Everyone involved in this project knows how important it is to take a good care of the Earth.
Not just because it is the place where we live, but also because it is the home of an enormous variety of animals.
We can't only think about us; we must protect the animals!
Take a look to http://www.animalssavetheplanet.com/ and you will see that they are doing our job!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Video: a simple bottle
WWF and IUCN made an interesting video about the consequences that our actions have in the environment.
Next time you do something, just make shore it doesn't damage our planet!
You can see the original video in http://www.youtube.com/
Monday, December 1, 2008
Climate Change Conference in Poznań, 1-12 December 2008
The United Nations is promoting a meeting in Poznan, Poland, between 1 - 12 December 2008, to discuss the Protocol of Kyoto and ways to reduce the emissions of gas with greenhouse effect.We hope that nations understand the importance of our behaviour to help our HOME – the earth.
We can follow the meeting in the official site >>>>>
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Global warming – 6 questions to 6 short answers
During the meeting of the “Clima SOS” Project, in Hungary, on October, we asked some students the following questions.
After this we select one survey of each country.
- Say a cause for the global warming?
- Do you recycle?
- Say a consequence of the global warming?
- What do you do to minimize the consequences of global warming?
- Do you consider the air of your Country healthy?
- Do you think we have to protect your planet? Why?
Name: Vivi Lovas
Age: 16 years old
Nationnality: Hungarian
- The gases resulting from industrialization.
- Yes.
- The ice sheet melting and rising of the sea level.
- I use public transport and I walk.
- Yes, because if we don’t take care of our planet it won’t have conditions to survive.
Name: Ioanna Liatsou
Age: 16 anos
Nationnality: Cypriot
- The CFC’s.
- Yes.
- The acid rain.
- I try to plant trees.
- No.
- Yes, because we have to protect our planet or we will not be able to live in it in the future.
Name: Clara
Age: 16 years old
Nationnality:Spanish
1. The contaminations caused by the factories.
2. Yes.
3. The atmosphere contamination.
4. I use less particular transport and more the public ones.
5. Yes, but I think it is getting better.
6.Yes, because we live here and we need to save our planet.
Name: Valentina
Age: 18 anos
Nationnality: Italian
- Pollution.
- Yes.
- Rising of the temperature.
- I recycle and I use the public transports.
- Yes.
- Yes, because the Earth gives us life and we have to take care of it.
Name: Helena
Age: 17 Years
Nationnality: Portuguese.
- Pollution.
- No, but I should
- Rising of the temperature.
- I try to save energy.
- Yes.
- Yes, because it’s the only home we have.
The Green Song
"MTV Switch - The Green Song!"
MTV made an amazing video about the importance of helping the environment.
BE GREEN!!!
Whatch it in:
http://www.youtube.com
MTV made an amazing video about the importance of helping the environment.
BE GREEN!!!
Whatch it in:
http://www.youtube.com
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Critical thinking - important, isn't it?
See the article writen by Kornéla Kiss from Kölcsey Ferenc Gimnázium, Zalaegerszeg, Hungary, in Young Reporters for the Environment.
Meeting in Hungary: the beginning
For more words I could use, I couldn’t tell you how this trip was fruitful.
Visiting Hungary was witnessing the great landmarks of Budapest, was learning new habits and new ways of thinking, was discovering the unknown and finding that we identify ourselves with the spirit of the city.
We also met Zalaegerzeg, a town on the border of Hungary with Austria, where we spent an amazing week at the Kolcsey Ferenc Gymnázium school.
During these days, we had the opportunity to discover several places of historic importance and natural beauty near the city. At school, each team decorated a placard to promote its own country and made a presentation about its culture. The Portuguese Team pleased everyone with the Fernando Pessoa´s poetry, Maria João Pires’ music and folklore dances.
We also had the possibility to learn a little more about the culture of Hungary, Italy, Cyprus, Spain and Sweden (e.g.: gastronomy, popular dances, songs and mother tongue).
