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Important Vocabulary

natural resources

renewable

non-renewable

conservation

recycling

reusing

reducing

redesigning

conservation

redesign

global warming

greenhouse effect

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How Can Natural Resources Be Managed?

A natural resource is a material found in nature and used by living things.

Natural resources include many things such as air, water, soil, trees, and

minerals.

Natural resources can be obtained from different places

Some resources are found above Earth's surface (e.g. air)

Other natural resources are found on Earth's surface (e.g. water and soil) still

other natural resources, such as oil and coal are found under Earth's surface.

Natural resources can be classified into two main kinds as show in the following

table.

People use resources to help them meet their needs.

For example, trees are cut down to provide furniture, paper, wood for building,

and other things people need.

Renewable resources Nonrenewable resources

the resources that can be replaced

in a human lifetime such as

e.g. trees, the sun

resources that will be use up

someday

e.g. fossil fuel(oil, coal, and natural

gas), soil, and minerals

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Oil can be used in many things as shown in the following figure

preservatives

detergent Candle wax

.

Plastic asphalt. Fabric dye

.

paints nylon petrol

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Energy is obtained from different natural resources such as those shown in

the following pictures.

Although natural resources are useful to humans, the uncontrolled use of them

can cause some problems.

Ecosystems are changed as people use resources to help them meet their

needs.

One way to do less harm to ecosystems is to use less of natural resources they

contain.

The careful management and wise use of these natural resources are known as

conservation.

biomass

wind Nuclear energy

Geothermal energy The sun

Fossil

fuel

Hydro-electric energy

Think about the kinds of

energy that we can get

from each resource

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Sometimes conservation is needed because a certain natural resource has

become scarce.

Water, for example, is a very important natural resource in our life.

We can use water in different uses such as drinking, growing crops, cleaning,

cooking, and many other uses

People may need to conserve water during activities such as bathing, brushing

teeth, and washing clothes.

Even when people conserve, they still use a lot of resources. After many items

are used, they often are thrown away as trash. Important resources are thrown

away with the trash.

Finding ways to reduce the amount of trash helps save not only resources but

whole ecosystems.

Reducing, reusing, and recycling:

Reduce, reuse, and recycle are ways of conserving resources.

Reduce means to cut down on the use of resources.

For example, appliances like clothes dryers, water heaters, and air conditioners

use huge amounts of electricity. Using them wisely reduces the need for energy

resources such as oil and coal. (This also reduces the emissions of carbon

dioxide).

Using products that have less packaging, or wrapping, reduces the amount of

trash.

Think about some natural

resources in your country

that need to be conserved

reducing

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Reuse means not to throw away items that can be used again. For example, cups

and plates that can be washed and used again produce less waste than

disposable ones. Reusing items also saves the resources needed to make new

products.

Reusing also means using items for different purposes. For example, you can

wash out milk cartons and juice bottles and use them as planters or bird

feeders. Reusing products or their packaging is another way to help reduce the

amount of trash. People can use old shopping bags to line trash cans or use

empty plastic containers for storage.

Recycle means to recover a resource from an item and to use the recovered

resources to make a new item.

recycling

reusing

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Many resources can be conserved by recycling. Aluminum, glass, and paper can

be ground up or melted down and then used over and over again.

Recycling also reduces trash. People separate paper, glass, aluminum, and plastic

from their trash. Companies use these materials to make new products.

For example, glass is sorted by color, melted, and then made into new bottles.

Recycling saves energy as well as resources.

Energy savings:

One of the most important results of recycling is conservation of energy

resources. Recycling saves large amount of energy.

Glass is made by heating sand and chemicals until they melt. Recycled glass

melts at a much lower temperature. So, recycling takes less energy than making

new glass from raw materials.

Aluminum is made from a raw material called bauxite, which is mined from

Earth's crust. Getting aluminum from bauxite takes a lot of electricity. Melting

recycled aluminum takes much less electricity.

When one glass bottle is recycled, the energy saved could light a 100-

watt bulb for four hours

Reducing, reusing, and recycling can go along way to conserve energy.

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Redesigning to reduce:

Packaging is the cardboard, paper, and plastic boxes, wrappers, and bottles that

protect products. These materials make up most trash thrown away in all over

the world.

Redesign is changing the packaging or makeup of a product so that it takes

fewer resources to make.

