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The Energy Trail |
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In a Nutshell:
This lesson helps students to discover the links between consumer
products, manufacturing and energy use, the burning of fossil
fuels and the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate
change. Students learn by tracing the steps that produce the
plastic components of a computer – from oil in the ground
to the finished product being used at home. |
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Goal:
To help students understand that the energy used in extraction,
manufacture and transportation of material and products produces
carbon dioxide emissions that are changing our climate. |
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Background Learning:
Teachers should be familiar with the material found in:
Other backgrounders may also be helpful and can be found by
using the outline.
Intermediate Students should be familiar with the material found
in:
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Learning Outcomes:
Click on the icon for your territory to review the learning outcomes that are addressed by this lesson:
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Introduction to Lesson Plan:
Energy is used to produce all manufactured goods, from cars,
snow machines, tables and desks to smaller items such as computers,
CD players and toys. And energy is used at every stage of production
and distribution – to extract raw materials, to process
them into finished goods and to package and ship them around
the planet.
Even the food we eat is planted, cultivated, harvested, packaged
and transported with the aid of machines that burn fossil fuels.
Billions of litres of fossil fuel are burned to generate electricity,
to power equipment and to make the products we use every day.
Since just one litre of gas produces 2.36 kgs of carbon dioxide
(carbon from the fuel combines with oxygen from the air when
the fuel burns), this means that tonnes of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases are going into the atmosphere every day.
The human appetite for more products is changing our climate.
The more stuff that we buy and consume, the more energy is used,
the more fossil fuel is burned, the more carbon dioxide is put
into our atmosphere, and the more our climate will change. Today,
each person in Canada produces over five tonnes of damaging greenhouse
gases per year. That can’t continue if we don’t want
to change our climate. It is important for all of us to reduce
the amount of stuff we buy and make good use of what we have.
To reduce greenhouse gas production, we need to make careful
consumer choices, use and re-use what we have, recycle what we
don’t need anymore, and waste as little as possible. |
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Activity:
- Introduce the activity by explaining what students will do
in this lesson i.e.:
- The whole class will discuss fossil fuels: what they
are, how they are used to make many everyday objects
and how they
relate to carbon dioxide and climate change.
- The whole class
will create a diagram that shows the steps
needed to produce a computer. They will help to identify
the stages in the manufacturing, packaging and shipping
processes that require energy and result in CO2 emissions.
- Groups of students will select products and trace the
energy that goes into their manufacture and distribution.
- The class will compare the energy used to produce various
products we purchase and use.
- Each student
will post a written story, either about an object’s
energy journey, or about their reflections on this
lesson, to the Student Web-Exchange
- Begin this activity as a class
discussion. Discuss the raw material extraction and manufacturing
chains with students.
The handouts, which you can link to below, provide a template
for tracing the energy and fossil fuel inputs required when
objects are manufactured and distributed. Every object we
buy – whether it’s made of wood, metal or plastic
– requires energy, or the burning of fossil fuels at
every step of its manufacture, packaging and shipping. When
fossil
fuels such as gas or oil are burned to power factories, trucks,
ships and machines, they emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
And carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gases causing
climate change. Today, many products are made partly or completely
out of plastics.
Click on the Handout icon for the Teacher
Handout #1: The Fossil Fuel Story – Crude Oil and Hydrocarbons.
- Discuss
with students how the goods that we consume everyday create
climate change.
Explain to students, that fossil fuels or
oil are burned at every stage in the manufacturing, packaging
and shipping
process. Everything step takes energy and that means more
carbon dioxide is released and triggers more climate change!
-
 As
a class, make a list on the board of manufactured items
that they or their families use. For example: snow
machines, computers, fridges, cars, telephones, portable
CD players, toys, plastic buckets, TVs, plastic bowls
and containers, pens, and so on. Include food products
that
we make or package. After your class has come up with
20–30
items, mark beside each one what combination of materials
each item is made out of: plastic, wood, metal.
