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Photo proof that trees can survive anything, even people 

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Photo proof that trees can survive anything, even people 

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There's not a blade of grass in sight. I see no dirt either. But somehow, against all odds, a tree has sprouted from this forbidding patch of concrete at a strange, 70-degree angle. I didn't even know trees could grow that way, let alone in these conditions. It's a scene that plays out over and over again in an ever-expanding photo essay called A Tree Grows In by L.A. photographer Sinziana Velicescu. Her images capture plant life finding a way amid the harsh built environments of cities and suburbs.

"I've been photographing overlooked observations around my hometown of Los Angeles, and this is just one of the many thematic elements I've found to be unique during my explorations," says Velicescu, who adds to the collection whenever she comes across the phenomenon. "The more I travel, the more I realize this is not just unique to L.A., but more the built environment of the entire Southwest."

Her photos, despite being taken at many times and locations, are eerily similar to one another. She juxtaposes the slightest bit of green against an otherwise lifeless scene of concrete, bricks, and pavement. Even the glimpses of dusty dirt seem to blend in with the sun-scorched blacktop. Looking at the photos evokes a strange cognitive dissonance. On one hand, these stalwart plants are great news for us: We need as many trees as we can possibly plant to counteract carbon emissions, and even a few individual trees can suck up so much rainwater that they make a serious difference to flood prevention. These trees are thriving in uncertain circumstances. But on the other hand, what sort of world have we built, that forces nature to adapt like this?

"There's a push and pull of positive and negative in all the images," agrees Velicescu. "In some ways, the imagery is a bit dismal in the sense that the nature is contained within these constructed environments we've built . . . but in almost every photo, there is hope in the sense that the trees and topiary are still emerging through the cracks, taking back the land, or not necessarily playing by man's rules due to their inherent qualities of being wild."

Indeed, and if nothing else, the essay is a reminder, that no matter the mistakes humanity makes in protecting this planet, the natural world will eventually recover-even if it takes eons-by breaking through one strip-mall sidewalk at a time.

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These photos of trees surviving in cities are hopeful and heartbreaking

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There's not a blade of grass in sight. I see no dirt either. But somehow, against all odds, a tree has sprouted from this forbidding patch of concrete at a strange, 70-degree angle. I didn't even know trees could grow that way, let alone in these conditions.

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The Desert garden at Huntington Botanical Garden is mecca for lovers of the spiky, the succulent, the sculptural. It's home to one of the largest collection of succulent plants in the world, and a place I could happily spend weeks exploring. Daniel Shipp and I visited last year and were entirely blow away by the scale and diversity of the collection.

Cactus are incredible creatures. They're cool too, apparently, popping up in hipster shopfronts the world over, and peppered throughout millions of Instagram posts. Perhaps because they look quite static - they don't have leaves that move or droop and they're incredibly slow growing - I occasionally find myself reminding people that they're not objects. Depending on mood, a foot stamp is sometimes added for emphasis.

The statement is typically provoked by someone telling me that their cactus has just died. I ask them where it was living and they say 'oh my bedroom/living room/bathroom'. I shake my head with sympathy and a little sadness, and then launch into my talk about seeing plants not only as decoration, but as a fellow living creature with needs (and maybe even desires), like us.

One third of all cactus species are facing extinction.

You read it right - Cacti is one of the most threatened taxonomic groups, more so than mammals and birds, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The dominant drivers of extinction, according to a report published in Nature Plants, are "the unscrupulous collection of live plants and seeds for horticultural trade and private ornamental collections, smallholder livestock ranching and smallholder annual agriculture."

Zooming in on the illegal harvesting of plants from the wild for private collections and gardens, it's easy to see how damaging the objectification of plants can be. Sure, killing a cactus by trying to grow it in your bathroom isn't a big deal, but driving a species to extinction is a huge one.

According to an article in the Guardian earlier this year, cacti are being stolen from public lands in the south west of the US in increasing numbers: "From soaring saguaros to tiny, rare species favored as indoor house plants, the booming global demand for cacti is driving a shadowy, underground trade that's difficult to police. Moreover, experts say, such trends risk destroying sensitive species forever."

