MODULE 7

THE INFORMATION AGE

Objectives
At the end of this module, the students should be able to:
1. Trace the development of the information age from the pre-mechanical age up to
the evolution of social media
2. Describe the main generations of digital computing from use of vacuum tubes up
to artificial intelligence
3. Determine the impacts of the information age to society
4. Analyze the ways in which the people can develop and sustain a civilized online
environment or personal relationship.

People are now living in a society where the internet, computers and
smartphones have become essential parts of their everyday lives for immediate
accessing and sharing of information. People are now in the Information Age, also
known as Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age. According to Merriam-
Webster Online Dictionary, Information Age is the modern age regarded as a time in
which information has become a commodity that is quickly and widely disseminated
and easily available especially through the use of computer technology.
Information Age is the period where people can best be characterized as highly
technologically advanced, and internet and data communication minded. The people’s
way of living changed greatly from Renaissance period when they began to write
realistic books and not just religious stories to Industrial Revolution period, when major
changes happened in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and
technology. This is the period when digital technologies have changed every aspect of
people’s lives; from the way they work and learn to the way they play and socialize.
People now can access information with the touch of a button. They can do almost
everything online; communicating, shopping, paying, working, educating or learning,
watching entertainment, booking, or even ordering food. These technological
advancements have profoundly impacted the society and its environment; the social,
economic, and cultural conditions, science, research, and industries including but not
limited to healthcare, education, finance, entertainment, transportation, and media and
communications.

History

Information Age is tightly attached to the advent of personal computers but many
computer historians tracked its beginnings to the research, A Mathematical Theory of
Communication conducted by Claude E. Shannon, a researcher and mathematician,
and also known as the "Father of Information Theory." This study proposed that
information can be digitized or quantitatively encoded as a series of ones and zeroes. It
showed how all information media, from telephone signals to radio waves to television,
could be transmitted without error using this single framework.

The digitization of information gave way for rapid development of modernized

equipment, fiber optic cables and faster microprocessors, accelerated communication
and information processing, World Wide Web, email and mobile technology. As
information is increasingly described in digital form, businesses across many industries
have sharpened their focus on how to capitalize on the Information Age.

Information Technology

Information technology (IT) has always been around from the beginning of time.
People needed to communicate and socialize with each other to grow. The system of
information - the storing, retrieving, manipulating, and communicating information has
been in place since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in 3000 BC.
Information technology, in the modern sense is defined as the use of any computers,
storage, networking and other physical devices, infrastructure and processes to create,
process, store, secure and exchange all forms of electronic data. Typically, IT is used in
the context of enterprise operations as opposed to personal or entertainment
technologies.
The term information technology was coined by the Harvard Business Review in
order to make a distinction between purpose-built machines designed to perform a
limited scope of functions and general-purpose computing machines that could be
programmed for various tasks. As the IT industry evolved from the mid-
20thcentury, computing capability advanced while device cost and energy consumption
fell lower, a cycle that continues today when new technologies emerge.

Evolution of Information Technology:

1) Pre-mechanical Age (between 3000BC and 1450AD)

The pre-mechanical age is the earliest age characterized by using of
language or simple picture drawings known as petroglyphs usually carved in
rock. Early alphabets were developed such as the Phoenician alphabet.

Courtesy of https://www.williamhortonphotography.com

Petroglyph
 The popularity of alphabets led the way for development of pens and paper. It
started off as just marks in wet clay, but later paper was created out of papyrus plant.
As information grew, people realized the importance of organizing and storing them in
permanent storage. First books were written and kept in libraries. Egyptian scrolls and
book-like binding of paper were popular ways of writing down information to save.

This period was also marked by the development of the first numbering systems.
The first 1 – 9 system was created in 100AD; and the number 0 was invented
and added in 875AD. This was followed by the invention of calculator, and then
known as abacus. This was the very first sign of information processor.
.
2) Mechanical (between 1450 and 1840)
Development of new technologies emerged and invented like the slide
rule, an analog computer used for multiplying and dividing. Blaise Pascal
invented the Pascaline, a very popular mechanical computer. Charles Babbage
developed the difference engine which tabulated polynomial equations using the
method of finite differences.

Courtesy of https://www.britannica.com
Difference Engine

3) Electromechanical (1840 -1940)

The period marked the beginning of telecommunication. Inventions and
innovations continued. The telegraph was created in the early 1800s. Morse
code was created by Samuel Morse in 1835. The telephone was created by
Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. The first radio was developed by Guglielmo
Marconi in 1894. These emerging technologies led to bigger advances in the
information technology field.
 Courtesy of sites.harvard.edu
Harvard Mark 1

The first large-scale automatic digital computer in the United States was
the Mark 1 created by Harvard University around 1940. This computer was 8ft
high, 50ft long, 2ft wide, and weighed 5 tons. It was programmed using punch
cards.

4) Electronic (1940 – present)

The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first
high-speed, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range
of computing problems. This computer was designed to be used by the U.S. Army
for artillery firing tables. This machine was even bigger than the Mark 1 taking up
680 square feet and weighing 30 tons. It mainly used vacuum tubes to do its
calculations.

Courtesy of pinterest.com

ENIAC
There are five main generations of digital computing.
1. The first generation (1942 -1955) used vacuum tubes. This period marked the
beginning of commercial computer age via UNIVAC (Universal Automatic
Computer), the first commercially available computer. It was developed by two
scientists Mauchly and Echert at the Census Department of United States in
1947. Examples of first generation computers are ENIVAC and UNIVAC-1.
2. The second generation (1955 -1964) used transistors. The scientists at Bell
laboratories developed transistor in 1947. These scientists include John Barden,
William Brattain and William Shockley. The size of the computers was decreased
by replacing vacuum tubes with transistors. The examples of second generation
computers are IBM 7094 series, IBM 1400 series and CDC 164 etc.
3. The third generation (1964 – 1975) used the integrated circuits (IC). Jack Kilby
developed the concept of integrated circuit in 1958. It was an important invention in
the computer field. The first IC was invented and used in 1961. The size of an IC is
about ¼ square inch. A single IC chip may contain thousands of transistors. The
computer became smaller in size, faster, more reliable and less expensive. The
examples of third generation computers are IBM 370, IBM System/360, UNIVAC
1108 and UNIVAC AC 9000.
4. The fourth generation (1975 – present) computers started with the invention of
Microprocessor. The Microprocessor contains thousands of ICs. Ted
Hoff produced the first microprocessor in 1971 for Intel. It was known as Intel
4004. The technology of integrated circuits improved rapidly. The LSI (Large Scale
Integration) circuit and VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) circuit was designed. It
greatly reduced the size of computer. The size of modern Microprocessors is
usually one square inch. It can contain millions of electronic circuits. The examples
of fourth generation computers are Apple Macintosh &IBM PC.

Courtesy of oldcomputers.net

Apple 2

5. The fifth generation (Present and beyond) computers are based on the
technique of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They can understand spoken words and
imitate human reasoning. They can respond to its surroundings using different
types of sensors. Scientists are constantly working to increase the processing
power of computers. They are trying to create a computer with real IQ with the
 help of advanced programming and technologies. IBM Watson supercomputer
is an example of fifth generation computer. It combines artificial intelligence
(AI) and sophisticated analytical software for optimal performance as a "question
answering" machine. The supercomputer is named after IBM's founder, Thomas
J. Watson. The Watson supercomputer processes at a rate of 80 teraflops (trillion
floating point operations per second). To replicate (or surpass) a high-functioning
human's ability to answer questions, Watson accesses 90 servers with a
combined data store of over 200 million pages of information, which it processes
against six million logic rules. The system and its data are self-contained in a
space that could accommodate 10 refrigerators.

