SC15.ES.15

Science (2015) Grade(s): 09-12 - Environmental Science

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Cause and Effect

Students know:

There is a dynamic relationship between natural resources and the biodiversity and human populations that depend on them.
Resource availability has guided the development of human society.

Students are able to:

Identify factors that affect the management of natural resources, including but not limited to cost of resource extraction, per capita consumption, and waste management.
Identify factors affecting human sustainability and biodiversity, including but not limited to agricultural efficiency, conservation, and urban planning.
Analyze evidence describing relationships among natural resources, human sustainability, and biodiversity.
Make a qualitative and/or quantitative claim regarding the relationships among management of natural resources, human sustainability, and biodiversity.

Students understand that:

The sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources.
Factors affecting one component of a system also have the potential to impact the other components of the system, thus it is critical to seek to understand the relationships among the components (i.e., management of natural resources, biodiversity, and human sustainability).
New technologies can have significant impacts on society and the environment, including some that were not anticipated.
Feedback (negative or positive) can stabilize or destabilize a system.

solid waste — biodegradable, landfill, leachate, municipal solid waste
agricultural efficiency — no till farming, compost, contour plowing
waste management — source reduction, recycling, compost
hazardous waste — deep well injection, surface impoundment
urban planning — urbanization, urban sprawl, infrastructure, heat island, land use planning, global information system (GIS)
resource extraction
per capita consumption
conservation