Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earths Water Land

  • Slides: 15
Download presentation
Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Copyright © Houghton Mifflin

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Keeping It Clean What

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Keeping It Clean What are conservation and stewardship? • Humans greatly affect the land, water, and air. • If we wish to keep using our resources in the future, we need to conserve and care for them. • Conservation is the wise use of natural resources. By practicing conservation, we can help make sure that resources will be around for future generations. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air What are conservation and

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air What are conservation and stewardship? • Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of a resource. • Stewardship of Earth’s natural resources will ensure that the environment stays clean enough to help keep people and other living things healthy. • Any action that helps maintain or improve the environment is an act of stewardship. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Water Wise! How can

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Water Wise! How can we preserve water resources? • Earth’s freshwater supply is limited, so it is important to use this resource very carefully. • There are many ways to reduce water usage. • People should also be careful to avoid polluting water, because the quality of water is important to the health of both humans and ecosystems. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve water resources? • The main way to protect drinking water is by keeping pollution from entering streams, lakes, and other water sources. • Certain laws indicate how clean drinking water must be and limit the types of chemicals that can be released into water. • Individuals can help by disposing of toxic chemicals safely and by reducing the amount of fertilizer used on gardens. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air This Land Is Your

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air This Land Is Your Land How can we preserve land resources? • We must protect land resources from overuse and pollution and repair damage that has already been done. • Preservation, or protecting land from being damaged or changed, is very important. • Local, state, and national parks protect many natural areas and help ensure the survival of many species. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve land resources? • Reforestation, which is the process of planting trees to re-establish forestland, is important. • Some old forests need to stay intact for the animals that need them to survive. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve land resources? • Land can be damaged by mining, development, and agriculture. • Reclamation is the process by which a damaged land area is returned to nearly the condition it was in before people used it. • Many national and state laws guide land reclamation. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve land resources? • Urban sprawl is the outward spread of suburban areas around cities. • Urban sprawl leaves less land for native plants and animals. • Reducing urban sprawl helps protect land resources. This can be done by constructing taller buildings and placing businesses and houses close to one another. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve land resources? • One of the most important things we can do to preserve land resources is recycling. • Recycling is the process of recovering valuable materials from waste or scrap. • Everyone can help protect land resources by recycling. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we preserve land resources? • Soil conservation protects soil from erosion or degradation by overuse or pollution. • For example, farmers can change the way they plow to conserve soil. • Soil conservation can be done through contour plowing, strip cropping, terracing, crop rotation, or no-till farming. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Into Thin Air How

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air Into Thin Air How can we reduce air pollution? • Everybody can help reduce air pollution in many different ways. • Energy conservation is one of the most important ways to reduce air pollution. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we reduce

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we reduce air pollution? • Fossil fuels are the most commonly used energy resource. When burned, they release pollution into the air. • If we use less energy, we burn fewer fossil fuels. • There are many ways to conserve energy, such as by using energy-efficient appliances, decreasing our use of air conditioners and heaters, and using public transportation. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we reduce

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we reduce air pollution? • There are many ways to generate energy without creating much air pollution. • By developing technology for alternative energy resources, we reduce the amount of pollution created by burning fossil fuels. • For example, electricity can be generated by wind turbines, solar panels, moving water, and geothermal energy. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we reduce

Unit 4 Lesson 4 Protecting Earth’s Water, Land, and Air How can we reduce air pollution? • Governments in many countries work independently and together to reduce air pollution. • Because air isn’t contained by borders, some solutions must be international. • The Kyoto Protocol is a worldwide effort to limit the release of greenhouse gases—pollution that can warm the atmosphere. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company