Visiting Hungary was witnessing the great landmarks of Budapest, was learning new habits and new ways of thinking, was discovering the unknown and finding that we identify ourselves with the spirit of the city.
We also met Zalaegerzeg, a town on the border of Hungary with Austria, where we spent an amazing week at the Kolcsey Ferenc Gymnázium school.
During these days, we had the opportunity to discover several places of historic importance and natural beauty near the city. At school, each team decorated a placard to promote its own country and made a presentation about its culture. The Portuguese Team pleased everyone with the Fernando Pessoa´s poetry, Maria João Pires’ music and folklore dances.
We also had the possibility to learn a little more about the culture of Hungary, Italy, Cyprus, Spain and Sweden (e.g.: gastronomy, popular dances, songs and mother tongue).
Although, I think the most rewarding thing was getting to know with teachers and students from other countries, with whom we developed great friendships! Of course that I could not forget the host families who received us at their house with open arms, wishing, in the end, our return!
The farewell was difficult. It costs to admit that, in that moment, each person is going to its own country. But I know that this "Clima SOS" meeting in Hungary can be summarized in one simple phrase:
"This is not the end. This is the beginning!"
Inês Barros, Portuguese Team
The farewell was difficult. It costs to admit that, in that moment, each person is going to its own country. But I know that this "Clima SOS" meeting in Hungary can be summarized in one simple phrase:
"This is not the end. This is the beginning!"
Inês Barros, Portuguese Team
Meeting in Zalaegerzeg, Hungary
The ClimaSOS team met in Kölcsey Ferenc Gimnázium - Zalaegerzeg, Hungary (13 - 18th October).
We were invited by the media to speak about our project (see interview with Project co-ordinator on the Hungarian Zalaegerszeg TV channel - click in “Adásban volt: 2008. október 15 - Letöltés: A Híradó letöltéséhez kattintson ide.” (interview starts at about minute four).
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Meeting in Sweden
Hello, everybody...
We were in a ClimaSOS meeting in Sandviken, Sweden, with students and teachers from Portugal, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Cyprus (5 to 10th May). During our study visit and work meeting, we visited places of historical, cultural and environmental importance.
In the project meeting, we presented our schools and towns; and we evaluated the activities and mobilities for the first year of the project.
Teachers meeting and colaborative work
Opinion by Luisa Peluso e Roberta Bonalume (italian teachers)
Our journey to Sweden allowed us to experience first-hand what we had learnt about through our work on the net. We found it very interesting to see the different approaches each team adopted while working on common topics, as well as the various peculiarities of each country in terms of customs, history and school systems.It was exciting, and to a certain extent, illuminating, for us to plunge into a culture that is so different from ours, especially as far as environmental awareness is concerned. We will treasure our experience and we will do our best to pass it on to our young generations of students.
We were in a ClimaSOS meeting in Sandviken, Sweden, with students and teachers from Portugal, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Cyprus (5 to 10th May). During our study visit and work meeting, we visited places of historical, cultural and environmental importance.
In the project meeting, we presented our schools and towns; and we evaluated the activities and mobilities for the first year of the project.
Teachers meeting and colaborative work
Opinion by Luisa Peluso e Roberta Bonalume (italian teachers)
Our journey to Sweden allowed us to experience first-hand what we had learnt about through our work on the net. We found it very interesting to see the different approaches each team adopted while working on common topics, as well as the various peculiarities of each country in terms of customs, history and school systems.It was exciting, and to a certain extent, illuminating, for us to plunge into a culture that is so different from ours, especially as far as environmental awareness is concerned. We will treasure our experience and we will do our best to pass it on to our young generations of students.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Global warming in Portugal
The viability of the planet is at stake, which translates into economic costs and damage to nature over the last few decades. This scenario brings disaster which is not good news for Portugal, one of the European countries most affected by global warming. Against this background, we have , on the one hand, the issue of energy inefficiency and, secondly, the degradation of natural resources and biodiversity as the major problems and challenges of the country. The solutions are identified and drawn but there is a long delay in putting them into practice.
