Lesson video

Hello.

My name is Mrs. Gulliver and I'm so happy that you are joining me for this geography lesson today.

Our lesson today is called Solving the energy problem, and it's from our unit on energy, how we power the world.

By the end of the lesson today, you will be able to explain who is responsible for the energy problem and who can help solve it.

Now, some of the learning might be a bit new for you today, but that's okay because I'll be with you the whole time to help you through it.

We've got four key words for our learning today.

So I will say them my turn, and then I will give you a chance to say them, your turn.

So our first word, my turn, government, your turn.

Great.

My turn, stakeholders.

Well done.

Campaign.

Brilliant.

And finally, carbon footprint.

Well done.

We'll be learning about these words as we go through the lesson, but let's have a quick look at their meanings.

So a government is the group of people who are in charge of running a country.

A stakeholder is a person who has an interest in a given resource.

A campaign is a series of planned actions carried out in order to reach a particular goal.

And a carbon footprint is a measure of the total amount of greenhouse gases that are released as a result of our actions.

Our lesson is split into two parts today, and the first part is, who is responsible for the energy problem? So people all around the world at the moment are trying to solve the energy problem.

And when we talk about the energy problem, what we mean is how can the world produce enough energy for everyone's needs without continuing to use fossil fuels? So as we know, we use energy in so many different ways every single day, and we want to, as the world, find a way that we can keep producing enough energy without using fossil fuels, coal, oil, or gas.

Here's your first check of the day.

So, what is the energy problem? A, we need to stop everyone using energy.

b, we need to produce more energy from fossil fuels, or c, we need to produce enough energy for everyone's needs without continuing to use fuels.

Have a think with the person next to you.

Well done.

It's c.

Now, every person on the planet has a carbon footprint.

Do you know what that means? A carbon footprint is a way of measuring the total amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are released as part of our daily life.

So it might be when we get in the car and drive somewhere, there will be some carbon dioxide released from using the car, or if we use a product at home that will have been made using energy.

And when that was made, some greenhouse gases may have been released.

It's also possible to calculate the carbon footprint of a product, a business, or even a country.

Another check for you then, A carbon footprint measures, a, the total amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are released as part of daily life, or b, how much walking people do in a year, or c, how much driving people do in a year.

Well done.

That one's a, carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are released as part of our daily life.

At the moment, the carbon footprint of many people, businesses, and countries in the world is too high.

There's still too many greenhouse gases being released into our atmosphere, and this is especially true in richer countries.

We're gonna have a think about people who are responsible for the energy problem.

And individuals are sometimes responsible for the energy problem.

They can contribute to it.

Why do you think this is? Have a good think.

Well, there are many ways why individuals are sometimes responsible for the energy problem.

And Andeep is helping me here.

And he says, "Some people drive petrol cars for journeys they could walk.

Some people buy more things than they need and the things that we buy take energy to produce." So they are just two ways how individuals are sometimes responsible and contributing towards the energy problem.

How about governments of countries then? Because they're sometimes responsible for the energy problem as well.

Why do you think this is? So again, there are different reasons why governments are contributing to the energy problem.

Alex is helping you this time, and he says, "Some governments don't make laws that help reduce fossil fuels.

They may decide to burn coal or gas to produce electricity, and be still relying on those fossil fuels instead of finding alternative methods of powering our world." And then finally, let's have a think about businesses because they're also sometimes responsible for the energy problem.

Why do you think this is? Again, there's different ways that businesses are responsible for the energy problem.

Sophia's helping me today.

She said, "Some businesses use materials that take a lot of energy to produce when there are good alternatives.

They may also make decisions that mean staff have to travel more than needed, and that travel could be contributing to the energy problem." True or false, businesses are not responsible for the energy problem.

Is that true or false? Well done.

That's false.

Got two statements to help you justify your answer.

Do you think that it's false because a, individuals are responsible for the energy problem or b, governments, individuals and businesses are responsible for the energy problem? Well done.

That one's b, governments, individuals and businesses are all responsible for the energy problem.

Here's our first task for the day, and I'd like you to write down or explain to your partners three things that are wrong with Jacob's statement.

And Jacob is saying, "The energy problem is that we need to produce enough energy for everyone's needs without continuing to use fossil fuels like coal and wind power.

This is all the fault of individuals because they use too much energy by driving cars and buying things.

This is a problem and we can't do anything about it." So I would like you to spot three things that are incorrect with Jacob's statement and tell them to a partner or circle them and note down why they are incorrect.

Have a go at this and I'll see how you get on in a little bit.

Did you find the three things that were wrong in Jacob's statement? Here's what I found.

Jacob said that we're continuing choose fossil fuels like coal wind, but wind power is not a fossil fuel, It's a renewable energy, so it doesn't produce greenhouse gases.

