Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Litter and Earth’s spheres.

20 minutes

Find Out: Litter and the carbon cycle

25 minutes

Take Action: Sliding doors: the two lives of a plastic bottle

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

explore how litter interacts with Earth’s spheres
understand the processes of the carbon cycle
analyse the impact of litter on the carbon cycle.

Success criteria

Students can:

describe how Earth’s spheres are impacted by different types of litter
summarise the processes in the carbon cycle
evaluate how litter impacts the carbon cycle.

Tune In: Litter and Earth’s spheres

Step 1

Pose the following questions to your class, one at a time:

Have you ever picked up someone else’s rubbish? Why or why not?
What do you think happens when rubbish is thrown away in a landfill?

Step 2

Assign students to small groups and provide them with a sheet of A3 paper. Ask them to draw a 2 x 2 grid on their page with the names of Earth's spheres in each box, as shown on slide 2 of the attached Visual Explainer.

Explain that you are going to think about how litter impacts the various spheres of Earth. Watch the following video detailing the Earth’s four spheres, and encourage groups to brainstorm the impact litter might have on each sphere as they watch.

Note: If your students are familiar with the spheres of Earth, you might like to skip the video. If your students aren’t familiar with the spheres, you might like to watch the video once through before asking students to watch again and brainstorm.

Earth's Spheres | Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere, Biosphere - MAD GARDEN Science - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdiiLhlPsn8)

Suggested responses:

Atmosphere: Burning of waste can release harmful gases into the atmosphere. When litter decomposes, it also releases harmful gases such as methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Litter breaks down into microplastics that can be carried by the wind and impact air quality.
Geosphere: Litter, especially when it contains toxic materials, can contaminate soil and groundwater. Many plastics also take a long time to decompose, which can ultimately affect soil composition.
Hydrosphere: Litter often finds its way into rivers, lakes, and oceans, contaminating the water and harming aquatic life. Microplastics found in water can also enter the food chain, potentially impacting human health.
Biosphere: Animals eat our litter, which can cause injury, poisoning and illness. Litter also causes entanglement, which can lead to death. Microplastics, again, can also be ingested by animals and humans, causing a range of health issues.

Find Out: Litter and the carbon cycle

Step 1

Explain to students that Earth's spheres interact in lots of different ways. The water cycle takes place in all four spheres, and so does the carbon cycle.

Watch the following video clip, which details the movement of carbon through the Earth and the processes that support this movement. As students watch, encourage them to focus on the spheres in which a process takes place and affects, as well as which processes are influenced most by human involvement.

The Carbon Cycle | Middle school Earth and space science | Khan Academy - Khan Academy - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XynPVsE1fd4)

Step 2

Share slide 3 of the lesson's visual explainer to show students a simplified diagram of the carbon cycle and pose the following question to the class for each process (photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, combustion):

What happens to carbon through the process of _________? What spheres does this impact?

Suggested responses:

Photosynthesis: Carbon is absorbed from the atmosphere into plants (biosphere).
Respiration: Carbon is released back into the atmosphere from living things (biosphere to atmosphere).
Decomposition: Carbon moves from dead organisms to soil and atmosphere (biosphere to geosphere and atmosphere).
Combustion: Carbon stored in fuels is released into the atmosphere (geosphere to atmosphere).

Step 3

Brainstorm with your students which processes and parts of the carbon cycle as well as Earth processes, are human induced or naturally occurring. Use the table below to help guide ideas.

Human Induced	Naturally Induced
• Burning fossil fuels • Deforestation and land use changes • Industrial processes • Agriculture • Waste management	• Volcanic eruptions • Photosynthesis • Respiration and decomposition • Wildfires • Rock weathering • Soil breakdown

Step 4

Explain to students that the key processes of the carbon cycle (photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, combustion) rely on interactions between Earth’s spheres (geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere). They are all connected!

What you want your students to explore is how this relates to litter and how pollution from improperly disposed of litter contributes to changes in the carbon cycle. What actually happens to litter? Where does it go? And how deep does its impact really reach?

Step 5

Explain that students will be working in groups to explore how litter affects all four of Earth’s interconnected spheres and the impact it has on the carbon cycle.