What needs to be done:
· Stop the destruction of nature
Natural resources are the basis of ecological sustainability and without it there is no economic and social sustainability. Their dissipation will cause the destruction of the systems that support life: water, soil, forest, energy sources, creating irreversible situations. Without them, the hydrological cycles and the balance of ecosystems are not guaranteed.The loss of the ecosystems balance has serious consequences. The examples are quite obvious. When the buildings occupy protected areas and natural spaces, beds of rivers or the coast, the ground ceases to be permeable, to be fertile, to regenerate. Floods, forest fires, droughts or falls of land are obvious consequences which have already begun to be felt. When these problems are associated with cases of pollution, the situation may become irreversible. Warehouse of water contaminated or salinized, degraded soils where not even a grass grows, ashes of the fires that remain and are dragged slope below for reservation of fundamental water, as the dam of Castelo do Bode.
· Avoid the erosion of the coastline
On the coast there is a combination of explosive problems, because that is where all the threats are combined, from the likely increase in erosion and rising sea level due to climate change, to the pressure on soil protected both by the Ecological Reserve as by the Agricultural Reserve within and outside protected areas. And what is at stake here is not only the loss of biodiversity but the capacity of agricultural production. Together with the wrong planning of the territory that inhabits not only the coastline is the uncontrolled growth of metropolitan areas, which produces a hand-full of problems: more noise and air pollution, more energy consumption, more problems of sanitation and waste treatment, among others.
· Investing in energy efficiency In Portugal, as in the rest of the world, the solution lies in reducing the emission of polluting gases, which is only possible to ensure if we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. We must fight the battle in two fronts: on one hand, it is urgent to reverse energy inefficiency of a country that spends far more than necessary and with a dependence on energy from abroad to more than 85%, on the other hand, we should make a great investment in sources of renewable energy that reduce our dependence on oil. Portugal is studying the possibility of using the sea as a source of energy, because it is one of the countries with the best conditions for this purpose.
· Individual measures / actions
A hybrid car is a car that has more than one engine, where each uses a type of energy for its operation. As an example, we have a car that combines the explosion engine and electric engine: one uses energy from the burning of fuel and the second uses electricity. Although the hybrid car pollutes less than cars only with the explosion engine, its costs are high when compared to the difference in emission of pollutants.
The battery electric vehicles consist mainly on vehicles equipped with a set of batteries, charged by the network electrical energy which is supplied to an electric motor, which transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy, moving the car. Its advantages: reduction of noise, lower consumption, effective at any speed, smooth start and dispensing box and clutch for change. However, it also has disadvantages, such as limited autonomy between 90 and 150 km and limited speed (less than 120 km / h).
Apparently, the energy efficient bulbs have a huge advantage compared with the incandescent lamps as they allow a considerable energy saving. Indeed, the energy efficient bulbs can only be a great alternative to incandescent lamps when they are on for long periods of time. This means that it’s not worth to put these lamps in areas of the house where they will be switched on and off frequently, such as in the corridors. Moreover, as the manufacturing requires a greater consumption of energy and the use of toxic materials, such as mercury-vapour, its advantage in ecological terms will also be compromised.
What needs to be done:
· Stop the destruction of nature
Natural resources are the basis of ecological sustainability and without it there is no economic and social sustainability. Their dissipation will cause the destruction of the systems that support life: water, soil, forest, energy sources, creating irreversible situations. Without them, the hydrological cycles and the balance of ecosystems are not guaranteed.The loss of the ecosystems balance has serious consequences. The examples are quite obvious. When the buildings occupy protected areas and natural spaces, beds of rivers or the coast, the ground ceases to be permeable, to be fertile, to regenerate. Floods, forest fires, droughts or falls of land are obvious consequences which have already begun to be felt. When these problems are associated with cases of pollution, the situation may become irreversible. Warehouse of water contaminated or salinized, degraded soils where not even a grass grows, ashes of the fires that remain and are dragged slope below for reservation of fundamental water, as the dam of Castelo do Bode.
