Energy and Climate Literacy

Contributors: Jim Covel, Sarah-Mae Nelson, MS, CIG/CIT

Energy is life and how we use energy resources shapes life on Earth in more ways than many people realize. Over the years many scientists and science communicators have come to understand that energy and climate change are intricately linked. In order to make change to mitigate and adapt to climate change, we must examine our use of energy and change how we handle energy resources.

This training module is designed to give foundational science information about energy and climate literacy in addition to interpretive techniques that make communicating this information simple and direct.

Why Is Energy Important?

Energy is essential to life and all living organisms. The sun, directly or indirectly, is the source of all the energy available on Earth. Our energy choices and decisions impact Earth’s natural systems in ways we may not be aware of, so it is essential that we choose our energy sources carefully. The true cost of energy is more than just dollars and cents; there are important economic, political and social factors and consequences to consider as well.

Energy Powers All Living Systems

Nearly everything eats sunshine – or eats something else that ate sunshine. The Sun is the major source of energy for organisms and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Producers, such as plants and algae, use energy from sunlight to make food energy by combining carbon dioxide and water to form organic matter. This process begins the flow of energy through almost all food webs.

Food is sunshine stored in chemical form. Organisms use the stored energy in food to fuel all living processes. Food is organic molecules that serve as fuel and building material for all organisms. The breakdown of food molecules enables cells to store energy and to carry out the many functions of the cell and therefore the entire organism.

For resources in addition to those featured below, see Lesson 2.4—Energy and Carbon.

Lesson Take Away:

Energy is essential to life and all living organisms. The sun, directly or indirectly, is the source of all the energy available on Earth.

Human Energy Use Impacts Natural Systems

Humans rely on sunshine (and stored energy), too. Humans are a part of—not apart from— Earth’s ecosystems. Humans influence energy flow and are modifying the energy balance of Earth’s ecosystems at an increasing rate.

Changes in the availability of energy affect ecosystems. The amount and kind of energy available limits the distribution and abundance of organisms in an ecosystem and the ability of the ecosystem to recycle materials. When humans modify the energy balance, we impact the ability of the ecosystems to react and adapt to variability in the environment.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Our energy choices and decisions impact the Earth’s natural systems in ways we may not be aware of, so it is essential that we that we choose our energy sources carefully.

The Ask:

Conserve resources – energy, water, food, and materials – whenever possible. All resources are part of Earth’s energy balance.

Energy and Economic Circumstances

Energy decisions are influenced by economic circumstances. The cost of energy affects energy decision making at all economic levels. Energy costs are subject to market fluctuations, and the energy choices by individuals and societies affect these fluctuations. Costs also vary depending on the type of energy and the expense to generate it.

Generally, people with lower incomes have less financial influence over where their energy comes from. Similarly, people with higher incomes have greater influence financially over energy choices and, by voting with their dollars, they impact the type of energy available to society as a whole.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

The true cost of energy is more than just dollars and cents, there are important economic factors and consequences to account for as well.

The Ask:

Choose products with the highest energy efficiency you can afford. Whenever possible, choose to purchase electricity generated with the least amount of carbon dioxide produced.

Energy and Political Factors

Energy decisions are influenced by political factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, governmental structure and power balances, actions taken by politicians, and partisan-based or self-serving actions taken by individuals and groups.

Politics is defined as “the activities associated with the governance of an area.” Citizens elect officials to represent them in government, but citizens often forget the true influence they have. Supreme Court Associate Justice Louis Brandeis said, “The most important political office is that of the private citizen.” Citizen-driven community action is how many major national changes have been accomplished.

Lesson Take Away:

The true cost of energy is more than just dollars and cents, there are important political factors and consequences to consider as well.

The Ask:

Encourage decision makers to listen to their constituents and be a constituent who informs decision makers about sustainable energy solutions.

