Resource Key
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Database
- Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre Plus This link opens in a new window
This resource provides the largest collection of full text from leading regional and international newspapers and periodicals, full-text reference books, tens of thousands of full-text biographies, and a collection of images containing more than one million photos, maps, and flags.
- West Australian Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
The West Australia Archive Digital Editions provides full text searching of past issues of the West Australian. Each issue is searchable the day after publication.
Definitions
- Climate change noun - a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature.
- Ozone noun - a form of oxygen, O 3, with a peculiar odor suggesting that of weak chlorine, produced when an electric spark or ultraviolet light is passed through air or oxygen.
- Pollution noun - the act of polluting or the state of being polluted.
- Natural resources plural noun - the natural wealth of a country, consisting of land, forests, mineral deposits, water, etc.
- Fossil fuel noun - any combustible organic material, as oil, coal, or natural gas, derived from the remains of former life.
- Mining noun - the act, process, or industry of extracting ores, coal, etc., from mines.
- Species noun - a class of individuals having some common characteristics or qualities; distinct sort or kind.
- Habitat noun - the natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism.
- Water noun - a transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, H 2 O, freezing at 32°F or 0°C and boiling at 212°F or 100°C, that in a more or less impure state constitutes rain, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.
Introduction
"The evidence could not be more graphic. Aerial photography and satellites show in vivid detail the results of laying waste to vast areas of forest and the harm done by poisons that humans have been pumping into the water and air during the century and a half since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. An alarmingly large hole in the Earth’s protective covering of atmospheric ozone appears over the Antarctic. Toxic hazes settle over major cities. Once fertile areas of the planet become desert, never to be green again within our lifetimes." (National Geographic, n.d.) Without immediate action to reduce our demand on environmental resources our actions will lead to irreparable damage.
Resources
- Australian Antarctic Division. (2012, April 3). Human impacts in Antarctica. Retrieved from http://www.antarctica.gov.au/environment/human-impacts-in-antarctica
Antarctica is often thought of as a pristine land untouched by human disturbance. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. For a little more than 100 years people have been travelling to Antarctica and in that short time most parts have been visited and we have left more than just footprints. - World Wildlife Fund. (2014). Living Planet Report 2014. Retrieved http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/
The Living Planet Report is the world's leading, science-based analysis on the health of our planet and the impact of human activity. Knowing we only have one planet, WWF believes that humanity can make better choices that translate into clear benefits for ecology, society and the economy today and in the long term.
Media
CrashCourse. (2013, January 7). 5 human impacts on the environment: Crash Course Ecology #10 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eTCZ9L834s