· Avoid the erosion of the coastline
On the coast there is a combination of explosive problems, because that is where all the threats are combined, from the likely increase in erosion and rising sea level due to climate change, to the pressure on soil protected both by the Ecological Reserve as by the Agricultural Reserve within and outside protected areas. And what is at stake here is not only the loss of biodiversity but the capacity of agricultural production. Together with the wrong planning of the territory that inhabits not only the coastline is the uncontrolled growth of metropolitan areas, which produces a hand-full of problems: more noise and air pollution, more energy consumption, more problems of sanitation and waste treatment, among others.
· Investing in energy efficiency In Portugal, as in the rest of the world, the solution lies in reducing the emission of polluting gases, which is only possible to ensure if we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. We must fight the battle in two fronts: on one hand, it is urgent to reverse energy inefficiency of a country that spends far more than necessary and with a dependence on energy from abroad to more than 85%, on the other hand, we should make a great investment in sources of renewable energy that reduce our dependence on oil. Portugal is studying the possibility of using the sea as a source of energy, because it is one of the countries with the best conditions for this purpose.
· Individual measures / actions
A hybrid car is a car that has more than one engine, where each uses a type of energy for its operation. As an example, we have a car that combines the explosion engine and electric engine: one uses energy from the burning of fuel and the second uses electricity. Although the hybrid car pollutes less than cars only with the explosion engine, its costs are high when compared to the difference in emission of pollutants.
The battery electric vehicles consist mainly on vehicles equipped with a set of batteries, charged by the network electrical energy which is supplied to an electric motor, which transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy, moving the car. Its advantages: reduction of noise, lower consumption, effective at any speed, smooth start and dispensing box and clutch for change. However, it also has disadvantages, such as limited autonomy between 90 and 150 km and limited speed (less than 120 km / h).
Apparently, the energy efficient bulbs have a huge advantage compared with the incandescent lamps as they allow a considerable energy saving. Indeed, the energy efficient bulbs can only be a great alternative to incandescent lamps when they are on for long periods of time. This means that it’s not worth to put these lamps in areas of the house where they will be switched on and off frequently, such as in the corridors. Moreover, as the manufacturing requires a greater consumption of energy and the use of toxic materials, such as mercury-vapour, its advantage in ecological terms will also be compromised.
Margarida e Ana
Thursday, February 21, 2008
From the Kyoto Protocol to the Roadmap in Bali
The global warming of the planet results mainly from human activities which have increased since the Industrial Revolution (19th century).
If we don’t immediately reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the effects of global warming will be dramatic, especially in the under developed countries which have no resources and infrastructure to face/ deal with this environmental nightmare.
In 1997, in the 3rd Conference of the Parts of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3), was signed the Kyoto Protocol, a major international instrument to attack global warming, whose main objective is the reduction of GHGs emissions. However, the document only entered into force in February 2005, after the ratification by the Russian Federation. Here, 35 developed countries committed themselves to reduce GHGs emissions to 5.2% below the levels of 1990, in the period of 2008-2012.
The Kyoto Protocol has not been ratified by the USA (country responsible for a third of global emissions of GHG) nor by Australia (one of the greatest polluters).
Over the years several Conferences of the Parts on Climate Change have taken place, as well as Reports by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
In 2007 took place the 4th IPCC Report and the 13th COP, which was held in Bali, Indonesia, whose main objective was to open negotiations to the extension of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. In this conference, Australia and the United States surprised the world, as Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the US pledged to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, but without mandatory values. The COP-13 ended with the approval of the "Roadmap in Bali", a document that stipulates the time of the negotiations, as well as policies to be implemented in order to give continuity to the Kyoto Protocol. This document should be finished by 2009, the year in which a new protocol with renewed goals, more ambitious and involving all nations, shall be fixed and approved in Copenhagen.
If we don’t immediately reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the effects of global warming will be dramatic, especially in the under developed countries which have no resources and infrastructure to face/ deal with this environmental nightmare.