Something else I spotted was that Jacob thought its all the fault of individuals and know that individuals have contributed to the energy problem, but so have governments and businesses, they're all responsible for the energy problem.

The final thing I noticed was that Jacob said we can't do anything about the energy problem, and that's incorrect because there are things we can do including trying to reduce our use and reliance on fossil fuels.

And we are going to find out a bit more about that now.

Great job with that first task.

So for the second part of the lesson, we're gonna be finding out about who can help solve the energy problem.

And I've got a question for you, first of all, because there are a range of different stakeholders who can help to solve the energy problem, there are a range of different organisations of people.

What different stakeholders can you think of who can help to solve the energy problem? Well done.

It's our learning from early in this lesson could help us with this because governments can help us to solve the energy problem, businesses can help us to solve the energy problem, and yes, you've guessed it, individuals can help us to solve the energy problem.

We're going to have a look at each of these in turn now and how they can help to solve the energy problem.

Which stakeholders then can help to solve the energy problem.

A little check for you.

Is it a, individuals b, government, c, businesses or d, emergency services? And make sure you tick all that apply.

Well done.

A, b, and c, individuals, governments, and businesses can all help to solve the energy problem.

So we'll have a look at what governments can do first of all.

The government of a place or country is the group of people who make laws and take decisions on behalf of all the people who live there.

They make decisions about things that affect everyone, like education and schools, roads, healthcare and hospitals and climate change.

And the government collect taxes to pay for all of these services.

So to pay for emergency services like the police and the ambulance service, or to pay for schools and teachers, to pay for roads and healthcare.

Governments can take action to help solve the energy problem by passing laws and giving advice to businesses and individuals.

What sort of laws might a government pass to help with the energy problem? Think with the person next to you.

I've got some examples of some of the laws that countries have passed, have put in place to help with the energy problem.

We're going to start by looking at a law that has been introduced in Great Britain, the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate.

And this law came in in January, 2024 in Great Britain, and it's a new law which states that by 2030, 80% of all new cars and 70% of all new vans sold in Great Britain will need to be zero emission.

And that means they're not allowed to release carbon emissions like electric vehicles.

By 2035, this will increase to 100% of all new cars and vans sold in Great Britain.

So by 2035, all cars, new cars and vans that are sold in Great Britain must be zero emission.

They're not allowed to release any carbon emissions, and that's a law that Great Britain has passed to try and reduce the carbon emissions that are being emitted in Great Britain.

Another example is in China where the government have introduced the Natural Forest Conservation Programme and China passed a law to plant, conserve, restore, and manage 70 billion trees in China.

The government aims to reduce deforestation and to increase the size of the carbon sink in China to absorb carbon emissions.

So they're trying to make sure that there are more plants and trees in China to help absorb carbon emissions and remove them from the atmosphere.

And then finally, in Costa Rica, the government have passed what they've called the Decarbonization Plan.

And 95% of Costa Rica's electricity production already comes from renewable sources, so isn't based on fossil fuels, mainly from hydroelectric power.

And there's a picture of hydroelectric electric dam there in Costa Rica.

However, by 2030, the government aims for 100% of electricity production to come from renewable sources so that there are no carbon emissions released in their production of electricity.

So that's three examples of the sorts of laws that governments can create to help solve the energy problem.

Now all around the world, governments are also working together to try and solve the energy problem.

And since 2015, the Paris Agreement has been signed by the governments of 196 countries with a focus on sustainability.

So nearly every country in the world has signed this agreement and a key part of the Paris Agreement has called for countries to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so governments can also work together to try and solve the energy problem.

The 2015 Paris Agreement is a, for countries to improve business links between nations, b, for countries to discuss global issues or c, for countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Which one of those best explains what the Paris Agreement is? Well done.

It's c.

So going to have a think about some of the things that businesses can do now to help solve the energy problem.

And businesses are also important stakeholders.

For better or worse, they have a huge impact on the environment.

Businesses can take action by reducing their energy usage and through making and creating new environmentally friendly products.

And we'll have a look at some examples now.

So IKEA has taken action to try and help solve the energy problem by reducing their energy usage.

IKEA now only sells LED lighting, and LED lights require less energy to run.

The significant portion of the world's energy use is for lighting.

So IKEA introduced bulbs that are 35% more energy efficient so that their stores and all of their customers can use less energy.

If you go to IKEA now, you can only buy LED lighting, which will help people who are buying those bulbs save energy.

Apple also taking actions to try and reduce their energy use.

And for some of the Apple watches which are made, all of the manufacturing is powered by 100% renewable electricity.

So they're not facing that electricity, they're not creating it and generating it with fossil fuels.

Apple has its own large scale solar and wind farms and has also helped manufacturing partners to create and invest in their own solar and wind projects as well.

