North America, United States, USA - West, USA - South, USA - Northeast, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Oregon, Willamette Valley / Portland Metro, New York, New York City
Format
Google Slides
What Happens If We Cut Down All of a City’s Trees?
This animated video begins by comparing two ancient civilizations and explains why trees are crucial to humans in urban settings.
Students will learn how trees filter water, store excess stormwater, filter pollutants from the air, stabilize soils, absorb and store carbon dioxide, provide shade to buildings and sidewalks, provide mental health benefits, and provide habitat to many species.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This easy-to-understand video describes the benefits of trees that students may not be familiar with. It provides real-world examples from human history.
Students can test their comprehension of the video with the interactive questions in the Think section and participate in guided discussions in the Discuss section.
The Dig Deeper section provides students with an article that contains links for further exploration.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should have some knowledge of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Differentiation
History classes could use this video to open up a discussion about resource use in ancient civilizations. Students could discuss how different civilizations used ecosystem services.
Elementary science classes could make a list of the benefits that trees provide to people, animals, and the ecosystem.
The resource underscores the arboreal benefits of trees in urban spaces to mitigate climate change impacts, reduce pollution, and improve air and water quality. The resource is valid and recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
HS-LS2-4 Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
HS-LS2-5 Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: History
D2.His.1.6-8 Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.
D2.His.15.6-8 Evaluate the relative influence of various causes of events and developments in the past.
