Hank gives the rundown on the top five ways humans are negatively impacting the environment and having detrimental effects on the valuable ecosystem services which a healthy biosphere provides.

Chapters:
Ecosystem Services
The Importance of Biodiversity
Deforestation
Desertification
Global Warming
Invasive Species
Overharvesting

This interactive shows the extent of the killing of lodgepole pine trees in western Canada. The spread of pine beetle throughout British Columbia has devastated the lodgepole pine forests there. This animation shows the spread of the beetle and the increasing numbers of trees affected from 1999-2008 and predicts the spread up until 2015.

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain how angiosperm diversity is due, in part, to multiple interactions with animalsDescribe ways in which pollination occursDiscuss the roles that plants play in ecosystems and how deforestation threatens plant biodiversity

The Council on Foreign Relation's (CFR) "Deforestation in the Amazon" InfoGuide provides a compelling look at the causes and consequences of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and is available online in English and Portuguese. CFR InfoGuides are a multimedia series to promote understanding of complex foreign policy issues.

C-ROADS is a simplified version of a climate simulator. Its primary purpose is to help users understand the long-term climate effects (CO2 concentrations, global temperature, sea level rise) of various customized actions to reduce fossil fuel CO2 emissions, reduce deforestation, and grow more trees. Students can ask multiple, customized what-if questions and understand why the system reacts as it does.

Students learn about using renewable energy from the Sun for heating and cooking as they build and compare the performance of four solar cooker designs. They explore the concepts of insulation, reflection, absorption, conduction and convection.

In this lesson, students learn about deforestation, analyze paintings featuring deforestation themes, and then have the choice to learn about Wangari Maathai or design a climate action plan related to deforestation.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students activate background knowledge about deforestation, watch a timelapse video of deforestation, and learn the different parts of the word "deforestation."

Step 2 - Investigate: Students analyze and reflect upon two paintings featuring themes of deforestation.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students watch a video about climate activist Felix Finkbeiner and choose one of two options: learn more about Felix's inspiration Wangari Maathai or design a climate action plan related to deforestation.

Deforestation in Brazil for English Learner Students

DATA: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Images.
TOOL: ImageJ.
SUMMARY: Process and measure time-series SAR images to analyze the rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Produce a color composite image showing the oldest to most recently deforested areas.

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Our planet is becoming hot. In fact, Earth may be warming faster than ever before. This warming will challenge society throughout the 21st century. How do we cope with rising seas? How will we prepare for more intense hurricanes? How will we adapt to debilitating droughts and heat waves? Scientists are striving to improve predictions of how the environment will change and how it will impact humans. Earth in the Future: Predicting Climate Change and Its Impacts Over the Next Century is designed to provide the state of the art of climate science, the impact of warming on humans, as well as ways we can adapt. Every student will understand the challenges and opportunities of living in the 21st century.

Our planet is becoming hot. In fact, Earth may be warming faster than ever before. This warming will challenge society throughout the 21st century. How do we cope with rising seas? How will we prepare for more intense hurricanes? How will we adapt to debilitating droughts and heat waves? Scientists are striving to improve predictions of how the environment will change and how it will impact humans. Earth in the Future: Predicting Climate Change and Its Impacts Over the Next Century is designed to provide the state of the art of climate science, the impact of warming on humans, as well as ways we can adapt. Every student will understand the challenges and opportunities of living in the 21st century.

Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" as an example of how overdevelopment can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. Student teams are asked to serve as natural resource engineers, city planning engineers and civil engineers with the task to replant the nearly destroyed forest and develop a sustainable community design that can co-exist with the re-established natural area.

Students view the documentary "Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai." They also are required to read Dr. Maathai's "The Greenbelt Movement: Sharing the Approach and Experience." The students must write an essay describing the geo-politics inherent within the Greenbelt Movement, specifically as it relates to environmental security. The students must next examine the potential for a similar social movement to be effective in Myanmar.

This short video, is the fifth in the National Academies Climate Change, Lines of Evidence series. It focuses on greenhouse gases, climate forcing (natural and human-caused), and global energy balance.

This activity has students use an Earth Systems perspective to identify the various causes associated with changes to Earth's forests as they review Landsat imagery of site locations from around the world.

The Mangrove Mapping Curricula strives to provide opportunities for students to learn about and explore mangroves and their ecosystems. Through this process it is hoped that students develop and understanding and appreciation for mangroves and the role they play in a healthy environment. Mangroves are group of tropical/subtropical trees that live in salt or sweet (salt/fresh water combination) water coastal environments. They are considered a cornerstone species and play important roles in habitat formation and stabilization of coastal environments.

Ces vidéos constituent un ensemble de leçons (exposés) sur les ruées sur les ressources naturelles (eau, terre, minerais en sous-sol, forêts), en lien avec les sciences du développement et le développement durable. Elles font partie d'un cours en ligne ouvert à tous (MOOC) diffusé sur edX https://www.edx.org/course/ressources-naturelles-et-developpement-louvainx-louv4x-1.