Science Starter Grab a Environmental Science Book Read pages 36-37 The government has decided to cut down all of the trees along a local highway route. Using what you have read, write a letter to your local congressman about the advantages of having plants around and how they contribute to our environment. When you are finished, put the book back and sit silently. No music.

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis Photosynthesis is the process of making food by plants The essential ingredients in making this food are sunlight, the chlorophyll that is present in green plants, water and carbon dioxide in the air.

Water is taken in through the roots of the plant and transported to the leaves by the xylem (tubes that carry water) in the stems.

Carbon dioxide animals breathe out from the air goes into the leaves through the tiny pores called stomata and is spreads to the cells that contain chlorophyll in the inside layer of the leaf.

Sunlight is used to break down the water in the plant into oxygen which the plant gives off and we use to breathe.

Photosynthesis is necessary not just for plants to make food for themselves, but for animals, including us eventually.