Activity 6.2

USING ENERGY IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Aim:

When you have completed this activity you will have explored some of the consequences of obtaining and using energy in different ways.

Procedure:

• Read through the information about the different forms of renewable energy described in the Fact Sheet. Choose one of these forms of energy and look for consequences of its use in the text provided. Use this information, other sources and your own understanding of cause and effect to draw your own consequence wheel.

Directions for drawing your own consequence wheel:

• In the centre circle, write an event, for example ‘Widespread use of solar energy’
• Think of and write a direct consequence of this event in an oval and connect it to the centre with a single line. This is a first order consequence. Think of some other first order consequences and draw/write them in.
• Think of and record second order consequences. These are things that resulted from the first order consequence. Join it to first order consequences by a double line.
• Keep going until you can think of no more consequences.

(Note: Most events have positive and negative consequences. What is positive for some groups or environments may be negative for other groups or environments.)

Here is an example of a consequence wheel. The event is ‘Global Warming’. There are two first order consequences included. One of these is ‘rising sea levels’. A direct consequence of a rising sea level could be ‘loss of farming land in coastal deltas’. This is a second order consequence. A direct consequence of loss of farming land in coastal deltas may be a ‘shortage of food’. This is a third order consequence. A direct consequence of a shortage of food could be ‘increased food prices’. And so on. There are many more consequences not listed.

Available as:

PDF – Activity 6.2

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