If local councils can make rules for our neighbourhoods, who looks after the air we breathe, the rivers and oceans we swim in and the national parks where we go bushwalking?
The way we use our land shapes our environment. A wilderness is where no one has used the land. Cars, people, tall buildings, houses and factories are found in an urban environment. Where the land is used for growing crops and grazing animals, it is a rural environment.
How many activities can you see in this picture that are having a bad effect on the environment?
Taking care of the environment
We have laws to encourage us to take care of our environment.
There are laws to stop people:
littering
making too much noise
building inappropriate houses
cutting down trees.
There are laws to stop businesses:
polluting the air and the water
making too much noise
building factories, mines and offices in inappropriate places.
In a natural environment, laws might:
create a national park
protect an endangered species of plant or animal
ban unwise clearing of the land.
We also have a cultural environment. Laws are made to preserve:
historic buildings
important sites such as Aboriginal cave galleries
objects such as works of art and ancient relics.
Who controls the environment?
There is often conflict between people who want to use the environment and people who want to keep it as it is. Some activities that have caused problems are:
tourist developments
on unspoiled beaches
roads through wilderness areas
mining in national parks
tall buildings in residential areas.
Can you think of others?
Should local people be able to use their land for whatever purpose they please? Or is it right for governments to step in and protect the environment?
What have we learnt?
Laws are made to prevent us from doing harm to the environment and to preserve what we have.
Let’s explore
Should local people be able to use their land for whatever purpose they please? Or is it right for the governments to step in and protect the environment?
Let’s find out
Go to www.edo.org.au/edonsw/site/factsheets.asp This is the Environmental Defender’s Office web site. Choose one of their fact sheets. Prepare and present a report to your class on this topic.
