Depend+on+plants

EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON PLANTS Aims: See http://www.edenproject.com for plant photographs INTRODUCTION Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you will be in contact with plants or their products. It is easy to think of plants when you are eating a banana or writing a letter, but perhaps less obvious when thinking about what your clothes are made of or where medicines and cosmetics come from. It is harder still to imagine how plants affect the health of our planet – how they help clean the air by removing carbon dioxide and putting oxygen back into it through photosynthesis*, or how they affect temperature, climate and soil, helping to prevent floods and holding back deserts. Quite literally without plants there would be no life on Earth. Even carnivorous animals and people depend ultimately on plants for food. The meat and fish they eat may have eaten smaller animals which fed on plants, either on land or aquatic plants in rivers or the sea. Plants are usually at the start of food chains*; they are the producers of energy* and we, together with other animals are the consumers*. TASK 1 Think back to yesterday. Try to remember the pattern of your day and everything that you did from waking up until going to bed, including the time that you spent moving from one activity to another (e.g. walking to school, catching the bus to the shops). Think about how you interacted with, or used plants through your day. In addition to activities such as eating and drinking, consider the tools and products you used such as for hygiene and health, buildings, and energy. Also, think about how plants affect your day in other ways, improving the quality or aesthetics of your environment or your quality of life. Write the information in a table under the following fields: Time of Day Activity Plants in my day Local or global? TASK 2 In groups, discuss your results and how you depend on plants every day. Take a blank sheet of paper. In the middle write “imagine a world without any plants” and create a colourful poster to show your thoughts on this title. As well as the human uses of plants, try to represent how quality of life and the environment would be affected. Scan your poster and include it as an image to this page.
 * To explore how we depend on plants in our every day lives and to consider how plants affect the quality of our environment and lives.
 * To explore how use and cultural significance of plants have changed over time in the local area.
 * To investigate how our use of plants links us to people and places around the world.