Think about some

examples of redesigned

products

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Greenhouse Effect

Most greenhouses look like a small glass house

Greenhouses are used to grow plants, especially in

the winter. Greenhouses work by trapping heat

from the sun.

The glass panels of the greenhouse let in light but

keep heat from escaping.

This causes the greenhouse to heat up, much like

the inside of a car parked in sunlight, and keeps the plants warm enough to live

in the winter.

The Earth’s atmosphere is all around us. It is the air that we breathe.

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere behave much like the glass panels in a

greenhouse.

Sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, passing through the blanket of

greenhouse gases.

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As it reaches the Earth's surface, land, water, and biosphere absorb the

sunlight’s energy. Once absorbed, this energy is sent back into the

atmosphere. Some of the energy passes back into space, but much of it

remains trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases, causing our world

to heat up.

The GREENHOUSE GASES are very important and are mainly:

Water vapour: occurs naturally in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide: produced naturally when people and animals breathe. Plants

and trees absorb carbon dioxide to live. Volcanoes also produce this gas.

Methane: comes from cattle as they digest their food. The gas also comes

from fields where rice is grown in paddy fields.

Nitrous oxide: when plants die and rot, nitrous oxide is produced.

Ozone: occurs naturally in the atmosphere (in stratosphere layer). Ozone

layer also protects us from harmful radiations from the sun.

The greenhouse effect is the increase in the average temperature on Earth

because of certain gases in the atmosphere (greenhouse gases)

The greenhouse effect is important. Without the greenhouse effect, the

Earth would not be warm enough for humans to live. But if the greenhouse

effect becomes stronger, it could make the Earth warmer than usual. Even a

little extra warming may cause problems for humans, plants, and animals.

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Global warming:

Global warming is an abnormally rapid rise in Earth's

average temperature.

Causes of global warming:

Many scientists hypothesize that the main cause of

global warming is the increase in the emissions of carbon dioxide.

The main reasons of increasing carbon dioxide emissions are:

1- The burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

2- Deforestation (The cutting, clearing, and removal of forest or rainforest

ecosystems.). As trees soak up carbon dioxide.

The effects of global warming

Glaciers and icecaps start melting, the sea and ocean

levels rise, and land will be covered by water (flood).

The changes in the weather will affect some kinds of

plants and animals.

You can learn more about global warming by visiting the

following web site

http://www.clean-air-kids.org.uk/globalwarming.html

To control global warming we must decrease the emissions

of greenhouse gases from factories especially carbon

dioxide.

Use new and clean energy sources such as solar energy

Think about

examples of clean

energy resources

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Complete the following sentences using the words from the word bank.

recycle reuse reduce global warming oil

conservation natural resource non-renewable greenhouse effect renewable

1. …………………………….resources are the resources that will be used up someday

2. ………………………….is the increase in the average temperature on Earth

because of certain gases in the atmosphere (greenhouse gases).

3. …………………………..resources are the resources that can be replaced in a

human lifetime such as trees

4. A …………………………………… is a material found in nature and used by living

things.

5. ……………………. means to cut down on the use of resources.

6. ……………is the most important natural resource in UAE and can be used to

make plastic.

7. ………………………… means to recover a resource from an item and to use the

recovered resources to make a new item.

8. …………………………………. is an abnormally rapid rise in Earth's average

temperature.

9. The careful management and wise use of these natural resources are

known as ………………………...

10. ………………….. means not to throw away items that can be used again.

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Circle the letter of the best answer

1. Which from the following is a non-renewable resource?

A. water B. air C. coal D. trees

2. Which from the following can be used to make petrol?

A. water B. forest C. coal D. oil

3. Most mineral resources are found ………………. Earth's surface.

A. above B. alongside C. under D. on

4. Trees are used to make ………..

A. water B. paper C. metals D. glass

5. A new aluminum can made from used cans is an example of ……….

A. recycling B. reducing C. repairing D. reusing

6. Which of the following is an example of water conservation?

A. watering the plant B. mowing the lawn

C. turning off the lights D. taking short showers

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Answer the following questions:

1. What is conservation?

2. What are the three ways of conserving resources?

3. Why is it important to recycle glass and aluminum?

4. Name three materials that can be recycled.

5. Illustrate by drawing the steps of glass recycling.

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2010- 2011

Matter

ABU DHABI EDUCATIONLA COUNCIL

AL BUTAIN BOYS’ MODEL SCHOOL

NAME: ……………………………………………………. …………………… CLASS:5/…….

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