- As a class
you create a diagram or flow chart to indicate the
various steps in manufacturing, packaging and shipping
an everyday item. In the handout section of this
lesson
you will find an example that traces where energy is
required in manufacturing a computer. If you wish, select
another
object and use our computer example as a guide. It
is best
to use a plastic object for this first exercise as
it demonstrates that fossil fuels are also used as materials.
Create your
flow chart on the blackboard or on large mural paper.
In
this exercise it is not necessary to know the exact processes
of manufacturing, the goal is to have students gain
a general understanding that energy and fossil fuels are required
at
almost every stage of processing all our commonly used
goods. The key is to indicate each major stage of the process
where
fossil fuels are consumed. It is fine if you miss some
of the stages, you and your students will still discover the
endless possibilities of energy use. Developing awareness
of how often we use fossil fuel based energy is more
important
that tracking the exact steps in the process.
Use images in
your flow chart: If you can use drawings or cut-outs of factories,
trucks, ships and airplanes to indicate
activities such as manufacturing and shipping, the
activity will be more visual for your students. Repeated use
of icons
or symbols (or labels for steps such as trucking, drilling
for oil, heavy manufacturing, parts shipping, and plastic
packaging) will also help students.
It is critical that students
understand the relationship between energy use and carbon dioxide
emissions. So
at every step of the way, if energy is used to drill for
oil, run
trucks to transport an item, power manufacturing machinery,
heat a factory, or drive people to work, we are releasing
carbon dioxide into our atmosphere and contributing
to greenhouse gases and climate change. You may want to use
a consistent
symbol to indicate carbon dioxide emissions.
- Begin the flow
chart by drawing a picture of your end object and list
the materials out of which it is
made. If for example, your class uses the computer
for this exercise,
draw a picture of a computer at the end of your
flow chart to indicate the final product of this energy
journey.
At
the beginning of your flow chart indicate oil
in the ground and possibly a drill rig to indicate the
beginning.
You
and your class will fill in the steps in the
manufacturing, packaging, and shipping that require fossil
fuel
energy. (Please note: Teacher
Handout #2: Following the Energy
Trail, is provided in the handout section of this lesson).
- Once
the class flow chart is complete, it is important to
help students make the link between fossil fuel
use at every stage in the flow chart and the greenhouse
gases – particularly carbon dioxide emissions – going
into the atmosphere. Those emissions are a major
cause of climate
change.
- Once you have done this as an entire
class exercise, students work in small groups
of two
or three to create their own
energy flow chart for an everyday item of their choice.
As
you did for the class example, students start by drawing their
final product at the bottom of their diagram and then
list all the materials it is made out of as the
top of the diagram. In between they will fill in all the steps
that
require energy.
Encourage student groups to choose different
products for their energy flow charts.
Encourage at least one
group to consider a food product for their flow chart. The
food you buy travels an average
of 2,400 kms to reach your table and requires
lots of machinery and energy to get from a seed to your table.
Selecting
first food that is locally produced and then food that is produced
in far off countries and then shipped north
provides for an interesting comparison. Students
should include the fossil fuels to run farm equipment, produce
and ship
fertilizers and ship foods to warehouses and
stores. Since we are looking at the carbon dioxide released
when fossil
fuels are burned, students should be aware that
carbon is released when we cut down trees for large tracts
of land
for farming – this is particularly true
when we cut down rainforests for cash crops.
Soils store carbon and we
release this carbon into the atmosphere when
we disturb the soil by poor farming methods.
Good, sustainable soil farming
methods involves adding compost, manure and plants
to the soil and uses less tillage.
If students
select a vehicle, they can expand their flow
chart to include the fossil fuels used to manufacture
the
car, as well as the fossil fuels it will continue
to use once it is purchased and used by the consumer.
Tracking
the energy trail for wooden objects such as desks, cabinets,
and kitchen tables help students explore
the energy used in the forestry industry.
- Each group presents
their flow chart to the class. Ask
students to describe their flow chart as is,
or to write their product’s energy consumption journey
in a story format. If they choose to write the energy trail
as a story,
they can have their object talking in first
person. For example, “Hi
I’m Polly the plastic Television…” or, “I’m
Terrance the mixed juice put into a Tetra Pak… - “…and
I’d like to tell you about my life story
and how I came to be.” Please refer
students to the handout for guidelines.
