Decomposition by Anouk (Anglais plus)

Decomposition

Some objects take a very long time to decay in nature. Some take less time. Cans, for example, take from 50 to 100 years to disaggregate, glass takes up to 500 years and toilet paper takes only 2 weeks to 1 month.

Radioactive waste takes also a lot of time to disappear. For example, carbon-14 takes 5730 years to vanish and uranium takes 4.3 billion years. Luckily, I 131 (iodine) is gone within 8 days.

So, when you are about to throw something away, think again!

Source:

http://www.consoglobe.com/duree-vie-dechets-nature-1386-cg

Anouk

The Redwood Forest by Louise (Anglais plus)

The Redwood Forest

By Louise

The Redwood Forest is a forest with red trees in California, USA. In the 20^th century, a girl, named Julia and her friends came to the Redwood Forest. The trees were very big and tall. They were beautiful. They saw that there were red crosses on lots of trees. That means that the woodcutters were cutting lots of trees. The girls were sad, especialy Julia.

They saw the biggest tree. It was as large as a room. They were impressed. When Julia saw it, she fell in love with it. She named it Luna. She turned around and saw a red cross. She couldn’t believe it.

She saw a small platform on the tree. She said that she would stay there to protect Luna. The woodcutters couldn’t cut Luna if there were someone on it. Some people helped Julia to rebuild the platform. She climbed the ladder, but she didn’t know that she wasn’t going to come down for months.

She was alone on the platform because there wasn’t any extra space. On the platform there was a small tent. The first, days a squirrel ate her food. She was a little bit angry, but the first time she saw it she found it so cute that they became friends. The squirel was always with her and sometimes they were shared their food.

During the day some people were on the ground and were helping Julia because she was alone. During the night the woodcutters were threw rocks at her. When there were storms, Julia held Luna so she wouldn’t fall. She learned fast how to climb in the branches.

One day the woodcutters said that they wouldn’t cut the trees. Julia didn’t trust them, so some days later the cheif of the woodcutters signed a paper that said that they won’t cut the trees. Julia finally got down. It took her a little bit of time to walk.

Some days later, someone cut a little bit of Luna so the tree would die. The woodcutters were forced to cut Luna because if it died slowly it would fall on people or other trees. We still don’t know who did that but Julia was very sad.

Solar Engergy by Irina, Kira and Sophia Z. (CM2-A)

Solar Energy

Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun. It is a renewable energy source, and it is collected with solar panels and becomes solar power. The solar power is the conversion from the sunlight into electricity that can be used for many things. It doesn’t give off carbon dioxide emissions. It is a power that won’t run out.

So how can people turn those sun beams into useful electricity? :

Sunlight contains energy. Usually, when light hits an object the energy turns into heat, like the warmth that you feel while sitting in the sun. But when the energy of the light hits a tin can the energy turns into an electrical current instead, which we then use for power.

Before we didn’t know the effects of pollution were so serious, but now we are finding solutions like the use of solar power and reducing deforestation.  We need to apply these solutions more: We still don’t use solar power everywhere because people say it’s too expensive. But what is the real cost if we don’t?

The end

Irina, Kira and Sophia Z 

Coral Pollution by Réa and Ana Briana (CM2-A)

^{Coral Pollution}

 

Due to climate change and global warming, coral will decrease by the 2100.  Because of rising temperatures, the oceans become more acidic. Ex : In the Caribbean, the amount of reef surface covered by living coral has fallen about 80 percent in at least three decades.

 

If coral dies the fish are going to lose their home and die, other animals and humans that eat fish will probably die, too.

 

What can we do to stop losing coral?

• Use less plastic
• Stop throwing garbage in the water
• Start bringing your own shopping bag
• Recycle

Stop pollution before it’s too late!

Arctic Sea Ice by Sélim and Max (CM2-A)

 The Arctic Sea Ice is Melting

If the Arctic’s ice melts there won’t be animals living there: Polar bears, penguins and sea lions face extinction if they lose their habitat. One solution to this problem is to stop contributing to global warming.

Arctic sea ice has been melting in the few past decades driven by warming air temperature, warming ocean water temperature, and new, extreme weather patterns, all of which are caused by or accelerated by human-caused Global Warming.

Sea ice is a thin, fragile, solid layer of frozen ocean water that forms in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. It grows in the winter and melts in the summer.

The Arctic is very important because sea ice keeps the Polar Regions cool and helps moderate climate change thanks to its ability to reflect the Sun’s radiation. Less sea ice and more ocean surface will lead to a warmer Arctic, and a warmer climate.

Global warming causes the sea ice to melt and the sea level to rise. If the sea level rises, continents will begin to be flooded. Arctic ice melting will cause only 4 mm sea level rise. However the Antarctic ice melting will cause 7 m sea level rise putting nearly one-third of the world’s population in danger.

Sea ice melting is impacting the whole ecosystem and the life of many animals mainly the polar bears, the penguins, the cods, the seals, and even the birds and the whales. The polar bears population is significantly reduced.

