Question
Directions: Read the following excerpts from the e-text and choose one question to answer below using the RACES method.
Here is the video of the teacher explaining the assignment. You must watch this quick video before starting your discussion question!
Here is an example of the RACES method in Social Studies.
Here is a "How to" video for the RACES method in Social Studies.
Here is the grading rubric.
Here is a PDF of the passage
Question (choose one of the three options - each option has two parts):
Option 1:
A. How do you think access to clean water impacts the environment and people in Africa?
B. What solutions can you think of to address the specific challenge you chose?
Option 2:
A. How do you think deforestation AND desertification impacts the environment and people in Africa?
B. What solutions can you think of to address the specific challenge you chose?
Option 3:
A. How do you think drought impacts the environment and people in Africa?
B. What solutions can you think of to address the specific challenge you chose?
Excerpt from online textbook - Topic 8, Lesson 7: Challenges Facing Africa
If needed, you can find this in the online textbook from the planner lesson on January 13, 2025 - Unit 12 Lesson 7 in the gradebook.
Environmental Challenges
Africa struggles with serious environmental issues. Access to clean water is limited, and
water-borne diseases are common. In recent years, a loss of trees has led to drier soils and
a growth in desert. Frequent droughts only make survival more difficult in
several countries.
Clean Water Most Africans do not have access to proper toilets or waste disposal
systems. As a result, human waste often ends up in rivers and in groundwater that people
use for drinking. Water-borne diseases such as cholera—an infection that causes acute
dehydration and can kill someone within hours—then spread quickly. The World Health
Organization estimates that 115 Africans die every hour from water pollution.
Only about one-sixth of Africans have access to a clean water supply for drinking, cooking,
and hygiene. Given its scarcity, water is often stored in people’s homes, where it can
become contaminated and attract mosquitoes. These mosquitoes are common carriers of
other diseases, including malaria.
The lack of clean water also makes it difficult to irrigate crops safely. This threatens both
Africans’ food supply and African efforts to export crops to other countries.
Deforestation and Desertification Deforestation is the loss of forest cover that
results from so many trees being removed that trees cannot grow back. In a tropical
rainforest, plants hold most of the environment’s nutrients. When too many trees are
cleared, nutrients in the soil wash away with rain. The poor soils that remain cannot
support tree growth. Once a tropical rainforest is lost, it may be lost forever.
Traditionally, farmers cut down and burned small plots in the forest. They would farm
these plots until soil nutrients were lost, then move on to a different region while the
forest in the plot they had just farmed slowly grew back. Over the past 100 years,
however, Africa’s population has grown so much that farmers have been cutting down too
many trees for the forests to recover. The Ivory Coast has a very high rate of
deforestation. More than 90 percent of its forests have been cleared by the timber
industry since the late 1900s. Deforestation is also a serious problem in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and in Burundi.
Desertification, the change from arable land to desert, is a major problem in the Sahel, a
region just south of the Sahara. Here, livestock herders have grown in numbers.
Too many livestock now graze the fragile grasslands, and people have also chopped down
trees for firewood. These actions, combined with drought, have caused parts of the Sahel
to dry out and become desert. This leaves less land for farming and grazing and increases
the risk of famine.
Here is the video of the teacher explaining the assignment. You must watch this quick video before starting your discussion question!
Here is an example of the RACES method in Social Studies.
Here is a "How to" video for the RACES method in Social Studies.
Here is the grading rubric.
Here is a PDF of the passage
Question (choose one of the three options - each option has two parts):
Option 1:
A. How do you think access to clean water impacts the environment and people in Africa?
B. What solutions can you think of to address the specific challenge you chose?
Option 2:
A. How do you think deforestation AND desertification impacts the environment and people in Africa?
B. What solutions can you think of to address the specific challenge you chose?
Option 3:
A. How do you think drought impacts the environment and people in Africa?
B. What solutions can you think of to address the specific challenge you chose?
Excerpt from online textbook - Topic 8, Lesson 7: Challenges Facing Africa
If needed, you can find this in the online textbook from the planner lesson on January 13, 2025 - Unit 12 Lesson 7 in the gradebook.
