🌍 Part 1: Human Impacts on Earth's Systems

1. Which human activity has the greatest impact on the atmosphere?

Planting trees

Burning fossil fuels

Recycling plastic

Building solar panels

2. Check all the ways humans impact the water cycle:

Building dams on rivers

Cutting down forests

Paving roads and parking lots

Using water for farming

3. Land-use change occurs when humans transform natural areas. Which is an example of land-use change?

A forest fire started by lightning

Converting a wetland into a shopping mall

Animals migrating to new areas

Natural erosion of a riverbank

4. Fill in the blanks: When plastic waste enters the ocean, it affects the _____________ (water system) and harms _____________ (living things), showing how Earth's systems are _____________.

5. Systems Thinking: Complete the diagram showing how deforestation affects multiple Earth systems.

Deforestation (cutting down forests) affects:

Atmosphere: _________________________________

Hydrosphere: _______________________________

Geosphere: _________________________________

Biosphere: _________________________________

🔬 Part 2: Evidence-Based Scenario Analysis

Scenario: City A has heavy traffic and many factories. City B has bike lanes, electric buses, and solar-powered buildings. Scientists measured air quality in both cities for one year.

Evidence: City A had 45 unhealthy air days. City B had 8 unhealthy air days. City A's carbon dioxide levels were 3 times higher than City B's levels.

6. Based on the evidence, which city has better air quality?

City A

City B

Both cities are the same

Cannot determine from the evidence

7. What evidence from the scenario supports your answer to question 6?

8. Claim-Evidence-Reasoning: Make a claim about which transportation choices are better for Earth's atmosphere.

Claim: ________________________________________________

Evidence: What data from the scenario supports your claim?

Reasoning: Explain how your evidence supports your claim using science concepts.

♻️ Part 3: Solutions and Stewardship

9. Which action shows environmental stewardship (taking care of Earth)?

Throwing trash in rivers

Using renewable energy sources

Cutting down all trees in a forest

Dumping chemicals in soil

10. Match each environmental problem with its best solution:

Air pollution from cars

Plastic waste in oceans

Loss of forest habitats

Water pollution from factories

Reforestation programs

Electric vehicles and public transport

Stricter pollution laws

Reduce, reuse, recycle programs

11. Climate change affects all of Earth's systems. Describe one way climate change impacts each system:

Atmosphere:

Hydrosphere (water):

Geosphere (land/rocks):

Biosphere (living things):

12. Design a plan for your school to reduce its environmental impact. Include at least three specific actions and explain how each action helps Earth's systems.

Action 1:

How it helps:

Action 2:

How it helps:

Action 3:

How it helps: