Lesson video

Hello, my name is Chloe and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

This lesson is called Impacts of industry on the physical environment, and it forms part of the Economic futures in the UK unit of work.

We're going to be looking at the ways that industry has had a negative impact on the environment, but also how industries are now looking towards the future and trying to be more sustainable.

Let's begin.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe how industry can both negatively and positively affect the physical environment.

Let's begin by reviewing some of our keywords today.

So first of all, contamination.

This is the pollution of air, water, or land with something that is unnatural and harmful.

Sustainable is being able to meet one's needs without compromising the ability to meet future needs.

And energy efficient is being able to produce the same level of output, but through the use of less energy.

There are three parts to the lesson.

First of all, we're gonna ask the question, how can industry harm the physical environment? Then we're gonna look at the other side of things and think about how industry can be more sustainable.

And with that, we're going to be looking at a case study and that's Nissan, and we're going to be looking at how they have developed greater sustainability.

Let's start with that first one about how industry can harm the physical environment.

So an image of the industrial era, like in the picture here, it's one of large polluting factories that dominated cities, and we've got an example here.

It's an etching of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, and you can see the smokestacks there rising up above the factories.

Now, while this time was extremely harmful to the environment, all types of industry in the post-industrial era also have the potential to cause harm.

Manufacturing industries can be very wasteful of resources.

As an example, think about the plastic that surrounds the keys on a traditional keyboard.

The hole for each key is cut out of a sheet of plastic.

All those cutouts cannot be used, so they're usually thrown away.

When you think about it, that's an awful lot of plastic waste that is going into landfill.

Some industries fail to dispose of their waste materials carefully.

They can cause air pollution, water pollution, or soil contamination.

Let's check our understanding so far.

So true or false, only manufacturing industries pollute their environment.

Is that true or false? Pause the video.

Have a think about what we've just been talking about, and then come back to me.

So well done if you recognised that that is false, but why is that a false statement? Yes, it's all about the idea that in the post-industrial era, all industries have the potential to cause harm to the environment, not just those that are involved in manufacturing of products.

Now let's look at energy use.

So all industries use energy.

It could be that they use it to run machinery, they do things like lighting, heating and cooling their buildings, but they also might use it to transport raw materials, finished goods, and even workers.

And that could be both within the UK and overseas.

So it could be that at every stage of their industrial operations, they're going to be using energy in some way or another.

Now Alex here is saying, "Well, using energy isn't bad for the environment, is it?" Well, as Andeep points out, "It could be.

If the energy comes from burning fossil fuels, it produces carbon dioxide, which then contributes to climate change." Industries might damage landscapes and biodiversity.

Let's look at the animation that we have here.

You can see, originally Salford in 1890 was forest, it was fields, it was all green space.

As we then scroll through to the satellite image of today, you can see the landscape has completely changed.

The land use is now the built environment, it's buildings and roads completely.

How might a change in land use like this affect plants and animals? Well, I think you can see that building on green space would remove plant and animal habitats, and the noise that would come from people living and working in that area would then also affect species' ability to live there.

Now, primary industries can have a direct impact on their landscape.

So primary industries, remember, it's things like agriculture and mining.

Let's look at agriculture first of all.

So things like hedgerows may be removed to allow access for larger farm machinery.

The larger the piece of machinery, the larger its turning circle is, and therefore, the larger the space it needs in order to move around a field.

And often therefore, it's the case that hedgerows get removed to allow that machinery in.

But also things like the use of pesticides that can harm insect populations.

Any chemicals that are added to the field could run off into water courses and cause pollution as well.

If we look now towards quarrying and mining, this removes many layers of earth.

You can see a great example of that in the photo here.

This means that all plant species, but especially trees which have larger roots, they can no longer grow, and that means that animal habitats are going to be lost as well.

Now, let's check our understanding there.

Complete the sentences with the missing words.

Pause the video and have a read of the paragraph and then see if you can come back to me with the right answers.

