Q1.
Make a list of activities you do in your daily life and write down the natural resources used directly or indirectly for each activity. In Table 11.4, some items are already filled in. Using them as a guide, fill the remaining blank rows.
Answer
Table 11.4 completed. Notice how almost every row ends up using more than one resource.
| Activity | Natural resource |
|---|---|
| Washing clothes | Water (given) |
| Making clay toys | Soil (clay), water, energy from the Sun to dry them |
| Collecting firewood | Forest (wood from trees) |
| Making kites | Forest (paper from wood), bamboo, air to fly them |
| Having breakfast | Soil, water and sunlight to grow the grain; plants and animals for food; natural gas or firewood to cook it |
| Drinking a glass of water | Water from a river, well or rain |
| Going to school by bus | Fossil fuels — diesel or CNG; minerals for the metal body |
| Reading and writing | Forest (paper), minerals (graphite in the pencil), petroleum (plastic pen) |
| Switching on a fan or light | Coal, water or wind used to generate the electricity; minerals in the wires |
| Breathing and playing outdoors | Air, and sunlight |
| Building a house | Rocks, sand, soil for bricks, water, wood, iron from minerals |
What the list proves: we cannot do anything in a day without natural resources. That is exactly why the chapter ends by saying we must conserve them and use them responsibly, so that we meet our present needs while also saving for the future without harming the environment.
Compare with a friend: your lists will not match — someone will have written “drawing a rangoli” (soil, colours from minerals) or “playing cricket” (wood for the bat, rubber for the ball). Every new activity adds a new resource.