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Action Projects Energy: We Have The Power To Change The Future Correlation to State Science Standards: Correlation to state Social Studies Standards: A: This project will help protect the environment by reducing global warming pollution. Also, by saving energy at your school you will also save your school money to spend on other things, like art, sports, and environmental classes! The main cause of global warming is a dramatic increase of certain gases, especially carbon dioxide(CO2), which block heat from leaving the Earth's atmosphere. This traps heat much like a greenhouse would. Even though we need some CO2 in the atmosphere to keep the air warm enough for life, too much of it makes it too warm. The Earth has evolved over many billions of years to create a perfect balance for life on earth. Now, in just a few decades, human activities such as burning coal and oil have altered that balance by emitting more CO2 than the Earth can sustain. This increase has led to an increase in the Earth's atmospheric temperature, which we call global warming. Carbon dioxide is released when cars burn gasoline, when power plants burn coal, and when industry pumps pollution out of their smokestacks. At the same time, trees, which breathe in carbon dioxide, are being cut down at a rapid rate all over the planet. The result of this is TOO MUCH CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE. Global warming is already affecting weather patterns by bringing more and bigger storms, causing loss of life and great destruction. It is raising sea levels, which could eventually make many islands and coastal communities uninhabitable. It is causing species to lose their natural habitats, leading to extinctions. For example, a recent study of climate change in Costa Rican cloud forests found that many frog species, including the golden toad, have already disappeared. Scientists believe global warming is the major cause.
A: Audit your school's energy use. (The Energy Audit section of the kickoff project includes this.) Save energy at your school by using new kinds of light bulbs, like compact fluorescents, planting trees, and recycling more. You might not notice, but every time you turn on a light switch you are having an impact on the air you breathe. That's because most of the energy we use is generated by burning coal and gas in power plants, which is where our electricity comes from. Burning these fuels puts pollutants into the air. So, in order to keep that light on, generators at power plants are pumping pollution into the air every minute. Just imagine how much energy is used to light up a whole school! You can really make a difference in reducing air pollution and global warming by reducing your school's electricity use. But where do I start, how can I find out how much energy my school is using? you might be asking. There is already a program that students with Youth for Environmental Sanity (YES!) have developed to help other students make their schools more energy efficient. This program began in November 1993, when a group of high school students in Santa Cruz did some research and discovered that their school could reduce its energy use by close to 40% by switching to more energy efficient technologies. These changes saved the whole school district approximately $160,600 a year, including $24,000 a year for the students' high school. They also created an annual decrease of 1,500 TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS, as well as keeping other harmful pollutants out of the air that equaled the effect of taking approximately 200 cars off the road permanently! A: There are many sources of information on this subject:
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EarthTeam Network
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