Courtesy of Hexus.net Courtesy of livemint.com

Today’s PC IBM Watson

Inventions do not generally happen by accident or in a random order. Chris Woodford, a

British Science writer and consultant explained that science and technology progress in
a very logical way, with each new discovery leading on from the last.

Computer

If there is one important development in the Information Age, it is the invention of

computer. A computer is a machine or device that performs processes, calculations and
operations based on instructions provided by a software or hardware program. It is
designed to execute applications and provides a variety of solutions by combining
integrated hardware and software components.

Types of Computer

Since the advent of the first computer different types and sizes of computers are
offering different services. Computers can be as big as occupying a large building and
as small as a laptop or a microcontroller in mobile and embedded systems.The byte-
notes.com enumerates the four basic types of computers:

1) Supercomputer -
The most powerful computers in terms of performance and data processing are the
Supercomputers. These are specialized and task specific computers used by large
organizations. These computers are used for research and exploration purposes,
 like NASA uses supercomputers for launching space shuttles, controlling them and
for space exploration purpose. The supercomputers are very expensive and very
large in size. It can be accommodated in large air-conditioned rooms; some super
computers can span an entire building.

Uses of Supercomputers:

• Space Exploration
o Supercomputers are used to study the origin of the universe, the dark-
matters. For these studies scientist use IBM’s powerful supercomputer
“Roadrunner” at National Laboratory Los Alamos.
• Earthquake Studies
o Supercomputers are used to study the Earthquakes phenomenon.
Besides that supercomputers are used for natural resources
exploration, like natural gas, petroleum, coal, etc.
• Weather Forecasting
o Supercomputers are used for weather forecasting, and to study the
nature and extent of Hurricanes, Rainfalls, windstorms, etc.
• Nuclear Weapons Testing
o Supercomputers are used to run weapon simulation that can test the
Range, accuracy & impact of Nuclear weapons.

2) Mainframe Computer-
Mainframes are not as powerful as supercomputers, but many large firms &
government organizations use this type of computer to run their business operations.
Because of size, the mainframe computers can be accommodated in large air-
conditioned rooms. They can process and store large amount of data. Banks, big
educational institutions and insurance companies use mainframe computers to store
data about their customers, students & insurance policy holders.
3) Minicomputer –
Minicomputers are used by small businesses & firms. They are also called
“Midrange Computers”. These are small machines and can be accommodated on a
disk with not as processing and data storage capabilities as super-computers &
Mainframes. These computers are not designed for a single user. Individual
departments of a large company or organizations use Mini-computers for specific
purposes. For example, a production department can use Mini-computers for
monitoring certain production process.
4) Microcomputer –
Desktop computers, personal computers (PCs), laptops, personal digital assistant
(PDA), tablets, and smartphones are all types of microcomputers. They are widely
used and the fastest growing computers. These computers are the cheapest among
the other three types of computers. They are specially designed for general usage
like entertainment, education and work purposes. Well known manufacturers of
Micro-computer are Dell, Apple, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba.
Influences of the Past on Information Age:

The past has greatly influenced the Information Age. The Renaissance Age
created the idea inventions, while too advanced for the time; the basic idea was used to
develop modern inventions. The Renaissance also changed literature. At first, only
books that told stories of religion and religious heroes were written. During the
Renaissance, people began to write realistic books and not just religious stories.
People’s mindset about themselves changed. It was no longer about what humans
could do for God, but what humans could do for themselves. This way of thinking is
called humanism.
The Scientific Revolution changed the modern era by introducing important
scientists such as Galileo, Copernicus, and Sir Isaac Newton. Their discoveries paved
the way for modern tools, inventions, and innovations.
The Industrial Revolution brought about major changes in agriculture,
manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology. This era has profound effect on
the social, economic, and cultural conditions of the world.

Information Age Timeline

The following is a part of Woodford table of chronology of inventions, advancements,

and innovations from 1970s, which most computer historians claimed Information Age
began:
Date Invention or Discovery
1971 Electronic ink is pioneered by Nick Sheridon at Xerox PARC.
1971 Ted Hoff builds the first single-chip computer or microprocessor.
1973 Martin Cooper develops the first handheld cellphone (mobile phone).
1973 Robert Metcalfe figures out a simple way of linking computers together that
he names Ethernet. Most computers hooked up to the Internet now use it.
1974 First grocery-store purchase of an item coded with a barcode.
1975 Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman invent public-key cryptography.
1975 Pico Electronics develops X-10 home automation system.
1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs launch the Apple I: one of the world's first
personal home computers
1970s– James Dyson invents the bagless, cyclonic vacuum cleaner.
1980s
1970s– Scientists including Charles Bennett, Paul Benioff, Richard Feynman, and
1980s David Deutsch sketch out how quantum computers might work.
1980s Japanese electrical pioneer Akio Morita develops the Sony Walkman, the
first truly portable player for recorded music.
1981 Stung by Apple's success, IBM releases its own affordable personal
computer (PC).
1981 The Space Shuttle makes its maiden voyage.
1981 Patricia Bath develops laser eye surgery for removing cataracts.
1981 Fujio Masuoka files a patent for flash memory—a type of reusable computer
memory that can store information even when the power is off.
1981– Alexei Ekimov and Louis E. Brus (independently) discover quantum dots.
1982
1983 Compact discs (CDs) are launched as a new way to store music by the Sony
and Philips corporations.
1987 Larry Hornbeck, working at Texas Instruments, develops DLP® projection—
now used in many projection TV systems.
1989 Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web.
1990 German watchmaking company Junghans introduces the MEGA 1, believed
to be the world's first radio-controlled wristwatch.
1991 Linus Torvalds creates the first version of Linux, a collaboratively written
computer operating system.
1994 American-born mathematician John Daugman perfects the mathematics that
make iris scanning systems possible.
1994 Israeli computer scientists Alon Cohen and LiorHaramaty invent VoIP for
sending telephone calls over the Internet.
1995 Broadcast.com becomes one of the world's first online radio stations.
1995 Pierre Omidyar launches the eBay auction website.
1996 WRAL-HD broadcasts the first high-definition television (HDTV) signal in the
United States.
1997 Electronics companies agree to make Wi-Fi a worldwide standard for
wireless Internet.
21st
century
2001 Apple revolutionizes music listening by unveiling its iPod MP3 music player.
2001 Richard Palmer develops energy-absorbing D3O plastic.
2001 The Wikipedia online encyclopedia is founded by Larry Sanger and Jimmy
Wales.
2001 Bram Cohen develops BitTorrent file-sharing.
2001 Scott White, Nancy Sottos, and colleagues develop self-healing materials.
2002 iRobot Corporation releases the first version of its Roomba® vacuum
cleaning robot.
2004 Electronic voting plays a major part in a controversial US Presidential
Election.
2004 Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov discover graphene.
2005 A pioneering low-cost laptop for developing countries called OLPC is
announced by MIT computing pioneer Nicholas Negroponte.
2007 Amazon.com launches its Kindle electronic book (e-book) reader.
2007 Apple introduces a touchscreen cellphone called the iPhone.
2010 Apple releases its touchscreen tablet computer, the iPad.
2010 3D TV starts to become more widely available.
2013 Elon Musk announces "hyperloop"—a giant, pneumatic tube transport
system.
2015 Supercomputers (the world's fastest computers) are now a mere 30 times
less powerful than human brains.
2016 Three nanotechnologists win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for building
miniature machines out of molecules.
2017 Quantum computing shows signs of becoming a practical technology.

