1.1.

5- Ways of knowing,
experiencing and responding to
outdoor environments
Environmental conundrums
 Natural
Resources
  The harvesting of native forests to produce timber
products.
 All forestry in Australia is conducted on Regional
Forestry Agreements- While these rules may differ from
state to state, basically, all timber harvested in Australia
is meant to be done so in a sustainable way.
 Any area that is used for forestry has to be regrown into
Issue 1: forest after use. This enables forest areas to be revisited
and the trees harvested between every 60-80 years.
Forestry  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DBf40a3tLc
 Many people are against logging…
 What would the consequence of stopping logging in
Australia?
 What are the alternatives?
  Humans tend to “anthropomorphise” many animals.
 This essentially means to give them or see in them human
traits or characteristics.
 Whales have long been anthropomorphised.
 Why?
 Whales could be a potential food source, but our
Issue 2: anthropomorphic relationship with them prevents this to
the point that we actively engage in multi-million dollar
Whaling anti-whaling programs. (see Sea Shepard)

 https://youtu.be/_tqW8YZDE9o (traditional whaling)

 https://youtu.be/27nX3Dsv9Xk (modern whaling)
 Could we convince people that sustainable whaling could
be good for the planet?
  We (humans) rely on the ocean for food.
 In many places around the globe, fishing is
the only source of income and the primary
source of nutrients in their diet.
 Earths fisheries are being pushed to the
Issue 3: limit of their productive ability – many areas
Overfishing are noticing some changes.
 https://vimeo.com/ocean2012/endingoverfi
shing
 How can we preserve our fisheries and still
use them for food?
  On average, 5 people per year a killed by sharks.
 On average, 190 sharks are killed by people per minute.
 That =
 11400 per hour
 1.9 million per week
 100 million per year
Issue 4:  That’s equal to 4 times the population of Australia every
Sharks vs. year
 Sharks only reach reproductive age between 12 and 15
Humans years old
 Current rates of hunting far outstrip their ability to
sustainably reproduce
 Why is this a problem? Surely no sharks = safe
swimming!
 What could/should be done?
  We largely take the soil we rely on for the
production of most of our food for granted.
 Soil takes a long time to form, can be quickly
degraded and very easily lost.
 Why does this matter?
Issue 5:  https://youtu.be/1ND5Jl-jjmI
Dirt  Many practices affect this resource- land clearing,
erosion, mining, storm water run-off, farming
(agriculture) practices…
 Should people be more aware of how valuable soil
is?
 What should we be doing to protect this vital
resource?
  Electricity is essential to our everyday life.
 Most of our energy (in Australia) comes from fossil fuels
 We have huge reserves of coal and natural gas
 In fact, they are two of our highest earning exports that we
sell to other countries.
 We also have large reserves of uranium- the fuel source for
Issue 6: nuclear power.

 https://youtu.be/KEeH4EniM3E
Energy
 While there is agreeance that fossil fuels are bad for the
planet and renewables are the future… we need an in-
between power source to get us there.
 https://youtu.be/d7LO8lL4Ai4
 Why should Australia consider nuclear power?
 How could you convince people that it is a good idea?