The “Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority”
(ACARA) is a national independent organization that ensures Australian children
receive a world class education. ACARA has identified three important Cross
Curriculum Priorities that must be incorporated into subjects. The
sustainability priority looks at the “ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all
life and meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future
generations” (ACARA 2013). Geography is inseparable from sustainability because
it involves the concepts of “place,
space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change."(ACARA. 2015.)
Global warming is currently the biggest threat to the planet
and human kind’s survival (WWF 2015). Through increased co2 emissions and pollutants in
the earth’s atmosphere the planet is heating up. In the long term global
warming’s effects include “sea level rise, droughts, floods, storms and heat
waves.” (WWF 2015) The short term health effects of a polluted planet are already
taking place, the map below was created by the World Health Organization in
2004 and shows the number of deaths attributed to air pollution in that year.
The Earth’s finite resources are being used up at an unsustainable rate. Clean
water and air are components that are essential for life yet they are being
treated as disposable while fossil fuels continue to be burnt at an
unsustainable rate.
It’s vital that students are taught sustainability as a
priority because without a healthy earth, life on this planet would cease to
exist. Future and currant generations need to find more sustainable ways to
live in harmony with the earth.
Reference List
ACARA. 2013. “Cross-curriculum priorities” Accessed 29th of
May 2015. http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/cross_curriculum_priorities.html
ACARA. 2015. “Concepts for developing geographical
understanding”. Accessed 29th of May 2015. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-sciences/geography/concepts-for-developing-geographical-understanding
Global Footprint Network. 2014. “Earth Overshoot Day”. Accessed
29th of May 2015. http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/
ProCon. 2015. “Is
Human Activity Primarily Responsible for Global Climate Change?”. Accessed 29th
of May 2015. http://climatechange.procon.org/
WWF. 2015. “One of the biggest threats to humanity &
nature”. Accessed 29th of May 2015.http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/
WHO. 2015.“The urban environment”. Accessed 29th
of May 2015. http://www.who.int/heli/risks/urban/urbanenv/en/
Union of Concerned Scientists. 2011.“Global Warming Causes”.
Accessed 29th of May 2015. http://www.climatehotmap.org/about/global-warming-causes.html
