GE ELECT 1 COURSE PACK

This is a property of:

Authors: BAGBAG, ERNEL D.

BORLIO, JEVANNEL G.
Name: _
FLORO, MERCEDITA E.
LAGARE, NICKEL JEAN S.
Course/Year Level/Set:
MOLINA, EDISON C.
HASAN, SABAR G.
TAGO-ON, VANESSA MHAE M.

i
 PEOPLE AND THE EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM
GE ELECT 1 - 3 units

IMPACT OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON THE ENVIRONMENT; CONSEQUENCES OF

ENVIRONMENT MODIFICATION ON HUMAN ACTIVITY.

COURSE OUTCOMES

At the end of the semester, you will be able to:

identify the key factors and drivers that are shaping our demand for
renewable resources, triggered by human overconsumption in
different sectors through in-depth research and journal reviews;

demonstrate understanding about the effects of the prolonged pattern

of overconsumption, which led to environmental degradation and the
eventual loss of resource bases;

recognize the important role of ecosystem services in rural

development in securing sustainable livelihoods by conducting
surveys in the locality;

construct opportunities to manage environmental services in order to

improve sustainability of development;

design programs that manage the human activities to avoid or

minimize its impacts to the ecosystem by constructing proposals that
address environmental concerns;

assess the environmental changes that cause unfavorable human

conditions;

conduct an environmental scanning through specific on-site

inspection and document review on the global environmental
condition; and

evaluate the mitigation and adaptation strategies of the local and

national government by measuring specific indicators that target
environmental protection and preservation.

ii
MODULES
CONSUMPTION SECTORS

1 •
•
•
•
•
Agriculture and Forestry
Fishing and Hunting
Urban Industry
Water Use
Energy and Transport

PRESSURES ON ECOSYSTEMS AND BIODIVERSITY

2 •
•
•
•
•
Habitat Loss, Alteration and Fragmentation
Overexploitation
Invasive Species
Pollution
Climate Change

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE

3 •
•
•
•
•
Changes to Habitats and the Density of Disease-related Organisms
Changes in Exposure Pathways
Genetic Alterations
Changes in Life Cycle of Vectors or Pathogens
Changing Species Composition

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, FOOD, AND NUTRITION

4 •
•
•
Water and Sanitation
Natural Disasters
Population Displacement

iii
 Table of Contents
Preface v
Module 1: Consumption Sectors 1
Lesson 1: Agriculture and Forestry 2
Lesson 2: Fishing and Hunting 7
Lesson 3: Urban Industry 14
Lesson 4: Water Use 22
Lesson 5: Energy and Transport 29

Module 2: Pressures on Ecosystems & Biodiversity 36

Lesson 1: Habitat Loss, Alteration and Fragmentation 37
Lesson 2:Overexploitation 44
Lesson 3: Invasive Species 55
Lesson 4: Pollution 60
Lesson 5: Climate Change 65

Module 3: Environmental Change & Infectious Disease 72

Lesson 1: Changes to Habitats and the Density of 73
Disease-related Organisms
Lesson 2: Changes in Exposure Pathways 79
Lesson 3: Genetic Alterations 84
Lesson 4: Changes in Life Cycle of Vectors or Pathogens 91
Lesson 5: Changing Species Composition 97

Module 4: Environmental Change, Food, & Nutrition 103

Lesson 1: Water and Sanitation 104
Lesson 2: Natural Disasters 109
Lesson 3: Population Displacement 117

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 Preface

Each day is an opportunity to learn continuously for all of us, regardless of what
situation we are in. In this time of pandemic, our attempts to discover and learn is limited. But
with the help of the internet, impossible things became possible. It allows us to reach places
we could not got to or see things we want to see. And in these trying times, we can consider
this advancement of technology as a blessing to all of us since it still allows us to learn despite
the situation.

This module course pack is based on the competencies mentioned on the syllabus
of the course People and Earth’s Ecosystem (GE ELECT 1). It is designed to help the students
gain a comprehensive knowledge about impact of human activities on the environment and
consequences of environment modification on human activity despite the lack of classroom
discussion.

v
Module No. 1

CONSUMPTION SECTORS
Lesson 1: Lesson 2: Lesson 3:
Agriculture and forestry Fishing and hunting Urban Industry

1 7 14

Lesson 4:
Water Use
At the end of the module, YOU will
be able to:

categorize the social divisions in

the national level and local
context created by way in which
goods and services are
consumed;

identify the different consumption

sectors, which are affected by the
22
human activities causing
exploitation of the natural Lesson 5:
resources; and Energy and Transport

design a possible human activity,

which could counteract the
negative impacts we caused to
the environment.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Some images, clip arts and diagrams

were not labeled as they were used only
for the purpose of enhancing the
aesthetic value of the presentation of
lessons and are not referred in the 29
discussions.

