Earth Hour

Hello, my-name-is.... oh, sorry! That was my robot. It was taking out the trash, and.. never mind. To the matter at hand. Does anyone who is reading this know about Earth Hour? During March 27th, everyone on this planet turns of their power. They turn of their lights, their heaters, everything they can. I want to show you guys something from a satellite image:

Sorry it's extremely big, but this picture delivers a huge message. Did you know that North America uses the most electricity as against other countries?Just looking at the picture tells you that. They are the largest consumers of electricity in the world. They use it for average homes, huge business, buildings, etc. An average home is North America uses about 14000 Kwh (kilowatts-hour) per year. To understand that, let me give you an example. An A/C in your house uses about 3.7 kilowatts. So in an hour, the A/C would use 3.7 kwh. A 100 watt lightbulb uses 0.1 kilowatts, because 1000 watts is a kilowatt.

But before the big detail, let me explain Earth Hour. It started in Sydney, Australia, 2007. 2.2 million households and buildings turned off their lights for one hour. You might think it's not a lot. But actually, they saved so much power that they could use the saved power to power up a whole city for a 3 days. So because Australia saved so much power, the whole planet got involved one year later and turned off their lights. 50 million people across 35 countries contributed by turning off their lights for one hour. That's how it started. Earth Hour is only for one day. But you can do so much more than just turn off your lights for one hour each year! You can turn your lights off everyday, try consuming as less much power as you can. You can turn off that television when no one is watching. Don't let the maths confuse you. Just try and save as much energy as you can, and you wouldn't need to worry about it! Oh man, my robot is munching away on lightbulbs again! I have to stop him, so buh bye, and remember, save power!!!

Woops..

Hey, sorry about not blogging recently. I didn't because there was a problem with blogger itself, so I couldn't update mine for some time. Then, I had my school March Break, so I wasn't in town for a week. But now, it seems that it is working, so I will be updating it from now on.

Operation: Vegetable Compost!

Did you know that Mother Nature can recycle a lot on her own? Let me tell you how this happens.

You know how dead leaves fall on the ground, and then eventually dissapear into the soil? This is because of all the micro organisms in the soil. They eat the dead leaves slowly, until there is no more left for it to eat. Some of the organisms in the soil include- Fungi, Worms, Insects, and other bacteria. Fact- One tablespoon of forest soil contains about 50 billion of these organisms? Unbelievable, isn't it? That is the start of a process that eventually ends up in fertilizing the soil tenfold, making it much richer that is was before!

So, now comes the amazing part. These foods are all examples of biodegradable items- Stale Bread, Grass, Vegetable Skins (Or peelings), eggshells, tea bags, etc. They are all compost-able. Which means you do not have to throw all those foods away in you compost bin. Why don't you place all those foods in our backyards or lawns? It does not pollute at all, and you are enriching the soil! So unlike most other items, you don't have to worry about pollution.

Now, here's something to think about: Why don't you start a compost program in your school? Tell a teacher or a principle, and then decide a particular place where you'll leave all your compost waste. Then, all you have to do and wait for mother nature do do the cleaning for you! Isn't that great?

Paper Saver Mode!

Ahoy! Let's get back to the important matter at hand. I think you know I am talking about saving the Earth. Anyway, just wanted to share with you what I found during my research. Hope you find it interesting!

Now, I am not sure what you do after you read a newspaper or finish writing on a piece of paper. You most probably throw it away right? Well, don't. Look at these numbers. If you recycle paper (which I hope you are doing), they are pulped and shredded. Then, they are turned into recycle paper and maybe even harder substances like cardboard. Fact: For every metric ton of recycled items, you are saving 17 trees, approximately 5,500 gallons of water, and you are saving 270 gallons of petroleum needed to make new paper. Now, that is a lot of life, money, and natural resources your saving. See, your saving lives by just throwing your paper in the recycling bin! To know what is recyclable, there will be a picture somewhere on the product. The picture is at the bottom of the page. It is 3 arrows all revolving behind each other.

I hope you are now informed about this issue. So, I just have one more thing to say. People who are reading this, it is time to change our mode to: Paper Saver Mode!!! Until next time, bye!

Recycling Time!

Hello again. Today, I just want to promote the importance of recycling. I know everyone says recycling is good, blah, blah blah! But do you know why recycling is so important? Do you know how much life you can save on Earth just by throwing away that paper in the recycling? Let me tell you.

Firstly, incineration (means to burn). I am sure you know that incineration plants are where garbage trucks go to, deposit the garbage there, and leave. Then, they burn all the garbage. Now, this is the good part. They make the heat which is used to burn the garbage into energy. That makes incineration sound good right? Think again. There are tons of toxins that pollute the air from the fire they use to burn the garbage. Now, these toxins include-Dioxins (causes cancer), and Acid Gas (which causes forests and wildlife to suffer). Now, they do have filters to purify the air, but that eventually also gets dirty and after a while, they need to get rid of that too.

Now, another option which we are doing right now is burying all the garbage into the soil. So we don't have to see it, or smell it. But do you know the consequences? Did you know that in Europe alone, there is more that a billion metric tons of garbage rotting in landfill sites? But back to what I was saying, the landfill sites contaminate the fresh ground water, and it also sometimes poisons the water. Now, the main problem. There is a gas that emits from the garbage called Methane.This is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Another example of a greenhouse gas that is harmful to the atmosphere is called Freon. This gas is emitted by refrigerators.

Now, I hope you are well informed about this problem, because I am very disturbed by it. I think we can stop it. Recycle everything you can. try respecting nature just like it has been to you.

River Trouble!

Hello people of Earth, and on that note; why don't we save the Earth? Here is another thing I found out during my research that I want to share with you. Did you know that farmers use fertilizers to speed up the growth of plants? Well, most of the fertilizers are made of nitrogen (a gas). Now, don't get me wrong, these fertilizers help the plants growth tenfold. But, most of the time, farmers use too much of the nitrogen. Now, because of that, the leftover nitrogen gets swamped away by rain and it goes into the nearby rivers. Now, the bad part. The extra nitrogen will also promote the growth of plants like algae. Now, normally, algae gets well fed, but because of the extra nitrogen, it starts growing out of control, and then it finally ends up taking up a lot of the oxygen, space and other essential minerals in the water. And because of that, the fish and the other plants finally start dying because the algae took up all the space and the nutrients. Think of this; if the only food on Earth was cookies, and the cookie monster ate all of the cookies, you would start getting hungry right Same feeling for the life in the water. You don't want to kill this guy, would you?

So now you know. If the sea is polluted with artificial (unreal) nutrients, the seaweed would grow and fill up the shoreline. That would be a problem for humans (because we have to clean up!), and it would be a problem for the marine life too because it is taking up space. Now, I want you to think about something: Whenever you throw your garbage into a stream, a gutter or a beach, it will most likely to end up in a river. Well, that's it. Bye for now!