Ecosystems and well-being: How environment affects the health of Canadians

Overview

Students will locate, rank and relate data that suggests how environmental determinants affect the health of Canadians.

Contributors: Dianne Clipsham and Cathy Sigler.

Objectives

• To explore environmental determinants and how they impact on the health of Canadians
• To learn to collect, synthesize and compile information
• To practice cooperative team work

Suggested grade levels and subject areas

Secondary
Health, Science, Geography

Duration:
Three, 50 minute periods are recommended for library and class work by Grade 10 students.
Two, 50 minute periods are recommended for Grade 11 or 12 students.
One or two periods will be required for classroom discussion and presentation.

Vocabulary

Abiotic — Refers to all non-living elements of an ecosystem, including, for example, climate, soil, water, geology, physiography, ice, and non-living organic matter like peat.
Antibiotic resistence — Occurs when micro-organisms gradually develop a tolerance to the chemicals designed to kill them.
Biomagnification — Cumulative increase in the concentration of a substance in successively higher levels of a food web.
Biotic — Refers to the living elements of an ecosystem, such as plants and animals.
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) — One of the greenhouse gases, which is released to the atmosphere by both natural and human activities.
Climate change — An enduring alteration of climate bringing about corresponding changes to ecosystems and socio-economic activity.
Contaminant — Any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance that has an adverse affect on air, water, soil or biota.
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) — The group of chemical compounds that are responsible for the so-called "greenhouse effect." The most important greenhouse gases produced by economic activity are: carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Ozone (O₃) — A pungent, faintly bluish gas composed of three atoms of the element oxygen. In the lower 10 kiometres of the atmosphere, it occurs as a pollution product formed by combining nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight. In this portion of the atmosphere, it is also a greenhouse gas. Above 20 kilometres, it is produced naturally and serves to protect life on earth from damaging ultraviolet radiation. See also ground-level ozone and stratospheric ozone.
Pollution — Undesirable change in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of the air, water or land that can harmfully affect the health, survival or activities of humans or other living organisms.
Smog — Literally a contraction of "smoke" and "fog"; smog includes ground-level ozone and numerous other contaminants. It tends to provide a brownish-yellow haze to the atmosphere, especially over urban areas.
Toxic — Harmful to living organisms.
Wastewater — Water that carries wastes from human activi-ties, either directly into a receiving water body or to a waste-water treatment plant.

Materials

• Chart paper and markers; poster boards; computer software for electronic presentations; overhead acetate and markers.
• Computers with Internet access to these suggested resources. Recommended for use in the Library:
  • Human Activity and the Environment 2000 print and CD
  • Statistics Canada website
  • Canadian Health Network
  • Environment Canada
  • Health Canada
  • Health Canada Climate Change
  • Health on the Net Foundation
  • Mayo Clinic
  • Pew Environmental Health Commission
  • World Health Organization
  • Various Health Encyclopedias in print or on-line
• From the print version of Human Activity and the Environment 2000:
  • articles on environmental determinants affecting the health of Canadians include:
    • Waste management and emissions, section 6.1: Waste generation and management (pg. 182-187)
    • Wastewater disposal, sub-section 6.1.6: Municipal wastewater (pg. 187-190)
    • Air quality, sub-section 6.1.10: Criteria air contaminants (pg. 191-198)
    • Water pollutants, section 6.3: Water quality (pg. 200-207)
    • Chemical contaminants in soil, sub-section 6.4.2: Chemical contamination (pg. 209-212)
    • Biotic contamination, section 6.5: Contaminants in biota (pg. 213-218)
    • Noise, section 6.6: Human health (pg.223)
  • In the CD-ROM version of Human Activity and the Environment 2000, go to:
    • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > Waste generation and management
    • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > 6.1.6 Municipal wastewater
    • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > 6.1.10 Criteria air contaminants
    • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > Water quality
    • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > Soil > 6.4.2 Chemical contamination
    • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > Contaminants in biota
    • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > Human health
• Articles on diseases include [for all diseases see section 6.6: Human health (pg. 219-223)]:
  • Cancers: skin, melanoma, lung, breast (pg. 219-220)
  • Respiratory diseases - asthma (pg. 220-223)
  • Cardiovascular disease (pg. 220)
  • Antibiotic resistant disease - tuberculosis, pneumonia (pg. 221-222)
• In the CD-ROM version of Human Activity and the Environment 2000, go to:
  • Chapters > Ecosystems and Well-Being > Human health

Classroom instruction

Consult with the teacher-librarian to plan for time and class instruction in the Library.

Part A

1. Divide the class into groups with two or three students in each group.
   Half of the groups will be Determinants Groups and the other half will be Diseases Groups.
2. Assign a determinant from the above list to each Determinants Group.
   Assign a disease from the above list to each Diseases Group.

   Determinants Group
   Have students research the following conditions using the resources listed above

   • Birth defects
   • Neurological diseases — Alzheimer's, MS, Parkinson's
   • Eyes — cataracts
   • Ears — hearing loss due to noise

   Students work together to prepare a Fact Sheet on the following activities for determinants:

   1. Locate or create a chart showing the prevalence of the determinant in each province or in Canada as a whole.
   2. Where are the variations in the country?
   3. What reasons can you suggest for these?
   4. Estimate the determinant's effect on the health of Canadians.

   Diseases Group
   Students work together to prepare a Fact Sheet on the disease under the following headings:

   1. What are the causes of the disease?
   2. Find out the incidence and mortality over time in Canada.
   3. What environmental determinants might contribute to the incidence of the disease?
3. Lead a plenary discussion on research to date, and have the students connect the determinant(s) with the resulting disease(s).

Part B

1. Form new groups connecting the relevant Determinants Group with the corresponding Diseases Group. Each combined group shares Fact Sheet information and prepares an oral presentation for the rest of the class.
2. Following the student presentations, the teacher will lead the class discussion ranking each environmental determinant on the health of Canadians, from worst effect to least effect.
3. Discuss the following questions:
   1. Which determinants can be controlled? Where do they rank?
   2. Are there factors beyond human control? Where do they rank?
   3. What measures can the class suggest to improve the health levels of Canadians where determinants are monitored by local, provincial and national agencies or governments?

Evaluation

Part A

Group members will self and peer evaluate as a reflection of the group process using the Group reflection evaluation sheet.

Part B

Students and Teacher will evaluate oral presentations using the Oral presentation evaluation sheet.

Enrichment

Students will prepare a news release outlining ways to improve the health of Canadians by minimizing these environmental hazards.

Students will announce class findings on school electronic bulletin boards or post to the school website.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class to Learning Resources.

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