Caring+for+the+Country

= **Caring for the Country** = The Australian continent has experienced tectonic stability for millions of years but this stability means that there has been only slow release of new mineral supplies into the rocks and little renewal of the soils across most of the continent for millennia. As a consequence, the Australian environment is fragile and, for the most part, arid, with old soils from which many chemical components have been leached.
 * Contextual Outline**

The carrying capacity of each Australian ecosystem is determined by the interaction of local environment factors. The arrival and continent-wide dispersal of Aboriginal people coupled with the advent of another period of glaciation gradually changed the pre-human ecosystems and appearance of the landscape.

Aboriginal people have, through their long association with the fragile ecosystems, developed strategies to manage the land successfully but non-Aboriginal use of the land imposed agricultural practices suitable to a Northern Hemisphere context. The Australian environment, however, did not respond in the same way as did the environments in the Northern Hemisphere. European agricultural practices demanded more water, more fertilisers and more vegetation to support the introduced plants and animals than were needed by those parts of the biota that evolved here.

Australians are now realising that the pressures of our urban, agricultural and mining practices have produced unsustainable rates of resource use and abuse and that the unique biodiversity of thiscontinent is at risk because of unnecessary habitat destruction. International and national strategies have been developed that acknowledge the key role of governments in setting the scene for the broad changes in direction and approach necessary to ensure that Australia’s future development is ecologically sustainable.

This module increases the students’ understanding of the historical background, the nature and practice, the applications and uses, the implications for society and the environment, and the current issues, research and developments in Earth and Environmental Science.

=**Caring for the Country Unit Planner** = podcast media type="file" key="CareCountry Pt1.mp3" width="240" height="20" __**Resources**__ __[|Uniserve Science:]__ Great comprehensive site that has resources for the whole unit __[|Managing Australian Soils]__ A policy discussion paper (very good overview) [|Soil Guild] __[|Caring for the Country]__ Australian Government Initiative Acid rain - Why is it a concern? Global warming facts & our future NOVA: Ozone Depletion [|Ozone Depletion] [|NSW Department of Primary Industries] [|Water filtration Plant] - Virtual Tour, Sydney Wate