Req 7 — Choose a Future-Focused Topic
7.
Do ONE of the following:
You must choose exactly one option here. These four paths all look toward the future or the broader resource picture, but they do it in very different ways. One looks outward to space, one downward to the oceans, one back into the recycling stream, and one into prices and market trends.
Your Options
- Req 7a — Mining Beyond Earth: Explore how the Moon, asteroids, and other worlds could one day provide materials.
- Req 7b — Mining the Oceans: Study minerals from seawater and the seafloor, plus the environmental concerns of ocean mining.
- Req 7c — Recycling and Resource Recovery: Connect mining to recycling by tracking how metals and nonmetals are recovered after use.
- Req 7d — Commodity Prices and Trends: Use real data to study prices and five-year trends for mined materials.
How to choose
| Option | Best for Scouts who… | Main tools needed | What you will gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7a | Love science, space, and engineering | Research sources and note-taking | A big-picture view of future resource use beyond Earth |
| 7b | Care about oceans and environmental questions | Research sources and maps | A balanced view of marine mineral opportunities and concerns |
| 7c | Like sustainability and practical systems | Research sources and examples from daily life | A clearer understanding of how recycling supports resource conservation |
| 7d | Enjoy numbers, graphs, and economics | Reliable price data and simple trend charts | A feel for how markets influence mining decisions |
Choose the option that fits your strengths
All four are good, but they reward different kinds of thinking
- Pick 7a if you like NASA, robotics, and future missions.
- Pick 7b if you want to weigh resource demand against environmental uncertainty.
- Pick 7c if you want the most direct connection to sustainability in everyday life.
- Pick 7d if you want to work with real-world data and see how prices change over time.
Choose the topic that will lead to your strongest discussion, then follow the page for that option. The first one looks beyond Earth.