100 Things to Know About Saving the Planet
How could
plastic-eating bacteria help reduce waste? Could we generate all the power we
need from the sun and wind? Would building a giant sunshade in space stop the
world from overheating? Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers, the Usborne
Fact Force are the go-to people to ask for top tips on saving our wonderful
planet. The Usborne Fact Force team meticulously researches and discovers
all of the very best facts and turns them into books for Usborne. And now
they’ve created a bold and colourful book filled with one hundred fascinating and
amazing facts about our environment – and what we can do to help save it. Read
on for a sneak preview of 100 Things to Know About Saving the Planet,where the Usborne Fact Force team have shared just some of their
favourite facts from their book.
Fact 6 chosen
by Alex Frith
What bag
should you use for shopping? Plastic, paper, cloth? Experts have tried to
determine which material is the most environmentally friendly. But they don’t
always agree. For example, plastic bags take a long time to rot away, but they
take hardly any energy to make. For paper and cloth, it’s the opposite. Instead
of worrying about what bag to use, the trick is to stop buying new bags of ANY
kind. When you go shopping, take a bag with you – it doesn’t matter what
it’s made from as long as you use it again, and again, and again…
Fact 17 chosen by Alice James
A colony of little penguins (also known as blue or fairy penguins)
on Phillip Island, Australia, can get poisoned by oil spilled in the sea. But
conservation workers there have been helping out by knitting the penguins tiny
woollen sweaters. The wool traps any oil floating in the water, which stops it
getting stuck in the penguins’ feathers, and keeps them safe.
Fact 36 chosen by Rose Hall
Often people throw clothes away just because they want to mix up
their wardrobes. But making clothes uses up lots of water and produces CO2.
So it’s better for the planet if fewer items are made, and each one is worn
over and over again. At a jeans library, a customer can rent out a pair of
jeans. When they’re ready for a change, they bring the jeans back and they are
washed, repaired and rented out to someone different. This results in each pair
of jeans being worn many more times than if they only had one owner, thus
saving water and reducing pollution too.
Fact 63 chosen by Tom Mumbray
The wrapping paper used for birthdays and special occasions
produces huge amounts of waste. Traditional Japanese cloths, known as
furoshiki, are a great waste-free way to wrap. These beautifully decorated
cloths can be used to wrap all sorts of gifts over and over again, saving roll after
roll of wrapping paper from the bin. When they’re not being used to wrap
presents, furoshiki can be transformed into a planet-friendly alternative to a
plastic bag.
Fact 77 chosen by Eddie Reynolds
The Arctic Ocean gets so cold every winter that a layer of sea ice
forms on the surface. Over the past few decades, the amount of ice has shrunk
because the Arctic is getting warmer. Scientists wanted to learn more so
devised an adventurous research mission. They sailed north and waited for the
sea to freeze around the ship thus locking them into the ice. Once the ice
platform became strong enough, they explored the icy island to set up camps and
research bases all around. Their new home floated across the sea – the
scientists didn’t know where it would take them.
Fact 98 chosen by Darran Stobbart
In the 1800s in the USA, the sight of the pollution clogging the
Ohio’s Cuyahoga river catching fire was seen by many as a sign of the success
of American industry. However, by the 1960s, a series of environmental
disasters had changed the way the public thought. When the Cuyahoga river
caught fire again in 1969 it sparked protests demanding action from the US
government. In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was founded to
regulate how big companies disposed of their waste to protect America’s natural
environments.
100 Things to Know About Saving the Planet was published on 3rd
September 2020 by Usborne Publishing
Any opinions expressed may not truly reflect those of the FCBG
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