of fish and other
water life, and the river was rapidly washing out the remaining residues from the spill. A lesson
difficult to ignore, the spill on the Rhine has caused the governments of Germany and
Switzerland to intensify efforts to protect the river from future industrial accidents and to
regulate the growth of chemical and industrial plants on its shores.
Acid Precipitation
The Four Corners power plant in New Mexico burns coal, sending smoke up high into the
atmosphere through its smokestacks, each over 65 meters tall. The smoke the stacks belch out
contains high concentrations of sulfur dioxide and other sulfates, which produce acid when they
combine with water vapor in the air. The intent of those who designed the plant was to release
the sulfur-rich smoke high in the atmosphere, where winds would disperse and dilute it, carrying
the acids far away.
Environmental effects of this acidity
are serious. Sulfur introduced into the
upper atmosphere combines with water
vapor to produce sulfuric acid, and when
the water later falls as rain or snow, the
precipitation is acid. Natural rainwater
rarely has a pH lower than 5.6; in the
northeastern United States, however, rain
and snow now have a pH of about 3.8,
roughly 100 times as acid.
Acid precipitation destroys life. Thousands
of lakes in southern Sweden and Norway
no longer support fish; these lakes are now
eerily clear. In the northeastern United
States and eastern Canada, tens of
thousands of lakes are dying biologically
as a result of acid precipitation. At pH
levels below 5.0, many fish species and other aquatic animals die, unable to reproduce. In
southern Sweden and elsewhere, groundwater now has a pH between 4.0 and 6.0, as acid
precipitation slowly filters down into the underground reservoirs.
There has been enormous forest damage in the Black Forest in Germany and in the forests of the
eastern United States and Canada. It has been estimated that at least 3.5 million hectares of forest
in the northern hemisphere are being affected by acid precipitation (figure 30.8), and the problem
is clearly growing.
Its solution at first seems obvious: capture and remove the emissions instead of releasing them
into the atmosphere. However, there are serious difficulties in executing this solution. First, it is
expensive. The costs of installing and maintaining the necessary “scrubbers” in the United States
are estimated to be 4 to 5 billion dollars per year. An additional difficulty is that the polluter and
the recipient of the pollution are far from each other, and neither wants to pay for what they view
as someone else’s problem. The Clean Air Act revisions of 1990 addressed this problem in the
United States significantly for the first time, and substantial worldwide progress has been made
in implementing a solution.
The Ozone Hole
The swirling colours of the satellite photos in figure 30.9 represent different concentrations
of ozone (O3), a different form of oxygen gas than O2. As you can see, over Antarctica there is
an “ozone hole” three times the size of the United States, an area within which the ozone
concentration is much less than elsewhere. The ozone thinning appeared for the first time in
1975. The hole is not a permanent feature, but rather becomes evident each year for a few
months during Antarctic winter. Every September from 1975 onward, the ozone “hole” has
reappeared. Each year the layer of ozone is thinner and the hole is larger.
The major cause of the ozone depletion had already been suggested in 1974 by Sherwood
Roland and Mario Molina, who were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work in 1995. They
proposed that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), relatively inert chemicals used in cooling systems,
fire extinguishers, and Styrofoam containers, were percolating up through the atmosphere and
reducing O3 molecules to O2. One chlorine atom from a CFC molecule could destroy 100,000
ozone molecules.
Although other factors have also been implicated in ozone depletion, the role of CFCs is so
predominant that worldwide agreements have been signed to phase out their production. The
United States banned the production of CFCs and other ozone-destroying chemicals after 1995.
Nonetheless, the CFCs that were manufactured earlier are moving slowly upward through the
atmosphere. The ozone layer will be further depleted before it begins to form again.
Thinning of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, 25 to 40 kilometers above the surface of
the earth, is a matter of serious concern. This layer protects life from the harmful ultraviolet rays
that bombard the earth continuously from the sun. Life appeared on land only after the oxygen
layer was sufficiently thick to generate enough ozone to shield the surface of the earth from these
destructive rays.
Ultraviolet radiation is a serious human health concern. Every 1% drop in atmospheric

ozone is estimated to lead to a 6% increase in the incidence of skin cancers. At middle latitudes,
the approximately 3% drop that has already occurred worldwide is estimated to have increased
skin cancers by as much as 20%. A type of skin cancer (melanoma) is one of the more lethal
human diseases.
1
September 9,
Southern hemisphere ozone hole area

2 2000
2000
11 1999
(millions of square miles)

1 1990-99
0 average
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 Augus Septemb Octobe NovemberDecember
t er r
(a) (b)
The ozone hole over Antarctica is still growing. For decades NASA satellites have tracked the extent of ozone depletion
over Antarctica. Every year since 1979 an ozone “hole” has appeared in August when sunlight triggers chemical reactions
in cold air trapped over the South Pole during Antarctic winter. The hole intensifies during September before tailing off as
temperatures rise in November- December. In 2000, the 11.4 million square-mile hole (dark blue in the satellite image)
covered an area larger than the United States, Canada, and Mexico combined, the largest hole ever recorded. In September
2000, the hole extended over Punta Arenas, a city of about 120,000 people southern Chile, exposing residents to very high
levels of UV radiation.
Destruction of the Tropical Forests