So they're trying to power their productions through more and more renewable energy to help solve the energy problem.

Got a check for you.

Businesses can help solve the energy problem by a, making products that use less energy, b, making more products for people to buy or c, using renewable energy to power their businesses.

And you make sure you tick all of those ones which apply.

Well done.

I'm sure you identified a businesses can make products that use less energy and C businesses can use renewable energy to power their businesses as well.

Finally, we have a look at individuals, how we, as individuals can take lots of significant small actions which together can add up to make a big difference.

So I'd like you to have a think now.

What actions can you take to help with the energy problem? I'm sure you came up with lots of brilliant ideas.

We are going to have a look at three key things that we can do as individuals to help solve energy problem.

So we can take lots of actions to help with the energy problem.

And one key thing that we can do is, we can campaign and join protests on important issues.

Everyone, including children, can talk to other people and campaign for action to solve the energy problem.

So you might campaign for people to use less energy at home or you might campaign and join protests for people, use their cars less.

You might campaign to try and encourage people to use more active travel, all sorts of different ways that you can try and help people reduce how much energy that they use.

As you get older, you could also vote for political parties that want to help reduce global warming and that want to help reduce the use of fossil fuels and help to solve the energy problem.

And finally, we can all choose to reduce our energy use in a range of ways.

There are lots of things, small things that we can do at home and at school to help us use less energy.

You might be familiar with Greta Thunberg.

She's an individual who's made a significant difference to the energy problem by campaigning and raising people's awareness.

And she started making a difference when she was only 15.

So she's a Swedish climate activist and when she was 15, she was so concerned about what she had learned about climate change that she stopped going to school and instead sat outside the Swedish parliament and started the school strike for climate movement.

She has inspired millions of people to campaign against climate change and has spoken to world leaders about how they could help to solve the energy problem.

So that's an example of one individual who's made a significant difference around the world about raising people's awareness of the energy problem.

So I've got a final check for you today and I've got all of these different methods that we can do to help solve the energy problem.

And I want you to identify which of the methods can be carried out by governments, which can be carried out by businesses and which can be carried out by individuals.

So the first one, a, campaign and protest on climate issues.

So you need to decide if that's for government, best for governments to do businesses or individuals.

B, use renewable energy to power factories, c, use active travel instead of vehicles for journeys, and d, pass laws to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

So have a think which of those are the best methods for governments, businesses, or individuals to take? Well done.

Did you have a good think? So, a campaign and protest on climate issues, that's a great idea for individuals to do.

And b, use renewable energy to power factories.

That's a good idea for businesses.

To use active travel instead of vehicles for journeys, individuals, we can all do that.

And d, to pass laws to reduce the use of fossil fuels, that's something that governments can do to help with the energy problem.

We have only got one planet Earth and we all need to take action to ensure that it's still here for future generations to enjoy.

So we all need to try and help by taking little actions that can help solve the energy problem.

It's the responsibility of everyone on Earth to help solve the energy problem.

Here's your final tasks for this lesson.

So task number 1, in your own words, I'd like you to explain what the energy problem is.

And then for task 2, I'd like you to describe at least one way each of the three key stakeholders can help to solve the energy problem.

So tell me one thing that governments can do to help solve energy problem, tell me at least one thing that individuals can do and at least one thing that businesses can do to help solve the energy problem.

I know you're going to have a great go at these tasks and I'll see you in a bit to see how you've got on.

I'm sure you tried really hard with this task to explain the energy problem in your own words.

And you might have written something similar to me.

You might have said, our current way of living around the world relies on energy for many everyday activities.

However, to produce energy, fossil fuels are often burnt, which release carbon emissions that are harming our environment.

The energy problem is about trying to find ways to produce enough energy for everyone's needs without continuing to use fossil fuels.

And then having a think about what each of the three stakeholders can do to solve the energy problem.

You may have included some of the same ideas as me.

You might have said that governments can pass laws to ensure more energy is produced using renewable energy sources for businesses.

You might have said they can develop new technologies and methods which use less energy in the production of goods and services.

And for individuals, you could say, we can ensure all lights are switched off when rooms are not in use, or we can stop using the tumble dryer and dry clothes naturally instead.

Actions we can all take to help solve the energy problem.

So finally to summarise, our learning about the energy problem, our modern way of life relies on and uses energy every day.

The energy problem hopes to address how the world can produce enough energy for everyone's needs without continuing to use fossil fuels.

A range of stakeholders, governments, businesses, and individuals can all take action to help reduce energy use and carbon footprints.

Everyone, including children, can talk to other people and campaign for action to solve the world's energy problem.

Thank you so much for joining me for this geography lesson today.

I hope to see you again soon.

Bye.