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.

Endangered Arctic Animals by Lucie and Tess (CM2-A)

Endangered Arctic Animals

The Arctic is a continent. It’s made of ice and glacier.

Some animal species live there. The current problem is that ice is melting more and more. Human activity creates carbon monoxide emissionsé This gas destroys the ozone layer. The result is that earth is warming up. This phenomenon makes the ice on earth melt.

If we do nothing, all polar animals will disappear. The animals die because ice will melt and that will destroy their habitats. Today the list of endangered animals is long: Polar bear, Narwhal, Walrus, Beluga whale, Boreal whale and Caribou.

Let’s save the planet!  

                           

Water Pollution by Emilian and Clément (CM2-A)

Envirokids

Problem and solution

Problem:

When water is polluted, it poisons fish and other animals including humans. Even if they do not die suddenly, this means a serious problem causing diseases and disappearance of species.

Source:

We learned about this problem in a book called ''Water Pollution'' by Rhondas Luca Donald.

Details:

Waste thrown into the water produces bacteria and viruses. This robs oxygen from the water. Then the water becomes so poor in oxygen that fish and other living things cannot survive.

Likewise, chemicals thrown into the water poison it, as well as the fish and plants living there. When humans consume polluted water and creatures that are infected by it, they also are at risk.

Solution:

80% of water pollution is caused by every day activities done in houses and farms.

In order to save our environment, we need to follow some steps: Never dump paints, oil, chemicals down the drain. Avoid using pesticides.

There's another way of cleaning up dirty water. It is done by Earth itself and is called wetland way. So humans need to protect these soggy places and not turn them into businesses, homes or recreational areas.

The Cutest Endangered Animal by Heiden and Maxence (CM1-A)

Endangered Animals Project:

 The Axolotl is also known as the Mexico water monster and is exclusively found in the lake of Xochimilco near Mexico City. It can regenerate any fallen limbs. It also stays as the state of a larva for the rest of its life. They are critically endangered because of habitat loss, water pollution, diseases and aggressive introduced fish. We do not know how many are still left. A carefully planned reintroduction program is organized. To save this animal, we need to make their habitat safe again. We chose this animal in particular because it is adorable.

Maxence and Heiden Envirokids

The Giant Panda by Airan and Nina (CM1-A)

The Giant Panda

        By AIRAN and NINA for Envirokids

The Giant Panda is facing a high risk of extinction in the Wild. It lives mainly in bamboo forests and mountains in the province of Sichuan, People Republic of China. Now,1800 pandas live in the wild. They are endangered because of hunting and forest destruction. The poachers go after their fur. Furthermore, their habitat continues to decline due to pollution. Three steps have been taken to save them: 1) protecting their natural habitats; 2) installation of reserves; 3) starting cooperative international captive-breeding programs. We can help by supporting WWF or donate for them. Do not buy any fur product and do not pollute the Earth. We chose the Giant Panda because they are cute and we like the colors of ying-yang.

The White Tiger by Anais, Hippolyte and Elie (CM1-A)

The White Tiger

By Anais, Elie, Hippolyte

The name of the endangered animal that we chose is the white tiger.

The white tiger lives in the southeastern part of Asia, including Nepal and Bangladesh, as well as in various parts of India.

Now on the planet there are 210 white tigers.

This animal is endangered because it is hunted for its fur and its habitat is destroyed. Also, it is famous in traditional Chinese medicine.

To protect the white tiger, hunting is forbidden.

We can help the tigers to live free by stopping the destruction of the Asian forests.

The Swift Fox by Manon (CM1-A)/The Arctic Fox by Madeleine, Sandrine and Pénélope T. (CM1-A)

Swift Fox

The swift fox lives in North America.  887 swift fox are living now. This animal is endangered because we kill them for their fur. We can help them if we stop killing them and if we can, we should take care of them. The swift fox is the smallest fox in the world. They weight 3 kilogrammes : We have to help them ! We chose him because we find him very cute !

The Artic Fox : An Endangered Animal

The polar fox lives in the Arctic North.

They are fewer than 200 polar fox adults.

Why is this animal endangered?

Several reasons are contributing to the endangered status of the Arctic fox, including the poor availability of lemmings as prey, which have not had their peak years of yield lately. Also, the spread of the predator red fox in Arctic fox habitats is also a factor.

What is being done to help?

Several projects are underway to keep the Arctic fox from becoming extinct, such as the Swedish-Finnish-Norwegian Arctic Fox Project, which undertook measures between 2003 and 2008 to double the breeding Arctic fox population throughout those countries.

How can we help?

We can help by:

-         Donating to organizations geared towards saving and conserving the Arctic Fox.

-         Learning to be Fox Fur Smart: Look at what you own and if any of your wardrobe is made from their fur, cease buying items like that.

-         Telling people about it: Get together, make videos, write to the prime minister... The list is endless on what you can actively do to spread the word on how and why to save the Arctic Fox.

-         Illegalizing hunting them: They are not game. This is a creature that has real predators running around looking for it already. Stop adding to it.

-         Staying connected: Regularly update yourself with new information about the progress of conserving the Arctic Fox.

-         Adopting an Arctic Fox. A symbolic adoption helps save real animals in the wild.

Special connection:

We chose to do a presentation on the Artic fox also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox because:

(1) It is a beautiful animal that lives in a cold country and is endangered.

(2) His deep thick fur protects him from coldness and winter storms.

3) In summer, his fur is brown and it is white in winter.

For all of these reasons, the Artic fox is a fabulous animal.