Internet Technology

In 1960, the first practical prototype of the Internet came about through the
creation of ARPANET, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Originally
funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, ARPANET used packet switching to allow
multiple computers to communicate on a single network. The technology continued to
grow in the 1970s after scientists Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf developed Transmission
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, a communications model that set
standards for how data could be transmitted between multiple networks. In 1971, Ray
Tomlinson invented and developed what is called electronic mail or email today, by
creating ARPANET’s networked email system. The concept of nearly instantaneous
communication between machines within an organization proved to be so beneficial and
practical that the concept soon began to spread. In 1983, ARPANET adopted TCP/IP,
through which researchers assembled the “network of networks” that became the
modern Internet. Over the next few years, America Online (AOL), Echomail, Hotmail
and Yahoo shaped the Internet and email landscape. The online world then took on a
more recognizable form in 1990, when computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the
World Wide Web. While it’s often confused with the Internet itself, the web is actually
just the most common means of accessing data online in the form of websites and
hyperlinks. The web helped popularize the Internet among the public, and served as a
crucial step in developing the vast trove of information that most of us now access on a
daily basis.

Social Media

Since the birth of Internet and WWW, social media platforms continuously evolve
(i.e., AOL, Yahoo messenger, bulletin board forum systems, game-based social
networking sites, FaceBook, Myspace, Viber, Skype, etc.) Social media is understood
as the different forms of online communication used by people to create networks,
communities, and collectives to share information, ideas, messages, and other content,
such as videos. It has become an integral part of people’s lives. They use it to connect
with friends and family, to catch up on current events, and, perhaps most importantly, to
entertain themselves.

Email, Social Media, and Texting Guidelines

To develop and maintain a conducive online experience, Internet etiquette, also known
as Netiquette, must be observed. Thesupruce.com enumerates the following
Netiquettes:

1. Be nice.
The first rule of internet etiquette is to be kind and courteous. Remember
that whatever you send from your keyboard or your phone is still an extension of
you, even though you're not with others in person. Never flame or rant in public
forum. Avoid gossiping and cyber bullying.
2. Learn Internet acronyms.
As communication on the Internet explodes, so does the use of acronyms
(i.e. BTW, TTYL, LOL, ROTFL, POV, B4N, etc.) Learn what they mean so you
won’t misunderstand messages and comments.
3. Keep messages and posts brief.
Most people use the Internet to save time, so honor that and keep all
messages as brief as possible
4. Don’t shout.
Avoid using all caps in any email or post. It comes across as shouting,
which is rude.
5. Use discretion.
Whether you are sending email, instant messaging, commenting on
Facebook, adding images to Snapchat, or posting a message to your blog, you
need to remember that anything you put on the Internet can be there forever. Even
if you remove the material, someone may have made a screen shot, copied, or
saved it. One rule of thumb many people use is to never post anything you
wouldn’t want your parents or boss to see.
6. Protect personal information.
Since anything you post on the Internet is out there for all to see, avoid
adding anything personal. This includes your address, phone number, social
security number, and driver’s license information. You don’t want to make things
easy for identity thieves, burglars, and predators.
7. Obey copyright laws.
Never copy someone else’s work and post it as your own. It is against
copyright law because it is considered stealing. It is always a good idea to ask
permission before quoting anyone, but that isn’t always possible. To quote
someone, keep the quote short, cite the source, and put a link to the complete
written work.
8. Protect children
If you allow children to access the Internet, make sure you know what sites
they visit and who their “friends” are.
9. Before you click “Send”,
It is always a good idea to reread anything you type before clicking the
“send” button. If you have time, step away for a few minutes and come back to it
with fresh eyes. For those times when you need to post quickly, at least check your
spelling, grammar, and tone of the message. If it is late at night, and you are
extremely tired, it’s probably best to wait until the next morning. You can save most
messages and posts in draft mode.
10. Help others
If someone appears to be new to the internet, offer your assistance. Share
information on proper etiquette, send them a link to a list of the most common
acronyms and emoticons, and offer to answer any questions until they get the
hang of it. After you see that someone has posted something inappropriate, let him
or her know privately. Never do anything to publicly embarrass anyone you know
online.
11. Internet trolls
Keep in mind that there are internet trolls out there, looking for their next
victim. If you become the subject of their bad behaviour, don't respond. Most of the
time, these people like to stir things up while hiding behind their keyboards. When
they don't get a reaction, they move on to someone else.
However, if it continues and you feel as though you are being threatened,
contact the authorities. You need to make sure you protect yourself and your
family.
 MODULE 8
WHEN HUMANITY AND TECHNOLOGY CROSS

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this module, the students should be able to:
1. Describe the different technological advancement in Philippine society
2. Discuss the development of science and technology in the Philippines
3. Reflect on how artificial intelligence and robotics influence the ways we live
nowadays

Today, technology saturates our lives. Throughout human history, many creative
people have made possible an incredible array of technological advances – from
chemicals and medicines, to machines and tools that make our lives more interesting,
convenient, and healthy. Think of how immensely different our lives are today compared
with our earliest ancestors. Consider their scientific knowledge, medical care, household
conveniences, modes of transportation, sources of energy, forms of entertainment, and
methods of growing, harvesting, storing, processing, and distributing food. Not many of
us would want to live the way our ancestors did 2000, 200, or even 2 years ago. At the
same time, our ancestors did not have to worry about many of the vast problems that
concern us today.
Technology has given us the ability to live longer, healthier, easier, and more
enjoyable lives, but it has also created new perils that our ancestors could hardly
fathom. For instance, many thousands of chemicals created by humans are circulating
in our world today that did not exist in ancient times. Today, they are practically in
escapable in our air, water, soil, and bodies. Many of them are known to cause harm to,
or even kill, living organisms including humans. Many others are suspected of
insidiously threatening us and the environment over the long-term, often in ways still
largely unknown to scientists and the general public.
Technology has also managed to harness enormous amounts of energy to power
our lifestyles, providing us with transportation, heating, and power. But this energy
comes at a great cost, producing such calamities as: oil spills, landscapes devastated
by resource extraction, foul-smelling smog in our cities, or free-flowing rivers clogged by
dams. In learning how to capture the formidable energy inside the atomic nucleus, we
have also created great quantities of dangerous nuclear waste that we still have no
proper form of disposal. This same technology has the means – for the first time in
human history – of destroying our species and the planet itself. Our ancestors never
had to worry about such perils.
Now, it is clear that our thirst for energy is even changing the climate of the
planet. Specifically, the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) is raising the
Earth’s global temperature and creating a host of associated problems, ranging from
prolonged droughts in the Southwestern United States to melting glaciers in the Arctic
and Antarctic and rising sea levels worldwide.
In recent years, we have begun to suspect that we are confronting yet another
new technological risk, namely the impact that electronics are having on our lives. Some
have become concerned that the huge amounts of time people (especially children) are
spending in front of computer, television, video, and phone screens are having
unintended consequences: the removal of people from nature and the natural world, the
reduction of time youth spend interacting with each other and engaging in free play, and
even the physical alteration of our brains.We are, in effect, carrying out a gigantic,
inadvertent experiment on ourselves. It remains to be seen what the full effect of
modern electronics will be on our society, environment, and physical and mental health.

