Sun, Wind, and Water: Three Sources of Epicness
Hey, this is Jack at My Epic Blog. Today I'm going to talk about . . . natural resources! Some of my favorite things are natural resources. Here are three of my favorite natural resources:
wind ...
water...
and my favorite, the sun.
By now, you've probably figured out what a natural resource is, but I'm going to tell you anyway. A natural resource is anything that comes from nature that people can use. People cannot create natural resources. We can only gather them up from the Earth. Along with my three favorites that I've already shown you, there are other natural resources, including:
Some natural resources are renewable, and some are nonrenewable. What's the difference? Well, the words kind of give it away. A renewable resource is one that grows or comes back after we use it. A nonrenewable resource is one that does not grow, and it doesn't come back after we use it, at least not for a VERY long time.
I started this blog with examples of some of my favorite natural resources. They also happen to be the renewable kind, (wind energy, water, and solar energy).
I'm sure you've heard of some of these nonrenewable resources: coal, oil, and natural gas. These are considered fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, and were formed from the REMAINS of DEAD PLANTS AND ANIMALS! Did you know that? The remains were exposed to heat and pressure from the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. The heat and pressure turned them into crude oil, coal, and natural gas!
Because fossil fuels are made from the remains of plants and animals, they are, technically, renewable. The problem is, the conversion of the remains into fossil fuels takes MILLIONS of years to form, sometimes even more than 650 million! We don't have that kind of time, people. Especially at the rate that we use up these fossil fuels. So . . . consider them nonrenewable. Got it?
People use nonrenewable resources, like fossil fuels, for more than 86% of our energy needs. The problem with fossil fuels is that they tend to dump lots of carbon dioxide into the environment, which leads to global warming. So, why not use renewable resources instead? Well, the answer has two parts. Part one: fossil fuels produce huge amounts of energy per unit, compared to renewable resources, which leads to part two: fossil fuels are much cheaper than renewable resources. And we like cheap.
There are some advantages to using renewable resources. Take solar energy, for example.
Here are three advantages:
1. It's renewable.
2. It's nice and quiet. Gathering energy from the sun makes no noise at all!
3. It creates absolutely no pollution. Go solar energy!
It's really important to conserve natural resources. Conservation means to protect, preserve, and manage natural resources. Conservation is important because some of the things we want to conserve take millions upon millions of years to create, and some things we want to conserve are essential for us to live healthy lives. Like clean air, clean water, and good soil so that we can grow crops and feed livestock. Many of the things we want to conserve contribute to the quality of our lives, like having enough energy to fuel our planet.
There are many, many ways to conserve. Sometimes people refer to it this way: rethink, reduce, recycle, repair. It's basically about trying to use-up less of the stuff that we have and to use all things in the smartest way possible. For example, we can:
Thanks for reading my blog.
air . . .
wood . . .
oil . . .
and coal.
Some natural resources are renewable, and some are nonrenewable. What's the difference? Well, the words kind of give it away. A renewable resource is one that grows or comes back after we use it. A nonrenewable resource is one that does not grow, and it doesn't come back after we use it, at least not for a VERY long time.
I started this blog with examples of some of my favorite natural resources. They also happen to be the renewable kind, (wind energy, water, and solar energy).
I'm sure you've heard of some of these nonrenewable resources: coal, oil, and natural gas. These are considered fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, and were formed from the REMAINS of DEAD PLANTS AND ANIMALS! Did you know that? The remains were exposed to heat and pressure from the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. The heat and pressure turned them into crude oil, coal, and natural gas!
Because fossil fuels are made from the remains of plants and animals, they are, technically, renewable. The problem is, the conversion of the remains into fossil fuels takes MILLIONS of years to form, sometimes even more than 650 million! We don't have that kind of time, people. Especially at the rate that we use up these fossil fuels. So . . . consider them nonrenewable. Got it?
People use nonrenewable resources, like fossil fuels, for more than 86% of our energy needs. The problem with fossil fuels is that they tend to dump lots of carbon dioxide into the environment, which leads to global warming. So, why not use renewable resources instead? Well, the answer has two parts. Part one: fossil fuels produce huge amounts of energy per unit, compared to renewable resources, which leads to part two: fossil fuels are much cheaper than renewable resources. And we like cheap.
There are some advantages to using renewable resources. Take solar energy, for example.
Here are three advantages:
1. It's renewable.
2. It's nice and quiet. Gathering energy from the sun makes no noise at all!
3. It creates absolutely no pollution. Go solar energy!
Unfortunately,
to every yin there must be a yang, and to every advantage, there must
be a disadvantage. Here are three disadvantages to solar energy:
1. You can't harness the energy of the sun when it's cloudy, rainy, or at night.
2. Harnessing solar energy is very expensive. You have to buy expensive solar cells and solar panels.
3. The solar cells and panels tend to look ridiculous. No one really wants to look at that all day.
Wind energy means energy generated by using wind turbines to create electricity.
Here are some advantages:
1. It's renewable.
2. No nasty smoke or smells.
3. Wind turbines don't take up much space. They use much less space than a power station.
Are there any disadvantages? Of course there are:
1. Wind is, well, unreliable. You really can't count on the wind to
be strong enough to generate power on a consistent basis.
2. Wind turbines create LOTS of noise pollution. They can sound like jet planes! Who wants that?
3. Placing wind turbines can be very destructive to the surrounding environment.
Hydroelectric energy means generating electricity through the use of flowing water. Most of us know it as a dam.
Here are some advantages:
1. It's renewable.
2. It doesn't release pollutants into the air.
3. It helps collect drinking water. Really. Hydroelectric plants
collect rainwater, which can be used for drinking if we need it.
There are some disadvantages, but you already knew that, didn't you?
1. Dams are extremely expensive to build!
2. The rainwater that is collected covers the land, obviously. That means that good land can be destroyed.
3. Dams can break, and when they do, they cause flooding, which can cause destruction and death.
It's really important to conserve natural resources. Conservation means to protect, preserve, and manage natural resources. Conservation is important because some of the things we want to conserve take millions upon millions of years to create, and some things we want to conserve are essential for us to live healthy lives. Like clean air, clean water, and good soil so that we can grow crops and feed livestock. Many of the things we want to conserve contribute to the quality of our lives, like having enough energy to fuel our planet.
There are many, many ways to conserve. Sometimes people refer to it this way: rethink, reduce, recycle, repair. It's basically about trying to use-up less of the stuff that we have and to use all things in the smartest way possible. For example, we can:
- use less paper if we do our homework on the computer;
- use less paper and plastic if we recycle everything that we can;
- replace as many trees as we cut down for our use;
- try to limit industrial development so that we save some of our planet's green space;
- drive cars with really high miles per gallon of gasoline;
- turn off all electrical appliances when we're not using them.
Thanks for reading my blog.