More than half of the world’s human population lives in the tropics, and this percentage
is increasing rapidly. For global stability, and for the sustainable management of the world
ecosystem, it will be necessary to solve the problems of food production and regional stability in
these areas. World trade, political and economic stability, and the future of most species of
plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms depend on our addressing these problems.
(a) (b)
Destroying the tropical forests. (a) When tropical forests are cleared, the ecological consequences can be disastrous. These fires
are destroying rain forest in Brazil and clearing it for cattle pasture. (b) The consequences of deforestation can be seen on these
middle- elevation slopes in Ecuador, which now support only low-grade pastures and permit topsoil to erode into the rivers
(note the color of the water, stained brown by high levels of soil erosion). These areas used to support highly productive forest,
which protected the watersheds of the area, in the 1970s .
Rain Forests Are Rapidly Disappearing

Tropical rain forests are biologically the richest of the world’s biomes. Most other
kinds of tropical forest, such as seasonally dry forests and savanna forests, have already
been largely destroyed—because they tend to grow on more fertile soils, they were exploited
by humans a long time ago. Now the rain forests, which grow on poor soils, are being
destroyed. In the mid-1990s, it is estimated that only about 5.5 million square kilometers
of tropical rain forest still exist in a relatively undisturbed form. This area, about two-thirds of
the size of the United States (excluding Alaska), represents about half of the original extent of
the rain forest. From it, about 160,000 square kilometers are being clear-cut every year, with
perhaps an equivalent amount severely disturbed by shifting cultivation, firewood gathering,
and the clearing of land for cattle ranching. The total area of tropical rain forest destroyed—and
therefore permanently removed from the world total— amounts to an area greater than the size
of Indiana each year. At this rate, all of the tropical rain forest in the world will be gone in about
30 years; but in many regions, the rate of destruction is much more rapid. As a result of this
overexploitation, experts predict there will be little undisturbed tropical forest left anywhere in
the world by early in the next century. Many areas now occupied by dense, species-rich forests
may still be tree-covered, but the stands will be sparse and species-poor.
4. Solving environmental problems requires individual involvement.
Environmental Science
Environmental scientists attempt to find solutions to environmental problems, considering
them in a broad context. Unlike biology or ecology, sciences that seek to learn general principles
about how life functions, environmental science is an applied science dedicated to solving
practical problems. Its basic tools are derived from ecology, geology, meteorology, social
sciences, and many other areas of knowledge that bear on the functioning of the environment and
our management of it. Environmental science ad- dresses the problems created by rapid human
population growth: an increasing need for energy, a depletion of resources, and a growing level
of pollution.
Solving Environmental Problems
The problems our severely stressed planet faces are not in- surmountable. A combination
of scientific investigation and public action, when brought to bear effectively, can solve
environmental problems that seem intractable. Viewed simply, there are five components to
solving any environmental problem:
1. Assessment. The first stage in addressing any environmental problem is scientific
analysis, the gathering of information. Data must be collected and experiments
performed to construct a model that describes the situation. This model can be used
to make predictions about the future course of events.
2. Risk analysis. Using the results of scientific analysis as a tool, it is possible to
analyze what could be expected to happen if a particular course of action were
followed. It is necessary to evaluate not only the potential for solving the
environmental problem, but also any adverse effects a plan of action might create.
3. Public education. When a clear choice can be made among alternative courses of
action, the public must be informed. This involves explaining the problem in
terms the public can understand, presenting the alternatives available, and
explaining the probable costs and results of the different choices.
4. Political action. The public, through its elected officials selects a course of action
and implements it. Choices are particularly difficult to implement when
environmental problems transcend national boundaries.
5. Follow-through. The results of any action should be carefully monitored to see
whether the environmental problem is being solved as well as to evaluate and
improve the initial modeling of the problem. Every environmental intervention is an
experiment, and we need the knowledge gained from each one to better address
future problems.
Individuals Can Make the Difference

