Air, water, sunlight, soil, forests, rocks, minerals, coal, petroleum, natural gas, rivers, hills and animals.

• Most children can hold their breath for about 20–40 seconds.
• We feel uncomfortable and restless, and want to breathe again. Our body is not getting the oxygen it needs to work.
• So we need oxygen to survive; most living beings do.

Nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and argon, carbon dioxide and other gases (1%). Air also has some water vapour.

Yes, the firki rotates. Moving air (wind) pushes its blades and makes it rotate. A windmill works in the same way.

Chitradurga and Gadag wind farms (Karnataka), Muppandal (Tamil Nadu), Jaisalmer Wind Park (Rajasthan), Brahmanvel (Maharashtra), Dhalgaon (Maharashtra), and wind farms in Kutch (Gujarat).

• We feel thirsty, tired and uncomfortable.
• Uses: drinking, cooking, bathing, brushing teeth, washing clothes and utensils, cleaning the house, watering plants, giving water to animals, farming, and in industries.
• Sources: rain, rivers, lakes, ponds, wells, borewells, tube wells, springs, streams, tanks, and melting snow and glaciers.

• Activities that pollute water: throwing plastic and garbage into water; letting sewage and factory waste into rivers; washing clothes, vehicles and animals in rivers and ponds; using too many chemical fertilisers and pesticides that wash into water; immersing idols painted with chemical paints.
• Reduce pollution: do not throw waste into water; use dustbins; use eco-friendly idols; tell others to keep water bodies clean.
• Conserve water: close taps, fix leaks, reuse water, harvest rainwater, water plants by drip, and avoid wasting water.

• Karnataka examples: kalyanis (stepped temple tanks), kere (village lakes and tanks), and surangas (horizontal tunnels in hills that collect water) in Dakshina Kannada and Kasaragod. Elsewhere: Bawadi (Rajasthan), Vav (Gujarat), johads and tankas (Rajasthan).
• World Water Day (22 March): it reminds people that freshwater is limited and helps spread awareness about saving water, keeping it clean, and giving everyone safe drinking water.

Plants make food; drying clothes; drying grains, chillies, papad and mangoes; making salt from sea water; solar cookers; solar water heaters; solar panels for electricity; light during the day; keeping us warm; drying wet floors.

Surya is correct. Grass uses sunlight to make its food and grow. The cow eats the grass. So the energy the cow gets has come from the Sun; the Sun is the main source of energy. Just standing in the sun does not give the cow energy.

1. We may have to depend on artificial lighting during the day.
2. Plants cannot make food and will become weak; less food for animals and us.
3. It will become very cold.
4. Clothes, grains and chillies will not dry; solar panels and solar cookers will not work.

Wood (timber and firewood), fruits (like nellikai), honey, medicinal plants, gum, rubber, bamboo, paper, lac, spices and fodder for animals.

• Animals and birds lose their homes and food; some may die out.
• Soil is washed away by rain because no roots hold it.
• Less rainfall; floods and droughts become more common.
• The air becomes polluted and the place becomes hotter.
• Forest people lose food, medicines and their way of life.

Role play or poem idea: “Trees fell down one by one, birds flew far, the rains were gone…”

Petrol and diesel are the most commonly used fuels.

Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.

• Car-pool (share rides).
• Switch off the engine at traffic signals.
• Keep tyres properly filled and vehicles serviced.
• Use solar cookers, solar heaters and electric vehicles.
• Switch off lights and fans when not in use, since much electricity comes from coal.

• Use electric or CNG vehicles, public transport, bicycles, or walk.
• Plant more trees.
• Do not burn garbage, leaves or plastic.
• Use LPG or solar cookers instead of wood and dung cakes.
• Use solar and wind energy.

(i) (b) Petrol · (ii) (b) Water

• Renewable: forests
• Non-renewable: coal, natural gas, minerals

Petroleum formed from the remains of tiny organisms and plants buried deep in the earth over millions of years. It is found in limited amounts. Once used up, it cannot be made again within a reasonable time. So it is non-renewable.

• Trees grow slowly; a big tree takes many years, even 50–100 years, to grow.
• A forest is not just trees: it has many kinds of plants, animals, insects and rich soil that take a very long time to develop.
• Once trees are cut, rain washes away the fertile soil, so new plants grow with difficulty.

Breathing; burning fuel (fire needs air); flying kites; drying clothes; windmills making electricity; sailing boats; birds flying; winnowing grain.

• Plant trees on birthdays and during Van Mahotsav, and look after them.
• Grow plants in pots and kitchen gardens.
• Do not cut or harm trees; tell others not to.
• Use less paper; recycle paper.
• Start or join an eco-club plantation drive.

1. Solar energy (energy from the Sun), using a solar cooker.
2. Benefit: it is free, renewable and causes no smoke or pollution. Drawback: it does not work at night or on cloudy or rainy days, and it cooks slowly.

• Roots hold the soil. Without trees, rain and wind wash away the fertile top soil (soil erosion).
• Fallen leaves decay and add nutrients to soil. Without trees, the soil loses these nutrients.
• Without shade, the soil dries up and becomes hard and less fertile.

• Burning fossil fuels in vehicles gives smoke and carbon dioxide.
• Factories, and burning garbage, plastic and crop waste, release smoke and harmful gases.
• Action: use public transport, bicycles or electric vehicles, and plant more trees.

• The solar panels would make little or no electricity, so the family would have power problems.
• The gas stove would still work, so cooking would not stop.
• The windmill would still pump water whenever the wind blows.
• Over a longer time, plants would not make food, and it would become cold. (Wind itself is caused by the Sun heating the earth unevenly, so winds would also become weaker.)

Report: Cutting trees for development

• We do need houses and industries, and they need wood and land.
• But cutting trees on a large scale is not fully justified: it causes soil erosion, less rain, pollution, heat, and loss of homes for animals and birds.
• A forest takes many years to regrow.
• Better ways: cut only what is needed; plant more trees for every tree cut; use recycled wood and other materials; build in already cleared areas; protect forests by law.
• Conclusion: development should go together with protecting trees.

1. Form a “water watch” team of students in the eco-club.
2. Check taps and pipes for leaks and get them fixed.
3. Put up “Close the tap” posters near taps.
4. Use push taps or reduce flow in washbasins.
5. Collect water left in bottles and from handwashing for plants.
6. Set up rainwater harvesting from the school roof.
7. Water the garden in the morning or evening, using drip or a can.

How it helps: less groundwater is pulled out, wells and lakes stay full, less electricity is used to pump water, and students learn good habits to take home.