Transcript File

Think about it:
 What do we use
plants for?
 Plants
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› Food – fruits and
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vegetables
Medicine – natural/herbal
remedies and narcotics
Clothing – cotton, linen,
hemp
Paper – pulp, rice paper
Building materials – wood,
linoleum, textiles, insulation
Fuels and oils
Dyes and pigments

Plants are needed in all ecosystems
› They use the sun to produce energy for all
food chains
› They produce oxygen for animals to breathe
› Plants use carbon dioxide (a greenhouse
gas) which cleans polluted air.
A single tree can produce enough
oxygen for 2 humans
 Tree After Death
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Humans eat vegetables
and fruit.
 75% of the worlds food
supply is based on 7 major
crops
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Wheat
Rice
Maize (corn)
Potatoes
Barley
Cassava (yucca)
Sorghum (grain)
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Chocolate comes from the cocoa tree in
tropical areas
Beans are spread to dry in the sun
They are roasted, shelled, and crushed in a
factory
Cocoa butter
and powder
are separated.
Cocoa powder
is mixed with
milk to make
chocolate.
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Some seaweeds are
nutrient rich
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Seaweed is often
part of pasta sauces,
sushi, soups, ice
cream, chocolate
milk, pies, jellies and
candies
Edible oils mostly come from plants
 Most vegetable oils are from canola
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› Corn
› Olive
› Peanut
› Soybean
› Rice
› Palm
› Sunflower
½ of the worlds sugar
comes from sugar
beets
 Grown in the north
(Canada & Russia)
 The sugar is in the roots
 The beet is shredded,
heated in water and
the clear liquid that is
left evaporates into
sugar.
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Plants provide fibre for a
variety of needs.
› Clothing
› Paper
› Shelter
› Transportation
› Saps and byproducts are
used
› Living Bridge
The most commonly
used natural fiber.
 Absorbs moisture and
allows it to evaporate.
 The fibers of cotton
are strong, flexible,
and have a gradual
spiral that allows it to
be spun into thread.
 Fuzzy fibers too –
cotton batting
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Clothing in the 1800s was often made
from hemp
 Hemp:
› produces a lot of fiber
› grows very quickly
› Paper can be recycled many more
times than pulp and is very strong
› Is a hardy plant – no need for
insecticide
› Cannabis Economics
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Grown in northern cooler
climates
 Fibers are 2-3 times stronger
than cotton.
 Naturally smooth and
straight
 Used for making clothes,
linens, and paper
 Grown for linseed oil: dry oil
in paints, use in linoleum,
printing inks.
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Over 700 medicines: heart drugs, cancer
meds, antibiotics, and pain meds come
from plants.
 Ginger roots can sooth an upset
stomach.
 Natives used the bark of white willow to
kill pain which was turned into aspirin
 Echinacea, aloe and other natural
remedies are from plants
 Herbal teas soak remedies out of the
leaves of plants
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Opium poppies are
used to produce
morphine a
powerful painkiller
used in hospitals.
 Codeine is a cough
suppressant from
poppies.
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Quinine from the
Cinchona is used to
prevent malaria.
 Until Quinine came
along malaria killed
2 000 000 people a
year.
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Rubber is a very
important plant
product
 It’s from the
Brazilian Rubber
Tree
 Shoes, tires,
playgrounds,
erasers, tubing,
and many more
uses
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Wood is still used by over a billion people to
heat their homes, and cook their food.
 Coal was once living
plants compressed
by pressure into a
fossil fuel.
 Linseed oil, Tung oil,
castor oil (paints),
lubricants, cosmetics
and other industrial
uses are met by
plants
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Biofuel is fuel made from plant based products
 It is an alternative to fossil fuels
 Sugar in plants can be distilled into ethanol – corn
especially
 Ethanol Fuel
 Bio Fuels
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