Technological Advancements in the Philippines

Many Filipino people especially the younger ones know what is the effect of
modern technology. However, not all Filipino people have known about the effect and
advantage of modern technology because most older Filipino especially who live in the
province still use the old technology that they using. They don’t change easily about
what are the advanced technology is in here in the City.
Sometimes technology change people like, appearance, health, work, education,
and especially the attitude of people. Modern technology has a big part of the life of
people it helps to improve the way of living of each and every one of us. It has a big
influence on people because of the advanced technology in it.
Modern technology is now one of the most things that every people want to use or have
when it comes to gadgets. People who use modern gadgets always want the new and
advance technology.
Before the use of technology is not that much in demand but now most people
have gadgets even the kid’s one. They now use that technology for their everyday life
and the means of communication.
Modern technology is the best thing that can help people to lessen their time to
anything that they can do. Like example for cooking, before especially in the province
they use wood fire for cooking, only a few Filipino people have a gas stove when
cooking. But nowadays almost all Filipino people use a gas stove and electric stove.
Now in these modern days, there are a lot of cooking appliances. There are oven
toaster, microwave oven, heavy-duty electric range, heavy duty gas range, hot plates,
high-speed oven, electric kettle, and much more.
For transportation Filipino people before usually use a tricycle, horse carriages
(kalesa), old bus, and jeepney. But now there are a lots of modern public transportation
we can use for us to be more comfortable when traveling like taxi, LRT train, MRT train,
FX, UV Express, Buses air con and not air con you can choose, and still the jeepney
who are the cheapest means of transportation and one of the most popular public
transportation in the Philippines.
However, the newest and most modern means of transportation now in the
Philippines is GRAB and UBER. These two public transportation must require an
android cell phone with internet so that people can be a part of it. This kind of
transportation is the advance information technology that most Filipino people use
especially who live in Metro Manila. It is very safe, comfortable and efficient but a little
bit expensive compared to other public transportation. Because they use car who is a
new one and most drivers are the owner of the car.
In this modern day of living in the City, the use of technology is very important
and you can see all people using the advanced technology. Before we only wash
clothes through the hands but now using modern technology like washing machine you
can wash clothes even if you do another thing.
In communication terms, the advanced technology is very in-demand most of it
very useful. We can talk and see our family who leaves in abroad by using video call in
every time we want. It is one of the most useful and most popular kinds of technology
that everyone uses. By the use of this kind of technology our communication become a
necessity and become part of our daily life. We can use mobile phones through texting,
call, pictures, and video. It can also use through emails, faxes, chats and for social
media.
Communication through business is also most needed. We can do business
through emails, talking to those supplies or business associate through video call, using
a digital network for the weather updates, and using social media interaction by
Facebook, Twitter, Email, and other Google accounts. You can order so many things
using a computer with the internet of course.
However when it comes to medical technology there also big changes it
becomes more advanced. It becomes more advanced in terms of pharmaceutical and
medical field. There’s a lot of new invention and treatment for the different kinds of
disease and cancer types. We all know that this kind of treatment may help those
people who suffer from illness without pain. Medical technology also helps people
appearance, they can change someone to become better and look better.
Modern technology also best use in education. It is very easy now to study
because everything is in the Library App. In just one click you can choose whatever you
want to research about your school assignments. You don’t need to go outside to go to
store to buy books for your research. Technology for today can use in teaching and
learning. There is new model or ways in teaching with the use of modern technology.
Some young people that cannot go to school in a regular basis can enroll in online
learning or online program. In these modern days the technology we use can help us to
improve our education more easy and efficient. Even in correcting grammar or spelling
is one click away to know it you don’t need to open a book to search what you want to
its a waste of time. Now it easy, fast, and you can save more time in learning.

Of Robots and Humans

We live in a time when robots clean our houses, drive our vehicles, disable
bombs, provide prosthetic limbs, support surgical procedures, manufacture products,
entertain, teach and surprise us. Just as smartphones and social media are offering
connectivity beyond anything we imagined, robots are beginning to offer physical
capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive abilities beyond our expectations.
Together, these technologies could be harnessed to help solve important challenges,
such as ageing societies, environmental threats and global conflict.
What will a day in our lives look like, in this not-so-distant future? Science fiction
has explored these possibilities for centuries. Our lives will likely be longer: with
synthetic organs to replace defective parts of our bodies, nano sized medical
interventions allowing the precise targeting of diseases and genetics, and autonomous
vehicles reducing fatalities in traffic. Our jobs will change dramatically. Certain jobs will
not exist anymore and new jobs will emerge – in the development of robot service apps,
for instance, that could run on available robot platforms in our homes. The way we
are educated will also change radically – our senses and brains may be artificially
enhanced, and our ability to reflect on new insights gained from the automated analysis
of vast amounts of data will require a different treatment of information in schools.
But how will we relate to each other in a civilization that includes robots? In what way
will we meet each other, have relationships and raise our children? To what extent will
robots and humans merge?
Many of us wonder whether AI will become so intelligent and capable in human
communication that the boundaries between human and artificial beings will blur. If it is
possible to communicate in a natural way and build a meaningful interaction over time
with an artificial agent, will there still be a divide in the relationships we have with people
and technology? Also, once our human bodies and minds are enhanced with AI and
robotics, what will it mean to be “human”?

Smart Tricks
From an engineering perspective, these advanced capabilities are still very far
away. A number of hurdles need to be overcome. For now, robots and computers are
completely dependent on a power source – they require a lot of electricity, and this
complicates integrating robotic elements with human organic tissue. Another hurdle is
the intricacy of human communication. While a one-off natural language conversation in
a specific context with a robot can feel realistic, engaging people verbally and non-
verbally over many conversations and contexts is quite another matter.
For example, when you call an artificial lost-and-found agent at an airport, a
satisfying conversation is possible because there are only a limited number of goals the
caller has. However, in creating a more extended relationship, for example, with a
robotic pet, a much more complicated model must be developed. The robot needs to
have internal goals, an extensive memory that relates experiences to various contexts,
and it needs to develop these capabilities over time.
Through smart “tricks”, a robot can seem more intelligent and capable than it is –
by introducing random behaviors which make the robotic pet interesting for longer, for
instance. Humans have the tendency to “make sense” of the robot’s behaviour in a
human way (we do this with animals too). However, in order to sustain a meaningful
relationship which deepens and evolves over time, an extensive artificial inner life will
need to be created.

How Machines Learn

A major hurdle in creating this rich artificial inner life is the way machines
learn. Machine learning is example-based. We feed the computer examples of the
phenomenon we want it to understand – for instance, when people feel comfortable. In
teaching a machine to recognize this, data of people being comfortable is provided –
this could be in the form of images, videos, their speech, heartbeat, social media
entries, etc. When we feed videos to a computer, these are labelled with information on
whether the people in it are comfortable or not – this may be done by experts in
psychology, or in the local culture.
The computer uses machine learning to “reason” from these labeled videos to
identify important features that correlate with feeling comfortable. This could be the
body pose of a person, the pitch of their voice, etc.
 Once the machine has identified the features predicting “comfort”, the resulting
algorithm can be trained and improved, using different sets of videos. Eventually, the
algorithm is robust and a computer with a camera can recognize how people feel with
high, if not 100 per cent, accuracy.

Towards A Complex Synthetic Profile

In order to develop an artificial agent that can have a sustained relationship, over
a long period of time, with a person, we need the agent to have a compelling personality
and behaviour, understand the person, the situation in which they are both in, and the
history of their communication. More importantly, the agent would have to keep the
communication going across a variety of topics and situations. It is possible to make a
compelling agent, such as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, that you can speak to in
natural language and have a meaningful interaction with, within the specific context of
its use – set the alarm clock, make a note, turn down the heating, etc.
However, beyond that context of use, the communication quickly breaks down.
The agent will find acceptable responses for a large variety of questions and comments,
but will not be able to sustain an hour-long discussion about a complex issue. For
instance, when parents discuss how to respond to their child not working hard at school,
the conversation is very rich – they bring to it their understanding of the child, and their
own personalities, emotions, history, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds,
psychology, genetic make-up, behavioural habits and understanding of the world.
In order for an artificial agent to take on such a meaningful social role and
develop a real relationship with a person, it would need to have a synthetic
psychological, cultural, social and emotional profile. Also, the agent would need to learn
over time how it “feels” and respond to situations in relation to this synthetic internal
make-up.
This requires a fundamentally different approach to current machine learning. An
artificially intelligent system that develops much like how the human brain develops, and
that can internalize the richness of human experiences, is needed. The intricate ways
people communicate with each other and understand the world is an unimaginably
complex process to synthesize. The envisioned and currently available models of AI are
inspired by the human brain or have elements of how the brain works, but are not yet
plausible models of the human brain.
We already see AI achieving amazing feats – like reading the entire internet,
winning at Go, the ancient Chinese board game, or running a fully automated factory.
However, just like the English physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) said he had only
scratched the surface of understanding the universe, we are still merely scratching the
surface of understanding human intelligence.

