Welcome!

1. Welcome! • Please put your sticky note at the front of your desk so I can see it. • Please pass forward your signed safety contract. • Please get out your Environmental Systems Guideline sheet.

2. Environmental Systems Guidelines • Materials for class (first binder check Wed Sept 4) • If you miss class: • Check the binder for details and handouts • Double check with your neighbor • Power point notes available on class website • Objective Sheets: • Calendar • A study guide for the unit • Due for a double grade on test day

3. Your first objective sheet • Title a piece of paper “Objectives: Course Foundations” • Skip 3 lines between answers • #1-5 due Friday • Quiz Friday over objectives #1-5

4. Soooo . . . .that sticky note • Put the sticky on the time line • What do you see? • Did most families get here about the same time or different times? • What was the most common reason for people to move here?

5. Were any of the reasons to move here related to our natural resources?

6. Houston 10,000 years ago • Akoskia nation • Spring/summer – oysters, clams and fish from the Bay • Fall/Winter – small animals and plants from the prairie • Why did they move with the seasons?

7. Battle! Texas becomes a nation. • Santa Anna retreated from San Antonio to San Jacinto

8. Tall grass prairie – 6 to 9 feet tall! Did it play a role in the victory?

9. Waterways were used for transportation

10. Official founding of Houston • Allen Brothers – confluence (meeting point) of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak bayou – farthest point upstream where a barge could turn around.

11. What resources are emphasized in this painting?

12. Early economies • Cattle • Cotton • Sugar • Timber • PLUS waterways to move them!

13. 1870’s: Railroads carried goods to ships and to markets east. • “Houston – where 17 railroads meet the sea.” (late 1800’s marketing moto)

14. Rice fields were established after barbed wire was invented. • Rice fields must be flooded, so rainfall is important.

15. How were the early Houstonians reliant on the four ecosystems? • Prairie • Forest • Bayou • Bay How about these? shop keepers home builders doctors teachers

16. Oil! Spindletop well in Beaumont starts Texas oil boom 1901

17. Port of Houston built 1914 – today it moves the most foreign tonnage in the US

18. 1945 – Texas Medical Center

19. Houston, we have a space program. (1961)

20. Graph – Houston’s population growth • What units are on the X axis? • How many people were in Houston at the last census? • How long ago was the population half what it is today? • How many people might there be by 2070? • Mark the following on the graph: • Building the railroads • Spindletop • Medical Center established • NASA established

21. Houston’s natural resources have contributed to the area’s growth. • Evidence for: • Evidence against:

22. Soooo . . . .that sticky note • Color your sticky and put it back on the timeline: • Brown: agriculture, ranching • Green: timber • Red: oil/energy • Blue: medical • Leave uncolored: supporting industries • Others?

23. Expected Houston demographic trends for the next 50 years: • City will grow • City will continue to diversify jobs, ethnicity • City is getting younger on average

24. Our Big Questions: • What environmental issues will we face as our city continues to grow? • What is your role in our city and our ecosystems?

25. Sustainability Keeping an ecological balance by conserving our natural resources

26. We each depend on natural resources • Food • Air • Water • Energy • How does increased population affect our resources? • Which resources do you think Houstonians should be most concerned about?

27. Ecosystem services • Things our natural areas do for us. • Air purification (plants take in CO2, produce O2) • Flood control (prairies absorb water to protect our homes) • ___________ • ___________ • ___________

28. Objective Sheet time – wrap up