Okay, let's look at what you got.

So all industries have the potential to cause harm to physical landscapes and the biodiversity that lives there.

Plants and species can lose their habitats when new industries are built.

Noise, air, and water pollution also affect different species' ability to live in an area.

Let's look towards our first task of this lesson.

Think about the different processes involved in making a loaf of bread, from the field to the supermarket.

Suggest three ways the production of that bread may be harmful to the environment.

So think about all the different processes that are involved with making a loaf of bread, and think about the kind of impact that might have.

Pause the video and have a really good think about this.

You might wanna have a chat with somebody nearby as well to see what their ideas are.

Then come back to me and I'll show you what I think.

Okay, there's lots of different things you could have picked out here.

I'm just gonna run through a few of the ones that came into my mind when I saw this.

So first of all, something like farming the wheat.

So actually, once it's actually in the field, this can change the landscape through the removal of native plant species from the lands.

You might have talked about the removal of hedgerows.

Farm machinery is often very noisy, and that can disturb wildlife.

Then as we move further forward, things like the flour has to be transported to a factory, and the bread has to be transported to a supermarket, and that is all gonna use vehicles, and those vehicles might use fossil fuel.

So as we've already seen, that could have an impact on our changing climate.

The marketing department for the bread company may be in an office, and that could have been built on previously untouched land.

So we could have a change of land use, and that would again affect animal species.

And the bread itself, it might be wrapped in a plastic bag, and that might create waste if not all of that plastic is used in the production of the plastic bag.

You could see we could go down to really fine detail in this question, so you probably will have something a little bit different from me, but so long as you've got a process and you've clearly talked about how that process affects the environment, you can get credit for it.

So well done for your attempts there.

Now let's move on to the second part of this lesson.

How can industry be more sustainable? So we're gonna look at the other side of things now, a slightly more positive one.

Now, many industries are trying to work more sustainably.

The first step in this is normally to try and do an audit or a survey, looking at all the different processes that the industry does and how they fare against environmental standards.

They may look at things like resource use.

they look at energy and water consumption, as well as kind of where their waste products might go and things like that.

They then might set a target for improvements, and they might do something like reducing their CO2 emissions, or it might be thinking about maybe sourcing their energy from a different place.

Sometimes it's not about the industry itself setting those targets, but our government doing so instead.

Now, if a company is harming the environment, they may be fined.

This is something called the polluter pays principle, and this was established in 1990 under the Environmental Protection Act.

What this says is that those that cause pollution should pay the costs of it happening, and it could be that that money would help for the cleanup, it could be that that money acts as a deterrent, and that's what Lucas is saying here.

He said, "Well, this should really work.

It would actually deter other companies from causing pollution." Let's see what Laura says.

She points out, quite rightly, that actually it could be that just the richest companies, the biggest companies, they'll keep polluting because they can just afford to pay the fines.

Perhaps they will even pass on that cost to their consumers.

Some industries, such as cement production, that's an industry which traditionally produces a lot of carbon dioxide, they might actually try to actively reduce the amount of carbon they produce.

One method for doing this is carbon capture and storage.

You might see it abbreviated as CCS.

This filters out carbon dioxide, or CO2, from industrial processes and pipes the gas to stores deep underground.

Now, I'm not saying that all industries are doing this, but we are certainly seeing that a lot more are starting to look towards CCS as a means of reducing their carbon emissions.

Other industries might use carbon offsetting schemes.

This is where they make donations to environmental action groups, to charities that work in that sector, for the amount of carbon the company produces.

These groups then use that money for positive environmental activities.

For example, they might have a tree planting scheme and that money would fund that scheme.

Now, Aisha has quite a strong view on this.

Let's see what she says.

"Offsetting feels just like a voluntary fine.

Ultimately, the carbon is still being released." That's a really important point.

Although there's some really good positive things that come outta carbon offsetting, ultimately, the carbon is still in the atmosphere doing damage.

