Grade by Grade
E. Earth and Space Systems · Conservation of Energy and Resources

Long-term Impacts of Using Energy and Resources

E1.1 A1.1 A3.2About 45 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe benefits and costs of using energy and natural resources.
  • I can tell the difference between short-term and long-term impacts.
  • I can analyse an impact from different points of view.
  • I can suggest ways to reduce the harm, including the impacts of climate change.

Words to know

natural resource
Something from nature that people use, like water, trees, soil, metals and fossil fuels.
impact
An effect that something has on people or the environment. It can be helpful or harmful.
long-term
Lasting a long time, for many years or even many lifetimes.
mitigate
To make a harmful impact smaller or less serious.
conserve
To use something carefully so it isn't wasted and lasts longer.
perspective
A point of view: how a person or group sees an issue.

Every choice has an impact

Think about a single cardboard cereal box. Trees were cut down to make it. Factories used energy to make it. A truck burned fuel to bring it to the store. After breakfast, it goes into the recycling bin, or the garbage.

Using energy and resources makes our lives better in many ways. But it also has impacts on people and the environment, and some of those impacts last a very long time.

A blue recycling bin full of flattened cardboard boxes at the curb on an autumn street.
Recycling cardboard means fewer trees are cut down and less energy is used to make new boxes, which reduces the impact of what we use. AI-generated image
The life of a cereal boxTreescut downFactoryuses energyTruckburns fuelStoreshelfYourbreakfastRecyclingbinGarbageto landfillmade into new boxes(uses fewer new trees)
Every step uses energy or resources. Recycling (dashed arrow) sends the cardboard back to be made into new boxes; the garbage path ends in a landfill.

Benefits and costs

Benefits of using energy and natural resources:

  • warm homes during cold Canadian winters, and cool homes in heat waves
  • light, clean water, refrigerated food, and hospitals that keep people healthy
  • transportation, communication, and jobs

Costs (harmful impacts):

  • Air pollution from burning fuels can make smog and harm people's lungs.
  • Climate change from greenhouse gases (last lesson).
  • Mining for coal, uranium and metals changes the land and can leave waste rock and polluted water.
  • Oil spills can harm water, birds and fish.
  • Dams can flood land, including land where First Nations communities have lived, hunted and fished, and change river habitats.
  • Cutting forests destroys habitats for animals and removes trees that take in carbon dioxide.
  • Garbage from using things once fills up landfills.

Short-term and long-term impacts

A short-term impact happens quickly and doesn't last long, like smoky air on the day of a forest fire.

A long-term impact lasts for many years: climate change, a forest that takes many decades to grow back, a landfill full of garbage, or fossil fuels that are gone forever once they're burned.

Good decisions think about both.

ActionShort-term impactLong-term impact
Driving a gasoline carfast trip; exhaust in the airmore carbon dioxide, adding to climate change
Building a new hydro damjobs; land is floodedrenewable electricity for many years; changed river habitat
Cutting down a forestwood for building; animals lose homesfewer trees to take in carbon dioxide until it regrows
Throwing out a plastic bottlequick and easyit can stay in a landfill for a very long time
Some short-term and long-term impacts.

Mitigate: making impacts smaller

To mitigate means to make a harmful impact smaller. Here are ways people, communities and governments can help:

  • Reduce energy use: turn off lights and screens, lower the heat a little at night, walk, bike, take transit or carpool.
  • Reuse and repair things instead of buying new ones.
  • Recycle paper, metal, glass and plastic, and compost food scraps. Making things from recycled materials can use less energy and fewer new resources.
  • Use more renewable energy.
  • Protect and plant forests and wetlands, which store carbon and give animals homes.
  • Prepare for changes that are already happening: plant shade trees for hot summers, and plan for floods and wildfires.

No one person can fix everything, but many small actions together make a big difference.

Worked example

Let's analyse an impact from different points of view

A company wants to build a new dam on a northern Ontario river to make hydroelectricity. Look at this from different perspectives.

  1. People who need electricity: they would get a renewable source that doesn't burn fossil fuels.
  2. Workers: building and running the dam would create jobs.
  3. A First Nation that lives along the river: flooding could cover land used for hunting, fishing, gathering and important places. The community should be part of the decision from the start.
  4. Fish and wildlife: the dam could block fish from swimming upstream and change the habitat in and along the river.
  5. Short-term vs long-term: jobs and building happen soon; the flooded land and the renewable electricity both last for many years.
  6. Mitigate: ideas include building a fish ladder, choosing a smaller dam or a place that floods less land, or sharing ownership and decisions with the community.

