B. People and Environments · Global Communities

How People Around the World Meet Their Needs

B1 B3.6 B3.7About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can tell the difference between needs and wants.
I can explain that people everywhere have the same basic needs.
I can describe how climate and land affect the food, water, shelter and clothing people use in different places.
I can explain why some food comes to Canada from other countries.

Words to know

need
Something people must have to live and be healthy, like food, water, shelter and clothing.

want
Something nice to have but that we can live without, like a toy or a video game.

shelter
A place that protects people from the weather, like a house or an apartment.

community
A place where people live, work and play together, like a town or a city.

import
To bring in goods, like food, from another country.

Inuit
Indigenous people whose homelands are in the Arctic, including Nunavut in northern Canada.

Same needs, different ways

Every person in the world, in every community, has the same basic needs:

food
clean water
shelter (a safe home)
clothing

People also need love, safety and learning. But how people meet their needs can be different from place to place. The climate and the land around a community make a big difference.

🍎💧🏠🧥

Four basic needs: food, water, shelter and clothing. Everyone everywhere needs them.

Need	In a cold place	In a hot place
Clothing	warm parkas, boots, mittens and hats	light, loose clothes and sun hats that keep the sun off
Shelter	well-insulated homes with heating to keep warm	homes built to stay cool, with shade, fans, air conditioning or thick walls
Food	crops that grow in a short summer; food stored or brought in for winter	crops that need warmth all year, like bananas or mangoes

How climate can change the way people meet the same needs

Food

People often grow foods that do well in their climate and land.

Rice grows best in warm places with lots of water. It is grown in many countries in Asia, like China, India and Japan.
Potatoes first came from the Andes mountains in South America. Farmers in Peru grow many hundreds of kinds!
Japan is made of islands surrounded by ocean, so fish and seafood are an important part of many meals.
In Ontario, farmers grow apples, corn and many vegetables in the warm summer. In early spring, maple trees give sap for maple syrup.

Bananas need warm weather all year, so they do not grow outside in Canada. Canada imports bananas from warm countries, like Ecuador and Costa Rica. That means they are brought here by ship or truck.

Bright green rice plants growing in flooded terraced fields on a hillside, with a few farmers working in the distance. — Rice needs warmth and lots of water. On steep hills, farmers build flat steps called terraces to hold the water for the rice. AI-generated image

Water

Everyone needs clean water. In Ontario, most towns get water from lakes, rivers or wells, and it is cleaned at a water treatment plant. In Egypt, most people live near the Nile River and use its water. In some places, people collect rainwater in tanks.

Shelter

Homes are built to fit the climate and land, and often use materials found nearby.

Canada has many forests, so many Canadian houses are built with wood.
In some hot, dry places, people have built homes with thick walls of mud brick, which help keep the inside cool during hot days.
Near a big lake in Cambodia called Tonlé Sap, the water rises a lot in the rainy season. Many homes there stand on tall stilts so they stay dry.
Big cities everywhere, like Toronto, Tokyo and Nairobi, have lots of apartment buildings, because many people live close together.

A home on tall stilts near Tonlé Sap lake. When the water rises in the rainy season, the home stays above it.

Fair and true

People in the same country can live in very different ways. Some families live in big cities, and some in small villages. Many families mix traditional ways (ways from long ago) with modern ways. When you learn about a place, remember: one picture or one story does not show everyone who lives there.

Silly but true

Bananas travel thousands of kilometres by ship or truck to reach Canada. That's a long trip for a fruit that can't even buy a ticket!

Worked example

Let's look at a community: Iqaluit, Nunavut

Iqaluit is the capital city of Nunavut, in Canada's Arctic. Most people who live there are Inuit. Winters are long, dark and very cold. How do people there meet their needs?

Clothing: People wear very warm parkas, boots and mittens. Some families still sew traditional clothing like warm kamiks (boots) from sealskin or caribou skin. Many people also buy winter clothes from stores.
Shelter: People live in modern houses and apartments with strong heating. (In the past, many Inuit families lived in snow houses called igloos in winter and in tents in summer. Today, people live in houses, but some people still build igloos as shelters on hunting trips.) The ground is frozen, so many buildings stand on posts. You will learn why in the next lesson.
Food: Very little can grow outside in the short, cool summer. Lots of food comes in by plane, or on ships in the summer when the sea ice melts. Many families also hunt and fish for country food, like caribou and Arctic char (a fish).
Water: The city gets water from a lake nearby and cleans it, like towns in southern Ontario do.

People in Iqaluit meet the same needs as everyone, in ways that fit a cold Arctic climate: very warm clothing, heated homes, food brought in by plane and ship, and country food from hunting and fishing.

Hands-on activity

Where does my food come from?

You need: some fruits, vegetables or packages from your kitchen, a grown-up, paper and a world map or globe (paper or online).

Look at stickers and labels on 5 to 8 foods. Many say "Product of..." or "Grown in...".
Make a chart with two columns: Food and Country.
Find each country on the map. Which continent is it on? Is it near the equator?
Talk: Which foods came from Canada? Which came from far away? Why do you think those foods could not grow here in winter?

Example: bananas from Ecuador (South America, on the equator), apples from Ontario, rice from India or Thailand (Asia).

Your turn

Name the four basic needs we talked about.

Is a video game a need or a want?

Do people in other countries have the same basic needs as people in Canada?

Why do many houses in Canada use wood?

Why does Canada import bananas?

What is a shelter?

Who are the Inuit?

More practice: warm-up

Is clean water a need or a want?

What kind of clothes would keep you comfortable in a very hot, sunny place?

What sweet food do Ontario maple trees give us?

Which grows best in warm places with lots of water: rice or potatoes?

What is the capital city of Nunavut?

More practice: on your own

Why are fish and seafood an important part of many meals in Japan?

Near Tonlé Sap lake in Cambodia, many homes stand on tall stilts. Why?

How does food get to Iqaluit? Name two ways.

Kai says, "Inuit people live in igloos." Is that correct today? Explain.

Name one way a home in a cold place and a home in a hot place might be different.

Challenge

Why do people in different places meet the same needs in different ways? Give two reasons.

If no food came from other countries, what might your family not be able to eat in January? Why?

A book shows one photo of a village in Kenya and says, "This is how people in Kenya live." What is the problem?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is a need?

Do people all over the world have the same basic needs?

Why does Canada import bananas?

Which clothes are best for a very cold Arctic winter?

Why are some homes near Tonlé Sap lake in Cambodia built on stilts?

Where do most people in Iqaluit, Nunavut, live today?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: All people have the same basic needs (food, water, shelter, clothing), but they meet them in different ways depending on climate, physical features, available materials, culture and trade.

How to help at home:

Do the food-label activity during a grocery trip. Find each country on a map.
Talk about how your own family meets its needs in each season (winter boots, garden in summer, furnace and air conditioning).
If your family has roots in another country, share how people there meet their needs, including how it has changed over time.

Common difficulties and sensitivities:

Stereotypes. Children may have seen images suggesting that all people in a country live one way (for example, that Inuit live in igloos or that everyone in Africa lives in a village). Gently correct with facts: most countries have cities and villages, and many people mix traditional and modern ways. Africa is a continent of 54 countries.
Needs vs. wants. Sort pictures from a flyer into two piles.
Why food is imported. Connect it to climate: what can grow here in winter?