Our Future : Our World

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
A book in the Our Future : Our World series
Written by: Mark Manuel, Barrie McElroy and Roger Smith
and published by Cambridge University Press

Environmental Issues The chapters in this book are: 1. Our environment, our future? 2. The environment: You’re standing in it! 3. Water on the land 4. Maintaining the balance of the ecosystem 5. Atmospheric issues 6. Marine environments 7. Keeping our environments for the future 8. Investigating an issue

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The intentions of this book


There has been a marked increase of interest in environmental issues over the past couple of decades. Certain environments, such as those in national parks, have captured our imagination for much longer. Yellowstone National Park in the United States of America is well over a hundred years old. However, we have not been so good at recognizing the importance of those aspects of the environment with which we are very familiar, such as our waterways, water catchment basins, our soils, our atmosphere and our Oceans.

Concern for the environment becomes an issue when some activity provides a potential conflict with the ongoing health of the environment or different groups hold opposing views about what is best for the environment and those who use it. This book encourages students to investigate environmental issues fully before making decisions about the best action to take.

What kinds of environment

Due to constraints on space the book is limited to discussing the natural environment rather than the built environment. The built environment affects most of us just as much as the natural environment. The deliberate choice of issues related to the major biophysical themes reflects their huge significance for the future of the planet and humankind. And the need to discard many very interesting examples of environmental issues because of limits on the length of the book was particularly disappointing for the authors. The very important issues of waste management and recycling could not be dealt with here – as with many other major issues. However, students can research these topics for themselves. Good information on a variety of important issues can be found in the media, by contacting local, state or federal governments, from conservation and environmental groups, and many major companies. Environmental Issues provides students with a wide variety of important topics and, after working through the text, students are encouraged to use the skills developed to follow up on other issues.

Major environmental issues

Each year there is some major event, like the Greenhouse Emissions Conference in Kyoto in 1997, or the year may be dedicated to a particular environment, such as the International Year of the Reef (1997) or International Year of the Ocean (1998). Many issues are of a much smaller scale, but are still very important. Whatever the environmental issue. it requires careful investigation so that, as decisions are made about our world and our future, we can find the answers to many questions that will allow us to make sound judgements, enabling us to act wisely. In order to do this we need to know what the issue is that needs to be investigated and resolved what is at the particular place we are investigating where the aspects of the issue are located precisely and when they occur who is involved in the issue under study how the issue might be resolved and whose interests may be served by any solution how we would respond in that situation and how we would be able to justify our stance. Some of the examples of environmental issues mentioned in Environmental Issues will be resolved fairly quickly, but many will persist into the future. The purpose of the examples used in this series of books is to encourage students to find and investigate current and relevant issues.

Investigating current and relevant issues has been made much easier in recent times through the use of the Internet and World Wide Web in particular. Most Internet providers have pages with links and search facilities that can be used by Web Browsers. A few examples of places to begin with are listed on the Links page.

An up-to-date study approach

It is the intention of the Our Future : Our World series to help students to use the process of investigation and the values of social justice, ecological sustainability and democratic process recommended by the ‘Statement on Studies of Society and Environment for Australian Schools’.

Up-to-Date models to help understanding

This book pays specific attention to issues related to the ways in which people treat their environments. It does not explain the biophysical processes in great detail as there are already several good books that do so and students are encouraged to seek the necessary detail from those sources. People’s ability to influence environmental decision-making depends on many things, including their knowledge, ability to organize effective political action and wealth. Poor people have fewer options available for dealing with environmental issues.

Enquire, decide, act

This book, Environmental Issues, is one in the series, Our World : Our Future which introduces a variety of issues that we should investigate and understand if we are to make good decisions about our world and so ensure that our future is one that best serves us, the rest of humankind and the environments in which we live. Most importantly, the book helps us to know how to research any issue of concern and how to do something about it in effective and democratic ways. Students are encouraged to study issues of local and global concern in such a way that they not only understand how the issue has arisen and aspects of it function, but also how it was, or could be, resolved so that the interests of all involved are properly considered.

Students may become involved in local or global environmental issues. While local issues are still very important, global issues are becoming increasingly so and are frequently highlighted in the media issues such as global warming, ozone depletion and air pollution over South-East Asia. In this book they will learn how to inquire into these and thereby discover more about environments, their importance and about the impacts of people’s activities. The issues that they study and in which they may be involved will allow them to appreciate whose interests are served by decisions made about particular environmental issues. Through the investigations suggested by this book they will gain experience in finding fair resolutions to complex and difficult environmental issues. There are many positive and interesting examples of individuals and groups caring for the environment. Many schools have been actively involved in programs like SaltWatch, WaterWatch and Blue Ribbons, where students have made a significant impact on improving the environment.

Some of the world’s most unique and valuable environments and some of the world’s oldest and most interesting cultures and heritage are involved in the discussion of environmental issues and deserve our careful consideration. If we are to secure our future in our world we have to ensure that environmental issues will be resolved more justly.

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All text & graphics © 1997 Manuel/McElroy/Smith or Cambridge University Press