Environment
Primary 6 · English
Environment
Lesson 1 of 4
18 min
Let's begin
After umuganda, Ishimwe and her father rest on the hillside above their village. "Everything we need is down there," her father says, pointing at the valley.
Ishimwe sees only a river, some trees, fields and sunshine. "That's nothing special," she says. "Those are natural resources," her father answers. "Without them there would be no food, no houses and no light." Today you will learn what natural resources are, and why some of them can run out.
A natural resource is anything from the natural world that people can use. Air, water, sunlight, soil, wood, wind, animals, fish and minerals are all natural resources. Nobody made them. They were already there.
People change natural resources into man-made (artificial) things. Clay from a valley becomes bricks. A tree becomes a table. Fast-moving water turns the machines in a power station and becomes electricity. The clay, the tree and the moving water are natural. The bricks, the table and the electricity are made by people.
A renewable resource can be used again and again, because nature replaces it. Sunlight, wind and water are renewable. Trees are renewable too, but only if new ones are planted, and they take many years to grow. Even soil is renewable only if we look after it: when rain washes it off a bare hillside, it takes a very long time to form again.
A non-renewable resource does not come back, or it takes millions of years to form. Oil, coal, natural gas and minerals such as tin are non-renewable. Every time we use them, there is less left. Most natural resources are limited, which means they can run out, so we must use them carefully.
| Resource | Where you find it in Rwanda | Renewable? |
|---|---|---|
| water | rain, springs, rivers and lakes | yes, if we keep it clean |
| soil | the fields on our hills and in our valleys | yes, if we stop it washing away |
| forests | Nyungwe, Gishwati and planted woodlots | yes, if we plant new trees |
| wild animals | the national parks | yes, if we protect them |
| sunlight | everywhere | yes |
| methane gas | deep under Lake Kivu | no: it forms far more slowly than we use it |
| minerals (tin, tungsten, coltan) | mines in the hills | no |
Careful! Water, soil, air and sunlight are uncountable: you cannot say two waters. They take is: Soil is used for growing crops. Countable plurals such as trees and minerals take are.
Worked example
describe wood as a resource in two sentences.
Step 1 Say where it comes from and whether it is renewable: Wood comes from trees, and it is renewable if we plant new trees.
Step 2 Say what it is used for: It is used for building houses and to make furniture.
Tip
Can nature make it again soon?
Ask this question about any resource. If nature can replace it in a lifetime, it is renewable. If it takes millions of years, it is non-renewable. And remember: renewable does not mean endless. A forest cut faster than it grows will still disappear.
Answer each one, then check.
Is a plastic chair natural or man-made?
Answer: man-made. People make it in a factory, from oil.
Is wind renewable or non-renewable?
Answer: renewable. The wind keeps blowing, however much we use it.
Is tin renewable or non-renewable?
Answer: non-renewable. Once it is dug up and used, nature does not replace it.
Write is or are: Soil ___ used for growing crops.
Answer: is. Soil is uncountable, so it takes a singular verb.
Why are trees renewable only if we look after them?
Answer: because they grow back only when new ones are planted, and they take many years to grow.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each natural resource to the man-made thing people make from it.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
