Home, town and region
Your home is where you live: a house, a flat or a farm hut. Many homes together form a village, town or city. A village is small and often near farms. A city is big, with many people, tall buildings, shops, offices and busy roads.
Many towns and villages together in a wide area with similar land, weather or culture form a region. A region may have hills, a river, forests or farmland.
To describe where you live, answer: Is it a house or a flat? Is it a village, town or city? What is near (school, park, market, river)? Is it quiet or busy? What is the weather like? What do you like and dislike about it?
Useful places in a town: school, hospital, bus stop, market, park, post office, library, police station, temple, mosque or church.
Types of area: rural, urban, coastal, mountain
- Rural area: villages, farms, fresh air, fewer services.
- Urban area: towns and cities, many jobs, transport and schools, but noise and traffic.
- Coastal area: near the sea, fishing and ports.
- Mountain area: cold, steep land, beautiful views, harder travel.
Each has good points and bad points. People choose by work, family, cost and what they love.
Environmental problems
The environment is everything around us: air, water, land, plants and animals. A problem appears when we spoil it. This is called pollution.
- Air pollution: smoke from factories and vehicles, burning rubbish. It can cause cough and breathing trouble.
- Water pollution: waste and chemicals in rivers and seas.
- Land pollution and litter: plastic and rubbish thrown on the ground.
- Noise pollution: too much loud sound.
- Cutting trees (deforestation) and wasting water and power.
- Climate change: the Earth is getting warmer because of gases from burning fuel.
What we can do: environmental action
Everybody can help, at home, at school and in the town:
- Plant trees. Trees give shade and oxygen and take in carbon dioxide. A tree may take in about 20 kg of carbon dioxide a year (a rough figure).
- Use clean energy like solar power, and switch off lights and fans.
- Use fewer cars: walk, cycle, use the bus or train, share rides.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle (the 3 Rs). Use cloth bags, not plastic.
- Use bins and keep places clean.
- Save water: close taps, fix leaks.
- Join school clubs and local clean-up days. Governments can make rules, build cycle lanes and clean rivers.
Try it
In the 3D: go to the last step. Predict first: with 20 cars, 0 trees and no clean energy, how is the air? Then check. Next, make cars 5, trees 20 and press "Clean energy". What changed most?
At home: walk around your street and count three problems (litter, smoke, noise) and three good things (trees, a park, a clean river). Write one action you will do this week.
Key formulas and definitions
- Home < town / village < city < region
- Environment = air + water + land + plants + animals
- Pollution = harmful stuff in the air, water or land
- Action = Trees, Solar power, Bins, Bikes (T-S-B), plus Reduce-Reuse-Recycle
- A tree takes in about 20 kg of carbon dioxide a year (rough figure)
Worked examples
1. Describe the place where you live in four short sentences.
Example: I live in a flat in a big town. There is a park and a school near my home. The roads are busy and noisy. I like the park but I do not like the smoke from traffic.
2. A town has smoky air because of many vehicles. Suggest two actions.
Use buses, bicycles and walking instead of cars, and plant trees along the roads. A bike lane and better public transport also help.
3. A school plants 50 trees. If each tree takes in about 20 kg of carbon dioxide a year, how much do they take in together?
50 × 20 = 1000 kg of carbon dioxide a year (a rough figure).
4. A town has 12 cars each making 3 units of pollution. A bus replaces 6 of the cars and makes 5 units. What is the new total?
Before: 12 × 3 = 36. After: 6 cars left = 18, plus the bus 5 = 23 units. Pollution fell by 13 units.
5. Rahul says: "I am just one person, my action does not matter." How would you reply?
If many people each do a small thing, the total is big. 50 children planting one tree each gives 50 trees. Small actions add up.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the sizes: a region is bigger than a town, and a town is bigger than a home.
- Thinking pollution is only smoke. Water, land and noise pollution count too.
- Thinking only the government must act. Home and school actions matter.
- Planting trees but not looking after them. A young tree needs water and care.