Students will work in teams to become sphere specialists and uncover how litter isn’t just a local problem. It’s a global one.

For this activity, each group is assigned to a particular sphere and conducts research to understand the impact litter has on their sphere and the carbon cycle. Provide students with the Student Worksheet, which scaffolds their research to focus on how litter interacts with their sphere, the short-term and long-term environmental effects, and how this is connected to the carbon cycle.

Geosphere Team: Explore how buried plastic and landfill leachate affect soil quality and land ecosystems. How does this affect the carbon cycle?
Hydrosphere Team: Investigate the journey of litter into rivers, oceans and other waterways. How do litter and microplastics disrupt water systems and marine life? How does this affect the carbon cycle?
Biosphere Team: Examine how animals and plants are harmed by litter. Think: entanglement, ingestion, and changes in habitat. How does this affect the carbon cycle?
Atmosphere Team: Research what happens when waste breaks down or is burned. What gases are released, and how does this link to the carbon cycle?

Step 6

Once students have completed their research, bring the class together and share findings so everyone has a holistic understanding of litter's impact on the spheres and carbon cycle. Guide students to make connections between the spheres and how an impact in one sphere or one part of the cycle can have ripple effects.

Take Action: Sliding doors: the two lives of a plastic bottle

Step 1

Explain to students that Clean Up Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that inspires and works with communities to clean up, fix up, and conserve our environment. They have historically been focused on cleaning up litter that is already in the environment, but also have a strategic plan that aims to prevent litter from getting into the environment in the first place.

Share page 5 of the Clean Up Australia Litter Prevention Plan and introduce the key actions for change – Avoid, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle and Recover.

Step 2

Discuss each action as a class

What’s an example of this action in real life?
How might it impact the Earth's spheres and carbon cycle in a positive way?

Use positive reframing: Focus on possibilities for change rather than the doom of pollution.

Step 3

Your student's task is to design a piece of communication that shows the impact of a strategy like the Litter Prevention Plan on the Earth's spheres and carbon cycle. Students will consider a single item, such as a plastic bottle, and its impact on the Earth’s spheres and the carbon cycle when littered. Then they will compare this scenario with what might happen if the person had followed the Clean Up Australia Litter Prevention Plan.

Students need to create an infographic titled “Sliding Doors: The Two Lives of a Plastic Bottle” that compares two possible futures for a plastic bottle:

Path 1: The Littered Bottle
Show how littering the bottle affects the Earth's spheres, and how this connects to the carbon cycle.
Path 2: The Responsible Action
Show what happens if the bottle is treated responsibly— for example, by being recycled or avoided altogether and how this reduces harm to the spheres and the carbon cycle.

In pairs or small groups, students will use the Student Worksheet to create a visually engaging infographic that educates, inspires action, and demonstrates how litter is linked to broader environmental issues, especially the carbon cycle and climate change.

The infographic should:

highlight the impacts of a plastic bottle (or other piece of waste) on the Earth's spheres and carbon cycle when littered or disposed of
focus on at least one key action in the Litter Prevention Plan (Avoid, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, Recover)
compare the impacts and effects on Earth's spheres when that waste is prevented or recycled
highlight how the waste affects all four spheres, or what impacts are avoided through following actions like those in the Litter Prevention Plan
link each effect to the carbon cycle (or climate change for students requiring extension)
include a message to inspire change.

Step 4

Depending on the amount of time you have available to dedicate to this task, you might like to ask students to simply plan their infographic or design and produce the whole thing.

Provide time for groups to share their ideas and findings with each other after they have completed their research or infographic design.

Reflection

Step 1

Hold a class brainstorm to explore how students can work collaboratively to plan and promote a campaign for future action to address what they have been learning about today. Prompt students to think about ways as a group or community, they could put into practice what their infographics are designed to show.

Prompt students with the following ideas:

Hosting your own Clean Up Australia Schools Clean Up
Lunchtime litter challenges
Poster displays around the school using your infographics
Social media posts, etc

Use the tactics of the Cool.org Hope Framework in your discussion to frame these ideas in a positive and hopeful way. Highlight the helpers, solutions, and achievable impact your students could have.

Spheres of Impact - Litter vs Earth’s Spheres

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