Year 9/10 home learning –

Religion and the Environment

This booklet covers a combination of issues within the environment and what religions

believe about it.Christian and Buddhist views.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Keywords – complete the missing words to learn the keywords for this topic.

1. Stewardship- The idea that believers have a ______ to look after the environment on behalf of _____.

2. Environment- The ______ world; the ________ in which someone lives.

3. Dominion- ______ over something; being in charge of something and _______ over it.

4. Pollution- Making something ________ or _________, especially the environment,

5. Abuse- _________ of the world and __________

6. Sustainable development- Building and progress that try to ______ the impact on the ________ world for future __________.

7. Natural resources-___________ found in nature- such as _____ and _____ -that can be used by people.

The value of the worldLearning objectives

Understand religious beliefs about the value of the world. Explain religious views on human responsibilities and duty

Starter Task:Why do people believe that life is sacred?

Think about something that was/is precious or important to you. If you loaned it to someone and they never gave you it back, or they gave you it back damaged or broken, how would you feel?

Main Task 1:The Wow factor; the world contains amazing natural wonders such as mountains, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the detail on a cobweb, the detail of snowflakes, the vastness of space are all examples of the awesomeness and this beauty gives a sense of amazement, awe and wonder. The world is complex and fascinating. Caterpillars turning into butterflies, black and white cows eating grass to produce white milk, and trees bursting into new life in springtime are a few examples of the awe and wonder of life.

1) Explain what awe and wonder is in your own words.

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRONFXoXsJ0 2) Explain why some people would say that the world is full of awe and

wonder.

3) Do you think awe and wonder only comes from the natural world? Explain your views.

Draw a mind map of why Christians and Buddhists believe the world is so sacred?

Explain what the quotes teach Christians and Bhuddists about the value of the world.

“When I considered your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are

mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?Psalm 8:3-4

1) This quote teaches Christians ….

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from

what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”Romans 1:20

2) This quote teaches Christians ….

1st Preciept: to refrain from taking life, or harming life in all its forms ie killing any living creature

3) This quote teaches Buddhists….

Main Task 2:Christian views towards stewardship

• Christians believe that God has given humans the privilege of living on planet Earth but with the responsibility of looking after it and preventing it from being ruined.

• There is only one planet Earth and it cannot be replaced.• This special responsibly to protect and care for the earth is known

as stewardship.• In Genesis 2, Adam was given the task of looking after the garden of

Eden.

• As stewards of the natural world, Christians believe that people have been appointed by God to respect and manage the world, working with nature to preserve what God has given.

• In return we are able to use what is provided in a sustainable way for our survival.

• Many Christians believe that they will be accountable to God concerning how week they looked after the Earth.

Bhuddist views on stewardship Buddhists teach that the world is valuable and belongs to nobody as

we as humans have a responsibility to look after it The world provides Buddhists with all the conditions (challenges and

help) that are needed in order to develop perfect wisdom and compassion to become enlightened and free oneself from suffering

The Buddha taught there are other worlds in which its possible to be reborn as a human and that we are fortunate to be able to make ethical choices that are not available to other species

Buddhists believe we have a responsibility to care for all living beings as well as the environment, to show compassion in order to reach enlightenment

Some Buddhist say the world is amazing without being created by anyone

As humans must live many times the natural world should be respected and cared for, it is important to protect it for future generations

The Dalai lama said Destruction of nature and natural resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the Earth’s living things. Conservation is a question of our own survival.

Christian views on Dominion• Christians teach that humans were given the power and authority to

rule over the world.• This is known as dominion.

In your extended writing tasks, you need to use PEE (point, evidence, explain) to structure your work.

Task: GCSE 12 Marker- Plan and write it up

“‘The earth belongs to us so we can do with it what we like with it.”Evaluate this statement

Remember to use the religious teachings!

Agree- We can do what we want/ Dominion

Disagree- We can’t do what we like/ Stewardship

A final summary taking a critical look at the different viewpoints and referencing back to the original question:

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Plenary- GCSE 2 Marker- Give reasons why it is important to look after the world. A)B)

Use and abuse of the environmentLearning objectives

Explore different problems caused by different types of pollution. Understand religious beliefs about the use and abuse of the

environment. Know different types of energy and resources, including renewable

energy and natural resources.

Starter Task:If God created the world, how do you think he would feel about how humans are currently treating it?

How do we damage the

environment?

Main Task 1:Did you know?

• 27,000 trees are cut down each day so we can have Toilet Paper.• Aluminium can be recycled continuously, as in forever. Recycling 1

aluminium can save enough energy to run our TVs for at least 3 hours. 80 trillion aluminium cans are used by humans every year.

• When you throw plastic bags and other plastic materials in the ocean, it kills as many as 1 million sea creatures annually. Plastic take 450 years just to begin decomposing.  It takes another 50 to 80 years to be completely decomposed.  This also means that every single piece of plastic even made has not even started to decompose. Plastic take 450 years just to begin decomposing.  It takes another 50 to 80 years to be completely decomposed.  This also means that every single piece of plastic even made has not even started to decompose.

• A glass bottle made in our time will take more than 4,000 years to decompose if it is not recycled.

• Only 1% of our planet’s water supply can be used. 97% is ocean water and 2% is frozen solid in the Arctic, for now.

• Our planet gains inhabitants numbering to 77 million people a year.• An estimated 50,000 species inhabiting our tropical forests become

extinct annually. That’s an average of 137 species a day.• Rainforests are cut down at a rate of 100 acres per minute.• Landfills are composed of 35% packaging materials.

Pollution puts the health of humans, animals and plants at risk.However, despite laws to limit pollutant and attempts to clean up the

environment, pollution continues to be a problem as technology advances

and the world’s population grows. There are many forms of pollution including:

Air pollution, land pollution and water pollution

Complete the table giving some examples of each type of pollution. (at least 3 in each) One example in each has been done for you

Air Pollution Land Pollution Water Pollution Car fumes Rubbish landfills Dumping oil into

the sea,

Main Task 2:Research and answer the following questions.

1) What is the problem with using oil?

2) What is deforestation? Give an example of how we are using trees.

3) What are the problems with non-renewable resources?

4) How are scientists developing alternatives to fossil fuels?

5) What are sone of the problems with renewable energy?

6) What has had an impact on natural resources?

Main Task 3:Using the BBC Bitesize to find out about Christian and Buddhist responses to pollution and looking after the environment.

Christian views:

Buddhist views:

Plenary: Name 5 ways that you could help the environment from home,