In 1997, in the 3rd Conference of the Parts of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3), was signed the Kyoto Protocol, a major international instrument to attack global warming, whose main objective is the reduction of GHGs emissions. However, the document only entered into force in February 2005, after the ratification by the Russian Federation. Here, 35 developed countries committed themselves to reduce GHGs emissions to 5.2% below the levels of 1990, in the period of 2008-2012.
The Kyoto Protocol has not been ratified by the USA (country responsible for a third of global emissions of GHG) nor by Australia (one of the greatest polluters).
Over the years several Conferences of the Parts on Climate Change have taken place, as well as Reports by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
In 2007 took place the 4th IPCC Report and the 13th COP, which was held in Bali, Indonesia, whose main objective was to open negotiations to the extension of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. In this conference, Australia and the United States surprised the world, as Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the US pledged to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, but without mandatory values. The COP-13 ended with the approval of the "Roadmap in Bali", a document that stipulates the time of the negotiations, as well as policies to be implemented in order to give continuity to the Kyoto Protocol. This document should be finished by 2009, the year in which a new protocol with renewed goals, more ambitious and involving all nations, shall be fixed and approved in Copenhagen.
Margarida Fonseca
Saturday, February 16, 2008
New important climate proposals!!
I'm a member of a environmentalist association, called WWF ( the former World Wide Foundation). I subscribed (for free) and now I receive an email every time they want me to take action. I can do this in many ways. I can send an email to the government that I think is acting well or badly or I can sign an online petition...
Today, I received an email that made me extremely happy. They informed me that the Scottish Government has been publishing proposals to change the climate legislation. There proposal is to reduce by 80%, the greenhouse emissions until 2050. This legislation still hasn't been approved, but if we make enough pressure it will!!
I will leave here the site were you can take action:
Please, remember: this is something we can all do, something that may help the world!!
By: Ana Joana Gorjão
Today, I received an email that made me extremely happy. They informed me that the Scottish Government has been publishing proposals to change the climate legislation. There proposal is to reduce by 80%, the greenhouse emissions until 2050. This legislation still hasn't been approved, but if we make enough pressure it will!!
I will leave here the site were you can take action:
Please, remember: this is something we can all do, something that may help the world!!
By: Ana Joana Gorjão
Thursday, February 7, 2008
A new insight on Quioto's Protocol
As you know the Quioto protocol was signed by all countries ( except the USA and Australia) with the purpose of reducing the CO2 emissions.
But not everything that glitters is gold!
The developed countries are buying cotes from the subdeveloped ones. This means that they continue to emite big amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere and are not reducing or making an efford to reduce this emissions as they should.
As this is a countinues fact the atmosphere gets more damaged and we are all suffering the consequences.
Ironically the USA is one of the countries that are suffering more. Tornados, flouds, hurricanes and other of the sort keep destruing the country, but still the USA does not sign.
This is one of the moments in witch we have to pressuere our governements so they know this isn't the right thing to do!
Ana Joana e Inês Barros
But not everything that glitters is gold!
The developed countries are buying cotes from the subdeveloped ones. This means that they continue to emite big amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere and are not reducing or making an efford to reduce this emissions as they should.
As this is a countinues fact the atmosphere gets more damaged and we are all suffering the consequences.
Ironically the USA is one of the countries that are suffering more. Tornados, flouds, hurricanes and other of the sort keep destruing the country, but still the USA does not sign.
This is one of the moments in witch we have to pressuere our governements so they know this isn't the right thing to do!
Ana Joana e Inês Barros
Monday, January 28, 2008
Each of us has a duty to contribute!
Global warming is a serious and urgent problem. We should not be stopped waiting that the rulers solve this problem. Each of us can be a help to adopt a lifestyle more responsible, starting in small behaviors in our daily.
I propose that we take this space to give some environmental friendly tips and I take already to start.
I propose that we take this space to give some environmental friendly tips and I take already to start.
- Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
- Replace a light bulb with a fluorescent save 60% of energy.
- Turn off your computer or the TV when you’re not using it, don´t let it on stand-by.
- Choose products with little packaging and buy refills whenever possible.
Margarida Fonseca
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