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The State of the Planet (DVD)

The DVD you will watch looks at some the most serious questions of the 21st century.

Here is some vocabulary you will need:

• Aquifer: An underground source of water
• Commerce: Buying and selling goods and services
• Commodity: A product that can be bought or sold
• Communal Farm: A farm that is owned by a group of people
• Deprivation: Lacking sufficient amounts of the basic necessities of life, such as
food, water, housing, and health care
• Developing World: Regions and countries of the world where people have
little money or economic opportunity and where living conditions are
inadequately providing for people’s needs and wants
• Drought: When less precipitation (rain and snow) than usual has been falling,
which typically creates great problems for plants, animals, and people
• Ecosystem: How everything – plants, animals, soil, weather, etc. - in a
certain place – a school yard, a park, a region, etc. – is interconnected
• Epidemic: A disease affecting many people at the same time
• Erosion: Soil washing or blowing away
• Family Planning: Having only as many children as you have decided you
want
• Fertility Rate: The average number of children being born to women in a
particular group
• Floodplain: Land that sometimes is covered by water from overflowing
rivers, streams, and lakes
• Fossil Fuel: Fuels, such as coal and petroleum, that formed from ancient
plants and animals
• Fungicide: A chemical that kills fungi
• Genetic Engineering: Changing the genes of living things so that the living
things are somehow different
• Global Economy: The buying and selling of goods and services around the
world
• Ice Cap: Vast sheets of ice, sometimes over two miles thick, that are
covering the far northern and southern regions (Arctic and Antarctic) of the
planet
• Insecticide: A chemical that kills insects
• Irrigation: Artificially watering plants. Drip irrigation sprinkles water onto
plants
• Life Expectancy: The average lifespan of a group of people
• Malnourished: Not having enough of the nutrients needed for good health
• Mega-cities: Truly large cities, such as New York, Sao Paolo, Beijing, and
Mexico City
• Mulch: A covering of wood chips or some other plant material that people
put on the ground to protect the soil and help plants grow
• Non-profit Organizations (NGOs): Organizations that are primarily trying
to help society, not make money
• Renewable Resource: A natural resource that can replace itself, such as
trees and fish
• Sanitation: Preventing disease and keeping people healthy by keeping
clean the places where people live
• Sewage: Human waste that goes into pipes and usually ends up in rivers,
lakes, and oceans
• Shantytown: A town that people on their own just constructed with
whatever materials they happened to find. They are usually built next to cities
and usually lack basic services like running water and electricity. Typically, only
the very poor live in them.
• Squatter Settlements: Homes that people build on land that they do not
own, such as ranches and pastures
• Turbine: A machine that generates electricity, primarily by revolving magnets
around cables of wire
• Wastewater: Water that carries the wastes from human activity, including
wastes from industries, households, and the surfaces of streets and sidewalks

These are some of the places you will hear about:

Great Rivers

Amazon River
Nile River
Amu Darya River
Colorado River
Ganges River
Yellow River
Rio Grande River
Mississippi River
Yangtze River

Countries

Zimbabwe
China
Haiti
Israel (Negev Desert, Israel)

Cities

Nairobi, Kenya
Shanghai, China
Chicago, Illinois
Paris, France
London, England
Calcutta, India
Melbourne, Australia

United States locations

State of Louisiana
Ogallala Aquifer, Great Plains
Glacier National Park, Montana
Gulf of Mexico

As you listen, answer these questions:

Population

1. In what kinds of countries is the greatest population growth? ________________________________ countries

2. Is the rate of population growth increasing or is it decreasing? ____________________________________

3. Do 5 out of 6 people on Earth live in poor countries or do they live in rich countries? ______________________________________

4. The population of the United States is growing. Why is this a major problem? _________________________________________

Water

5. What are three water problems in developing countries?

a. __________________________________________________

b __________________________________________________

c. __________________________________________________

6. What water problem is affecting farmers in the U.S.? _______________________________________

Food

7. What is the biggest food problem in the world today? ____________________________________________

8. China is now able to have food for its population. In the future, however, there may not be enough food because _________________________

____________________________________________________

Climate change (global warming)

9. What are four types of evidence (proof) that there is climate change/global warming?

a. __________________________________________________

b. __________________________________________________

c. __________________________________________________

d. __________________________________________________