--- title: "Caring for Nature" book: "Primary & Middle School Biology" subject: biology language: en chapter: 13 exercises: 10 source: https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/13-caring-for-nature --- # Chapter 13 — Caring for Nature After the picnic, one family [leaves](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) the meadow exactly as it found it; another [leaves](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) bags, bottle caps and a trampled anthill. The meadow’s rabbits, ants and daisies cannot ask us to be careful — but they are [living things](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) sharing our places, and how we behave in [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment) matters to them. Caring for [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment) is something anyone can learn, at any age. ## 13.1 Nature is where living things live **Definition 13.1 (Nature and the environment).** *Nature* is the world of [living things](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) and their surroundings: meadows, forests, ponds, seas — and the air, water and soil they depend on. The surroundings a [living thing](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) depends on are called its *environment*. **Example 13.2 (Everything is somebody’s home).** A rotting log in the forest looks like rubbish — it is a palace: beetles under the bark, woodlice beneath, moss on top, a hedgehog wintering in the hollow. Kick it apart for fun and four households lose their home. In [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment), almost everything is somebody’s home, food, or shelter. ![The rotting log that is really a palace: moss on the roof, mushrooms on the walls, a beetle in the corridor.](https://one-course.com/images/onecourse/chapters/biology-1/g2-caring-for-nature/img-c9f20d633254.jpg) *The rotting log that is really a palace: moss on the roof, mushrooms on the walls, a beetle in the corridor.* **Remark 13.3 (We are part of it).** People are [living things](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) too: the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat all come from [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment). Caring for it is not only kindness to rabbits — it is looking after the world we ourselves live from, as [Chapter 11](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/11-where-animals-live#ch-g2-where-animals-live) said of every [habitat](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/11-where-animals-live#def-g2-where-animals-live-habitat). ## 13.2 What harms, what helps **Proposition 13.4 (Small actions, real harm).** In [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment), harm rarely comes from wanting to be bad — it comes from not thinking: - litter stays for years and can trap or poison [animals](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/2-animals-around-us#def-g1-animals-around-us-animal) ; - picking every [flower](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) [leaves](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) none to make [seeds](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/9-from-seed-to-plant#def-g2-from-seed-to-plant-seed) — and none for the bees; - loud shouting and chasing frightens [animals](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/2-animals-around-us#def-g1-animals-around-us-animal) away from their food and their young; - trampled banks, overturned stones and broken [branches](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-tree) each undo a small home. **Proof.** *Admitted at this level.* ∎ **Example 13.5 (The bottle cap).** A dropped plastic cap is nothing to us and stays in the meadow for many, many years — long enough for grown-ups to have children who find the same cap. [Nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment) has no dustbin lorry: whatever we leave, stays. **Method 13.6 (The visitor’s rules).** Out in [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment): 1. carry all your litter home — all of it; 2. look at [flowers](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) , insects and nests instead of collecting them; pick at most a few common [flowers](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) , never all of a clump; 3. put back every stone and log you turn over — someone lives under it; 4. stay on paths near fragile spots like stream banks; 5. watch [animals](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/2-animals-around-us#def-g1-animals-around-us-animal) from a distance, quietly, and leave their young alone. Leave the place so that nobody can tell you were there. **Example 13.7 (Helping on purpose).** Caring can go beyond not harming. A saucer of water in a heat wave, a small wild corner of the garden left unmowed, [seeds](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/9-from-seed-to-plant#def-g2-from-seed-to-plant-seed) for the birds in the cold, a school pond like the one of [Example 11.8](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/11-where-animals-live#ex-g2-where-animals-live-schoolpond): each one gives some [living things](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) food, water or a home they had lost. ## 13.3 Sorting and saving **Proposition 13.8 (Waste can be given back).** Much of what we throw away can be used again. *Sorting* waste — glass with glass, paper with paper, peelings to the compost — lets bottles become new bottles and peelings become soil, instead of everything piling up. And what is *saved* — water, paper, electricity — never becomes waste at all. **Proof.** *Admitted at this level.* ∎ **Example 13.9 (The compost bin).