4. This short graphic novel is the
product of the creative work of
Forrest Reilly and Sydney Tanner.
This project has been made
possible through generous grants
from the Boettcher Foundation
and the Undergraduate Research
Opportunities Program at the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
We would also like to thank Marc
Bekoff for coaching us through the
process of creating an educational
graphic novel about ecosystem
science.
This book is entirely free of charge
and can be downloaded at
discardedgraphicnovel.com for
classroom and personal use.
© 2012 sydney tanner and forrest reilly

6. introduction
This book is about two journeys:
the first of a natural production
process and the second of a
human production process.
All processes require energy,
and along these journeys you
will see how energy is transferred
and how energy is consumed.
While reading, consider the
costs of these processes and the
wastes that are produced.
To begin, we must know that
almost all energy of living things
starts with the sun.

9. water
waste: oxygenproduct: sugar*
carbon dioxide solar energy
++
+
*plants use sugar to store energy

10. vocabulary
energy: the usable power that
enables something to do work
production: the creation of
something that is to be used
consumption: the ultimate use
of something
photosynthesis: the creation
of stored energy in the form
of carbohydrates using solar
energy, carbon dioxide, and
water
emissions: substances released
into the air
climate change: any significant
change in temperature,
precipitation, and wind over an
extended period
oil drilling: process of taking
crude oil out of the earth’s crust
fractional distillation: process
by which crude oil is separated
into a variety of products
by progressively raising it to
different temperatures
waste: superfluous material
resulting from production

11. 15 million years ago
one year ago
crude oil
pressure, heat, time
*
photosynthesis
*

13. crude oil truckingcrude oil trucking

14. 1382 °F698 °F302 °F
gasolinegasoline fuel oilfuel oil polyethylenepolyethylene
crude oil

15. polyethylenepolyethylene

16. 1. polyethylene pellet 2. bottle former + pressure 3. empty bottle

17. bottling plant

18. city water
bottling plant

20. bottling plant
meanwhile

21. carbon dioxide in
atmosphere1
in 1700
carbon dioxide traps heat inside atmosphere, contributing to climate change
in 2006
39%

22. energy to produce 32 figs4
energy to produce 1 bottle of water2
= energy to power 1 house for 1 hour3

23. trash

24. xl-
xl-251

25. xl-251
fig seeds

30. sources
1. Environmental Protection
Agency (2011). Atmosphere
Changes. Retrieved April 25,
2012 from http://www.epa.
gov/climatechange/science/
recentac.html
2. Gleick, P. & Cooley, H.
(2009, February 19). Energy
Implications of Bottled Water.
Environmental Research
Letters. Institute of Physics.
Retrieved April 24, 2012
from http://iopscience.iop.
org/1748-9326/4/1/014009/pdf/
erl9_1_014009.pdf
3. United States Energy
Information Administration
(2010). Electricity: Residential
Average Monthly Bill by Census
Division, and State. Retrieved
April 25, 2012 from http://www.
eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/esr/
table5.html

31. 4. Smith, Christopher (1972,
September 23). The distribution
of energy into sexual and
reproduction in wild strawberries
(fragaria virginiana). Kansas
State University. Retrieved April
24, 2012 from http://images.
library.wisc.edu/EcoNatRes/
EFacs/NAPC/NAPC03/
reference/econatres.napc03.
csmith.pdf