Cacti are slow growers. Many species take decades to reach maturity. This is a beautiful thing if you see a plant as a life, but problematic if there's dollars attached.

It's a curious thing, collecting plants. We're all drawn, I think, to beauty and exclusivity. I love to grow plants I haven't seen before - I love to see what they do, what they like. There's a line somewhere, though, between love and objectification, and sometimes it can get a little bit hazy.

Know where your cacti come from (the desert). Know what they like and dislike (lots of sun, not much water). Know that they're beautiful, and know too, that beauty resides not only in rarity but in ubiquity. It's just a matter of seeing.

The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens are located in San Marino, California, and are open every day from 10-5.

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Plants are not Objects: A Spiky Photo Essay - The Planthunter

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The Desert garden at Huntington Botanical Garden is mecca for lovers of the spiky, the succulent, the sculptural. It's home to one of the largest collection of succulent plants in the world, and a place I could happily spend weeks exploring.

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Photo Essay: How The Climate and Nature Crisis is Changing the UK 

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Photo Essay: How The Climate and Nature Crisis is Changing the UK 

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The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. More than 1,000 British species are at risk of extinction. Polls have repeatedly shown that while the British public may be divided on Brexit, we are united by our love of nature and concern about climate. The charity WWF is urging UK political parties to respond to the nature and climate crisis by committing to bold policies and investment to make the UK the first major economy to halt its contribution to climate change, put nature on a path to recovery and stop deforestation in food supply chains. It says the UK must pioneer an economic and financial system that works for people and planet and drive global ambition to respond to the climate emergency.

A hedgehog at Secret World Wildlife Rescue in Somerset, which receives about 600 hedgehogs for rehabilitation every year. In autumn, hedgehogs often struggle to find enough food to put on weight for winter hibernation. It is estimated that UK hedgehog numbers have declined by half since 2000, to fewer than 1 million. The loss of hedgerows for intensive farming, the use of pesticides that kill slugs and insects and the lack of garden habitat is driving the decline.

Eight-year-old Afrika holds a ball and wears a mask to protect against air pollution in Dawson Heights, south-east London. Studies have found that fine particles and toxic fumes emitted from vehicle exhausts and wood and coal fires are particularly harmful to children and can affect their lung and brain development. These pollutants are believed to cause thousands of deaths across the UK each year and contribute to health conditions including asthma, lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. The burning of fossil fuels also generates greenhouse gas emissions.

Seals such as this pup, in rehabilitation at RSPCA West Hatch in Somerset, face many threats to their existence: increased severe weather and storms linked to climate change can separate pups from their mothers, as can public disturbance from tourists and dog walkers. Adult seals are often killed or injured in collisions with boat propellers or entangled in plastics and fishing waste, and pups can be caught as by-catch in commercial fishing nets.

Thousands of students across the UK joined a wave of climate strikes to raise their voices in the climate debate this year. These two protesters with placards attended an event at Parliament Square in London in May organised by the UK Student Climate Network. The global climate strike movement was inspired by the 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and has been supported by millions of people around the world.

The Atlantic puffin is a well-known visitor to British shores. It spends the summers in the UK to breed and heads north in the winter to feed in cold Arctic seas. The UK provides a vital habitat for these birds, but numbers have been crashing in some of the UK's nesting sites over recent years. As with many other species affected by the climate crisis, puffins are already subject to other threats, which a changing climate only worsens. Overfishing is severely reducing their food sources, and the fish populations they rely on - such as sand eels - are becoming less prevalent as the seas warm. The combinations of these impacts could be devastating for UK puffin populations.

The sun rises behind the cooling towers of coal-powered Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station and lights up the steam produced from the generation process. Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire is one of the UK's few remaining coal-fired power stations. Burning coal generates greenhouse gas emissionsand causes dangerous air pollution, and building the huge infrastructure can destroy habitats. The UK has committed to ending the use of coal in power generation by 2025, and renewables are rapidly becoming cheaper than fossil-fuel generation.

A mute swan and mallard duck lie dead among plastic pollution in Manchester. The River Tame in Greater Manchester recently recorded the highest level of microplastics anywhere in the world. Combined with toxic algae in river systems due to rising global temperatures, many water birds are dying as a result of pollution.