Environmental Challenges
Africa struggles with serious environmental issues. Access to clean water is limited, and
water-borne diseases are common. In recent years, a loss of trees has led to drier soils and
a growth in desert. Frequent droughts only make survival more difficult in
several countries.
Clean Water Most Africans do not have access to proper toilets or waste disposal
systems. As a result, human waste often ends up in rivers and in groundwater that people
use for drinking. Water-borne diseases such as cholera—an infection that causes acute
dehydration and can kill someone within hours—then spread quickly. The World Health
Organization estimates that 115 Africans die every hour from water pollution.
Only about one-sixth of Africans have access to a clean water supply for drinking, cooking,
and hygiene. Given its scarcity, water is often stored in people’s homes, where it can
become contaminated and attract mosquitoes. These mosquitoes are common carriers of
other diseases, including malaria.
The lack of clean water also makes it difficult to irrigate crops safely. This threatens both
Africans’ food supply and African efforts to export crops to other countries.
Deforestation and Desertification Deforestation is the loss of forest cover that
results from so many trees being removed that trees cannot grow back. In a tropical
rainforest, plants hold most of the environment’s nutrients. When too many trees are
cleared, nutrients in the soil wash away with rain. The poor soils that remain cannot
support tree growth. Once a tropical rainforest is lost, it may be lost forever.
Traditionally, farmers cut down and burned small plots in the forest. They would farm
these plots until soil nutrients were lost, then move on to a different region while the
forest in the plot they had just farmed slowly grew back. Over the past 100 years,
however, Africa’s population has grown so much that farmers have been cutting down too
many trees for the forests to recover. The Ivory Coast has a very high rate of
deforestation. More than 90 percent of its forests have been cleared by the timber
industry since the late 1900s. Deforestation is also a serious problem in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and in Burundi.
Desertification, the change from arable land to desert, is a major problem in the Sahel, a
region just south of the Sahara. Here, livestock herders have grown in numbers.
Too many livestock now graze the fragile grasslands, and people have also chopped down
trees for firewood. These actions, combined with drought, have caused parts of the Sahel
to dry out and become desert. This leaves less land for farming and grazing and increases
the risk of famine.
Answers
GPT-4o mini
I'll answer Option 1:
A. How do you think access to clean water impacts the environment and people in Africa?
**Response using RACES:**
**R**: Access to clean water has a profound impact on both the environment and the people in Africa.
**A**: Clean water is essential for human survival and environmental health.
**C**: The absence of clean water leads to numerous water-borne diseases, which cause significant health issues among the population. For instance, the excerpt states that "the World Health Organization estimates that 115 Africans die every hour from water pollution." This high mortality rate highlights the critical need for safe drinking water. Furthermore, the lack of clean water affects agriculture, as contaminated water can harm crops and prevent safe irrigation, thus threatening both food supplies and economic exports.
**E**: In addition to health impacts, the environment suffers without access to clean water. Contaminated water sources contribute to soil degradation, as poor health conditions in communities lead to improper waste disposal, further polluting water resources. This pollution can damage aquatic ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, and destabilize local climates through poor land management practices.
**S**: Overall, the limited access to clean water creates a cycle of health crises and environmental degradation in Africa, which needs urgent attention from governments, NGOs, and the international community to foster sustainable solutions.
A. How do you think access to clean water impacts the environment and people in Africa?
**Response using RACES:**
**R**: Access to clean water has a profound impact on both the environment and the people in Africa.
**A**: Clean water is essential for human survival and environmental health.
**C**: The absence of clean water leads to numerous water-borne diseases, which cause significant health issues among the population. For instance, the excerpt states that "the World Health Organization estimates that 115 Africans die every hour from water pollution." This high mortality rate highlights the critical need for safe drinking water. Furthermore, the lack of clean water affects agriculture, as contaminated water can harm crops and prevent safe irrigation, thus threatening both food supplies and economic exports.
**E**: In addition to health impacts, the environment suffers without access to clean water. Contaminated water sources contribute to soil degradation, as poor health conditions in communities lead to improper waste disposal, further polluting water resources. This pollution can damage aquatic ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, and destabilize local climates through poor land management practices.
**S**: Overall, the limited access to clean water creates a cycle of health crises and environmental degradation in Africa, which needs urgent attention from governments, NGOs, and the international community to foster sustainable solutions.