The Arctic ice is shrinking at an alarming rate of 9 percent per year according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). If the trend continues, the Arctic may well become ice-free in summer for the first time by 2050. Some models suggest sea ice will disappear by 2100

How to prevent that from happening? What are the solutions? How can we stop that?

Many solutions may help prevent the disaster. Some are costly and hard to implement, some require big companies and countries interventions, and others can be implemented by everyone, as each person can reduce his own carbon footprint.

The solutions mainly consist on reducing carbon emissions, but simultaneously pulling carbon out of the atmosphere, and also on refreezing the sea ice at the same time!

Reduce carbon emission:

If we want to decrease the pollution, we will have to use more clean energies, alternative and renewable ones (wind turbines, solar energy etc…) and less polluting and fossil fuels.

We will also have to:

-         Reduce, reuse, recycle in order to minimise garbage, waste, plastic, aluminium…

-         Save gas and walk more while going to office, school, shop

-         Eat local in order to reduce transportation

-         Use less heat and air conditioning, Save electricity and hot water

Absorb carbon:

Planting trees. Trees are part of the solution as they reduce CO2 amount in the atmosphere.

Tropical forest conservation and restoration could constitute half of the global warming solution at a low cost.

Refreeze the sea ice:

It may seem unrealistic but it’s a real solution proposed by a research team from Arizona. They propose to build 10 million wind-powered pumps over the Arctic ice cap. These would be used to pump water to the surface of the ice where it would freeze, thickening the cap. Thicker ice would mean longer-lasting ice.

It will cost $500bn.

Other solutions

Other highly imaginative solutions are being suggested and studied. Like lightning the arctic surface in order to reflect more solar radiation, or to spray sea water in the air to form clouds, or to inject reflective particles in the air …

The situation is causing a grave concern, and researchers are working hard trying to be as inventive as possible!

Tornadoes by Slevyn, Maxime and Thomas (CM2-A)

Tornado

What is a Tornado?

A tornado is a whirlwind of extremely violent winds, originating at the base of a storm cloud (cumulonimbus) when wind shear conditions are favorable in the lower atmosphere. Very low tornadoes can also develop under clouds of showers (cumulus congestus).

Where do tornadoes come from?

It is widely agreed upon that more than one location on the globe contains the selective environment to produce these violent storms. Besides areas in North America, South America, particularly Argentina and Brazil, receive a great deal of hail and tornadoes annually.

The top 4 tornados

-Oklahoma tornado

-Kansas tornado

-Arkansas tornado

-Tennessee tornado

Lexicon

Shear: Cisaillement

Widely: Largement                     Slevyn, Maxime and Thomas

Agreed: D’accord

Cars Stink! By Antonin, Paul and Florian (CM2-A)

What are the impacts of car pollution on the environment?

1.              Problem: The problem is that fuels are one of the most polluting things for the environment. It is degrading the environment.

2.              I learned about this problem at home and at school.      

3.              Detail: The black smoke that goes out of the cars is polluting the air with fine particles. That’s why some days there is smog in the cities.

4.              Solutions: One solution to this problem is to take: bus, metro, bike and you can walk.

Another solution to this problem is to buy electric cars.

Part Two:

Problem : Impact of car’s pollution on children’s health.

We learned about this problem on the radio. So, we decided to find some additional information on Internet. We read that car pollution creates respiratory problems and has a very bad impact on children’s health. In fact, many studies demonstrated that there is a relation between air pollution and respiratory health among children, especially affecting children with asthma.

Road and Highway impact on the Environment

Cars pollute our planet and it has an impact on the environment. One of the solutions is using public transit and replacing gas engines by electrical engines. Another solution is using a carpool for commuting. Carpooling is good because it reduces the number of cars on the road.

From Wikipedia:     

“Road ecology is the study of the ecological impacts (both positive and negative) of roads and highways (public roads). These effects may include local effects such as on noise, water pollution, habitat destruction/disturbance and local air quality; and wider effects such as habitat fragmentation, ecosystem degradation, and climate change from vehicle emissions. The design, construction and management of roads, parking and other related facilities as well as the design and regulation of vehicles can change the impacts to varying degrees. Roads are known to cause significant damage to forests, prairies, streams and wetlands.”

Solutions :

There are different solutions to this problem.

Some research has demonstrated that the effect of changing the quality of atmospheric air by reducing traffic has shown immediate positive impact.

One solution to this problem is to develop the public transportation in  big cities. More buses and trains could encourage people to leave their car at home. Less people driving their car will mean less pollution. In summer, when the ozone rate is too high for example, in a city like Paris, the authorities regulate the traffic by limiting the number of people who can drive their car.

Another solution to this problem is to encourage using a bicycle and propose more electric cars to people who want to buy a car. A cheaper electric car with more autonomy is going to encourage this type of car instead of traditional car. The electric car does not put any gas or pollution in the air and it is very quiet. Car noise is also another type of pollution for the population in big cities.