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Phenomenal Friday Fact
Palm trees grew at the North Pole about 55 million years ago.
The Earth is an amazing planet. As we celebrate Earth Day this April 22, consider the changing environment and take steps to protect it for the future.
Check out books and movies about nature and the environment.
11% of the Earth’s surface is used to grow crops.
Saturday, March 23, 2013 marked the seventh year that people around the world participated in Earth Hour. From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., businesses, individuals and governments around the globe turned off the lights, computers, and TVs.
Hundreds of millions of people in 7,001 cities in 153 countries across the continents participated this year! With people on all 7 continents pledging to do their part and create a sustainable future, we can reduce the energy footprint on Earth.
Did you and your family participate in this year’s Earth Hour?
Water is a very important resource for life. Every day we use it for drinking, washing, farming and cooking. But it’s not an unlimited resource, so we need to find ways to use it more wisely.
The Colorado River is one source of water that is disappearing. It stretches 1,450 miles (2,333 kilometers), but can barely even reach the sea anymore. The water is split up among seven states in the U.S. and Mexico. Around 30 million people use this source of water for drinking and irrigation. This means that there is little water left over to support the ecosystem that lives along the river’s path.
It may be hard to believe, but we all use the water from the Colorado River. It isn’t just farmers who use it for irrigation or big cities like Las Vegas. Many of us consume items produced in the region, such as hamburgers and cornmeal.
Did you know that the average American uses twice as much water as the global average? That’s about 2,000 gallons per person every day!
To make a difference, adults are pledging to change what they do on a daily basis, by eating less meat or carpooling. For every pledge that an adult makes, Change the Course will help put back 1,000 gallons of water to the Colorado River. Ask your parents if they want to learn more about Change the Course.
And yes, please do turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth. Every drop counts.
What will you do to change the course?
National Geographic Explorer, Enric Sala will spend the next month exploring the Desventuradas Islands off the coast of Chile. He will lead the Pristine Seas Project, which aims to find, survey and help protect the last wild places in the ocean.
Sala, a marine ecologist, is dedicated to finding ways to reduce human impacts on sea life. Between February 8th and March 7th, he will look for ways to preserve one of the last pristine environments left in South America.
During the trip, the team will use a submarine that has 360-degree vision and spherical glass drop cameras to film depth up to 4,000 meters (2.5 miles)!
Although lions are known as the kings of the jungle, their numbers have been dwindling due to a loss of habitat and prey. Humans have been encroaching on the lion’s home turf by cutting down trees to create farmland and other developments. This causes the lions to lose both their home and favorite foods.
Ask your parents if you can donate to National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative!
Any amount will do, but five dollars can buy a lion guardian to protect the big cats.
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Boost Your Happiness: Help the Planet!
After much observation and research, scientists have found some easy ways to make you feel happier. Make a difference! You’ll get an ego boost and feel better about yourself knowing you’ve done something nice for someone else. Or how about being nice to Mother Earth? By taking shorter showers, recycling, or organizing a clothing swap, you can help the planet and make a difference! Try making a change for the better in your community, school, or home. Then enjoy those happy feelings. Who knew being green could make everyone so much happier?
Photograph by LittleMissMagic, NG Kids My Shot
Welcome to Green Scene’s new look! If you already have a NG Kids blog account, click “Login” to the right, and then “Lost Password” to get your new account password.
In a few days, Green Scene will be getting a whole new look! The commenting will be turned off for several days while we move into the new design. Thanks for reading Green Scene!
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Every year, Americans throw away 16 billion diapers, 1.6 billion pens, 2 billion razor blades, 220 million car tires, and enough aluminum to rebuild the U.S. commercial air fleet four times over.
Learn more about how to recycle and turn your trash into treasure. Help the kung fu trash master learn to recycle!
Photograph by Katinutt101, NG Kids My Shot
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Every year, garbage and plastic bags thrown into the ocean kill up to 1,000,000 sea creatures!
Read about what kids like you are doing to clean up coastlines!
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Around 10,000 homes in the U.S. run exclusively on solar electricity.
Check out a contest where students compete to build the best solar-powered house.
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Did you know there are an average of 27 oil spills around the globe on a daily basis? Some are small scale, but others can be giant, like the Gulf Oil Spill that occurred in 2010.
Phenomenal Friday Fact
The average household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year. Most is packaging and junk mail.
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
An estimated 80,000,000 Hershey’s Kisses are wrapped each day, using enough aluminum foil to cover over 50 acres. That’s almost 40 football fields! All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.
Learn how you can recycle aluminum foil and cans and why it’s so important.
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
Phenomenal Friday Fact