"I can see why some people call this greenwashing.

The company appears to be doing the right thing, but they are just donating money in order to cover up their poor practises." So she's taken quite a cynical view of things there, but it's a really important thing to think about.

The main aim of companies is to make money.

Environmental issues might not be their top priority.

It is in companies' best interests to use energy efficient vehicles and machines.

This reduces their costs and increases their profits.

It also reduces their carbon footprint.

Buildings may have solar panels and wind turbines so they can actually make their own energy, and importantly, they can make their own energy sustainably.

Let's check our understanding.

What is the polluter pays principle? Let's look at our options.

Companies donate money to environmental charities.

Companies are forced to clean up the pollution they create.

Companies buy a permit to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide a year.

Or companies are fined if they are found to have caused pollution.

Have a really good think about each of those options.

Pause the video and then come back to me.

Okay, let's see what you got.

Well done if you recognise that it was D.

Yes, polluter pays principle means that companies are fined if they are found to have caused pollution.

Whether that is knowingly or by mistake, it's the same thing, they will still get fined for that.

Local planning policies encourage new industries to build on brownfield sites rather than green spaces.

So what's a brownfield site? It's an area which previously had industry, but it's now derelict or the land is just not in use for that purpose anymore.

This land is unlikely to ever recover naturally, due to contamination of the site from the industry that was there before.

Therefore, using this land protects, like, kind of more pristine green spaces from development.

Some industries engage in government environmental stewardship schemes.

Farmers engage in a number of schemes that aim to conserve and restore habitats, as well as use the land for food production.

In fact, farmers are some of the best custodians of the land that we have.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive, for example, pays farmers to use sustainable farming practises.

An example of that might be that they may manage the land in a way that actually encourages birdlife.

Some businesses pair up with others to prevent waste products going to landfill.

Here's some examples of that.

So if you've got a tyre industry and they have kind of the rubber shavings that come off the tyres, they might be added to road surfaces or they might be made into the surfaces that you would find in a children's playground.

Byproducts from the brewing industry can be used as animal feed or as fertilisers on the land.

Now, another check for our understanding.

Complete the sentences with the missing words.

So pause the video and have a look at the paragraph below and then come back to me with the three missing words.

Okay, let's see what we've got here.

Governments play a role in making industrial practises more sustainable.

Industries such as farming can receive government funding under environmental stewardship schemes.

Local governments are more likely to grant planning permission to the development of a new industry if it occurs on a brownfield site.

Well done if you've got those.

Our second task, now.

Think about the different ways businesses can be more sustainable.

You might want to review these and go back over the slides if you need to.

Choose the strategy that you believe will have the greatest positive impact on the environment, and write an explanation of why you've chosen that strategy.

So have a careful think about all the strategies that we've just mentioned.

Which one will have the most positive impact on the environment? Pause a video now and have a think about that, and I'll show you my ideas in a moment.

Right, let's look at the kind of things you could have answered here.

So we're gonna look at Izzy's answer first of all.

"Companies trying to reduce their energy consumption through energy efficiency measures will mean that there will be less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

This may reduce the effects of climate change, which benefits all the natural world." So Izzy has chosen energy efficiency measures, and she's clearly explained that by talking about its link to climate change reduction.

Let's look at another answer now.

We've got Jun, let's see what he says.

"Using waste products from one industry to make new products in another means that we are using our natural resources efficiently.

This could mean less mining and less landfill.

It has the potential to reduce habitat destruction and protect some species from harm." So Jun has taken one idea there, and that's that we can use waste products to make new products, but he's gone into loads of detail there about the kind of impact that it would have.

He talks about using natural resources efficiently.

He talks about less landfill.

He talks about less habitat destruction and therefore protection of species as well.

A really full answer there from Jun.

We now move on to the final part of today's lesson.

So we're actually going to put all of that into practise and actually look at what a real example is doing, and that's Nissan.

