Key words: lichen, freshwater
invertebrate,
sustainable
GCSE
Biologypollution,
1b Evolution and
Environment
CORE
Areas of high air
pollution have
fewer lichen
species
growing
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
POLLUTION
• Lichens indicate the level of air pollution.
Simple the more species of lichens growing
the cleaner the air.
• Freshwater invertebrates indicate the level
of freshwater pollution. The wider the range
of these invertebrates the cleaner the water.
Some will not tolerate any pollution whilst
others will only live in polluted rivers!
How can we use this information to analyse
pollution levels? How reliable is this?
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Objective
How do we plan for the future and balance the needs of
people and the needs of the environment?
Success Criteria
By the end of the lesson I:
• know that lichens are indicators of levels of air pollution
and freshwater invertebrates are biological indicators of
freshwater pollution
• know that in the development of new housing for the
increases on population pressures, areas that have already
been used (brown fields) should be redeveloped and reused.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Housing Needs
• The world’s population is growing and needs
suitable housing.
• It is important not to use up green areas of the
countryside called green fields.
• Rather areas that have previously been built on
should be used. These are called Brown field sites.
• Brown field sites are often contaminated with
chemicals and it is expensive to clean them up.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Protecting SSIs
Sites of Special
Scientific
Interest often
have rare or
endangered
organisms
growing or
particularly
interesting or
unique
landscape.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
How much waste?
Every year, billions of tonnes of paper, plastics, synthetic
materials, metal and wood are thrown away.
On average, each UK
household produces
over 1 tonne of rubbish
each year. Being;
 solid waste – such as plastic,
metal, paper and other manmade substances
 chemicals – such as
herbicides and pesticides,
crude oil and waste from
industrial processes.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
What are the options?
What methods are there for disposing of waste materials?
 Landfill is the cheapest solution, but sites quickly
become full and the waste contaminates the surrounding
air, soil and water.
 Incinerating waste reduces volume, but often produces
toxic chemicals.
 Recycling materials allows them to be useful again, and
reduces the need to use more raw materials.
 Composting uses natural biological processes to
decompose organic materials, but cannot be used to
dispose of non-biodegradable waste.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
What is the best solution?
The best way to deal with waste is to produce less of it!
It takes 100 kg of resources to make 10 kg of shopping,
and most of that ends up in the bin.
If products were
redesigned to be
biodegradable or easier
to recycle, the amount
of waste and disposal
costs would be
significantly reduced.
How could you reduce the amount of waste you produce?
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Task 1: Biodegradable plastics
Listen and take notes of the evidence
provided,
then
form a balanced judgements about
some of the major environmental issues
facing society today.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Supermarket plastic bags
Britain gets through between 10 billion and
17 billion plastic bags every year.
They all carry a recycle
symbol but most are just
thrown away.
In the Republic of Ireland
there is a tax on each bag.
People take their own
shopping bags instead.
The British Government are
studying the Irish example.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Supermarket plastic bags
Each one takes 100 years to rot…..
…except this one
Biodegradable plastic
bags…which supermarket
would you shop?
This is not the only supermarket to use biodegradable bags.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Symphony plastics make a range of biodegradable plastic
products.
www.degradable.net
Look out for their flash animation on:
http://www.degradable.net/how/summary.shtml
See also
http://www.biopac.co.uk/
They have lots of pictures of their products and ‘environmental
information’
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Multiple-choice quiz
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Environmental issues
How will global warming
affect us?
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Blog n: a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries
about their personal experiences [syn: web log]
Using a blog, people can write anything they want. Over the
next screens, we have taken excerpts from two blogs written
in the future; the first from John Green and then one from
Jenny Grey. What do you notice about the worlds in which
they live?
TASK 2: Read through the excerpts and then discuss the
conditions of the world in which they live.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
The first tomatoes of
the season today!
They are growing
really well. We should
have the main crop
within a few more
weeks. The compost
we added last season
seems to work really
well.
John Green: 01.03.2080
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Snow! Nathan got so
excited because he
could make a
snowman! Of course
he came in freezing
cold and crying a few
hours later but that’s
what little brothers are
like!
John Green: 30.11.2083
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
My place at college
has come through. I’ll
have to travel 100
miles to the university
which is quite a big
trip but it should be
great. If all goes well I
should be a qualified
solar engineer within 3
years!
GCSE
John Green: 15.08.2085
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
That was the blog written by John Green. What did you
notice about the world in which he lives?
The next blog is written by from Jenny Grey, who lives in a
very different world to John...
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Had some news from
Shireen’s family today.
The treatment didn’t
work and she died last
week. That makes
three from that family.
The Government still
says it’s nothing to do
with the radioactive
waste leak in 2075 but
I don’t know…
GCSE
Jenny Grey: 08.09.2080
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Managed to find some
fuel today! Only a few
litres but enough to
drive into town.
There’s a new club
opened last week.
With my own car and
fuel to put in it, I’m
bound to have a good
time! Watch this
space.
GCSE
Jenny Grey: 29.02.2083
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Another storm near Newport.
The centre of the old town
was completely submerged –
the sea defences just couldn’t
cope. They say another 50
years and carbon dioxide
levels should start to fall
again. Good news for some, I
suppose, and that might
mean that sea levels will start
to fall again some time – but
I won’t hold my breath!
GCSE
Jenny Grey: 19.10.2085
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
Waiting for
conclusive proof
of global
warming before
acting
Hoping for a new
energy-efficient
technology to
reduce emissions
Planting more
trees
GCSE
How we respond to global
warming issues now will
decide which one of the
two blogs is the more likely
outcome. Given the actions
that the world is taking at
the moment, what sort of
future can we expect in
2090?
TASK 3: Sort these
activities into two groups:
those that probably led to
John Green’s world and
those that probably led to
Jenny Grey’s world.
Cutting back on
fossil fuel use
Cutting down the
rainforests to
make fields for
cattle
Switching to
energy-efficient
devices
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE
EXAM
In 1997 the World Climate Summit took place in Kyoto.
Agreement was reached to control global warming by
cutting emissions of greenhouse gases.
(a) List two possible consequences of global warming. (2)
(b) One of the most important greenhouse gases is methane
(i) What are the two main sources of methane? (2)
(ii) Why has the amount of methane produced increased
steadily over the past
200 years? (2)
(c) Another group of greenhouse gases are the oxides of
nitrogen. State the main source of these gases. (1)
(d) State two ways in which deforestation may also contribute to
global warming.
GCSE
CORE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
Objective
How do we plan for the future and balance the needs of
people and the needs of the environment?
Success Criteria
By the end of the lesson I:
• know that lichens are indicators of levels of air pollution
and freshwater invertebrates are biological indicators of
freshwater pollution
• know that in the development of new housing for the
increases on population pressures, areas that have already
been used (brown fields) should be redeveloped and reused.
GCSE
Biology 1b Evolution and Environment
CORE