Six-year-old Elizabeth (left) and eight-year-old Mali watch the tide coming in on the Thames on the South Bank in London. WWF estimates that almost 2.5m homes across the UK could be at risk of flooding by 2050. Damage caused by coastal erosion, flooding of farmland, businesses and infrastructure could cost the nation more than £12bn a year by 2050, according to figures from a WWF study released this week called Global Futures.

Climate change, habitat loss, pollution and disease are pushing some of the UK's native bees to extinction. One in every three mouthfuls of food we eat exists because of pollinators such as bees, which pollinate 75% of leading global crops. Pollinators are estimated to be worth £690m per year to the UK economy, yet in England more than 97% of all flower-rich grasslands have been lost since the 1930s - three million hectares, or an area one-and-a-half times the size of Wales.

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How the climate and nature crisis is changing the UK - photo essay

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The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. More than 1,000 British species are at risk of extinction. Polls have repeatedly shown that while the British public may be divided on Brexit, we are united by our love of nature and concern about climate.

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play-doh, sand, shovels, stones, water, poster board, markers, paint, buttons, etc.

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After analyzing local deforestation images and collaborating with a partner, create a play-doh model, and close with a 3-2-1 bridge activity regarding deforestation and its possible affects on the environment.

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"First, take your students on a walk through a local park or the school grounds. Look out for natural bird houses or potential bird house locations. Focus their attention on how trees provide the structural support and protection that birds need to build a home. Then, transition into a bird house design and building activity.
Encourage your students to give some thought to the challenges facing birds when they construct their own places to live. For example, students will need to take into consideration how birds will enter and exit the birdhouse, what materials are best to use and why, and how to hang their bird houses from the tree itself."
https://www.plt.org/educator-tips/activities-explore-uses-trees/

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Visit Wrightsville Beach as a class and discuss the human and physical characteristics using the See Think Me We thinking routine.

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Your kids will love this plant theme playdough invitation to play. Here are lots of material ideas to make an exciting plant & garden theme playdough tray.
When I was a kid, I loved helping my parents plant their huge garden. Since moving to Texas, I haven't done much gardening. It may have something to do with the large spiders and scorpions that I find in the yard.

When you put together a plant and garden themed playdough tray, you don't have to worry about scary creatures. Here are some ideas for a fun invitation to play that your kids will love.

Playdough

For this playdough tray, I mixed up a quick batch of brown playdough. Do you want to add some interesting texture to your dough? You and your kids can mix in rubber mulch, pebbles, sand, or organic potting soil.

Fill the Tray

Now that you have some "soil" playdough, you are ready to fill a divided tray with fun materials. Here is what I added to my tray:

small peat pots

pieces of cardboard tubes

a variety of beans (If you don't want to use food....use beads)

plastic leaves/stems

plastic worms

small tiles (I found these round ceramic and square granite tiles at my local Habitat ReStore)

Here are some additional material ideas that you can add to your tray:

pumpkin seeds

plastic fruit or vegetables

silk flowers and leaves

additional plastic bugs

small pebbles or rocks

sticks and twigs

green pipe cleaners

buttons

small trowels

Let Them Play

Now that you have playdough and have gathered materials, you can stand back and let your kids create.

Can you think of additional materials to add to a garden and plant theme playdough tray? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

Below are some items from Amazon that can be used for the activities mentioned in this article. The links below are affiliate links. If you happen to purchase something from a link, there will be no additional cost to you, but a small portion of your purchase will be used towards the cost of maintaining this website.

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How to Make an Exciting Plant Theme Playdough Invitation - Early Learning Ideas

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Your kids will love this plant theme playdough invitation to play. Here are lots of material ideas to make an exciting plant & garden theme playdough tray. When I was a kid, I loved helping my parents plant their huge garden. Since moving to Texas, I haven't done much gardening.

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This product contains 18 cards with definitions and pictures of renewable and nonrenewable resources. Students can sort cards as renewable and nonrenewable resources as well as match the definition. This product can be used as a simple assessment of student understanding of natural resources.