We're gonna see how they have developed greater sustainability in their business practises.

So Nissan is a Japanese car company.

You've probably heard of it.

It opened a manufacturing plant in Sunderland in 1984.

So Sunderland is in the northeast of England, and you can see it there, and you can see actually the plant is really quite substantial.

It employs a lot of people and it's really been quite successful in its business.

Nissan Sunderland is focused on being more sustainable.

So let's look at some of the ways that it's trying to do that.

Well, we can start by looking at the products that Nissan Sunderland actually manufactures.

The plant produces electric cars and rechargeable car batteries.

So the actual products it creates are sustainable in their nature first of all.

It tries to get the materials for its cars from sustainable sources, and really importantly, all waste materials are either recycled or reused.

No waste from Nissan Sunderland goes to landfill.

Let's check our understanding of that.

True or false, cars made at the Nissan Sunderland plant are made from recycled materials.

True or false? Pause the video and have a think about what I've just said and then come back to me.

Well, well done if you recognise that is a false statement.

Why is that statement false? Yes, it's a little subtle difference here.

So the waste materials from car production are recycled or reused, (laughing) but not into new cars.

Well done if you spotted that.

The Nissan Sunderland is a large plant with really high energy demands.

It takes up a number of different buildings.

The plant itself has a solar farm with 19,000 solar panels.

If you actually look at the animation here, you can see they sit within the test track for the plant.

It also has 10 wind turbines.

Together, these have a generation of 17 megawatts of renewable energy for use within the plant.

The buildings have been redesigned to be more energy efficient.

So for example, they may have more energy efficient light bulbs, they may have extra insulation to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool the buildings.

A rainwater harvesting plant collects rainwater and it uses it on site, and then any used water is actually recycled on site itself rather than be sent to a local works.

Okay, how much of that can you remember? Which of the following features are not found at the Nissan Sunderland plant? There are eight options here.

I'll give you a clue, It's more than one that you're looking for.

Is it solar panels, green living roof, an energy efficient building, wildlife reserve, water recycling plant, wind turbines, a waste incinerator, or rainwater harvesting? Which of those features are not at Nissan Sunderland? Read through the options again, pause the video, and then come back to me.

Let's see what answers you gave here.

So which are not found at the plant? There is no green living roof, at least not yet.

There's no wildlife reserve.

Now, while there is a lot of green space around the Nissan Sunderland plant, it's not technically a wildlife reserve.

And there is no waste incinerator either.

Remember, all waste materials are either reused or recycled.

Our final task of the day.

Let's read Sam's opinion about Nissan Sunderland.

She says, "It's difficult to call the Nissan Sunderland plant sustainable when at the end of the day they are still producing cars using precious natural resources.

That's not sustainable at all." Quite a strong view from Sam.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with Sam? Write a summary of your opinion.

This will be something you'll have to have a little bit of a think about, 'cause it's not quite as straightforward as just agreeing or disagreeing.

There's going to be a variety of views that you might have.

So pause the video and have a really good think.

Maybe even have a chat with somebody nearby as well, and then come back to me with your ideas.

So I've given an example here of the kind of thing that you could say to this.

Though the final cars, even the electric ones, are not very sustainable because of the materials they use, the way they have been produced is more sustainable.

Using renewable energy, recycling rainwater, and having energy efficient buildings all make the process more sustainable.

Let's summarise our learning for today.

All types of industry can potentially have a negative impact on the environment.

Production can create lots of waste materials, as well as air and water pollution and soil contamination.

In the post-industrial era, industries are beginning to make their business practises more sustainable.

One example of this is the Nissan Sunderland plant, which generates renewable energy, recycles rainwater, and has energy efficient buildings in which to build electric cars.

Well done.

There's lots of things to consider there.

Do we want our businesses to be really profitable and ultimately really good for our own economy? Or do we want them to operate in such a way that means they're always considering the environment first? Maybe we're not too far away from seeing both of those things being a reality.