Green energy

There is a lot of talk about the risk, speed and even existence of climate change. The worry is that the planet is getting hotter because of how we live our lives. If the world gets too hot then all of the ice on the planet will melt and so all the seas and oceans will rise flooding our land. The only land left above water will be the tallest mountains! And as you can imagine there won’t be enough room for all of us to live comfortably on mountain tops.

The whole world is talking about climate change because it does affect the whole world. Huge discussions have been had by the leaders of all the biggest countries to decide what we should all do. Our country along with the rest of Europe has decided that they should start making changes now. But why? (click to expand next question)

Up at the top of the sky is a sort of heat shield called the atmosphere. It is made from lots of gases one of which everyone is talking about called Carbon Dioxide or CO2 for short. This heat shield is a very very good thing for our planet as it protects us from being burned by too much sun. The atmosphere, at the same time, also acts like a blanket keeping us warm in freezing cold space. This atmosphere has a lot of responsibility as it has to keep us warm and cool at the same time.

Everyday we do things that add CO2 to the atmosphere. The power stations that power our homes create electricity by burning fuel. By burning things you release lots of gases including the infamous CO2. So every time you turn on the TV or a light the power station has to burn more fuel, which makes more CO2, which makes the atmosphere even thicker.

Making a heat shield thicker sounds OK but making the blanket thicker means that we get hotter. When we get too hot in bed we can just take off our blanket but our planet cannot do that, it just has to get all sweaty. But as we know, if the world gets too hot then there will be nowhere for us to live.

Most of the larger countries, including us, are quickly trying to build power stations that make electricity in ways that do not produce more CO2. These types of power station are known as Renewable Energy Power Stations. Wind turbines are one type, so are solar panels, in fact there are lots of different ways to make renewable energy. The UK has been doing really well so far and your parents now have the choice to phone up their electricity company and ask for their electricity to come from these new power stations, sometimes for free!

1. Make sure you turn off all the things that are electric when you aren’t using them.
2. Plant some seeds – plants and trees absorb CO2 and produce oxygen, if it wasn’t for plants we wouldn’t be able to breathe.
3. Be less wasteful - there are 60 million people in this country. If everyone picked up a piece of rubbish today, tomorrow and for the rest of the week there would be 420 million less bits of rubbish!