It Won’t Happen Tomorrow

Robots and artificially intelligent systems will be able to offer us unique abilities to
support and enhance our decision-making, understanding of situations and ways to act.
Robots will be able to contribute to or autonomously carry out labor. Perhaps robotics
will be fully physically integrated in our human bodies once a number of challenges are
overcome. Also, we will relate to artificial agents as we do to humans – by
communicating with them in natural language, observing their behaviour and
understanding their intentions. However, in order to sustain a meaningful relationship
with conversations and rituals, which deepen and evolve over time in the rich context of
everyday life, as is the case between people, an extensive artificial inner life will need to
be created. As long as we replicate or surpass certain functions of human intelligence
rather than the holistic whole of human intelligence placed in the rich context of our
everyday lives, it is unlikely that artificial agents and people can be totally integrated.

Robots in Protecting Environment

1. Robots Plant Trees

Climate change start ups tend to pick a specific element of environmental harm
and solve a problem for it. For Mark Stewart, CEO of SkyGrow, it’s planting trees. He
developed his company to plant more trees than we are cutting down — and not just in
remote forests like the Amazon. The team at SkyGrow developed the Growbot, an
unmanned vehicle that plants trees 10 times faster than a human can, at about half the
cost.
Growbot plants established trees instead of seeds, because established trees
have a greater chance of succeeding in their new location. Stewart and his team plan to
manufacture 4,500 Growbots, helping forests recover everywhere.

2. Robots Help Farmers Survive Droughts

As our climate continues to change, it affects our food sources. This is
particularly true in poorer countries and rural areas that can’t easily import food from
other regions. Using AI sensors and monitors, robots can track the growth of plants and
learn which species survive and thrive in harsh conditions. With the help of this data
analysis, farmers can choose plants that have a greater chance of success, saving their
income while they feed the people around them.

3. Robots Can Grow Like Plants

Researchers at The Plantoid Project are working to recreate the behavior and
functions of plants to study the natural environment.
They have realized the best way to study the environment is to use the same methods
plants use to filter air, water, and other chemicals that they’re exposed to. The robot
plant they have developed even has a mini 3D printer that helps the roots “grow,”
allowing researchers to explore the soil that plants are exposed to.

4. Humanoid Robots Dive to the Bottom of the Ocean

The team at Evolving Science recently profiled Ocean One, a humanoid robot
developed by the Stanford Robotics Lab to explore the ocean and collect samples as
effectively as a diver.
Ocean One was originally developed to monitor deep coral reefs in the Red Sea.
These corals are essential for a healthy ocean, but live far beyond human range.
Researchers needed a robot that could collect samples without damaging the reef and
observe deep-sea specimens in their natural habitat. Ocean One mimics a human
SCUBA diver, complete with arms, depth perception, and touch feedback, plus it can
survive significant depths. Since exploring the Red Sea, the robot has traveled across
the world, helping us learn about the ocean without disrupting it.

5. Swarm Robots Collect Data

Interestingly, not all underwater robots are humanoid, or even human-
sized. Aquabotixis a technology development company that creates vehicles for
underwater inspection. It specializes in swarm robots, or multiple small robots that can
be controlled by one operator. As a whole, there are multiple benefits to swarm robot
submersibles. Swarm robots cover more territory than one robot can. If there is damage
to individual units, the entire research plan isn’t affected.It’s more affordable to deploy a
dozen swarm bots than one main robot platform. In the field of marine biology, swarm
robots can collect more data and more diverse data than a single robot (or even a
varied team of researchers) could. This makes the data more reliable and helps
scientists learn more about the ocean and how to protect it.

6. Robots Harvest Wave and Solar Energy

If we’re going to fight climate change, then we will need to reduce our
dependence on fossil fuels like oil. Developers are turning to robots to help collect
energy sustainably and use it across industries and environments.
A great example is the Wave Glider by Liquid Robotics. It looks like a surfboard and has
built-in solar panels, collecting solar energy as it moves along the ocean surface. It uses
the stored energy for propulsion and to recharge the batteries needed for its sensors.
Wave Glider’s applications include collecting high-resolution carbon dioxide samples in
difficult locations for a complete picture of global climate change.

7. Robots Eat Water Pollution

The Permaculture Research Institute in Australia recently covered the
development of a “Row-bot” developed by the University of Bristol that digests pollution
in the water and turns it into energy. The robot swims around, ingesting microbes which
then power the boat’s motor. It’s really no different than a whale shark filter feeding krill
and using that food energy to travel around the ocean.
According to Jonathan Rossiter, who hosted a TED talk about these robots, this
technology could help reduce the impact of tankers that flush their oil tanks into the sea
and of chemicals that are washed into rivers and wind up in the oceans.

8. Robots Kill Invasive Species

Sometimes protecting the environment means hunting invasive species that take
over and harm endangered plants and animals. One example of this is the Crown-of-
Thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. These coral-eating starfish can
kill off large swaths of reef, destroying the homes of thousands of delicate species.
Experts say this starfish is a threat equal to climate change to the reef. The team at
Biopixel TV recently shared a solution to these pests: the RangerBot. This robot finds
and kills the starfish with an eco-friendly injection, preventing the starfish from doing
further damage. The results are staggering. Six human divers could only cover half of
the reef in a year, but six RangerBots can cover the reef 14 times over the same period.
RangerBots also cost half the price of a human expedition, operate day and night, and
can collect other measurements like temperature and salinity while they work.

9. Robots Also Pick Up River Trash

Pollution comes in all forms, from oils and other chemicals to plastic bags and
straws. One company, Urban Rivers, developed a trash robot for the Chicago River. It
floats along collecting garbage to keep the waterway clean.
The robot came to be after Urban Rivers installed 1,500 square feet of floating wetland
and urban garden. They noticed trash kept getting caught in the plants and sent
someone out each day to pick it up. The team realized the trash was only going to build,
and started developing a robot to help them clean up the waterways. This robot keeps
the plants trash-free and prevents animals from accidentally ingesting the waste.

10. Robots Make Recycling Easier

As more people recycle, there is added pressure on humans to sort the materials
and determine what can be reused. This is highly manual work, with people hunched
over conveyor belts grabbing items as fast as they can.
AMP Robotics hopes to make recycling easier. Its robots use AI to “see” items on a
conveyor belt and record what they are. The robot can then sort the materials and place
them into designated bins.
This solution increases efficiency with higher throughput and better bale quality. It also
allows users, whether cities or construction companies, to budget more accurately with
fixed labor rates.

11. Robots Climb Into the Sewers

Our sewer systems have a massive impact on climate change, especially when
you consider what and where we dump our waste. They can also impact public health.
Tech writer Luke Dormehl at Digital Trends showcases Luigi, a sewer robot developed
by MIT’s Underworlds project is operated with an iPhone app, the robot studies bacteria
and chemicals in manholes. It is the first of a team of future sewer samplers that will
collect and analyze raw sewage and send the data back to the lab. The robots, using
sampling instruments that upload data remotely (and with plans for a real-time
biochemical detection platform in the works) will be able to collect more samples much
faster than their human counterparts, who were limited to manually hauling liters of
muck at a time back to the lab.

