Transcript Kyote Protocol

Sponge Bob Goes Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0z3
Climate Change Explained for the Children
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Kyote Protocol
Saturday, 07 March 2009 20:36
Climate Change Explained
The Future of Climate
Change: How to Teach
Children to Conserve
 Sadie Louise Bernier of Seattle is 7 months
old, but her parents are already showing her
little things everyone can do to protect the
environment. "We're leaving your room now,
darling, and we're turning off the lights," says
her mother, Kim Rakow Bernier. Then she'll
point out the window and say, "There's Daddy
getting on his bicycle to go to the office."
 As outreach director for Facing the Future, a sustainability
education organization, Kim says that modeling caring-about-theplanet behavior for her daughter is "almost unconscious," since
"this is what we do as a family anyway." But it's indicative of the
fact that, while high schools and colleges have included ecology
and the environment in their curricula for years, conversations
about environmental consciousness in general and global
warming in particular are trickling down to students in
kindergarten, and sometimes even younger. The children's section
at Barnes and Noble, for instance, offers new books from
Nickelodeon's Big Green Help series (published on recycled
paper), with titles like SpongeBob Goes Green! and Save the
Tree! And for the 2-year-old-and-up set, there's Choose to Reuse!
(a green touch-and-feel book).
 The children's section at Barnes and
Noble, for instance, offers new books
from Nickelodeon's Big Green Help
series (published on recycled paper),
with titles like SpongeBob Goes Green!
and Save the Tree! And for the 2-yearold-and-up set, there's Choose to Reuse!
(a green touch-and-feel book
 Planet earth relies on a natural
greenhouse effect to keep us warm.
Natural greenhouse gases are Carbon
Dioxide, Methane and water vapor, which
act as a trap to the warmth generated by
incoming solar radiation. Without it our
climate would be similar to that of Mars,
with temperatures way below zero,
unsuitable to sustain life.
 In the past 200 years, man has
discovered and freely consumed fossil
fuels, at first during the Industrial
revolution, and now with our ever
increasing appetite for gas guzzling cars.
Burning fossil fuels producesCarbon
Dioxide (CO2) in great quantities, which,
as a greenhouse gas, act to trap more of
the earth's incoming heat.
 Overall the effect has been to slowly heat
up the earth and the seas, effectively
adding more energy to the oceans. The
result is that weather systems have more
energy, creating more extremes such as
heavy rain and winds, which cause
flooding and structural damage.
What's the solution?
 must stop burning fossil fuels, be more energy
efficient and use electricity from renewable
sources.
 Many governments around the world have
signed the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement
between countries to reduce the amount of
greenhouse gases their countries produce. The
wording of this agreement was written and
voted on in Kyoto, Japan on December 11,
1997 and came into force on February 16,
2005 when Russia joined.
 Each country's target is not totally rigid, because there
are plans to allow countries who are well within their
target to sell their 'carbon credits' to countries who
were struggling to meet their targets. This is 'emission
trading'.
 Some countries have not signed up though, including
the USA the biggest polluter in the world. The
reductions agreed at Kyoto are not enough to stop
climate change. This is too big a problem to leave to
governments to sort out, we must all take responsibility
for the pollution we are causing and find ways to
reduce it.
 .
 It's not always easy to stop burning fossil
fuels, but if we are damaging the
environment we must put something
back. By planting trees we can help
nature soak up that extra carbon dioxide
pollution in the atmosphere. Tropical
rainforests are strongly beneficial in
helping slow down global warming
How We Replant the
Rainforest
 The rainforests are the lungs of the earth.
Replanting rainforests is very important
to the survival of our planet. Trees help
the planet take a deep breath. The
process begins by planting seedlings in
the nursery.
8 month old Teak trees
Trees grow very fast in the rainforest.
These are 8 month old Teak trees. They
absorb a lot of carbon dioxide. Teak trees
are planted first in order to provide shade
for native species that will be planted
thereafter. This process will result in a
totally reforested rainforest.

18 month old Teak trees
 In 12 to 18 months teak trees are already
20 feet tall. When they are about 6 or 7
years old, some of them will be ready to
harvest to make room for other native
species.
A rainforest
 In 25 years, we will have removed all the
Teak trees, leaving the native trees to
create a new rainforest where all the
birds and animals can return to live in
their native environment