Welcome and thanks for checking this out. Here are the questions I was to answer and the tasks that I carried out:
Task 1 – WWF Measure Your Footprint
I was quite happy to find that my carbon footprint was 93% and in the green area. I was pleased to find this out as I do try and be as environmentally friendly as possible. However, the quiz did suggest to me that I could do some things differently and be even more greener and environmentally friendly. Here were my results:
As the image is a little unclear I will share my results:
- Food = 23% (could you buy more seasonal food)
- Home = 28% (do you have energy-saving measures in your house?)
- Travel = 41% (how much do you cycle, car-pool or walk to work?)
- Stuff = 8% (could you buy more things second-hand?)
This showing that my biggest area for producing carbon emissions is my travelling. This may be down to the fact I spend 90 minutes travelling to and from university everyday. That is a lot of time and fuel to burn. Hopefully, if I start to drive then my carbon footprint here will begin to be lower.
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Overall though I am fairly happy with my carbon footprint. However, nothing is ever perfect and there is always room for improvement. This activity would be good to do with children as it would show them the consequences of not caring about the world and not recycling and the difference with someone who does care and takes and interest in looking after the world. If any readers fancy taking the test here is the link:
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/questionnaires/show/1/1/1
Task 2 – BP Carbon Footprint Toolkit
What an interesting website, with lost of activities to work on. The website even splits the ages ranges for children up for you and gives you sub-topics for science and other subject areas. This making it an easy and navigable site for children and teachers. Here is an example:
The site even has different subject areas such as geography and business studies. This meaning the site is not just secluded to having science. The site again has different age ranges for these other subject areas meaning no child should have something to easy or too hard. It also makes it easier for the teacher as they do not have to sit and look through all the resources to see which age level they should be pitched at.
The main activity I carried out was the schools emissions test by filling out the information of a school nearby me. However, I also looked at the energy and electricity units to see how interesting they were and the results were good. I was so intrigued and surprised as to how interactive it was, especially for the children to use. Here are some examples from the website:
As you can see the children can found information out and insert the data into the website. An excellent tool for collaborating a maths lesson and a science lesson. They can find out so much about their school but in a fun and interactive way. They are learning to handle data and analysis data but also getting to find out about their school. As you can see from the above pictures it is very colourful and well-presented. A resource I will be using for sure as a teacher!
Here is the link if you fancy cheeking anything I have said out:
Task 3 – “Antartica on the Edge” Video
Here was the main ideas and informational facts I found out from this video:
- The ship was a research ship – a floating laboratory
- There were 55 scientists aboard and 22 experiments took place
- They were going to travel around 25, 000 km
- There was no ice present until the 6th day of their travels
- The Glacier in the Antarctica is the most interesting as 35-75 km broke off in 2010
- To see under the glacier they used a special submarine known as the ‘Swiss army knife’
- The results shocked the scientists as it was much warmer than expected
- It is predicted that the sea water will rise 1 meter in the next century and it will rise 500 meters in the next 500 years.
- When they took a sample of ice, they found salt bubbles which can weaken the ice glaciers and cause them to break off and fall into the sea
- The research samples will help as they do not have many resutls about climate change
- Due to the human action of burning fossil fuels this has caused an increase in the carbon dioxide concentration found in the ice
- They found a sea creature was able to kill a fish which can move 5 times faster than it but the fish has slowed due due to a change in its ecosystem. Another 10 examples of this were found on that same day.
- Dead animals lying on the sea beds can actually increase the carbon dioxide concretion as all the animals bodies are made up of carbon molecules.
- They also took samples of the air to try and build their own clouds as without air particles we would not have clouds and would have no rain
- The air at the Antarctica is the cleanest in the world
- They then went on an island were only lichen and moss were found
- They were surprised to find a small creature living in the lichen that could only live there due to an increase in carbon dioxide concentration
- The Antarctica does not get dark, there is only a long sunset
- The Penguins are now moving further south as it is becoming increasing warmer
- Alarm bells should be ringing now as the evidence is clearly suggesting we are heating up and this is having serious consequences
- We should be concerned and wanting to do something as this is a serious threat to sustainability
- We ALL need to accept that this is happening and need to think of new ways to stop global warming and take responsibility for our actions.
Overall, this was an excellent video to watch and I have learned lots, as can be seen from the above summarised points. From a teacher’s prescriptive, I think this would be great to show to a Primary 7 class as they would find it very interesting as they could see how the scientists carry out the experiments opposed to me just telling them about it. If you fancy checking it out click here.
Task 4 – Questions:
In your learning logs, please reflect on what you’ve learned from this:
- any misconceptions that you had
- knowledge gained that will influence your choices in the future
- ideas/tips that you have discovered to reduce your footprint.
Here are my answers:
- I was unaware the serious consequences that carbon dioxide contractions can have to our wildlife and ecosystems. I was always aware that carbon dioxide was heating up our world but I did not know that if carbon dioxide increases in our waters it can seriously affect different animals and change the systems we are used to.
- I now know that I need to stop being oblivious and seriously consider what my daily actions are having on the world we are living in. Sometimes I can be lazy and not recycle. I now need to think of the bigger picture of how much waste we are producing which will release carbon into the environment which is affecting our world. I need to be sure I do not just put my TV on standby as this is causing somewhere to burn fossil fuels which is heating the world up; which is making the ice melt; which is making the sea rise; which is causing a change in weather and causing flooding on coastal towns.
- Some of the handy hints and tips I have learned is I need to be more appreciative of what I have. If I go to buy new clothes but have a wardrobe full of clothes, do I really need more? This most important thing that I have learned is I will for sure be more conscious about the environment when I make daily decisions now!
- In the sense of the wider society, we all need to take responsibility for our actions and how our decisions can affect not only the climate but the later generations. We now need to accept that our decisions are having consequences for not only our world but the wildlife within it. We need to be more united and think of others’ in this world not just ourselves. As a society we need to stop being so wasteful and harmful to our world as it is having serious consequences. If we do nothing to improve, it will get worse from here!
This was good task, and has really helped me to reflect on my own life and how I affect the climate.
Christopher.
