Image
above: Heading for the pro/con article on the issue in the Adelaide
Advertiser on 31 July 2014. It's always good when the newspapers
provides some great resources to support the teaching in the classroom.
Related sites to Humsteach blog
The
study of HASS should be contentious and dynamic in the classroom.
In fact HASS is not value free and we should provide opportunities
for students to research, deconstruct and develop points of view on a
wide range of geographical issues. As Robert
Butler said in the The Economist in 2010:
“It is getting harder and
harder in conversation to raise one or other of the most basic subjects
in
geography—agriculture, rivers and population—without a flicker of panic
crossing the other
person’s face. You are no longer talking about a neutral
subject."
As HASS teachers we should be on the look out for contentious issues,
especially some local ones for the students to research and relate to.
Here are just a few local issues:
Some hot local geography
topics to explore
- Desalination
plant in Adelaide
- Giving
the go-ahead for the Hillside mine on Yorke Peninsula
- Mining in
the Flinders Ranges
- Wind Farm
expansion
- Changing
our time zone
- Attracting
a major event to SA, such as the Commonwealth Games
- Strategies
to make it harder for people to take their car into the CBD of Adelaide and encourage
the use of other forms of transport (bikes, public transport)
- Increasing
the cost of water and electricity to discourage use
- Expanding
the Roxby Downs Mine
- Changing
inner-city zoning regulations to allow more high density housing (reduced block
size and high rise).
- Others?
Some hot current history topics?
Some hot local/national Civics and Citizenship topics?
Some hot Business and Economics topics?
Two examples of contestability in geography.
1. A South Australian issue
Contestation between a mining or farming future for a place in South Australia
Geography is not just a
'telling' subject about learning 'stuff' but is and should be taught in a
dynamic and contestable way. This week in Adelaide a fascinating
contestable issue has hit the headlines (even though research will show
that it has been going on as an issue on Yorke Peninsula since at least
2011). The issue is a great example of a topic with a multitude of
geographical views and values involved. The
following posting provides the classroom materials for a Stage 2 Geography class studying resource use and sustainability.
I hope you find it useful as an example of
geographical contestability. Ironically the week I was teaching this issue I was caught in a
protest from angry Yorke Peninsula farmers outside Parliament House in
Adelaide protesting at the go-ahead for the mine - it's always great
when classroom activities meets reality!
A
contestable resource issue has hit
the headlines on the Yorke Peninsula which provides an excellent
opportunity for an issue analysis. The nub of the issue is that the
State Government
has giving permission for Rex Minerals to mine on Yorke Peninsula on
agricultural land. The community is divided about whether the State
Government
has made the correct decision on this matter dealing with the resources
of our
state.
Initially students are to do
some 'harvesting' on the issue (read all they can from the sources below) and then complete the ‘Deconstructing an issue’ template.
We will be interested what conclusion and recommendations the students come up with on this very
current hot issue in South Australia.
.
Background resources on the issue:
Internet reporting on the
Yorke Peninsula mine issue
Audio from ABC on the mine
Audio from 5AA in the mine
Speech from Mark Parnell: Green MP
http://markparnell.org.au/speech.php?speech=1290
YouTubes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMIU9vPOQis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xD4o1CUTfA
2. A Queensland issue to explore
Image above: The resource issue of dredging to develop a coal port at Abbot Point in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Background on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
ABC 4 Corners program on the issue
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is responsible for ensuring the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park –
one of the world's greatest natural treasures - is protected for the
future.
An ecosystem based approach is used, and the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park is widely recognised as one of the best managed marine
protected areas in the world.
The Marine Park is a multiple-use area that supports a range of
communities and industries that depend on the Reef for recreation or
their livelihoods. Tourism, fishing, boating and shipping are all
legitimate uses of the Marine Park.
The entire Marine Park is covered by a Zoning Plan that identifies where
particular activities are permitted and where some are not permitted.
The Zoning Plan separates conflicting uses, with 33 per cent of the
Marine Park afforded marine national park status where fishing and
collecting is not permitted.
In high use areas near Cairns and the Whitsunday Islands, special Plans
of Management are in place in addition to the underlying Zoning Plan,
In addition, other Special Management Areas have been to created for
particular types of protection, such as the Dugong Protection Areas.
The GBRMPA coordinates a range of activities to protect and manage the Great Barrier Reef. They are focused on 12 broad management topics:
This all sounds great as a way to ensure the Great Barrier Reef is sustained as a valuable environmental and heritage resources for all Australians, and as a World Heritage listed area, for the world. However as is often the case, the Great Barrier Reef is also an area with competing and conflicting demands in the areas of transport, mining and tourism, to name just a few. Over recent years there has been a decline in the health of the Great Barrier Reef and serious threats now face the ecology of the reef into the future. ABC Four Corners on 18 August 2014 highlighted the latest controversy created by the plan to dredge a coal port at Abbot Point.
Background on the dredging and dumping for a Coalport in Great Barrier Reef area
The nub of this issue is that in December 2013, Greg Hunt, the Australian environment minister,
approved a plan for dredging to create three shipping terminals as part
of the construction of a coalport at Abbot Point. According to corresponding approval
documents, the process will create around 3 million cubic metres of
dredged seabed that will be dumped within the Great Barrier Reef marine
park area.
On 31 January 2014, the GBRMPA issued a dumping permit that will
allow three million cubic metres of sea bed from Abbot Point, north of
Bowen, to be transported and unloaded in the waters of the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park.
Potential significant harms have been identified in
relation to dredge spoil and the process of churning up the sea floor in
the area and exposing it to air. New research shows the finer
particles of dredge spoil can cloud the water and block sunlight,
thereby starving sea grass and coral up to distances of 80 km away from
the point of origin due to the actions of wind and currents.
Furthermore, dredge spoil can literally smother reef or sea grass to
death, while storms can repeatedly re-suspend these particles so that the
harm caused is ongoing. It is also proposed that a disturbed sea floor can release toxic
substances into the surrounding environment.
Commentators say that the decision by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has
shocked and angered the scientific community. There seems to be deep divisions between the scientists
and bureaucrats behind the decision. It seems that the dumping was
approved despite previous recommendations from senior scientists that it
be rejected.
"That decision has to be a political decision. It is not
supported by science at all, and I was absolutely flabbergasted when I
heard." - Dr Charlie Veron, marine scientist
The Chairman of the Marine Park Authority denies the decision was
political and the Federal Environment Minister insists it will take
place under the strictest environmental conditions.
As
you will see in the video, this certainly is an interesting and
confusing debate re: the protection of the Great Barrier Reef and the
development of infrastructure for resource development. The issue deconstruction template attached may be useful for students to clarify their thinking on the issue.
What will students think should happen?
Here are some great resources on the issue:
* ABC online
* ABC News, June 2014 on Abbot Point
* ABC News, July 2014
* Mining Australia website
* Sydney Morning Herald, March 2014
* Sydney Morning Herald, May 2014
* The conversation
* Australian Marine Conservation Society
* Canberra times, August 2014
* The Australian, December 2013
Youtubes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UNLU4GuqmY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkOssflEft4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYbsguttxBU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTpfzohxbUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdLUKU6Uspk
... and many more https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=abbot+point+dredging
