East Africa has been hit by the worst drought in over 60 years. More than 10 million people are in danger of starving in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti. The last ten years in the Horn of Africa have been extremely dry with droughtscoming more often than usual. The rainy season in eastern Africa is normally between November and December […]
The Copenhagen Summit was a United Nations conference that continued the series of global talks on our climate. The first such conference about the future of our climate took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol set standards to reduce greenhouse gases, but these standards were only for some countries. In December 2009 governments and heads of state from 192 countries got together in Copenhagen, […]
From buying local to saving water, here are a few ways to make our world greener. Persuade your boss to take action When you’re at home, you probably already turn off the lights when you leave the room. But what about at work? Companies have huge bills, and waste resources, by leaving lights on. Lighting makes […]
Mountain gorillas are one of the most endangered animals in the world. Scientists think that there are only about 600 mountain gorillas left. They live in the higher regions of the rain forests in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. Mountain gorillas are strong, with long muscular arms and a big chest. They have thick black hair that protects them from the cold in high […]
It is a desperate time for the world’s tigers. There were once a lot of thesemajestic creatures throughout eastern and southern Asia. Now, wild tigers live only in small areas of India, China, eastern Russia, and a few other countries.Conservationists have been working for decades to save the big cats but the number of wild tigers continues to drop. There were an estimated 100,000 tigers […]
Scientists made an alarming discovery in the 1980s. They found out that theaverage temperature of the Earth’s surface was slowly rising. This trend is called global warming. Today we know that global warming is increasing because more and more gases get into the atmosphere. Greenhouse effect A greenhouse is a glass house in which plants grow. The glass lets light in and at the same time […]
Air pollution is caused by many things the increasing number of cars on our roads growing cities the fast development of our economy industrialisation Air pollution, as we know it today, started with the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 19th century. In the last few decades, it has become the major problem for ourenvironment. Clean air is normally made up of nitrogen (76 %) , oxygen (22%) , carbon […]
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest oil spills in history. In the months that followed the disaster millions of litres of oil flowed out into the ocean. The oil leak off the coast of Louisiana is even greater than the Exxon Valdez disaster which occurred off the coast of Alaska when a tanker ran aground in 1989. On April 20, […]
Ozone is a kind of oxygen in which each molecule has three atoms instead of two. The formula is O3 . Ozone is often produced when electricity passes through the air. That is why there is often an unpleasant smell after a thunderstorm or around electrical equipment . Ozone is a blue gas that is explosive and poisonous .It is denser than oxygenand condenses into a dark blue liquid at – 112° C. This liquid freezes […]
The carbon footprint shows how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a person produces in everyday life. It measures the amount of fossil fuels and electricity someone uses up as well as the carbon footprint of the products they buy. When we use our cars or heat our homes with oil or natural gas, carbon dioxide andvarious other gases are set free. These emissions lead to a denser atmosphereand global warming. You […]