12. Robots Reduce Carbon Emissions

Senior environment reporter Emily Guerin at KPCC Southern California Public
Radiorecently discussed the rise of automated equipment in the Port of Long Beach.
While it is adversely affecting union workers there, the impact on climate change is
good.This is because the new equipment releases no emissions and greatly reduces
the pollution-causing tools and trucks needed to operate the port. Guerin explains that
heavy duty diesel trucks are responsible for 150 tons of smog emissions per day
(compared to 80 tons for cars and SUVs). If automation can reduce this number, the air
in Southern California has a chance of clearing up.

13. Robots Reduce Personal Transportation Emissions

Transportation has a significant impact on climate change and carbon
emissions. Alexandra Gray at World Economic Forum reports that 23 percent of global
energy-related CO2 emissions are caused by transportation.
Today’s innovators are not only developing electric cars, but also better batteries that
reduce the environmental impact of all vehicles. In fact, researchers at the University of
Surrey are developing an alternative to traditional battery power that is 1,000-10,000
times stronger than that used today, allowing electric cars to travel similar distances to
those that use gas and to recharge in the time it takes to fill up the tank.

14. Robots Send Environmental Alerts on Social Media

Robots alone can’t save the planet. These robots need humans who want to
protect the natural environment and the plants and animals that live in it. The
developers at Climate Reality recently wrote a “Rapid Response Team” program which
sends messages to their Facebook fans whenever there is news related to the fight
against climate change. Fans can opt in and then take action based on the message.
This might mean calling their local representatives or donating to a cause to help clean
up after a disaster. Thousands of people can come together with the help of a bot coded
on Facebook sending out alerts.
 MODULE 10
BIODIVERSITY AND THE HEALTHY SOCIETY

INTENDED LEARNING OUCOMES

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Define biodiversity and its importance
2. Identify the number of flora and fauna in the Philippines
3. Determine the interrelatedness of society, environment and health
4. Create a poster that would show the relatedness of species in forming up a
diverse and healthy society without compromising one another
5. Have awareness of the need to conserve biodiversity

The Philippine Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variety of different forms of life on earth, including the different
plants, animals, micro-organisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystem they form.
It refers to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, species variation (number of species)
within an area, biome or planet. Relative to the range of habitats, biotic communities
and ecological processes in the biosphere, biodiversity is vital in a number of ways
including promoting the aesthetic value of the natural environment, contribution to our
material well-being through utilitarian values by providing food, fodder, fuel, timber and
medicine.
The Philippines ranks fifth in the number of plant species and maintains 5% of
the world’s flora. Species endemism is very high, covering at least 25 genera of plants
and 49% of terrestrial wildlife, while the country ranks fourth in bird endemism. The
Philippines is also one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots with at least 700 threatened
species, thus making it one of the top global conservation areas. The national list of
threatened faunal species was established in 2004 and includes 42 species of land
mammals, 127 species of birds, 24 species of reptiles and 14 species of amphibians. In
terms of fishes, the Philippines counts at least 3,214 species, of which about 121 are
endemic and 76 threatened. In 2007, an administrative order issued by the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources established a national list of threatened plant
species, indicating that 99 species were critically endangered, 187 were endangered,
176 vulnerable as well as 64 other threatened species. This is also because the
Philippines continues to experience an alarming rate of destruction of these important
resources brought about by overexploitation, deforestation, land degradation, climate
change, and pollution (including biological pollution), among others.

Major Threats to Biodiversity

1. Climate change
Changes in climate throughout our planet's history have, of course, altered life on
Earth in the long run — ecosystems have come and gone and species routinely go
extinct.
But rapid, manmade climate change speeds up the process, without affording
ecosystems and species the time to adapt. For example, rising ocean temperatures and
diminishing Arctic sea ice affects marine biodiversity and can shift vegetation zones,
having global implications. Overall, climate is a major factor in the distribution of
species across the globe; climate change forces them to adjust. But many are not able
to cope, causing them to die out.

2. Deforestation and habitat loss

Deforestation is a direct cause of extinction and loss of biodiversity. An
estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year, due in part to logging and other
human practices, destroying the ecosystems on which many species depend.
Tropical rainforests in particular, such as the Amazon, hold a high percentage of the
world's known species, yet the regions themselves are in decline due to humans.

3. Overexploitation
Overhunting, overfishing and over-harvesting contribute greatly to the loss of
biodiversity, killing off numerous species over the past several hundred years. Poaching
and other forms of hunting for profit increase the risk of extinction; the extinction of an
apex predator — or, a predator at the top of a food chain — can result in catastrophic
consequences for ecosystems.

4. Invasive species
The introduction of non-native species into an ecosystem can threaten endemic
wildlife (either as predators or competing for resources), affect human health and upset
economies.

5. Pollution
From the burning of fossil fuels (releasing dangerous chemicals into the
atmosphere and, in some cases, depleting ozone levels) to dumping 19 billion pounds
of plastic into the ocean every year, pollution completely disrupts the Earth's
ecosystems. While it may not necessarily cause extinction, pollutants do have the
potential to influents species' habits.
For example, acid rain, which is typically caused by the burning of fossil fuels,
can acidify smaller bodies of water and soil, negatively affecting the species that live
there by changing breeding and feeding habits.

Human Health, Environment and Society

The impact of environmental risk factors on health are extremely varied and
complex in both severity and clinical significance. For example, the effects of
environmental degradation on human health can range from death caused by cancer
due to air pollution to psychological problems resulting from noise. This chapter
attempts to describe the major impacts on human health of environmental degradation
and to estimate the associated amount of health loss. A better understanding of the
economic costs of environment-related health loss can help to inform environmental
policy design.
All organisms depend on their environments for energy and materials needed to
sustain life: clean air, potable water, nutritious food, and safe places to live. For most of
human history, increases in longevity were due to improved access to these
necessities. Advances in agriculture, sanitation, water treatment, and hygiene have had
a far greater impact on human health than medical technology.
Although the environment sustains human life, it can also cause diseases. Lack
of basic necessities is a significant cause of human mortality. Environmental hazards
increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and many other illnesses. These
hazards can be physical, such as pollution, toxic chemicals, and food contaminants, or
they can be social, such as dangerous work, poor housing conditions, urban sprawl,
and poverty.
Most environmental health problems are linked to poverty. They typically include
those environmental hazards posed by biological agents, exacerbated by poor
sanitation, lack of safe water, smoky kitchens, and crowded dwellings in garbage-strewn
neighborhoods. With increased economic development, many of these problems are
resolved, by way of higher quality housing and societal services to households.
On the other hand, other environmental hazards are associated with economic
development in itself, rather than the lack of it. These include many chemical pollutants
that are hazardous to both human and ecosystem health.
These seemingly contradictory health outcomes of economic development follow
logic of environmental displacement. While wealthy societies consume more resources
and produce more waste, they also use their wealth to protect themselves from
personal exposure to harmful or unpleasant pollutants. Thus, by pushing environmental
problems away from the living environment, health gains can be achieved, although
often at the expense of environmental insults at a distance.
By contrast, activities that promote health and extend human life can have
adverse environmental effects. For example, food production causes environmental
damage from pesticides and fertilizers, soil salinization, waste produced by livestock,
carbon emissions from food manufacturing and transportation, deforestation, and over-
fishing. Health care facilities also have adverse environmental impacts. Hospitals use
large quantities of electricity and fossil fuels and produce medical wastes. To prevent
some diseases, it may be necessary to damage the environment. For example, malaria
was eradicated in the United States and other developed nations in the 1940s and 50s
as a result of draining wetlands and spraying DDT to kill mosquitoes. A reduction in
mortality from starvation or disease can lead to overpopulation, which stresses the
environment in much different ways–increasing use of fossil fuels, clearing of land,
generating pollution and waste, and so on.

