Land+use

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Shayla Brink Rebecca Athey Alissa Vite Haley Doster Resources: http://pulitzergateway.org/ http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/woodland-birds-losing-out-to-farmland-birds-as-australian-river-dries.php?campaign=th_rss

=Facts: = 1. In a hundred years, the rain forests could completely vanish at the current rate of deforestation. 2. According to Foley, nearly one-third of the world's land surface is now in use for agriculture and millions of acres of natural ecosystems are converted each year. 3. Increasing population and industrial expansion have generated urban sprawl, with thousands of square miles of open space being taken over annually for housing and business. 4. There are a number of ways in which changes in [|land use] can influence climate. The most direct influence is through the alteration of Earth’s w|albedo, or surface reflectance. For example, the replacement of w|forest by cropland and pasture in the mid dle latitudes over the past several centuries has led to an increase in albedo, which in turn has led to greater reflection of incoming solar radiation in those regions. This replacement of forest by [|agriculture] has been associated with a change in global average radioactive forcing of approximately –0.2 watt per square meter since 1750. 5.  Public facilities and institutions – including schools, hospitals, and nursing homes, museums and performance centers, houses of worship, police stations and fire houses, courts and detention centers, -- are spread through out the city and occupy seven percent of the city’s land. These buildings and uses take up less than 4% of the city’s land. Most of the city’s jobs are in commercial areas. 6. We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rain forests could be consumed in less than 40 years.

7. Each year, the world population increases by more than 90 million, while the amount of topsoil decreases by more than 20 billion tons. It is estimated that by the year 2050, global demand for food will be three times what it is today. More than 2.5 billion kilos of pesticides are used annually throughout the world, with developing countries accounting for 15 per cent of global pesticide use. These countries also account for about 375,000 cases-or over half the world's total-of accidental poisoning from pesticides every year. Many of the pesticides exported to developing countries, such as DDT, chlordane and heptachlor, have been banned in their country of manufacture for health and environmental reasons. Every year, soil erosion robs Ethiopia of 1.5 million tons of grain, equivalent to all the food relief shipped into the country during the famine in 1985. Six billion tons of valuable soils are lost in India every year. The former Soviet republics of Eastern Europe and central Asia lose two and a half billion tons. During Africa's drought of 1984-1985, 10 million farmers became environmental refugees as a direct result of land degradation.

8. “It’s a little known fact that we are growing five times as much corn as our grandfathers did in the 1930s on 20 percent less land,” says Mark Lambert, director of the [|Corn Farmers Coalition] (CFC), a recently-formed alliance of the National Corn Growers Association and 10 state corn associations.  =Conservation information:= As our population grows, the number of people using wilderness areas, parks, and wildlife refuges each year goes up also. Thousands of footsteps trample down the plants and erode soil from trails and campsites To protect wilderness from damage, limits have been set in some areas for the number of people who can camp at any one time. Federal agencies now require people who want to use the most popular areas to apply for wilderness permits. A permit system enables the agencies to regulate the number of people inside national parks and other federal areas at nay given time. Certain areas also have been designated as off-limits to camping, and increasing number of wilderness rangers now patrols vulnerable areas. New education programs, such as the Forest Service’s Tread Lightly program, are also being implemented top help people better understand and reduce their impact on the natural world. Cities and surrounding suburbs have increased sharply in size in recent years as the population has grown and people have moved to the city from rural areas. Swelling urban populations threaten city infrastructures and burden the land. Many land-use practices cause damage to the land, reducing its value as a supplier of food and materials. The United States has millions of acres of public lands. “Multiple use” management allows these lands to be used for recreation, mining ad other purposes. Overuse and residual ranching and mining threaten the nation’s wilderness lands. Other things that can be done to fix this problem are to not to use as much paper. Saving trees will help the forests. Deforestation needs to stop also. When the forests are being destroyed then animals do not have homes or food. All these bad things we are doing to the earth are going to affect us all in the long run. Scientists predict that by the end of our lifetime half of all the animals will have disappeared. Ways to improve our earth is by caring more. Picking up litter and buying “green” products will help the environment. Even the little things we do to try and help will help to improve somewhat. If everyone took these little steps then we could improve our land on earth.

Resources: Environmental Science book, I found information about what actions are being taken to prevent the land being trampled down by the large population. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_use, I found how people are using the land improperly. =Resources: =

Fact Sheet:
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Public Service Annoucement. media type="file" key="Land Use.mov" width="300" height="300" =Elevator Pitch - land use = media type="file" key="LandUseimovie16.mov" width="300" height="300"

=Land use study guide=

1 In how many years could the rain forests completely vanish at the current rate of deforestation?

2.We are growing five times more _______ than in the 1930 and we have _________ less land. __

3. Decreasing population and industrial expansion have generated rural sprawl, with thousands of square miles of open space being taken over annually for housing and business.

True or False

4. More than _________ __kilos of pesticides are used annually throughout the world.

5. What takes up seven percent of city’s land and what are some examples of them?

6. Rainforests once covered ___ _____ __of the earth’s land. 7. It is estimated that by the year 2050, global demand for __ ______will be _ _______times what it is today. 8. During Africa’s drought of___________ __10 million farmers became environmental refugees because of land_____________.__ __

9. Each year the world’s population increases by more than _____________? 10. Now they cover ____________ __ of earth’s land.

11. There are a number of ways in which changes in land use can influence the __________.__ __

12. Many of the pesticides are exported to develop countries, such as _______ __. 13,Every year soil erosion robs_______ __1.5 million tons of grain.__ __

14. Why is this so important to understand?

15. According to Foley, nearly _____________ of the world’s land surface is now in use for ____________ and millions of acres of natural ecosystems are converted each year?