Example for Grade 11: Explanatory – Sunflower - ID: 1181

Cultivating sunflower seeds has become a huge discussion around the world for many reasons. Sunflower seeds have proven to be useful in many different ways, all the way from cooking, to aesthetic reasons. Sunflower seeds can be used to create biofuel, but also may have economic implications that could be a benefit to our society. Through the past years, people have grown to see sunflowers as a plus to the community and have taken strides to grow and cultivate them for many different purposes.

Sunflower seeds can be cultivated for many reasons, one of them being biofuel. Because of the recent industrial revolution, fuel has become a necessity to society. Fuel is a high price to pay for many people who struggle day to day and also causes major pollution to the atmosphere. Many people have searched for cheaper, more efficient, and less economically damaging ways to run their cars and get to work. People have found ways in which sunflower seeds can be used to create biofuel. Planting sunflower seeds is a win-win situation because they are beautiful to look at, but also can be cultivated to create biofuel. One way that they can make biofuel is by planting the sunflower seeds, harvesting them, taking the seeds, pressing them for their oil to create biodiesel and biofuel that could help run hybrid cars, so that people wouldn’t have to use as much fuel (Source #2). The oil from seeds are very useful because they can be used for cooking (which is cheaper and healthier than olive oil) and they can also be used to help run cars (which saves people money and is better environmentally) (Sourve #1). There are many ways sunflower seeds can be formed into biofuel, but there are also many economic implications of this process too.

Turning sunflower seeds into biofuel can be good or bad depending on the way you look at. It is good because it doesn’t cause as much pollution to the atmosphere and is reusable, but could also have some economical problems. Although it will, in the end, be cheaper than fuel, the process for creating that much biofuel from the seeds would call for many workers and employees. More employees and workers means more money needed to pay for all that work and energy put in to not only growing and harvesting the sunflowers and their seeds, but also pressing them and extracting the oil from them (Source #2). Keeping the sunflowers well and growing is a tedious and arduous task and environmental factors could play a major part in how many sunflowers actually live to see harvest day. If for some reason there is a fire, it could burn away all the sunflowers, so that all the hard work being put into keeping them intact goes to waste, and ends up costing more than expected. Or if there is too much rain, it could drown all the sunflowers and cause them die, also wasting money. The economic implications for using sunflower seeds for biofuel is a risk that must be taken if society is ready to give up their hunger for fuel, and move on to a more environmentally productive source. Biofuel could help by costing less because its reusable, which would save a community tons of money, which they could use on other projects; or it could run a society into debt if the environmental factors are not cooperating with the harvest.

Sunflower seeds could be made into biofuel, but only with much help from everyone, including the environment. Therefore, it could either be a benefit to the economy, or be a disaster, depending on how everything works out. Starting this project as another fuel source could be a major boom, or a major bust, but it is a risk that is needed to be taken if society is ready to take a step forward to creating a greener and more efficient earth.