The American Bison: A Success Story by Noémie, Claire and Eesha (CM1-A)

The American Bison

Photo by Jim Bowen

Before the arrival of the European settlers in America, there were still 50 to 70 million bison from North America, living and migrating from the grassy plains of Mexico to Canada.

The American Bison lives in North America, in the Midwest. They became extinct by a combination of commercial hunting and slaughter.

These herds were hunted at the end of the nineteenth century to the point of almost threatening the survival of the species (only 325 were remained in 1884).

There were about 500,000 in 2015, and at least some in each state. In May 2016, the bison became the official mammal of the United States.

The North American bison is one of the two species still alive, the other being the European bison. One of the distinctive characteristics of the American Bison is his width, which is 1.5 to 2 m. The length of this species is 2 to 3.5 m.

It was an essential animal for many Amerindian cultures.

We chose this animal because we think the big animals have more difficulties to live than small animals.

Save the White Rhino! By Hugues and Virgile (CM1-A)

_{Endangered Animal: The White Rhino}

_{The White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum) is the largest existent species of rhinoceros. It lives in Kenya.}

_{The white rhinoceros population consists of the southern white rhinoceros, with an estimated 19,682–21,077 wild-living animals in the year 2015, and the northern white rhioceros.}

_{The northern subspecies had very few remaining, with only three confirmed individuals left in 2015 (two females; Fatu, 15 and Najin, 25: and one male; Sudan, 42), all in captivity. Now there are around 4 wild white Rhinos (northern rhinos).}

_{They are endangered because of over-hunting. We can help them by arresting poachers and defend them day and night.}

_{Our special connection is that we live in the same world so we need to help them. The poachers hunt them for their horns because some Chinese buyers say that it heals you. Also horns are expensive and generate a lot of money.} 

_{We like this animal and it is sad that it is disappearing.}

Hey Kids! by Saeed, Theo and Ethan from CM2-A

Hey Kids! The Environment is our Problem, too!

Kids have to take care of their environment and the good news is that WE CAN! Here are some ways kids can help:

1. Recycle everything you can: like plastic bags, bottles, cans …

2. Can one person can save the planet of pollution? The answer is yes! Do not pollute, avoid using cars, use airplanes less…

3. Dispose trash properly, recycle and compost…

4. Always turn off the lights when you’re family isn’t in the rooms.

5. Use public transportation instead of personal cars: like electric cars, bicycles…

6. Don’t use plastic bags for shopping.

7. Do not throw trash in the nature, like plastic bags, newspapers, boxes …

8. Choose local food whenever possible, for example you can visit a local farm, shop in your neighbourhood food…

9. Reduce meats from factory farms to eliminate pollution.

10. Choose organically grown foods like vegetables and fruits.

The conclusion is try to save our planet from pollution. Our planet is not a garbage dump!

If we all do our best, we can rescue the world from pollution.

Plastic Bags are a Big Problem for the Sea, by Sophia and Malena from CM2-A

                                                         

The pollution of seas and oceans is one of the main types of pollution in the word, along with atmospheric pollution.  The pollution of the seas is created by pesticides used in the fields, and the large amount of waste thrown into the sea.

Pollution of the seas causes choking hazards to animals such as turtles, fish or birds. Turtles eat plastic because they confuse it with jellyfish.
Pollution of rivers can also poison the water, which leads us to buy bottles of water that we will also throw away, which will increase the amount of plastic waste and will further increase pollution.

The solution is to avoid using plastic, to use reusable containers, to use biodegradable products and buy organic produce.

We also heard that there is a bacteria that eats plastic, this could be another way to reduce the amount of plastic in the oceans.

 

 

 

 

Amoco-Cadiz by Marius (Anglais plus)

Amoco-Cadiz

The wreck of the Liberian tanker Amoco Cadiz in March, 1978 on border of the Breton coast, to Portsall, caused an oil spill considered, today still, as one of the worst ecological disasters of history.

Amoco Cadiz was a tanker of 234 000 tons built in 1974, registered in Liberia, 330 m long and belonged to the American company Amoco Transport. 
This supertanker was built to transport some crude oil between Europe and Persian Gulf, which it did repeatedly until 1978.
On the morning of March 16th, 1978, the Liberian tanker Amoco Cadiz was transporting  227 000 tons of crude oil from Persian Gulf in the direction of Rotterdam. In the evening, a storm burst and the ship asked for help. Several attempts of towing were tried unsuccessfully, so it went towards the Breton coast and ran aground in Portsall. Help arrived very late, the oil had already begun to escape from the ship. 42 members of the 44-member crew were evacuated that very evening. Only the captain and the officer stayed on board until the next day.

During the day of the 17th, the boats bringing help were ready but were not equipped with pumps to draw the oil. The Navy had the idea of a pumping station. But it would take 10 to 15 days after the wreck. However the installation could not match the storm and meanwhile, the boat continued to pour its oil in the sea.  On March 24th, the ship " cut in two ". On March 25th, the tanker had lost 85 to 90 % of its cargo and the pumping of the cargo had become useless. The wreck wasblown up locally on March 29th by the divers-mine clearance experts of the Navy to empty the rest of the oil directly and so avoid a permanent seepage of the holds which would have soiled the coast for the weeks

The damages caused by the oil are felt in the effect on the ecosystems: We can count 3 000 to 4 000 corpses of birds and it is believed that 10 000 all in all will have died. 
Fish and shell fish were affected, having absorbed some pollutants. Even in waters turbulent and very oxygenated by Brittany, they needed at least seven years for the marine species to recover totally.
The flora was relatively spared because we observed that certain seaweeds have a capacity to degrade the oil. Nevertheless, numerous seaweeds underwent a poisoning in the oil.

---

CJ