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This product contains 18 cards with definitions and pictures of renewable and nonrenewable resources. Students can sort cards as renewable and nonrenewable resources as well as match the definition. This product can be used as a simple assessment of student understanding of natural resources.

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Review the vocabulary term . Explain that humans use a variety of natural resources that come from the ocean. Draw a vertical line dividing the board in half. You will use the left side for tasks in this step, and the right side for step 4. Draw a two-column chart on the far left side of the board with the following heads: Ocean Users and Ocean Uses. Have students use what they already know to brainstorm all the ways humans use the ocean. Ask: Who uses the ocean? How do they use it? Examples include:

Fishermen-fish from boats or from shore

Ships-bring products and materials across the ocean

Navy/Military-defend, attack, and test military systems

Hotels, Resorts-use coastlines for rooms and tourist services

Tourists & Locals-visit the beach, ocean, and tidepools to sunbathe and swim

Surfers-access waves from the beach

SCUBA Divers/Snorkelers-use the ocean for recreation

Scientists-research and test theories and practices

Next to the two-column chart, have students list ocean resources that may not be visible but are important for human use. For each, ask: How are those resources collected? Examples include: minerals (from mining); gas and oil (from offshore drilling); and wind and wave energy (from wind turbines and buoy s). Finally, to the right of this list, have students list animals that live in the ocean and the ways in which they use ocean resources. Examples of use include: food, shelter/habitat, finding a mate, and giving birth and raising young.
2. Have students make connections by identifying how different ocean resources have competing uses.
Explain to students that sometimes one of these uses of the ocean competes, or gets in the way of, another use. For example, some hotels and resorts along the beach are only open to guests and members, but not to locals who may want to swim, surf, or use the beach. Another example is that fishing makes it harder for fish to survive in their habitat. Invite volunteers to come up to the board and draw a line connecting any two ocean uses that could compete with one another. As each student draws a line, ask what the conflict is and write the conflict on the line. For example:

Connect "fishermen" and "food" and write "fishermen take fish out of the sea that other fish might eat" on the line.

Connect "offshore drilling" and "shelter/habitat" and write "an oil spill could pollute the animals' habitat" on the line.

Connect "surfers" and "ships" and write "surfers can't surf where ships travel" on the line.

Give students time to react to the uses their classmates are connecting to inspire new ideas and discussion.
3. Discuss the reasons some areas of the ocean are protected.
Ask students to imagine what would happen if everyone could use the ocean as much as they wanted and exactly the way they wanted. Ask: What do you think would happen to the ocean? To the animals? To the people who use the ocean? Write the following question on the board: Why would people want to protect certain areas of the ocean? After students have had a chance to respond, read the following reasons aloud:

to protect some habitats and animals from too many people and/or pollution

to set aside some areas as recreational, or fun, areas for activities like snorkeling, sailing, or surfing

to make sure humans are not taking too many fish from the ocean

to protect a landmark or point of cultural interest (like the USS Arizona, which serves as a memorial at Pearl Harbor)

to make sure there will be healthy, clean habitats in the ocean with many animals for future generations to enjoy and use

Explain to students that the reasons you read aloud are some of the reasons the government sets aside protected ocean areas and these areas are called marine protected areas, or MPAs. Use the board to illustrate for students how MPA is an acronym, or abbreviation using the first letter of each word to make a shorter word. Explain that "marine" means that the area is located in the ocean, and "protected" means that there are rules about what can and can't happen in the area. These areas are like national or state parks, but in the ocean. Go to the provided NOAA: National Marine Protected Areas Center website and have students locate a marine protected area close to their region.

4. Designate a marine protected area along an imaginary coastline.
Use the provided Our Marine Protected Area: Example as a model to complete this step with students. On the right side of the board, write the headOur Marine Protected Area. Draw an imaginary coastline and label the land and the ocean. Explain to students that, as a class, they are going to create an imaginary state and then create a marine protected area along the coast.

First, ask students to suggest ideas about types of people, cities, industries, and other uses that could happen in their state. As they offer ideas, ask where on the coastline the people or location should go, and label or draw it.

