2 - Under Pressure - Resources
This unit will explore how the key resources of food, water and energy are becoming increasingly under pressure due to the rise of the middle classes and a growth in the global population.
In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.
Key Concept
Change - how has the change in population size impacted how resources are used?
Related Concepts
Causality, Networks and Sustainability - how has resource consumption changed over time? Can our current consumption of resources be maintained?
Global Context
Scientific and Technological Innovation - Can the human race continue to react positively to the rise in population?
Statement of Inquiry
Population change has fostered scientific and technological innovations to occur across a range of networks to create a more sustainable world.
Inquiry Questions
Factual Questions: Remembering facts and topics
How do our personal choices create (cause) an impact on resource sustainability?
How does a change in wealth impact resource consumption?
How can a country's biocapacity be changed by scientific and technological innovation?
- What scientific and technological innovations have taken place to cause a change in our Earth's ability to produce food?
What is malnourishment and what conditions create an environment in which people are malnourished?
Conceptual Questions: Analysing big ideas
- How far can the scientific and technological changes to food production be used as evidence that Boserup's theory is correct?
Debatable Questions: Evaluating perspectives and developing theories
'The catastrophe of Easter Island will happen again today.' Discuss.