1
 LESSON Module 1

1
Agriculture and Forestry

Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• describe the reciprocal relationship between agriculture and

climate change; and
• explain the effects of human exploitation on forest resources.

Introduction:

Hello, how are you? Hope you are doing good! Welcome to Lesson 1 of Module
1. In this lesson, you are about to learn the human activities in agriculture and forestry
affecting our environment. Moreover, there are some tasks that you need to
accomplish so that you will grasp the gist of this topic. So are you ready? Alright, let’s
begin!

Activity:

List at least THREE (3) human activities that are related to agriculture and
forestry. Write your answers to the designated columns.

Agriculture Forestry

1
Analysis:

From your given answers, pick only ONE (1) activity and point out the
advantages and disadvantages of such activity to the environment.

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Abstraction:

As you can see, humans can both benefit and exploit environmental resources.
Now let’s discuss deeply on how these fields of agriculture and forestry affect the
environment due to human consumption.

Agriculture refers to the practice of rearing domestic animals and crops. However, the
methods that are related to this field have notable effects to the environment:

Climate
Deforestation Pollution
change

Effects 2
 Poor
So how agricultural
agriculture
causes climate
practices
change?

Extensive farming/slash
and burn or Kaingin Application
method of pesticides
and fertilizers

Production of greenhouse Affect the quality of air

gases: due to:
Carbon dioxide Production of compounds
Methane of phosphorus, nitrate
Nitrous oxide and ammonia

Climate change
Significant changes in temperature, precipitation,
wind patterns, and other measures of climate that
occur over several decades or longer.

But climate change affects agriculture too. Climate change

affects agricultural production through precipitation levels and
temperature variations. This is called reciprocal relationship
between climate change and agriculture!

Agriculture feeds all of us! We just need to

exercise the practices that will not harm the
environment. These may include organic
farming and crop rotation.

3
 One way of increasing agricultural production is by clearing the forests. Deforestation
provides more land for crops and pasture.

Environmental impacts of deforestation:

• Destroys the • Enhance the

• Affects the
habitat of effects of
water cycle
species climate change

Leads to Results to

Fragmentation and Interference of

depletion precipitation (rain)

What causes deforestation?

Human-made Natural

• Farming • Wildfires
• Grazing livestock • Volcanic eruption
• Mining • Typhoon
• Drilling • Parasites
• Urbanization
• Illegal logging

Why should we take care our forests?

• Forest trees absorb Carbon dioxide (CO2)

• Forest trees provide Oxygen we breath (O2)
• Traps greenhouse gases thereby reducing global warming

4
Application:

Analyze the illustration below. Explain the relationship between

agriculture and climate change.

Assessment:

Instructions: Choose the letter of your answer. Write your answer on the
space provided before the item number.

1. Which of the following human activity that is NOT associated with

Agriculture?
A. Farming B. Climate change C. Deforestation D. Pesticide
application

2. The following are the direct effects of climate change to agriculture

EXCEPT.
A. Extensive farming C. Changes in precipitation
B. Increase of temperature D. Neither is correct

5
 3. How agriculture causes climate change?
A. Changes in precipitation C. Use of
natural or organicfertilizers
B. Kaingin method D. All are correct

4. Which of the following activities could result

to degradation andfragmentation?
A. Wildfires C. Grazing of livestock
B. Illegal logging D. Destruction of habitat

5. Which of the following is an example of natural cause of

deforestation?
A. Invasion of beetle larvae that devours the bark of forest trees.
B. Expansion of agricultural lands to forest mountain ranges.
C. Forest fires due to climate change
D. A and C only.

Excellent! You just finished lesson 1 of this module! Should you

have any questions or queries regarding this lesson, please do not
hesitate to reach out to yourinstructors.
Are you ready to take your next lesson? Lesson 2 will discuss
about fishing and hunting. Good luck and enjoy reading.