Wetlands In South Africa

Wetlands are important to animals because they provide shelter and a good living environment for certain species. For example, species such as Rafinesque’s big-eared bat and bald eagles depend on the trees in these wetlands and their hardwood forests to survive and grow.

I have always cared about the environment, even from a young age. I am hoping that this course can further explain to me how the environment works, what problems the environment is facing, and what I can do to help.

South African ecologists currently face many challenges relating to the conservation of biodiversity and the growing economy. Excessive hunting and land development, as well as unemployment, all remain growing concerns for this struggling country. Jan-Hendrik, a South African who made contact with us, stated, “South Africa has lots of social and economic problems because most people are poor. To get them to middle class requires the economy to grow through mines and the expansion of living areas” (Hendrik). The growth of South Africa’s economy often occurs at nature’s expense. Mining, fracking, expansion of living areas and big game hunting all benefit the economy. Unfortunately, each have detrimental effects on the land and animals.

The UK Parliament has made considerable movement towards helping schools in Britain to become kinder to the planet. The Scottish government has introduced an eco-schools programme into the British school system. These eco-schools and the government hold close links with Education for sustainable development (ESD).

However, the Oxygen and pH levels are outside their healthy levels. As the level of dissolved oxygen in the water is lower then what is healthy, this can kill organisms that habituated the wetland. As well as the pH being higher than its healthy range, this can also kill organisms. The termination of these organisms can create devastating effects on the health of this environment by generating an imbalance in the ecosystem of the wetland. To ensure that the wetland remains an asset to the Canberra community, we must constantly observe the water quality in the wetland, and ensure that we are not polluting the wetland with air pollutants (NO2) and ensuring that the level of pH lowers from alkaline to be in the healthy range. (Urrbrae Wetland Learning Centre,

The environment is important to protect considering that people live and breathe in the atmosphere it provides. Investing time in activities that protect the environment hasn’t always been a priority, but as greenhouse gas emissions, the use of energy, and other harmful impacts on the environment increased, individuals began to speak up on what should be done. As the world’s population continues to grow exponentially, the impacts society produces will in turn continue to increase unless something is done about it. Although the idea of an environmentally sustainable community has remained on the minds of the concerned public throughout the past decade, as companies and universities became more invested in the idea, new ways of taking action and implementing policies were developed and pursued.

Humans impact the wetlands in very many ways. Many people like to pollute the environment of the wetlands with rubbish, smoking and eating. Yes, there are designated smoking areas, however many people disregard these signs and continue to smoke around the wetlands, thus putting smoke into the air, affecting the plants and animals around them. This also goes for rubbish as many people do not use bins provided to disperse their rubbish. This makes the surroundings not clean and could potentially injure some of the animals if the rubbish is consumed. (Own thoughts)

When I tell people I am aspiring to be an environmental engineer the most common reaction, aside from a cringe worthy joke about me being a hippy, is a belief that I am determined to save the oceans, the rainforests, the world. However, while it is true I appreciate nature and definitely do not want to see unnecessary harm done to the environment. I am not worried about the Earth. Planet Earth has been around a lot longer than the human race, and will be around a lot longer once we’re gone. To think that the Earth is dependent on the human race is foolish, the human race is dependent on the Earth. Which is why I seek to use a University of Tulsa education to help impoverished people in an

When I was five years old I began school. In Kindergarden we learned basic things like letters, numbers, and how not to be fully engulfed in flames. For some reason, 2004 was the height of anti-fire education in Missouri and before I knew how to tie my shoes I knew that if I ever was ablaze, to cover my face, fall to my knees, and roll back and fourth. This is what my institution placed serious value upon and because I was a student of that institution I also placed serious value upon it. The same idea must be applied to a university's teaching of environmental sustainability. This is discussed in David Orr's "What is Education For?" Through choosing a curriculum a university chooses what it places value onto, by making the environment a priority it showcases to the future generations that environmental wellness is an important responsibility for them to take ownership.

Across all projects, the first step in tidal wetland restoration is almost always to create a “restoration site template” that will form the basis of the entire project. Experts believe that “restoring the physical integrity of the tidal wetland offers the best opportunity of restoring ecologic integrity” (Faber “Design” 17). How the template is formed will ultimately dictate what the final wetland will look like. Construction of the wetland base may require either excavation or fill depending on the site conditions. Some sites, like the Ballona Wetlands, have been filled with a massive layer of dirt, and in these cases, the site will need to be excavated back down to the bottom of the root zone so that natural sedimentation processes

Our education should be aimed at educating people who love the world they lie in and who are ready to become peacemakers and healers of the world (Orr 55). A sustainable society “consists” of citizens, workers, specialists, technicians, etc, who are ready to work in order to build and support such society. One of the ways to provide such education is to “get outdoor”. The skills and abilities develop in real world and not in artificial situations in class. In this regard, we may refer to the Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. One should “touch” the real world problems and get personal experience from it. Shadows in the cave are the retrospectives of the real knowledge. To acquire the knowledge, we should leave the “cave”. We can learn theory separated from practice and this will not have any result. Instead, we should understand that every individual is a part of the natural world, thus, education should be based on ecological literacy as “health of our planet” is one of the most urgent questions of the modern social community.

Sustainability development has three components: environment, society, and economy. If you consider the three to be overlapping circles of the same size, the area of overlap in the center is human well-being. As the environment, society, and economy become more aligned, the area of overlap increases, and so does human well-being. Therefore, education for sustainable development (ESD) is the use of education as a tool to achieve sustainability. Simply put, ESD is a way to make the world a safer, healthier, and more livable place for us and future generations (McKeown, 2002, pgs 7-9).

This essay will review two significant environmental experiences I have encountered exploring the influences of these my life and how these have altered my view on what is environmental sustainability. An examination into these two experiences will follow into reviewing my perspectives on environmental sustainability and how these two experiences influenced this. To conclude a discussion on my role as a teacher and how this will impact myself when in the classroom.

This report is designed to investigate the rationale behind teaching Education for Sustainability (EfS) in early childhood education, through investigating the relevant issues and concept of sustainability in relation to the pedagogies and principles of early years education. The initial part of this report will focus on three issues of sustainability, all falling under the greater sustainability concept of waste management. The report will then go on to articulate the role and importance of EfS in early years principles and pedagogies. Finally, some teaching strategies for teaching EfS will be outlined.

Within this task we were required to determine the ecological state of the Reddam House wetland, which I presume is at a good standard.