The assessment task for this unit will be in the form of a debate.

You will be asked to pretend to be:

A villager

A logging company owner

A mayor of a growing city

An environmentalist in New York City

Each person above has an opinion about how the forest should be used.

Who should decide how resources are used?

Do we all value resources the same way?

Are some resources more valuable to some people?

You may use your notes for the quiz after the presentation.

Yes, there is a quiz.

Please take quick notes during this presentation.

Notes should be in your own words. Tell me to slow down if you need to.

Students will be asked questions during the presentation. If the

students get more points than the teacher, then you get more points

than the teacher.

There are really only two forces that could be responsible for that forest to disappear.

Can you name them?

Humans Nature

In Geography, we use the terms

Unnatural(Humans)

Natural

(Nature)

What are natural (nature) causes that could make a forest disappear.

Wind or storm

How can you tell it was a storm that made those trees fall?

Random falling

What is another way to tell?Splintering

Storms with high winds can be very destructive.

Here is a picture of the damage to my house after a wind storm.

I had to clean it up by myself.

Another natural cause of forest decline?

Finally, one more natural cause..

Disease and pests.

Now for the human causes of deforestation and loss of forest

For our class, we are more interested in these causes and reasons.

There are really only 3 main causes but many reasons

Fire

Cutting

Acid Rain

For our class, we will only look at the reasons for cutting trees

Please take out your maps

According to your book, where does much of the deforestation

occur in the world?

Can you find it on your map?

The Amazon

If you can’t find it right away, let’s try some detective work.

This is a picture of the world taken at night from space.

Do you think that huge areas of forests would have a lot of lights?

But that’s not enough to find it.

Dark does not mean forest.

Deserts are also dark at night.

Remember, rainforests are usually found in hot tropical climates—not too

far North or South

Next, use this map to mark the areas of high deforestation in

the world

Can you name them?

There are 3 main reasons why deforestation is happening in tropical areas.

Which one accounts for the most deforestation?

Logging

Commercial agriculture

Subsistence Agriculture

What is

Other?

Mining, roads etc.

Take a look at these pictures.

Guess which pictures are caused by which reason for deforestation.

Example: subsistence farming, logging, cattle grazing, plantation

Can you name any negative effects of deforestation?

• Soil erosion

• Loss of habitat

• Loss of potential medicine

• Loss of CO2 reducing material

• Loss of culture and history

Can you think of any benefits of deforestation? (for the people doing it)

• Can feed the family

• Use wood for fuel

• Make income

Get into groups of 3

Given what you know about the causes of deforestation, come up with a list of possible strategies that countries, cities, people and the world can do to help reduce the amount of deforestation that occurs.

Does this all mean that forestry is a bad thing?

Not entirely

Clear cutting is generally considered a bad thing

It is a form of non-selective cutting.

They cut everything.This kind of forestry is very efficient.It is also quite easy to do.

Some ways that companies try to reduce the impact of clear cutting

are

Replanting

Cutting only some sections (blocks)

There are some advantages to this type of clear cutting. Can

you think of any?

How about re-planting. Can you tell which forest is natural and which

has been replanted?

Now that you see the differences,get into groups of 3 and list some of the reasons why replanting is not a

perfect solution

We said that much deforestation occurs in the tropical rain forests.

There are many forests around the world.

Why would it be such a problem in the tropics?

Let’s look at some maps.

World map indicating Human Development Index (2006).

What is the Human Development Index?

What does the previous map show?

What kind of conclusions can we draw from this?

So….When we speak of deforestation due to cutting,

there are many issues to consider

Effects on environment

Effects on economy(ies)

Effects on local people

Land and forests mean different things to different people

Think of the following people:

Logging company owner

Rain forest villager

Environmentalist in New York concerned about Global warming

Mayor of a growing city near forest edge

For each character, write a brief reflection (in the first person) about

what the forest means to them.

Each character’s reflection should be about 1-2 paragraphs. You should

explain how the person feels about the forest, how the person benefits from the forest, and how that person thinks the

forest should be used.

Example of whaler and whales

My name is Brad, I am a whaler. I live by the ocean and I make my living by fishing for whales. Fishing for whales allows me to earn a living. I depend on the ocean to provide the whales for me. Without them, I could not make money. Some people say that whales are beautiful and should be protected from me, but I believe that whales are no different from Cows or pigs. I should be allowed to fish for whales because I do not take too many, just enough for me to live. But big companies should not be allowed to fish because they take too many. They kill them all.