Year 9 - Geography
Plastic pollution
Anthropocene: What is the impact of humans on the world?
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Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit teaches pupils about how humans have affected our world by looking at environmental issues such as plastic pollution and the impact of fossil fuel use. The unit leads pupils to question whether we are in a new geological epoch.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain the causes, scale, and impacts of plastic pollution on people and the environment.
Key Notes
- Most plastic is made from fossil fuels and is not biodegradable.
- Plastic production has grown rapidly since the 1950s.
- Plastic waste pollutes land, rivers, and oceans.
- Microplastics enter food chains and may harm human health.
- Wildlife can be injured or killed by plastic waste.
Vocabulary To Learn
- biodegradable: material or substance that can break down naturally over time by the action of bacteria, fungi or other living organisms
- microplastic: tiny pieces of plastic, usually smaller than five millimetres, that either come from the breakdown of larger plastic items or are made that size
- ocean garbage patch: a large area of the ocean where plastic and other waste collects, trapped by circular ocean currents
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Plastic will eventually biodegrade, even if it takes hundreds of years.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this geography topic using two clear key points.
Most plastic is made from fossil fuels and is not biodegradable. Plastic production has grown rapidly since the 1950s.
2. Define this geography term and use it in an example. 'biodegradable'
material or substance that can break down naturally over time by the action of bacteria, fungi or other living organisms.
3. Correct this common geography misunderstanding.
Mistake: Plastic will eventually biodegrade, even if it takes hundreds of years. Correction: Plastic is not biodegradable, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces and eventually turns into microplastics (tiny plastic pieces, smaller than 5 mm).
More Lessons In This Unit
- Alternative energy supplies Study Guide
- An introduction to the Anthropocene Study Guide
- Evidence of the Anthropocene Study Guide
- Fieldwork: Analysing, concluding and evaluating air pollution data Study Guide
- Fieldwork: Planning an air pollution enquiry and collecting data Study Guide
- Fieldwork: Presenting air pollution data Study Guide
- Global governance Study Guide
- Our future climate Study Guide
- Phasing out fossil fuels Study Guide
- Sustainability: A new way of living Study Guide
- The human impact on ecosystems Study Guide
- The impact of consumption Study Guide
- Threats to oceans Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 9 Geography guide library.