Welcome

Welcome to issue 20 of Green Kids. This edition we take a look at climate change and what we can do at home to help reverse the damage that is being done to our planet. Climate change is one of the most serious, long term threats faced by planet Earth. Let’s find out more...

Contents:

3 About climate change 4 Marble fun 6 Letters and pen friends 7 Advent calendar tree 8 Puzzles and jokes

Help, my ice caps are melting!

What c auses climat e chan ge? Some cha nges to th e climate happen fo r natural reasons. These usu ally happ en over a very l ong perio d of time. The main cause o f climate change is humans. We cut down fore sts to mak e room fo r farming. Trees s oak up ca rbon diox ide so with few er trees, t here is a build up of ca rbon diox ide in the air. Then we burn fue ls such as coal, oil and gas for energy, a nd this rel eases gree nhouse g ases into t he air.

FACT

FACT

Editor Melissa Corkhill Design Jez Harris. Green Kids is printed on recycled paper using vegetable based inks. To write to us: Green Kids, PO Box 104, Lewes, BN7 9AX Tel: 01825 872858 Website: www.thegreenparent.co.uk Evidence is a ll

around us

The sea ice in the Ar ctic has

shrunk by around 1 m illion

square kilometres (th e size

of 200 football pitch es). The

ten hottest years on record

have all occurred sin ce 1991.

And sea levels are o n the

rise, increasing the l ikelihood

of flooding and hom es being

destroyed.

FACT

What can we do about climate change?

By saving energy in the home we can reduce the amount of carbon that is released into the air 1You can save on the heating bill by making sure your home is well insulated and there are no draughts - make a sock snake, like the one on page 8! 2Recycle as much as you can. Paper, plastic, glass and metals can all be recycled. 3When shopping, choose things with less packaging. 4Don’t leave electrical equipment, like TVs and computers on standby they can use up to 75% of the electricity they use when turned on. 5Wearing t-shirts in winter and turning the heater up is just silly, put on warmer clothes. 6Remember to turn the lights off when you leave the room.

We can’t do anything about the wasteful past but we can change the future.