Managing benefits and risks

Many of the issues at the intersection of health and the environment have to do
with managing benefits and risks. For example, pesticides play an important role in
increasing crop yields, but they can also pose hazards to human health and the
environment. Alternatives to pesticide use create trade-offs in health. The extreme
action of stopping all pesticide uses could significantly reduce agricultural productivity,
leading to food shortages and increased food prices, which would, in turn, increase
starvation in some parts of the world. Public health authorities have opted to regulate
the use of pesticides to enhance food production while minimizing damage to the
environment and human health. Energy production and use helps sustain human life,
but it can also pose hazards to human health and the environment, such as air and
water pollution, oil spills, and destruction of habitats.
No issue demands greater care in balancing benefits and risks than global
warming. A significant percentage of global climate change is due to the human
production of greenhouse gases. Climate change is likely to cause tremendous harm to
the environment and human health, but taking steps to drastically reduce greenhouse
gases could have adverse consequences for global, national, and local economies,
which would result in a general decline in human health and health care. For example,
greatly increasing taxes on fossil fuels would encourage greater fuel efficiency and
lower carbon dioxide emissions, but it would also increase the price of transportation,
which would lead to widespread inflation and reduced consumer spending power.

Social Justice
Managing benefits and risks raises social justice concerns. In general, people
with lower socioeconomic status have greater exposure to certain detrimental
environmental conditions in their homes or at work, such as lead, mercury, pesticides,
toxic chemicals, or air and water pollution. Communities and nations should minimize
such injustices when making decisions such as choosing a site for a factory, a power
plant, or waste dump, or regulating safety in the workplace. The decision-making
process should be fair, open, and democratic, so that people who will be affected by
environmental risks have a voice in these deliberations and can make their concerns
known.
When drafting and implementing environmental health regulations, it is important
to consider vulnerable subpopulations. A vulnerable subpopulation is a group with an
increased susceptibility to the adverse effects of an environmental risk factor, due to
their age, genetics, health status, or some other condition. For example, children are
more susceptible to the effects of lead, mercury, and some pesticides than adults.
Some people have a genetic mutation that increases their susceptibility to cancer
caused by passive smoking.
If an environmental regulation is designed to protect average members of the
population it may fail to adequately protect vulnerable subpopulations. Justice demands
that we take care of people who are vulnerable. Social justice must be a factor in
allocating resources for health care. Governments spend billions of dollars trying to
improve the health of citizens and prevent diseases. These funds go to biomedical
research, overseeing the safety of foods and drugs, enforcing environmental or
occupational health regulations, and running programs for disaster preparedness, public
health, health education, sanitation, water treatment, and so on.

Human Rights
Various public health strategies pit the rights of individuals against the good of
society, such as mandatory treatment, vaccination, or diagnostic testing; isolation and
quarantine; and disease surveillance. The main argument for these public health
strategies is that individual human rights may have to be limited to prevent the
transmission of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, SARS, HIV/AIDS, and
pneumonia. But restrictions on rights should be well thought-out and safeguards put in
place to prevent public health authorities from overstepping their bounds. Protecting the
public’s health should not come at the expense of human rights.
 CHAPTER 14
CLIMATE CHANGE

INTRODUCTION
This section reviews key concepts on climate change and its various impacts on
society, and weighs in on the local, regional and global efforts to address it. It primarily
aims to inculcate environmental awareness among students.

INTENDED LEARNING OUCOMES

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Explain the concept of climate change
2. Identify the cause and effect of climate change
3. Recognize ways that they can lower their impact on the environment

Diagnostic:

Instruction: Examine the picture below. It was taken during the aftermath of Taal
Volcano eruption on January 12, 2020. Form groups with four members each. Discuss
among yourselves how climate change is connected to environmental destruction. You
may share with your group mates your memories of volcanic eruption in order to enrich
your discussion. Alternatively, you may share your own experience about the impacts of
climate change on the environment. Write notes on the space provided below and be
ready to share the highlights of your discussion in class.

Source: https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/volcano-aftermath-01132020131619.html

In studying climate change, equations of physics play a fundamental role. But the
issue has been transcended the boundaries of science and involves perspectives that
derive from the fields of economics, politics, cultural and religious beliefs. Issues
regarding climate are the subject of debate and disagreement of different leaders
worldwide.
According to President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines are least responsible for
climate change but always carry the heaviest burden. In the recent Global Peace Index

27
2019 report, Philippines was listed as the most vulnerable to climate risks in terms of its
overall natural hazard score, followed by Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.
But first what is climate change? Climate refers to a long term weather patterns
prevailing over a given area of the planet. The term comes from a Greek word klinein
meaning to slope. It evolved into klima, implying a region of the earth as characterized
by its atmospheric conditions. Climate change is the range of global phenomena caused
by burning fossil fuels that add heat-trapping gases to the Earth’s atmosphere.

CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Factors that contribute to climate change can be natural internal process,

external forces and persistent changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in the
land use. It can also be due to natural occurrences or contributes by acts of human
being.

Natural causes

1. Volcanic eruptions, one of natural cause, it emits different natural aerosols like
carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, salt crystals volcanic ashes or dust and even
microorganism or viruses. It can cause cooling effect on the lithosphere because of
the aerosol that block a certain percentage of solar radiation. The release of sulphur
dioxide in the stratosphere cause acid rain when combine with the water vapour.
The most tragic eruption of Mount Tambora (Indonesia) caused snowfall in the
North-eastern United State and Canada. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo
(Philippines) and Mount Krakatau (Indonesia) decreases the temperature of the
planet earth.
2. Orbital Changes. Earth’s movement in the space cause also climate change. As the
earth’s travel around the sun, cyclical variations produce different amount of energy
that reaches the earth. Eccentricity is the shape of the earth orbit that influences
seasonal differences: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Obliquity is the variation
of the tilt of Earth’s axis away from the orbital plane. The more tilt means warmer
summers and colder winters: less tilt means cooler summer and milder winters.
Precession is the change in orientation of earth’s rotational axis. It is cause by two
factors: a wobble of Earth’s axis and a turning around of the elliptical orbit of earth
itself.

HUMAN ACTIVITIES

The attributed acts of human being abutted the rise of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. Scientist turned history and technology to substantiate that there is a
causal relationship between high CO2 and high temperature levels. Changing the
atmospheric abundance of properties of these gases can lead to a global warming
climate. It direct affects the basic elements of people’s lives like water, food, health, use
of land and the environment.

28
 1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels, solid
waste, trees and other biological materials, and manufacture of cement.
Deforestation is also pointed as the culprit on the rise of amount of carbon
dioxide because it reduces the absorption of these gases from the atmosphere.
2. Methane (CH4) is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural
gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural
practices and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.
3. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities,
combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste, as well as during treatment of
wastewater.
4. Halocarbons such as Hydro fluorocarbons, per fluorocarbons, sulphur
hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifluoride are synthetic, powerful greenhouse gases
that are emitted from a variety of industrial processes. Fluorinated gases are
sometimes used as substitutes for stratospheric ozone-depleting substances .
These gases are typically emitted in smaller quantities, but because they are
potent greenhouse gases, they are sometimes referred to as High Global
Warming Potential gases

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

1. Water Resources
Flood magnitude and frequency are likely to increase in most regions as a
consequence of increase in the frequency of heavy precept events. Climate change
challenges existing water resources management by adding uncertainty. One-third of
the world's population presently lives in countries that are water-stressed. This number
is projected to increase to about 5 billion by 2025.