Energy and Social Impacts

Energy decisions are influenced by social variables, such as beliefs, values, attitudes and knowledge. Questions of ethics, morality, and social norms affect energy decision making at all levels. Social factors often involve economic, political, and environmental factors, too.

Humans are social by nature. We act in ways we believe will help us fit in with our social group. Social norms are standards of behavior shared by a particular social group (of any size) and govern how the group behaves. Individuals who wish to conform to the group typically demonstrate social norms. The actions of individual members are influenced by psychological pressures, such as how a behavior is exhibited and how the group approves/disapproves of that behavior. These norms are then enforced either by the internal feelings of the individual (positive/negative) or external group sanctions (reward/punishment).

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Energy Issues—Foundations of Life: Switch Energy Project

Lesson Take Away:

The true cost of energy is more than just dollars and cents, there are important social factors and consequences to consider as well.

The Ask:

Small subgroups can transmit and maintain norms that run counter to the behaviors of the overarching society or culture. Work to make counter-culture energy conservation the new normal.

Essential Energy Information, Concepts, and Themes

Energy flows through food webs in one direction, primarily from the sun to producers then to consumers and, finally, to decomposers.
Energy comes in many forms. It can be converted and stored.
Energy conservation does not mean decreased quality of life, but often leads to improved quality of life through increased economic and national security, reduced environmental risks, and monetary savings. The way humans use energy has lead to rapid climate change across the planet.
Humans harness energy from any available resource and the demand for energy is ever increasing. Earth has limited energy resources. Renewable energy provides countless opportunities for economic growth, job creation, improving quality of life, and much more.

Energy and Nature

Photo credit: NSF Polar Programs

Energy flows through food webs in one direction, from the sun to producers then to consumers and, finally, to decomposers. Continual input of energy, from sunlight, keeps the process going. At each level in a food chain, some energy is stored by the organism, but most of the energy is used by the organism to sustain itself. An organism that eats lower on a food chain is more energy efficient than one eating higher on a food chain. Eating producers is the lowest, most energy-efficient level at which an animal can eat.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Energy flows through food webs in one direction, primarily from the sun to producers then to consumers and, finally, to decomposers.

Energy and Society

Social standing and access to technology affects energy use by human society. Technological or social change can therefore reduce the amount of energy used by society. Decreased energy use does not necessarily mean decreased quality of life. In many cases, energy conservation can improve quality of life through reduced environmental risks, increased economic and national security, and monetary savings.

Access to cheap, reliable energy resources has shaped the structure of society. Since the industrial revolution, the impacts of fossil fuels, burned to produce energy, have further defined social structure. Poor communities often accept dirty energy facilities because these facilities also provide much-needed jobs. This has lead to groups of people being marginalized socially, environmentally and physically. As impacts once thought to be confined to these marginalized communities are now being realized by the global community, the need to move to clean, reliable, cheap sources of energy has become paramount.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Energy conservation does not mean decreased quality of life but can improve quality of life through increased economic and national security, reduced environmental risks, and monetary savings.

The Ask:

Work with your community to save energy, share your energy-saving success stories, and strive to create a cleaner, healthier community.

Energy and Carbon

All life on Earth is based on carbon, in part because most energy on Earth is stored as carbon compounds. Plants and algae—including phytoplankton—are the primary means of storing carbon in natural systems.

Burning plants—particularly fossil plants that have converted over time to coal, oil, and natural gas—is the most common way humans release carbon into the air (in the form of carbon dioxide, CO2). For the health of the planet, we need to have a balance between releasing carbon (CO2) and storing carbon. Currently, humans are releasing carbon at a rate faster than it can be stored, leading to changes in Earth’s atmosphere and ocean.

Energy and Climate Change

Human energy use has driven the planet into its current climate state. Since the Industrial Revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has forced so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that the Earth’s natural balance has been destabilized, resulting in climate change.

Earth is the only planet known to support life. Earth is finite and humans cannot continue literally burning through such valuable resources. The energy for life on Earth comes ultimately from the sun, and generating power from solar and other renewable energy sources will be what sustains humanity’s future.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Human energy use has lead to rapid climate change across the planet.