- Guide the students
through the following exercises:
- What was the significance
or importance of this lesson? Discuss why we should
be aware of the amount
of energy an object takes to produce. 1. Oil is a
non-renewable energy
source, it is limited and it emits a
lot of carbon dioxide when it is burned. 2.
The production of
things we use in
our daily life, such as toys, computers,
TV’s, snow
machines etc. consume huge quantities of energy and produce
large quantities of carbon dioxide in their manufacturing,
packaging and shipping – and in their use. 3. The more “stuff” we
consume, the more energy is used and
the more carbon dioxide is emitted. 4.
Reduce,
Reuse
and Recycle help lower our energy
consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
- Rank the
products they investigated according
to the amount of energy needed to produce
them from least to most
energy intensive.
- Rate each item in terms of the amount
of greenhouse gases it emits and the ultimate
climate change it causes.
- Rate products investigated as
essential, fairly important and luxuries?
- What
is the life expectance of the products
they have considered – how long would each
be used? For example a plastic container
may be just a few weeks old and only used once
old before it heads to the
dump forever while a fridge or a car can be used
for 10–15
years and so on). What happens to the
object after it has been used?
- How can your purchasing
power determine how much greenhouse
gases are emitted into the atmosphere?
- Explore
student views on:
- Countries that
consume lots of “stuff” and
emit greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
Discuss fairness to future generations and environment
- Other countries
that don’t consume as
much stuff but are being affected by climate
change?
- Ways we could decrease
our energy consumption and CO2 emissions
(buy less, choose products that aren’t
energy hogs,
conserve energy through other
choices and
use alternative
forms of energy such as solar or wind power
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Handouts:
Click on the icon for the complete set of handouts that support
this lesson:
Teacher
Handout #1: The Fossil Fuel Story – Crude Oil and
Hydrocarbons
Teacher Handout #2: Following the Energy Trail
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Student Web-Exchange:
Students can post their stories about the item they select and
its energy journey on the Student
Web-Exchange. Alternatively,
they can write a 300–800 word essay that reflects the
views and understandings gained through the exercises in the
last activity step #10. Students might want to tell other students
how our purchasing power can reduce greenhouse gases and slow
down climate change?
Post a picture beside student text! Digitized pictures of a
product’s energy journey, illustrations for stories or
even of student authors can also be posted on the Web-Exchange.
Click on the icon for information on how to post material. |
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Evaluation:
- Review student stories and flow charts to check their
understanding of the concepts of energy use.
- Evaluate student ability to respond to the exercises at
the end of the activity.
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Enrichment Ideas:
Science and Social Studies:
Renewable Energy sources: Identify renewable energy sources
and discuss how these sources produce fewer or no GHGs. Discuss
the possibility of making many of the products we consume by
using alternative energy sources. Describe the journey of a product
and the greenhouse gas emissions that would be released if we
used clean, renewable energy sources.
Environmental Impacts: Have students list or map out the social
and environmental impacts of the product they used in the last
exercise. For example, air and water pollution, toxic wastes,
overflowing landfill sites, health problems, animals negatively
impacted by climate warming, economic problems, famine and flooding
in warmer countries.
Save Energy: Brainstorm ways to reduce energy and fossil fuel
consumption (buy less stuff, reduce, reuse, recycle, walk more,
turn off lights, share what you know about conservation and climate
change, write letters, start a newsletter).
Recycling: Start a recycling program at your school.
Art:
Poster Art: Do a poster on climate change, conservation, lower
consumption and fossil fuel and energy reduction.
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About the Author:
The Yukon Conservation Society Curriculum Team – The team
consists of teachers, writers, environmental educators and curriculum
specialists. It worked with teachers across the north, helping
them to create lesson plans for the website, and gathering input
about website features, backgrounders and lesson plans that would
be useful in northern classrooms. |
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