2. Agriculture and Food Security

The response of crop yields to climate change varies widely, depending on the
species, cultivar and soil conditions. Degradation of soil and water resources is a major
future challenges for global agriculture. Most studies indicate that mean annual
temperature increases of more than 2.5 °C would prompt food prices to increase as a
result of slowing in the expansion of global food capacity relative to demand. The
impacts of climate change on agriculture are estimated to result in small percentage

29
changes in global income, with positive changes in more developed regions and smaller
or negative changes in developing regions.
3. Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems
Increasing carbon dioxide concentration would increase net primary productivity
whereas increasing temperatures may have positive or negative effects. If the moisture
in the rangelands, woodlands and dry forests region will decrease, productivity is
expected to decrease. Climate change will lead to pole ward movement of the southern
and northern boundaries of fish distributions, loss of habitat for cold and cool water fish
and gain in habitat for warm water fish.

4. Coastal Zones and Marine Ecosystems

Climate change will result in increased sea surface temperature and sea level;
decreases in sea-ice cover and changes in salinity and ocean circulation. El Niño’s
increase in frequency, plankton biomass and fish larvae abundance would decline and
adversely impact fish, marine mammals, seabirds, etc. Low-latitude tropical and
subtropical coastlines, where there is pressure from human population, are particularly
susceptible to climate change impacts. Coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs, salt
marshes, mangrove forests, etc. will be impacted by sea-level rise, warming SSTs and
any changes in storm frequency and intensity.

5. Human Settlements, Energy and Industry

Economic sectors that support the settlement are affected because of changes in
productive capacity or changes in market demand for goods and services produced
there. Some aspects of physical infrastructure including energy transmission, buildings,
transportation and specific industries (tourism, construction, etc.) may be affected.
Population may be affected through extreme weather, changes in health status, or
migration. The most widespread serious potential impacts are flooding, landslides,
mudslides and avalanches, driven by projected increases in rainfall intensity and sea
level rise.

6. Insurance and Financial Services

The costs of extreme weather events have exhibited a rapid upward trend in recent
decades. Part of the observed upward trend in disaster losses is linked to socio-
economic factors - population growth, increased wealth, urbanization in vulnerable
areas - and part is linked to climatic factors such as changes in precept, flooding and
drought events. Weather and climate related losses can stress insurance companies to
the point of impaired profitability, consumer price increases, withdrawal of coverage and
many more.

7. Human Health
There is evidence of human health sensitivity to climate, particularly for mosquito-
borne diseases. If heat waves increase in frequency and intensity, the risk of death and
serious illness would increase, principally in older age groups and the urban poor.
Climate change will decrease air quality in urban areas with air pollution problems.
Changes in food supply resulting from climate change could affect the nutrition and
health of the poor in some regions of the world.

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8. Sea Level Rise
The rate of global average sea level rise during the 20th century is in the range 1.0
to 2.0 mm/yr. The average rate of sea level rise has been larger during the 20th century
than the 19th century· No significant acceleration in the rate of sea level rise during the
20th century has been detected. Ocean thermal expansion leads to an increase in
ocean volume at constant mass. The mass of the ocean, and thus sea level, changes
as water is exchanged with glaciers and ice caps. Observational and modeling studies
of glaciers and ice caps indicate a contribution to sea level rise of 0.2 to 0.4 mm/yr.
averaged over the 20th century.

MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE

Large reductions are possible in some cases. Measures include modifying

production processes, eliminating solvents, replacing feed stocks, materials substitution,
increased recycling, and reduced consumption of greenhouse gas-intensive materials.
Energy Supply: This assessment focuses on new technologies for capital investment
and not on potential retrofitting of existing capital stock to use less carbon-intensive
forms of primary energy.
A worldwide effort, the Kyoto Protocol, is taking steps to limit the amount of
greenhouses gases being released into the atmosphere by allotting a certain amount of
allowed pollution (or "pollution credits") to every industrialized country. Companies that
have cut back on the amount of greenhouse gases they are releasing may sell their
"pollution credits" to other companies who are over their allowed amount. For example,
if one company is given 10 credits, and they only release 8 credits worth of
greenhouses gases into the air, they can sell the other 2 credits to another company
who is polluting over their limit.
There are many ways to minimize the effect of climate change. Collective
individual and groups environmental efforts should be practiced to mitigate climate
change.

1. Greenhouse gas reductions in the use of fossil fuels

More Efficient Conversion of Fossil Fuels: The efficiency of power production can be
increased from the present world average of about 30% to more than 60% in the longer
term.
Switching to Low-Carbon Fossil Fuels and suppressing Emissions can reduce
emissions. The lower carbon-containing fuels can, in general, be converted with higher
efficiency than coal. Large resources of natural gas exist in many areas.
Decarbonization of Flue Gases and Fuels, and CO2 Storage: The removal and
storage of CO2 from fossil fuel power-station stack gases is feasible, but reduces the
conversion efficiency and significantly increases the production cost of electricity. For
some longer term CO2 storage options, the costs, environmental effects, and efficacy of
such options remain largely unknown.

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2. Switching to non-fossil fuel sources of energy

Switching to Nuclear Energy: Nuclear energy could replace base load fuel electricity
generation in many parts of the world if generally acceptable responses can be found to
concerns such as reactor safety, radioactive-waste transport and disposal, and nuclear
proliferation.
Switching to Renewable Sources of Energy: Solar, biomass, wind, hydro, and
geothermal technologies already are widely used. In 1990, renewable sources of energy
contributed about 20% of the world's primary energy consumption, most of it fuel wood
and hydropower.

3. Sustainable Land Management

The productivity and sustainability of a land-use system is determined by the

interaction between land resources, climate and human activities. Especially in the face
of climate change and variability, selecting the right land uses for given biophysical and
socio-economic conditions, and implementing SLM, are essential for minimizing land
degradation, rehabilitating degraded land, ensuring the sustainable use of land
resources (i.e. soils, water and biodiversity) and maximizing resilience.

Sustainable land use and management decide the sustainability/resilience or

degradation/vulnerability of land resources. Land use and management measures
include:
• Sustaining existing forest cover
• Slowing deforestation
• Regenerating natural forests
• Establishing tree populations
• Promoting agroforestry
• Altering management of agricultural soils and rangelands
• Improving efficiency of fertilizer use
• Restoring degraded agricultural lands and rangelands
• Recovering CH4 from stored manure
• Improving the diet quality of ruminants

4. Geoengineering
Geoengineering is the intentional manipulation of our environment at the global
scale. It involves engaging in planetary-scale manipulation of the Earth in such a way as
to offset the warming impacts of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.
A variety of geoengineering schemes have been proposed. Some involve relatively
minimal manipulation with the environment. For example, carbon capture and
sequestration (CCS) involves capturing CO2 from emissions before they enter the
atmosphere. Some captured carbon is buried underground or in the deep ocean.
Reforestation or building the equivalent of artificial trees is used to suck capture carbon
dioxide. Other ideas involve fertilizing the ocean by adding iron, which is a limiting

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nutrient for marine phytoplankton. In principle, this would enhance biological productivity
and, therefore, lead to increased uptake of atmospheric CO2 by the upper ocean.
Other schemes attempt to offset the surface warming influence of greenhouse gas
increases by reducing the amount of solar radiation impinging on the Earth's surface—
so-called solar radiation management. One such scheme involves mimicking the
cooling effect of volcanic eruptions by shooting sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere.
Another scheme involves placing large numbers of reflecting mirrors in space at a
stable position in the Earth's orbit. Related schemes involve increasing the Earth's
surface albedo by various means.

Source: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/meteo469/node/179

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