Grade 6 Social Studies: Sustainable Societies

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There are still family farms similar to those of an earlier era even in the most industrialized nations, but they are becoming fewer every year. There are also small-scale agricultural systems in many less-developed countries. But the trend almost everywhere is toward larger farms that are mechanized and that utilize the latest scientific agricultural methods to provide products more efficiently. In addition, sustainable agriculture—the production of food and animal products through methods that protect the environment, people, and animals—has become important in many countries of the world.

The term alternative energy refers to the use of any of various renewable power sources in place of fossil fuels and other traditional sources of energy. Alternative energy sources include, among others, solar power, wind power, waterpower, and geothermal energy.

Advances in Transportation
Technological advances in transportation have included the development of superspeed trains, such as Japan’s “bullet train” of the 1960s and France’s TGV (Train de Grand Vitesse) of the 1970s and 1980s. These advances gave engineers the inspiration to design such experimental railroad systems as the magnetic levitation, or maglev, train, which by the early 1990s had only short test systems set up in Germany and Japan. Improvements in power generation and transmission and concern for the air and noise pollution caused by diesel engines have prompted automobile makers to develop cars that will run on alternative types of fuel.

Among the more advanced systems proposed is the magnetic levitation, or maglev, train. Instead of wheels or steel rails, the system uses coils in the surface of the track, or guideway, to create a magnetic field that lifts the vehicles and propels them forward.

Depending on where in the world it is located, an underground electric-railway system may be called a subway, underground railway, tube, or metro. Subway trains are used to transport large numbers of passengers within urban and suburban areas.

It is probable that more people ride buses than any other kind of commercial motor vehicle. Buses carry passengers over certain routes in cities and towns and between communities of all sizes. They provide inexpensive but relatively slow transportation and can go where airplanes and trains cannot.

Rising populations and unprecedented levels of consumption made sustainability an important topic in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Sustainability refers to using resources in such a way that they will continue to be available in the future. Sustainability takes many different forms, but they all have some fundamental ideas in common. One is that the survival of humans depends on the natural environment. Another is that people must act with an awareness of the impact of their actions on the natural world. And a third is that people have a responsibility to balance the needs of the present day with those of future generations.

The recovery and reuse of materials from spent products—called recycling or materials salvage—is an ancient practice with many modern applications. In recent years recycling has become a major part of environmental policy, largely owing to the increased costs of solid- and hazardous-waste disposal, the scarcity of natural resources, and the growing concern over polluted land, water, and air.

Waste generation has grown along with industrialization but at rates that vary by country. The composition of municipal waste also has changed with industrialization. New processes, especially in chemical and nuclear industries, have led to the generation of highly toxic wastes that pose special health hazards.

A person’s social standing may be based on such factors as wealth, occupation, family relationships, ethnicity, religion, and level of education. The relative importance of these and other factors varies depending on the society. In the United States, for example, much less significance is attached to family relationships than in Great Britain, which has retained its hereditary aristocracy. The importance attached to a particular factor may also change over time. Historically, education was less significant as a determinant of social class in the United States than in many European countries. By the early 21st century, however, the decline in low-skilled jobs in the United States—combined with an increase in the number of jobs requiring a college degree—had strengthened the connection between socioeconomic status and level of education.

Social capital, concept in social science that involves the potential of individuals to secure benefits and invent solutions to problems through membership in social networks. Social capital revolves around three dimensions: interconnected networks of relationships between individuals and groups (social ties or social participation), levels of trust that characterize these ties, and resources or benefits that are both gained and transferred by virtue of social ties and social participation.

Governments have been a part of human history for thousands of years, and concepts of what a government should be and how it should be formed have changed much over that time. Political life is shaped by a wide variety of factors, including social and cultural conditions, economic organization, intellectual and philosophical influences, geography or climate, and historical circumstance. Thus, no two forms of government are identical. Each country’s government is a reflection of that country’s own environment, history, and political ideals.

Social justice, in contemporary politics, social science, and political philosophy, the fair treatment and equitable status of all individuals and social groups within a state or society. The term also is used to refer to social, political, and economic institutions, laws, or policies that collectively afford such fairness and equity and is commonly applied to movements that seek fairness, equity, inclusion, self-determination, or other goals for currently or historically oppressed, exploited, or marginalized populations.