A study supervised by Alex Wissner-Gross from Harvard University says that two searches on Google pollute the same amount as making a cup of tea: 7g of CO2 for each search. Google disagrees and says that it only produces 0.2 g of CO2 for each search.
By Kyle Pearson
Nowadays the world has a big problem: pollution. Some people think that it’s a question of politicians, that the problem can be solved by everyone, that what a single person does is insignificant, but that is the wrong position to take, because can we really believe in politicians, after CiU scrapped the Ministry of Environment?
Well, here I propose a few things than can help to save the planet from global warming:
-Don’t leave the charger of the mobile phone, computer, iPod,... connected to the plug when you aren’t charging them, because you continue to use electricity.
-Use double glazing because this does not let heat get out of the house in winter. This avoids up to 350 kg of CO2 and reduces heating costs by 15%.
-Using buses is also more ecological because a bus transports the same amount of people as ten cars and contaminates as much as 5 cars.
-Don’t use dryers because these use a lot of electricity and they damage your clothes.
-Take showers instead of baths because when you take a bath you use up more water than if you take a shower.
-Having a swimming pool uses up a lot of water but if you do have one, use filters and chlorine so you don’t have to change the water so often.
-Using stairs instead of lifts saves a lot of energy, because 15 seconds in a lift consumes the same as 60 min of a 60-watt light bulb. And it is also good exercise.
-Use natural light instead of artificial light and paint walls white or blue because these reflect more light.
-Don’t use plastic bags, because these take 150 years to disappear and every year thousands of animals die for this reason. So, next time that you ask for a plastic bag think if you want to contribute to killing an animal. The perfect solution to this problem is using recyclable bags.
-Use a bike or walk because, apart from making you slimmer and stronger, this does not contaminate.
By Pere Cases
All human beings live on one Earth. This is our home and we need to keep it healthy and clean. Over the last hundred years industry and cars have polluted the air and the seas. There are some signs that indicate that we have to do something if we do not want to destroy the environment. What we call global warming is a phenomenon that includes a continuous increase in the Earth’s temperature and a continued disappearance of the ozone layer from the atmosphere. This gas protects us from the harmful rays of the sun.
Global warming is associated with climate changes; one of these changes is the greenhouse effect. This phenomenon is so called because it causes an increase of temperature, just as greenhouses do. The gases in the atmosphere act like the glass of a greenhouse and all the heat of the earth that should go into space turns into gases and comes back to us. The temperatures of the seas are increasing and the icebergs on the south and north poles are melting. If icebergs continue melting, the level of the sea will go up and some cities and countries will disappear. Scientists say that the temperature of the sea is also responsible for the increase in droughts, floods, hurricanes and other climatic phenomena that destroy agriculture and buildings. If this goes on, poverty on Earth will kill lots of people.
To stop this, we need to change our way of living and we have to reduce pollution and CO2 in the atmosphere. Many countries had a meeting under UN supervision to talk about how they can achieve this. They decided to reduce CO2 gases step by step. Some countries did not want to sign the agreement, because they say they will lose a lot of money, but others are trying to push them to sign it. This regulation was called the Kyoto protocol.
If we cannot use petrol, coal and other fossil energies, we need to find new energies that do not pollute and will not be extinguished; these energies are called renewable energies. They use solar energy, wind energy and the energy of the sea waves.
If every country used renewable energies and stop polluting the Earth, we will be able to live for millions of years on the Earth.
