One of the main First Peoples Principles of Learning is sustainability.  Sustainability is doing positive actions today in order to make life better for future generations.  We must learn how our actions today will affect the lives of the people of tomorrow.   We will need to use knowledge and experience from the past and present to succeed.  It will take a lot of patience, time, and energy to create a better tomorrow.

In my science project I tried to show how light deprivation affected a plants growth.  To sustain an effective productive food source we need to know how to optimize plant growth.  We need to know what grows best in different environments.  Sustainability should be taken seriously.  I personally think sustainability can have a huge environmental impact on the world we have today.

We learnt many things relating to sustainability in this science unit.  Many of mans actions today are having a negative impact on sustainability for tomorrow.  The destruction of rain forests is having a negative impact on the wet water cycle.  This would result in less plant growth and a reduction in evaporation and transpiration in the cycle.  Using ground water for irrigation purposes also disrupts the water cycle.  Burning fossil fuels has a major impact on sustainability.  Burning fossil fuels increases CO 2 in the atmosphere and is causing global warming.  Man is also having an effect on the nitrogen cycle.  Nitrogen is making it’s way into rivers and streams from sewage treatment facilities and from fertilizers applied to crops.  These nitrogen sources are causing algae blooms in lakes and streams and impacting aquatic ecosystems.  Mans impact on the phosphorous cycle through sewage, fertilizers and pesticides is also impacting aquatic ecosystems.  Man is also effecting ecosystems by introducing man made chemicals into food pyramids.  Bioaccumulation occurs when these chemicals concentrate in living organisms, if the levels of chemicals becomes too high it negatively effects the organisms.  Man has a lot of work to do to change their habits.

We can learn a lot about sustainability from the first peoples principles of learning.  Man needs to make many changes to make the world a better place.