5 Human Impacts on the Environment
Videos
Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Biology, Earth and Space Sciences
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by Crash Course
What it is
- This video provides a great overview of the main ways we are affecting the planet and how those actions are affecting our ability to live on Earth.
- It discusses ecosystem services, the importance of biodiversity, deforestation, desertification, agriculture, climate change, invasive species, and overharvesting wildlife.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This video provides the connections between these many topics and helps students understand why protecting nature and intact ecosystems is so important for all life on Earth.
- It identifies the huge financial cost of losing the services that ecosystems provide, not to mention the spiritual, mental health, and intangible benefits nature provides.
Prerequisites
- The video does a good job of defining terms, but students should be familiar with terms like ecosystems, deforestation, and global warming.
- The video has a number of breaks or pauses identified that can be used to quickly reference certain topics or to jump back to for review.
- There may be an ad before the video.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Social studies classes can use this video to connect ecosystem services with communities that rely on nature for subsistence farming and subsistence fishing.
- Any class can use this video to help students understand the importance of protecting wild spaces and wildlife on land and in the oceans.
- Other resources related to this topic include this PBS video about extinction, this StC lesson, this video about ecosystem resiliency, and this table of solutions to climate change.
From the scientist review
This video explains the importance of biodiversity. Please note that this video was produced in 2013. An educational activity for students might be to look at how the numbers mentioned in the video have changed. For example, in 2013, roughly 5,800 square kilometers of Amazonian Rainforest were destroyed. In 2021, that number is now over 10,000. This resource is recommended for teaching.
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