Environmental News this week...

In the last month 55 million Americans have experienced below zero temperatures in the states of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota. North Dakota has experienced temperatures as low has -32° Celsius and Minnesota -52° Celsius. This is extremely important since it affects the citizens of these states in extreme ways. According to the National Weather Service wind at -32° Celsius can freeze the human skin in about 15 minutes, this is dangerous for all the homeless people living in America who could die because of this.

This fall in temperatures has caused authorities to close schools and government offices temporarily, and cut all flights arriving and coming to the affected states. This also caused a problem since when this happened the Super Bowl was just days around the corner and the fans of the teams where expected to arrive during those days.

This is because of the polar vortex having a sling causing the cold temperatures to make it farther north in America than usual. Of course we all know that this is a result of Climate Change a problem caused by us, humans. We are putting ourselves in danger because we are not taking advice from what the analysis and experts are telling us about this problem. It is time to make a change.

 Frozen Lake in Michigan

Climate change report

"Things that normally happen in geologic time are happening during the span of a human lifetime," says Fagre. "It's like watching the Statue of Liberty melt."

We listened to the following 20 minute podcast in Environmental Enrichment last week. we found it incredible and think it's really important that everyone listens to it...

What can we do right now about Climate Change?

Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are dying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.

"If we don't have it, we don't need it," pronounces Daniel Fagre as we throw on our backpacks. We're armed with crampons, ice axes, rope, GPS receivers, and bear spray to ward off grizzlies, and we're trudging toward Sperry Glacier in Glacier National Park, Montana. I fall in step with Fagre and two other research scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey Global Change Research Program. They're doing what they've been doing for more than a decade: measuring how the park's storied glaciers are melting.

So far, the results have been positively chilling. When President Taft created Glacier National Park in 1910, it was home to an estimated 150 glaciers. Since then the number has decreased to fewer than 30, and most of those remaining have shrunk in area by two-thirds. Fagre predicts that within 30 years most if not all of the park's namesake glaciers will disappear.

Planting in early years!

Last thursday we started the project that we had planned in Environmental Club. We went down to Nursery to plant some radish seeds with the little children. We sat down with them and explained them the process of planting seeds and then went and did it.

The best bit is that we planted the radish in yogurt pots which we had recycled from our lunch. The children were really interested in the plants and were waiting to find out if they would grow. This Thursday we went back.. and here are the photos of the plants!!! When they reach the target height of 5cm, the Year 1 pupils will plant them out in the garden.

Julia and Cristina 1º ESO

 

Environmental News this week...

Greta Thunberg is 16 years old and is from Sweden. This girl in August of 2018 made the decision to stop going to school on Fridays and instead use her time to raise awareness about climate change by picketing outside the Swedish parliament, this made headlines. What Thunberg wanted to do was pressure the Government to act on a legislation to reduce carbon emission with Paris. Since she did this in August she has attended the World Economic Forum and the COP24 Inited nations climate change summit.

READ MORE HERE!

Bill McKibben and 350.org

Bill McKibben

William Ernest McKibben, commonly known as Bill McKibben, was born on the 8th of December 1960 (he is now 58 years of age). He attended high school in the suburb of Lexington, Massachusetts and in 1978 (age 18) he entered Harvard University. In 1980 after the election of Ronald Reagan he decided to dedicate his work for an enviormental cause. 

In 1989 McKibben released his book titled The End of Nature that is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change and in the 2013 won of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize and in 2014 won the Right Livelihood Prize. He is also the founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide climate change movement. This organism which has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country except North Korea and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.

McKibben is still passionate about is work and wants to write about 12 more books and to expand his knowledge on Climate Change.

Thanks to Gabriela for sharing what she found out about Bill and his movement!!

  350.org  

Environmental news this week...

The new diet that could save the planet!

According to a study about sustainable diet, we are allowed to eat 1 meat burger a week OR 1 steak a month in order to keep our personal resource use and carbon footprint at a sustainable level. The change is to eat more legumes, vegetables and nuts to get protein in other ways... and this would be more healthy too!

The article comes from a newspaper aimed at secondary school students called The Day

READ IT HERE!

Recent Environmental News...

Dog Food made from insects 

The first dog food made from insects goes on sale this week in the United Kindom. This is a new project to help reduce the damage we do to the environment. In present time it is estimated that our pets consume 20% of the meat and fish and is also responsable for a quarter of enviormental impacts of meat production. 

By making dog food from insects we reduce the amount of cow meat dogs have in there food. By doing this we also reduce the amount of demand we have on cow meat and by that we help on global warming since the gas the cows release is bad.

If you are worried about your dogs health there is no need. Insects provide a relatively high 40% of the protein, they are very nutritious, contain essential proteins, fats, minerals and amino acids and are also easy for animals to digest. 

Read more...

Thanks to Gabriela and Samuel for sharing the news!

Environmental News this week..

Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are speeding up the already fast pace of sea level rise, new satellite research shows. At the current rate, the world's oceans on average will be at least 2 feet -- 61 centimeters -- higher by the end of the century compared to today. Also this has a great impact on the animals such as penguins and polar bears. The ice melts so the animals die. This can also cause greats tsunamis and flood.

Read more

Thanks to Bruno Bofarull for finding the news!

Getting our hands in the soil!

This week a group of 1ºESO EP implemented a planting workshop they had prepared for the Reception class. They organised the materials and planted seeds : parsley, cat grass, pansy and other flowers. All these plants were chosen because they grow quickly and are adapted to a cold environment (winter is coming!).

Thanks to Carlota Carulla, Hugo Thackwray, Anna Rosell from 1ºESO for doing this project, and to our photogaphers Tatiana Mussons and Valentina Latorre and Hugo Thackwray

At the same time we had our IB CAS environmental team leading a gardening session on the Batx/IB roof. This week they were checking on the seeds they planted two weeks ago, and harvesting useful plants from the garden to share with the school community!

Planting on the Batx / IB roof!

Two IB1 students are running some gardening sessions with students from 2ºESO, after deciding what to plant and planning it, they have planted seeds today...

We planted corn, lettuce, carrots, flowers. We planted corn, lettuce and carrots because they
were all autumn/winter food and so that we could eat it in school as they are healthy. We also
planted flowers because we discovered that if you plant flowers with food the insects will go to
the flowers and not to the food.
Our experience was great, we had a great time planting plants. We enjoyed working in teams
with IB girls, and we learnt how to plant.
Next week we want to see if our plants have grown and if something goes wrong, for example,
they are rotten, we will take the plants out.