www.njctl.org 5 th Grade PSI Human Impacts on Earth Ecological Footprint Activity Name ____________________________________ 5 th Grade PSI Science Purpose – to study the impact of humans on the environment, measure personal ecological footprints and reflect upon ways to reduce the size of your own ecological footprint. Introduction Students will trace their feet on a sheet of graph paper Students will calculate the area of their footprint Lead a class discussion on how humans leave footprints on the Earth and our environment. Brainstorm ways that humans affect our environment. Explain that our ecological footprint is a measure of our impact on the environment. Students will draw or paste pictures of things that contribute to their ecological footprint and impact the environment. Encourage students to have both positive and negative impacts on their footprints. Activity 1 – How much Earth is there? Ask students to estimate how many people are on the Earth. As of 8/2013 there were approximately 7.2 billion people (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/). Lead students in figuring out how much land is available to support each person. o 126 billion acres on Earth o 97 billion acres are covered by non-productive oceans, deserts, ice caps, and human settlement o 29 billion acres of productive oceans o That leaves only 29 billion acres to support the world population o 7.2 billion people on Earth o 4 acres per person o Humans on average consume 5.8 acres annually. o We currently overshoot Earth’s bio-capacity by over 30% o Ecological Footprints of Countries United States - 24 acres Canada - 22 acres United Kingdom - 13 acres Russian Federation - 11 acres o If every person used as many acres as the countries listed above how many Earths would we need to support the population? United States – 6 Earths Canada – 5.5 Earths United Kingdom – 3.2 Earths
Transcript
www.njctl.org 5th Grade PSI Human Impacts on Earth
Ecological Footprint Activity Name ____________________________________
5th Grade PSI Science
Purpose – to study the impact of humans on the environment, measure personal ecological
footprints and reflect upon ways to reduce the size of your own ecological footprint.
Introduction
Students will trace their feet on a sheet of graph paper
Students will calculate the area of their footprint
Lead a class discussion on how humans leave footprints on the Earth and our
environment. Brainstorm ways that humans affect our environment.
Explain that our ecological footprint is a measure of our impact on the environment.
Students will draw or paste pictures of things that contribute to their ecological footprint
and impact the environment. Encourage students to have both positive and negative
impacts on their footprints.
Activity 1 – How much Earth is there?
Ask students to estimate how many people are on the Earth. As of 8/2013 there were
approximately 7.2 billion people (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/).
Lead students in figuring out how much land is available to support each person.
o 126 billion acres on Earth
o 97 billion acres are covered by non-productive oceans, deserts, ice caps, and
human settlement
o 29 billion acres of productive oceans
o That leaves only 29 billion acres to support the world population
o 7.2 billion people on Earth
o 4 acres per person
o Humans on average consume 5.8 acres annually.
o We currently overshoot Earth’s bio-capacity by over 30%
o Ecological Footprints of Countries
United States - 24 acres
Canada - 22 acres
United Kingdom - 13 acres
Russian Federation - 11 acres
o If every person used as many acres as the countries listed above how many Earths
