Journey 2050 Lesson 5: Land Use | Self-Guided Experience

This is the Journey 2050
self-guided experience

We are on lesson 5
about land use.

So far in the program we have
learned about soil, nutrients,

and the economy, and how those
three factors can either support

sustainability or limit it. Today,
we are going to be talking about land use

So, question for you: how much of the
Earths surface is used for growing food?

If you take a look at the Earth,
not every portion of it is a place

where we can grow food.
There is a lot of water,

and it looks like a lot of places
that are not ideal to grow food in.

To begin answering this question, I'm
going to do a demonstration with

an apple. I want you to imagine that the
surface of the Earth is the

surface of this Apple. I'm going to take
this apple and quarter it which will

give us four pieces. With the apple
cut in quarters I'm going to take

one of them away. The remaining three
represent the portion of the Earth

Thats covered in water. I'm going to
set aside the three pieces that represent

water on the Earth and pull back in the
one quarter of the Apple that represents

the Earths surface that is land.
Not all land is created equal.

So, I have cut this piece representing
the land on the Earth into three pieces.

So, they represent 1/12 sections.
So, 1/12 of our Earth is inhospitable land

This is places like polar regions, deserts
and mountains where it's not suitable

to live or to grow crops.
I am going to set that piece aside

and look at the next piece.
This is habitable land.

This is places where people live
but crops aren't grown.

So, think of places where houses are
built, where there's roads and development

or public lands. This is another 1/12
section of our Earth.

This last 1/12 section is Earths
Agricultural land.

This is the place where our food
is grown.

To dig a little bit deeper, I am
going to cut this piece into four pieces.

3/4 of our agricultural land is land that
is used to raise livestock or

to grow feed for livestock.

The remaining quarter of this piece
which represents 1/48 of our earth

is agricultural land that grows food
that humans eat.

So, this is fruits, vegetables, beans,
rice, grains. Foods that are for

direct human consumption.

Here's a summary. So, if the
entire apple was our Earth,

and the surface of it: 75% of the
Earths surface is water.

25% of the Earths surface is land.
If we divide the land, we have 1/12

section that is inhospitable land,
1/12 section that is habitable land, but

covered in houses, roads,
and open areas.

And the final 1/12 section is agricultural
land that produces our food.

If we divide the agricultural land down
3/4 of that is used for livestock, feed,

and grazing. That then the livestock
produce meat, milk, and eggs.

And then 1/4 of that is land used for
food crops.

This finishes up step one on your handout
And here's another summary slide if

you need help filling out
the percentages on your handout.

For step 2 on your handout,
pause this video and watch the

land use video and answer the questions.
We are moving on to Step 3 now.

This is a question I have for you that you
should be able to start answering with

the information we have already been over
but why is land a precious resource?

Just like water and soil nutrients that
we've already talked about,

Land is also a limited natural resource
that we have to provide for our needs.

Land also has a lot of uses and we have
a lot of needs for land for different

reasons, we need land to build businesses
and industry. We need land for recreation.

We need land for animal habitats, for
homes an roads, for food.

So, land is a resource that is not only
limited but it's needed for a large

variety of things.

This is a map that shows population
statistics by country. If you look at

the legend, the darker the color the
more people that live there.

So just take a few minutes and take a look
at that. something that you should be

able to gather from that is that people
typically live in the places where they

have the things they need to grow their
food. So, things like fertile land

ideal crops, etc.
So, thats one challenge that we face

in our land use and sustainability is that
land that we want or are able to farm on

is also the land where people want to
settle and live and build houses.

Before we move forward, I also want
to go backwards back to this map

of the population statistics by country.
Are these two maps correlated?

Do you see any similarities between the
two maps that show population by country

as well as the agricultural land by
country?

I'll show you the other one once more.

The answer is yes there is a correlation
between agricultural and the places where

people live. Homes and businesses are very
often built in the places that have the

best climate and soil for growing
crops.

In summary best management practices
innovation and technology is what helps

us only a fraction of the Earths surface
to feed a growing population.

That wraps up step 3 of this lesson.
We are going to move on to step 4

which is to play the next level of the
game. As a heads up in this level you're

going to be seeing something different
that what you have in the previous ones.

So, what you're going to be doing is
making predictions for the percentage

of land used by nature, urban, and
agriculture in the 1900's compared to

the year 2000. So, pause this video
an then go to your game and play

level 5A and stop when you're done.

To summarize what we've been learning
in the video and through this level of

the game, Farmers have increased yields
of the food production by using better

practices, better science, better
technology and the use of best management

practices is whats helping us be more
sustainable in that process.

So, how do we improve our land use choices
so that we can feed a growing world and

still have a high quality of life
and environment?

Alright, we are going to go through
a few examples.

In natural habitats we're going to replace
what we use and keep the environment

clean, plant native species, remove
invasive species and don't just talk

about stewardship, take action.

In agriculture we're going to improve
soil health, so hat we can grow more on

the same amount of land, we're going to
use technology to make more efficient

use of out inputs like water and
fertilizer. We're also going to

sustainable use the land that
is already in production .

In an urban setting we're going to retain
the urban wetlands and riparian areas

We're going to reduce food waste and only
buy what we need to eat. We're also going

to build businesses up and not out to
perserve the land we have.

We're almost done here on this lesson.
What you're going to do now is review the

key points these are also printed on
your handout.

Listed as an aditional activity to this
lesson is to play the 5B level of the game

This is a world geography game. Its a Q&A
style game that has clues imbedded in the

questions. You're going to think of your
favorite foods and sports

and music and travel places and
relate them to the cultures and different

counties. You're going to explore some of
the favorite things and where they come

from, and how trading goods from around
the world allows us to enjoy those things.

This wraps up lesson 5 on land use.
Up next is lesson 6 on careers.