Next, ask students to refer to their original lists of Ocean Users and Ocean Uses and create and label places on the drawing for each of the uses. The drawing should be fairly crowded, with overlapping uses.

Finally, prompt students to think about ways that all the different users could share the coastline and where students would like to designate a marine protected area along the coastline. Ask students to create rules and restrictions that protect ocean uses and resources and write those rules and restrictions in a different color on the drawing. For example, the class could decide that naval ships have to enter the docks around the oil rigs, instead of cutting into the public surfing area. Or they could decide that no fishing is allowed around the resort, but only along the docks and on the fishing grounds. If discussion arises about where to put a use or a rule, encourage students to argue or debate with the goal of trying to come to a consensus.

5. Discuss the MPA designation.
Once the marine protected area drawing is completed, use the following prompts for a whole-class discussion:

What were some of the challenges of deciding what rules to create?

What were some of the challenges of deciding where to place the rules?

Did any of your classmates' ideas change your mind about a rule or a use you wanted to include? If so, explain.

Most marine protected areas are agreements between governments, scientists, and local people. Decisions about rules and uses are based on what is best for the environment and what is best for the local people. Do you think it is challenging for scientists and governments to design MPAs? Why or why not?

Do you think MPAs are important? Why or why not?

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Review the vocabulary term . Explain that humans use a variety of natural resources that come from the ocean. Draw a vertical line dividing the board in half. You will use the left side for tasks in this step, and the right side for step 4.

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Are you looking for a fun way for students to explore water pollution? In this adapted version of Freddie Fish, students will pour various "pollutants" (household kitchen items representing toxins) in Freddie's river and discuss how he feels. It's the perfect way to get your students understanding pollution!
This Product Includes:
✓ Interactive pollution experiment
With This Product You'll Get:
✓ Preparation instructions

✓ Story cards

✓ Answer recording sheet

✓ Earth Day activity
How You Can Use This Product:
✓ You can read the cards off or provide students with cards to read.

✓ Then, students will brainstorm what could be done instead that would better benefit Freddie and his environment.

✓ Finally, students will create a display for Earth Day about how the earth is important and how they can better care for it. (Included is also a display labeled "Earth Care" in case you are doing this pollution exploration when it is not Earth Day.)

✓ Small groups

✓ Whole group
Other Buyers Have Said:
"Wow! This is such an incredible activity to help kids visualize how humans can affect the habitats of other living creatures. Thank you for such an engaging and meaningful resource. I will use this year after year!" (Thank you, Adventures of a School Marm!)

"My students LOVED this activity! We used it for Earth Day and our study on pollution." (Thank you, Amy L.!)

"My 2nd-5th graders loved this experiment and really connected with the meaning behind what they were doing with the real world application. I even had several students who wanted to do the same experiment again. Great activity!" (Thank you, Danika S.!)
Other Related Products You May Enjoy: Earth Day Booklet Earth's Changing Surface Lesson Plan Unit Earth Changes Task Cards Final Notes:
While I recommend printing in color and laminating materials for future use, it is not necessary. These materials print just fine in grayscale.

If you see ANYTHING that needs modifying, or if you have any questions, please contact me via the Q&A before leaving negative feedback. I take my product creation and your satisfaction very seriously! Thanks!

It's very important to me that you provide feedback so that I may improve and create products you will use and love! Please consider leaving detailed feedback. Additionally, each time you provide feedback, you earn TpT credits. These can be taken off purchases so you can get items free!
Don't Miss Out!
This experiment is perfect for tutors, paraprofessionals, volunteers, and substitutes! It is low prep, too!

With a fully designed experiment, it comes complete with everything you need!

This experiment is perfect if you have to teach about pollution but weren't sure how or are just starting out! This experiment saves you time! Additionally, it's perfect for when you have a substitute!
Add it to your cart now!
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©Tammy DeShaw, The Owl Teacher. All rights reserved. This product is to be used by the original downloader only. Copying for teachers, classroom, department, school, or school system is prohibited. This product may not be distributed or displayed digitally for public view. Teachers may NOT upload the product to school/district servers, or to any website, or share digital or print copies. Failure to comply is a copyright infringement and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

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Are you looking for a fun way for students to explore water pollution? In this adapted version of Freddie Fish, students will pour various "pollutants" (household kitchen items representing toxins) in Freddie's river and discuss how he feels. It's the perfect way to get your students understanding...