** Apple cores and carrot peelings, in a compost bin, turn slowly into dark crumbly soil — with the help of worms, woodlice and [living things](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) too small to see. Next spring, that soil feeds the tomatoes. Nothing was wasted; the peelings went back into the cycle of life. **Remark 13.10 (Small hands count).** Turning off the tap while brushing teeth, both sides of the paper, the compost bin, the litter carried home: each is small, and millions of people do them — or don’t. [Nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment) is cared for, or harmed, mostly in small everyday choices like yours. ## 13.4 Exercises **Exercise 13.1 ★.** What is a [living thing](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living)’s [environment](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment)? Name three things in yours that come from [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment). **Solution of Exercise 13.1.** The surroundings a [living thing](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) depends on. For example: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat — all from [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment). **Exercise 13.2 ★.** Who can lose their home when a rotting log is kicked apart? Name three inhabitants from [Example 13.2](#ex-g2-caring-for-nature-home). **Solution of Exercise 13.2.** For example: the beetles under the bark, the woodlice beneath the log, the moss on top, the hedgehog wintering in the hollow. **Exercise 13.3 ★.** Give four visitor’s rules of [Method 13.6](#met-g2-caring-for-nature-rules). **Solution of Exercise 13.3.** For example: carry all litter home; look instead of collecting, and never pick all of a clump; put back every turned stone or log; stay on paths near fragile spots; watch [animals](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/2-animals-around-us#def-g1-animals-around-us-animal) quietly from a distance and leave their young alone. **Exercise 13.4 ★.** Why must litter go home with us? Answer with the bottle cap of [Example 13.5](#ex-g2-caring-for-nature-cap). **Solution of Exercise 13.4.** Because [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment) has no dustbin lorry: what we leave stays — a plastic cap for many, many years, long enough to trap or poison [animals](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/2-animals-around-us#def-g1-animals-around-us-animal) and still be lying there when today’s children are grown-ups. **Exercise 13.5 ★.** Why should we not pick all the [flowers](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) of a clump? Give the two reasons of [Proposition 13.4](#prop-g2-caring-for-nature-harm). **Solution of Exercise 13.5.** Picked to the last, the clump can make no [seeds](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/9-from-seed-to-plant#def-g2-from-seed-to-plant-seed) — so no daisies there next year — and the bees lose the [flowers](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-parts) they feed from. **Exercise 13.6 ★.** What happens to apple cores in a compost bin? Who does the work, and what do we get at the end? **Solution of Exercise 13.6.** They rot down slowly into dark, crumbly soil. Worms, woodlice and [living things](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/1-living-or-not-living#def-g1-living-or-not-living) too small to see do the work; at the end we get compost — good soil that feeds next year’s [plants](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/3-plants-around-us#def-g1-plants-around-us-plant). **Exercise 13.7 ★.** Give two ways of helping [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment) on purpose, from [Example 13.7](#ex-g2-caring-for-nature-help). **Solution of Exercise 13.7.** For example: a saucer of water in a heat wave, a wild unmowed corner in the garden, [seeds](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/9-from-seed-to-plant#def-g2-from-seed-to-plant-seed) for birds in the cold, digging a small pond. **Exercise 13.8 ★.** Try it: on your next walk, count the pieces of litter you see (without touching dangerous ones). Which kind is most common? Where should each kind have gone? **Solution of Exercise 13.8.** Open answer. Plastic wrappers and bottles usually win. Each kind should have gone home with its owner — and then into the right sorting bin. **Exercise 13.9 ★★.** At the pond, Emma wants to take three [tadpoles](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/8-how-animals-grow-up#ex-g2-animals-grow-up-frog) home in a jar “to help them grow safely”. Using this chapter and [Exercise 11.10](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/11-where-animals-live#exo-g2-where-animals-live-10), what would you advise instead? **Solution of Exercise 13.9.** Leave the [tadpoles](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/8-how-animals-grow-up#ex-g2-animals-grow-up-frog) in the pond: it holds everything they need — pond water, food, room to grow [legs](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/4-my-body#def-g1-my-body-parts) — and a jar does not. If Emma wants to help, she can watch them there through the spring, keep the bank untrampled, and perhaps help make a new pond [habitat](https://one-course.com/books/biology/1/en/chapter/11-where-animals-live#def-g2-where-animals-live-habitat) like the school one. **Exercise 13.10 ★★.** “One bottle cap is nothing.” Use [Remark 13.10](#rem-g2-caring-for-nature-count) to answer: what happens when a million visitors each think the same sentence — in the bad direction, and in the good one? **Solution of Exercise 13.10.** A million “nothings” in the bad direction is a meadow buried in caps — small harms multiply. In the good direction, a million small cares — litter carried home, taps turned off, waste sorted — add up just as surely: [nature](#def-g2-caring-for-nature-environment) is mostly cared for in choices exactly that small.