The development of appropriate solutions to the world’s environmental problems must
rest partly on the shoulders of politicians, economists, bankers, engineers—many kinds of public
and commercial activity will be required. How- ever, it is important not to lose sight of the key
role often played by informed individuals in solving environmental problems. Often one person
has made the difference.
Preserving Non-replaceable Resources
Among the many ways ecosystems are suffering damage, one class of problem stands out as
more serious than the rest: consuming or destroying resources that we cannot replace in the
future. While a polluted stream can be cleaned up, no one can restore an extinct species.
Topsoil
The United States is one of the most productive agricultural countries on earth, largely because
much of it is covered with particularly fertile soils. Our midwestern farm belt sits astride what
was once a great prairie. The topsoil of that ecosystem accumulated bit by bit from countless
generations of animals and plants until, by the time humans began to plow it, the rich soil
extended down several feet.
We can never replace this rich topsoil, the capital upon which our country’s greatness is built, yet
we are al- lowing it to be lost at a rate of centimeters every decade. By repeatedly tilling
(turning the soil over) to eliminate weeds, we permit rain to wash more and more of the topsoil
away, into rivers, and eventually out to sea. Our country has lost one-quarter of its topsoil since
1950! New approaches are desperately needed to lessen our reliance on intensive cultivation.
Some possible solutions include using genetic engineering to make crop resistant to weed-killing
herbicides and terracing to recapture lost topsoil.
Groundwater
A second resource we cannot replace is groundwater, water trapped beneath the soil within
porous rock reservoirs called aquifers (figure 30.11). This water seeped into its underground
reservoir very slowly during the last ice age over 12,000 years ago. We should not waste this
trea- sure, for we cannot replace it.
In most areas of the United States, local governments exert relatively little control over the use of
groundwater. As a result, a large portion is wasted watering lawns, washing cars, and running
fountains. A great deal more is inadvertently polluted by poor disposal of chemical wastes— and
once pollution enters the groundwater, there is no effective means of removing it.
Application
Activity: Answer question by enumerating the possible things you can do to help solve
environmental problems. Use the ladder web below.
What sort of actions might you take that will make a significant
contribution in solving the world’s environmental problems?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Feedback
Write an essay or a composition to discuss the topic “Is Covid-19 pandemic a boon or
bane to the biosphere? Why?”
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You will be graded using this Rubric

Summary
In this unit, you are able to learn how people change our planet. The topic Using More
and More Resources tries to impart knowledge about resources. Resources has two classification,
the renewable and the non-renewable. These natural resources are too much essential for survival
on Earth. Without them we cannot imagine our human life. All resources are either directly or
indirectly connected with others. We should follow conservation method for using these
resources in such a way that they could always be available for us in future for many centuries
coming ahead.
Topic 2 is about Using Resources Changes the Biosphere. We all know that the biosphere
is as important as life itself because it is all of life. Without the biosphere, Earth would be a
lifeless planet. As natural resources are rapidly depleting human instability increases. We must
find ways for the sustainable use of our biosphere.
Topic 3 is all about The Future of the Biosphere. There are many consequences that
might happen in the future such as Global warming. Global warming is a significant risk in the
society. No one knows exactly what will happen. These consequences could affect different
parts of the world in different ways. Human must take actions to prevent problems and
disastrous events in the future. Humans must also accept the responsibility for our ill behaviour
towards the nature and change our way of thinking as well as our way of life for the common
good of all and the future generations.
Reflection
For you to ponder about the topics in this unit, you will have another activity called the
Quick Write. You will be given ten minutes for your reflection. In ten minutes, write your
opinion about the following quotes:
1. “The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn
over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value.” – Theodore Roosevelt
2. "The human juggernaut is permanently eroding Earth's ancient biosphere." – E. O.
Wilson
3. “Protecting the biosphere should be our highest priority or else we sicken and die.” –
David Suzuki
4. “There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance
that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” – Rachel Carson
References
https://www.britannica.com/science/biosphere
https://sites.google.com/site/gccclimatechange/the-different-spheres/the-biosphere
https://www.agci.org/earth-systems/biosphere

Places and Landscapes Unit 4

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Unit IV: People Change Earth

At the end of this unit you are expected to:

Activating Prior Knowledge

Topic: Using More and More Resources

At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:

Non-renewable resources exist in finite amounts or are generated in nature so slowly

Perpetual Potentially Metallic and non-

CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

CONSERVING THE EARTH

Electronic products contain minerals as well as petroleum-based plastics. Many of them

Answer the questions briefly but substantially.

__________ 1. It is naturally occurring, exploitable material that a society perceives to be useful

Topic: Using Resources Changes the Biosphere

At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:

Interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere and lithosphere

How does the biosphere work?

Rainforest in Blue Mountains, Australia. Much of the world’s biodiversity is found in the

How is the biosphere changing?

The importance of the biosphere

It is therefore startling to realize that our inventory of the Earth’s diversity is still so

The biologist Edward O. Wilson, who coined the term biodiversity, estimated

Topic: The Future of the Biosphere

At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:

THE FUTURE OF THE BIOSPHARE

Finding New Food Plants

Improving the Productivity of Today’s Crops

Genetic Engineering to Improve Crops

New Approaches to Cultivation

The Promise of Nuclear Power

Ultraviolet radiation is a serious human health concern. Every 1% drop in atmospheric

Southern hemisphere ozone hole area

(millions of square miles)

Destruction of the Tropical Forests

Rain Forests Are Rapidly Disappearing

Individuals Can Make the Difference

You will be graded using this Rubric

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