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- At this point, people have been studying the impacts that humans have had on the world around us for a solid 50 years, and while it's hard to get a handle on exactly how the choices we make every day affect the environment, there is no question that our lifestyles, our cars, our need for more farmland, and our love of all kinds of plastic stuff are putting the hurt on ecosystems all over the world. Human activity all by itself, just people doing what they do could be responsible for the extinction of nearly 1000 plant and animal species to date, most of them over the last century, and even if you don't particularly care about the Barbary lion or the Saint Helena olive or the passenger pigeon or anything else we've driven into extinction, the thing is, we need these other organisms. The ecosystems of the world are working very hard for us every day, filtering water, sucking carbon dioxide out of the air, producing all the food we eat, all very important ecosystem services, benefits that the natural world provides us for free. So having ecosystems and keeping them intact is important, not only for the organisms who live in them but also for us, the animals who rely on them for thousands and thousands of things that we could never do for ourselves. Over the next two episodes, we're gonna look at these systems and how our actions are affecting the ecosystems that we need for our survival. Basically, we are messing up the environment six ways from Sunday but to make it easy on ourselves, let's start with the top five. (upbeat music) We've all been hearing about all the different ways that our behavior is affecting the biosphere, extinctions, climate change, deforestation, acid rain, desertification, pollution, and more, but you're asking, oh, well, why are all these things bad, what's going on, how is this stuff turning the earth into sausage, I don't understand. Well, I do understand, which is why I'm qualified to make this video, so let me lay it on you. The services that ecosystems provide for us, all the dirty work they do, could be broken up into four different categories. There are things that we could never ever ever duplicate or work around no matter what kind of smarty-pants technology we come up with. First, healthy ecosystems provide support services that create and replenish the foundation of the earth's biological systems. These services include recycling all of the compounds that are necessary for life through the carbon, water, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. They also include other processes we've talked about before like forming new soils and producing atmospheric oxygen. Some ecosystems contribute more to these services than others, but none of them can get these basic jobs done unless they are intact. Two, ecosystems also perform provisioning services, getting us the raw materials we need to live, like the ocean provides food in the form of fish sticks and stuff, and rivers and aquifers and other freshwater sources give us water. Plants and animals also yield all kinds of fiber that we use for clothing and shelter and all around us, we find sources of fuel, whether it's biomass in the form of grasses or wood, hydropower in the form of flowing water, whether the carbon locked in millions of years old trees that we're now re-releasing into the atmosphere, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Ecosystems also perform super important regulating services, moderating many of the earth's systems that can get dangerous if they get out of whack. Like as we learned in biology, fungi and other organisms take on the task of decomposing dead things and poop. Meanwhile, plants help filter the water you drink and the air you breathe and provide flood control and they also absorb all that carbon you exhaled and that your car belches out, which in turn helps regulate the climate, and finally, number four, ecosystems are just kind of awesome. It's nice to be surrounded by happy plants and critters doing their business. Nice robust ecosystems give us places to play, scenes to inspire us and things to just discover and learn about. These are their less tangible but still important cultural services. An interesting thing about ecosystem services is that economists actually can and do calculate the monetary value they provide for humanity. If, for example, we had to do all of the things that ecosystems do for us, it would cost us $46 trillion per year, which is a lot considering that the output of the global economy is $66 trillion per year, so yeah, we should be happy that we don't have to pay for that. But you'll notice that I keep saying that ecosystems can only serve up all this awesome sauce if they are intact. By that, I mean they specifically have to have their biodiversity intact, because ecosystems are just a bunch of living and nonliving things working together, so unless their living parts are healthy, they're basically just rocks and weather. The main reason biodiversity is so important is that it makes ecosystems more resilient to that never-ending change we talked about a few weeks ago. Ecosystems with high biodiversity are way more resilient to disturbances than those with low biodiversity. In a high biodiversity system, if you take one species out of the mix, it's less likely that the ecosystem will collapse. Take a hectare of Amazonian rain forest. In that little patch of land, there are more different species of plants and animals than there are in all of Europe. Some of those species of insect goes extinct, there's less risk that the whole house of cards will fall than say in the Sonoran Desert, where there are very few organisms, so the disappearance of one species could effect the entire ecosystem. So the best way