There are benefits (renewable electricity, jobs) and costs (flooded land, changed habitat). A good decision listens to all perspectives, especially the people who live there, and finds ways to mitigate the harm.

A new dam on anorthern Ontario riverPeople who need electricityrenewable power, no fuel burnedWorkersjobs building and running itA First Nation along the riverland could flood; should be partof the decision from the startFish and wildlifefish blocked from swimmingupstream; habitat changes
One decision, many points of view. Listening to every perspective, especially the people who live there, helps find the benefits, the costs and ways to mitigate harm.
Just for fun

Silly what if: If your cereal box could talk, it might say: "I've been a tree, ridden in a truck and sat on a store shelf. Please recycle me, so I can come back as a brand-new box!"

Hands-on activity

Family energy and resource audit

This activity connects science with math (data and graphing) and social studies (A3.2), and uses the research process (A1.1).

You need: paper, a pencil, a ruler and some sticky notes.

  1. Question: How can our family use less energy and fewer resources?
  2. For one week, keep a tally chart with four rows: lights left on in empty rooms, screens left on when nobody is watching, car trips that could have been a walk, bike ride or bus ride, and items put in the garbage that could have been recycled or composted.
  3. At the end of the week, make a bar graph of your tallies.
  4. Choose the biggest bar. Brainstorm three ways to make it smaller (mitigate it). Put sticky-note reminders where they will help.
  5. Do the tally again the next week. Did your family make a difference?

What to look for: a correct tally chart and bar graph, and three realistic ideas, like "put a sticky note by the light switch" or "keep a bin for recycling in the bedroom".

Safety: sort recycling only with a grown-up; cans and broken items can have sharp edges.

Your turn

1

Give one benefit of using energy.

2

Give two harmful impacts of using energy or natural resources.

3

What does mitigate mean?

4

What is the difference between a short-term and a long-term impact?

5

Name three ways a family can reduce its energy use.

6

Why should people who live near a planned dam be part of the decision?

More practice: warm-up

1

Short-term or long-term? Smoky air on the day of a fire.

2

Short-term or long-term? A forest that takes many decades to grow back.

3

Helpful or harmful? A furnace keeping a family warm in January.

4

Reduce, reuse or recycle? Fixing a broken chair instead of buying a new one.

5

Reduce, reuse or recycle? Walking to school instead of being driven.

More practice: on your own

1

Name one short-term and one long-term impact of driving a gasoline car.

2

How can protecting wetlands and forests help mitigate climate change?

3

A town has more heat waves than before. Suggest one way to prepare for this impact.

4

Why is buying a used bike a way to conserve resources?

5

In your family audit, the biggest bar was "screens left on". Suggest two ways to mitigate it.

Challenge

1

Choose a new wind farm. Give one benefit and one concern from two different perspectives.

2

Why is climate change called a long-term impact, even though a car trip only takes a few minutes?

3

A city must choose: (A) build a big parking lot or (B) build a bus lane and bike paths. Analyse one long-term impact of each.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

To mitigate an impact means to...

2.

Which is a long-term impact?

3.

Which is a way to reduce energy use?

4.

A new dam can affect...

5.

Planting trees helps mitigate climate change because trees...

6.

A perspective is...

For parents and teachers

Big idea (E1.1): analyse long-term impacts of human use of energy and natural resources on society and the environment, including climate change, and suggest ways to mitigate them. The family audit uses the research process (A1.1) and connects to math data management and social studies (A3.2).

How to help: do the audit together without blaming anyone; it's about the household, not one person. Talk about a local issue (a new road, a wind farm, a new subdivision) and ask "Who benefits? Who might be harmed? What could make it better?"

Common difficulties:

  • Seeing things as all good or all bad. Most choices have benefits and costs.
  • Forgetting long-term impacts. Ask "What will this be like in 20 years?"
  • Feeling helpless. Emphasize that many small actions add up, and that communities and governments act too.

We have deliberately not included statistics about energy use. If your child wants numbers, look up current data together from Natural Resources Canada or Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Safety: help sort recycling; tins and broken items can be sharp.