Human Energy Use and Consumption

Humans transfer and transform energy from the environment into forms useful for human endeavors. Currently, the primary sources of energy used by humans include fuels, like coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, and biomass. All these fuels—except biomass—are nonrenewable. Primary sources of energy also include renewables, such as sunlight, wind, moving water, and geothermal energy.

Fossil fuels contain energy captured millions of years ago from sunlight by living organisms. The energy in fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal comes from energy that producers (plants and algae) captured from sunlight long ago. Energy stored in these fuels is released by burning them, which also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Human demand for energy is increasing.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Humans harness energy from any available resource and the demand for that energy is ever increasing.

The Ask:

Be efficient and economical with your energy use. This leaves more energy for all—including you—in the future.

Limits

Various sources of energy, and the different ways energy can be transformed, transported, and stored, each have benefits and drawbacks.

Earth has limited energy resources. Increasing human energy consumption places stress on the natural processes that renew some energy resources; it depletes those that cannot be renewed.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Earth has limited energy resources.

The Ask:

Keep your energy footprint small—not just the electricity you use but also the energy used to extract, produce, and transport the items you use every day.

Opportunities

Industry, transportation, urban development, agriculture, and most human activities are closely tied to the amount and type of energy available. Historically, the availability of energy resources has been limited by the distribution of fossil fuels. Advances in renewable energy generation and distribution present countless opportunities for economic growth and job creation.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Renewable energy provides countless opportunities for economic growth, job creation, improving quality of life and much more.

The Ask:

Ask for renewable energy from your power company. The only way renewable energy generation will increase is with increasing demand.

Energy Actions, Solutions, and Outcomes

Each person influences the future use of energy by the choices made today. The best source of additional energy is conserved energy. Energy decisions made in the past created today’s energy infrastructure. These decisions set the range of possibilities open to future generations. Identifying the costs and benefits—even the less obvious ones—of each energy decision requires a careful and informed systems-based approach to decision-making.

Choosing Our Energy Future

Humans use energy constantly. Energy decisions are influenced by economic, political, environmental, and social factors. Energy decisions are made at the individual, community, national and international level. Decisions made beyond the individual level often involve a formally established process of decision-making that attempts to take into account all influencing factors.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

Each person influences the future use of energy by the choices made today.

The Ask:

Choose energy-efficient technology when purchasing products and renewable energy sources when purchasing power.

Management through Conservation and Efficiency

Behavior and design affect the amount of energy used by society. One way to manage energy resources is through conservation. Individuals and society can take action to conserve energy. These actions might come in the form of changes in behavior or changes to the design of technology and infrastructure.

Additionally, because the amount of energy used can be calculated and monitored, we can measure our conservation success.

For resources in addition to those featured below, follow these links:

Lesson Take Away:

The best source of additional energy is conserved energy.

The Ask:

Use less energy—it usually costs less.

Smart Policy and Leadership for a Healthy Energy Future

Past decisions—made by governments, corporations, and individuals—created today’s energy infrastructure. The considerable money, time, and technology invested in these systems makes changing the infrastructure difficult, but not impossible. The decisions of one generation set the range of possibilities open to future generations.

As individuals and societies make energy decisions, they consider the costs and benefits of each decision. Some costs and benefits are more obvious than others. Identifying all costs and benefits requires a careful and informed systems-based approach to decision-making.

Products and services carry with them energy costs that we don’t pay directly. These costs are often paid by those least able to afford it—wildlife, the environment, underprivileged populations, and future generations.

Lesson Take Away:

Energy decisions made in the past created today’s energy infrastructure. These decisions set the range of possibilities open to the future generations. Identifying the costs and benefits— even the less obvious ones—of each energy decision requires a careful and informed systems-based approach to decision-making.

The Ask:

Choose representatives who share your sustainable values.