to understand our impacts on the environment is a through how we affect biodiversity. Unfortunately, it turns out that we've been doing a really bang up job of endangering some of the highest biodiversity ecosystems on the planet. In some cases, we are having impacts on the organisms themselves directly. In other cases, we are affecting biodiversity indirectly by creating one or two changes in that ecosystem that cascade into all kinds of problems for living things. First, let's look at that hectare of Amazonian rain forest again, because even though it's one of those super resilient ecosystems, we're having a serious impact on it. How? Well, first, by removing a lot of what makes a forest a forest, trees. According to some estimates, we're clearcutting around 8000 hectares of trees a day to provide land to graze cattle on and to harvest wood to make coffee tables or whatever. When you cut down a hectare of rain forest, suddenly a place where a few thousand species used to live turns into a place where just a handful of species live, some grass and weeds, maybe some rats or mice, some insects and you know, some cows, 'cause man, we love cows. And when you take out so many of the living things on that hectare of land, a bunch of things happen. For starters, you're not just affecting that ecosystem, but neighboring ecosystems as well. For instance, all of those trees that were cut down provided the service of regulating the flow of all that rain that rainforests get, not only by absorbing some of it, but also by slowing down runoff, letting the water seep into the soil before slowly making its way into streams and rivers and ultimately the ocean. But when those trees are gone, the water hits the land and shoots off into the nearest tree and causing erosion and washing minerals and chemicals all the way to the sea, where it affects marine ecosystems and when I say affect, I don't mean in a good way. This, my friends, is what's called a cascade effect. In this case, caused by deforestation, one of the most obvious of observable human impacts. In addition to causing more flooding and changes in water quality, deforestation on a larger scale can lead to another impact, desertification, where the spread of dry, unproductive landscapes. But cutting down trees doesn't automatically turn a forest into a desert. Desertification is driven along by additional factors, like overgrazing by cattle and over-irrigation. So how can overwatering something make it turn into a desert? Well, when we use groundwater to irrigate crops, the natural salts in the groundwater build up in the soil, eventually making it so salty that nothing wants to live there. Over time, fertile land near desert ecosystems become overtaxed and the desert spreads, and this is exactly what has happened in China over the past century where overgrazing and the city's unquenchable thirst for water have caused the Gobi Desert to grow by 3600 square kilometers every year. Now, these two impacts by themselves clearly limit the biodiversity of otherwise lush ecosystems, but because they also result in fewer trees that provide the all-important services of releasing oxygen and absorbing the CO2, you know what domino's gonna fall next, the climate, carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas. It insulates the earth, so it stands to reason that the more CO2 there is in the atmosphere, the warmer the earth will be, and the thing is, we're reducing the size of forests at the same time as we're unleashing all kinds of greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels. This double whammy is much of what's driving global warming. As a result, we are seeing decreases in the levels of polar sea ice, which means less habitat for polar bears, seals, and sea birds. More temperate animals are moving closer to the poles and the hotter, dryer conditions are causing more grass fires and forest fires. And while the climate has changed many times in the past, those changes usually took place over centuries or even millennia, giving organisms time to adapt or move. These changes are taking place within our lifetimes and it's kind of a huge deal and it's complicated and it'd take me at least like 10 minutes 52 seconds to explain it all in detail, which is why I did that in another video. By now, hopefully you can see how one human impact can lead to another, and how even indirectly, they can end up reducing biodiversity, but it's hard to overlook the more immediate impacts we can have on ecosystems. One of the most in-your-face ways we affect biodiversity is by introducing non-native species, either intentionally or unintentionally. Again, there are so many examples of this that you can learn more about in another video I did, but suffice to say, whether it's kudzu with North America or cane toads in Australia, invasive species have a knack for outcompeting or outright eating native species to the point that it rocks the world of an entire ecosystem, and finally, probably the most direct impact we have on biodiversity is simply overharvesting certain organisms. We're overfishing the oceans to meet growing demand for popular fish species like tuna, while on land, we're exterminating important predators like wolves to protect livestock. Those cows again, and the less diverse those ecosystems are, the more vulnerable they become to disturbances, including those other four impacts I just mentioned. And the fact is, there is a bunch more where those came from, because there's a whole separate set of effects that humanity has on the biosphere that stem simply from us putting the wrong amounts of certain stuff in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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5 human impacts on the environment (video) | Khan Academy

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At this point, people have been studying the impacts that humans have had on the world around us for a solid 50 years, and while it's hard to get a handle on exactly how the choices we make every day affect the environment, there is no question that our lifestyles, our cars, our need for more farmland, and our love of all kinds of plastic stuff are putting the hurt on ecosystems all over the world.

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Using this Human Environmental Interaction Sort, students sort examples of ways that humans interact with the environment into Modify, Adapt and Depend categories.

This resource will give your students an opportunity to understand the ways that they can interact with the environment. This awareness will help your students to interact more positively with the environment.

Included in this resource are two examples of sorts as well as a poster describing Human Environmental Interaction.

Day 1- Before the activity, we go over the meaning of each category and I model examples that fit in each category. I put Page 4 in a page protector and cut out the cards in Page 5. Students work in groups to decide where the examples fit in the chart.

Day 2- I print out one example per post it for students to decide on their own and sort into large poster categories. I also like to give my students an extra post it so they can write their own examples. You can print on post-it notes by first printing a template (page 11) placing post it notes on it and then send it through the printer!

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Using this Human Environmental Interaction Sort, students sort examples of ways that humans interact with the environment into Modify, Adapt and Depend categories. This resource will give your students an opportunity to understand the ways that they can interact with the environment. This awareness ...

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In groups, students will observe images of both natural and manmade occurrences. Students will collaborate about what they see in the images. Ultimately, the students will observe the collage and  look for patterns. The students will then depict if what they see is natural or manmade, how this affects the environment, and what the interaction is using the guiding questions. The students will also be using play-doh during this unit to create ecosystems, and then build what they need to survive. Throughout the unit,  the students will physically interact with their work and change it each day to show interaction. In doing this, the students will ultimately understand how the environment interacts with humankind.

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image

https://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html

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For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

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Get ideas for how you can "go green" in your home, school, or community.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/earth-just-had-its-hottest-september-experts-say-2020-could-n1242381

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children's literature

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https://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/biodiversity_and_sustainability_in_hong_kong/ecological_footprint_2019/

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children's literature

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A Century of Gardens by the Sea All Admission Tickets MUST be pre-purchased online. Tickets are NOT available for purchase onsite.

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virtual read aloud

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Kate, Who Tamed the Wind - Read Aloud Picture Book | Brightly Storytime

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children's literature

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Environment, Needs, Protect, Change, Adaption, Ecosystems Physical, Survival, Growth, Human Impact, Interaction

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Students will understand and be able to explain how humans interact with the environment on a daily basis.

Students will understand how communities are created and changed through human and physical characteristics.

Students will understand why people must change and adapt to the environment.

Students will understand the proper environmental conditions for plant growth, and how humans may affect the process.

Students will understand how to sustainably use natural resources for survival.

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How do humans interact with the environment?

Is this interaction negative or positive?

Why is it important to protect the environment?

How are natural resources overused?

Can humans survive without natural resources?

Why would someone need to adapt to their environment?

Is it necessary for humans to interact with the environment?

How can you be more sustainable?

Why do humans destroy so many places to build things?

Do humans do this to help the environment or themselves?

Do humans need to destroy the environment?

Is deforestation selfish?

What do plants require to grow?

In what ways do humans improve the environment?

Why do humans plant trees?

Do we, as a global community, have an abundance of natural resources?

What are the best environmental conditions for plants?

How do humans impact the environmental conditions?

How are humans and plants alike?

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3.L.2.2  Explain how environmental conditions determine how well plants survive and grow.

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3.G.1.2 Compare the human and physical characteristics of places.

3.G.1.3 Exemplify how people adapt to, change and protect the environment to meet their needs.