Environmental Literacy A Magazine for a greener world
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..1 Environmental Pollution……………………………………………………………………………………….1 Mission………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………..2 Environmental Literacy………………………………………………….……………………………………..3 Children……………………………………………………………………….………………………….……………4 Teenagers……………………………………………………………………..…………………………….……….5 Recommendations……………………………………………………….……………………………….……..6 Environment Crossword Puzzle…………………………………………………………………….………7 Go Green Puzzle…………………………….…………………………………………………………………….8 Contact Information……………………………………………………………………….…………………….9 Sources………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..9
Each day people make decisions that affect the environment, whether they are getting ready to go to work, preparing dinner, or buying products for the house. That’s why it is important for the people to learn and understand how their actions and lifestyle affect the environment.
In many countries, there is lack of environmental education at schools. This lack of awareness leads to various problems, one of these problems is environmental pollution. The three main types of pollution are air pollution, water pollution, and chemical pollution.
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Air pollution is mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels that are emitted from the exhaust pipes of the cars and factories. 1
Water pollution is caused by people’s dumping sewage, industrial and agriculture wastes in the water of rivers and seas.
Chemical pollution is when certain compounds are left or disposed of in the environment. It is caused by people using agro-chemicals in agriculture, carrying toxic waste or chemicals across the oceans.
Our mission is to make the world a better greener place for the future of the new generation. Our responsibility is to educate teenagers and children how to become environmentally literate, so they can make our Earth a better place to live in. “Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.” ~Henrik Tikkanen 2
So, first of all, what is Environmental Literacy? Environmental literacy is the ability to understand environmental problems and to apply analysis, synthesis, evaluation, informed decision making criteria at a student’s level. It is about the person’s practices and activities; "Environmentally Literate" students will have the knowledge, tools and ability to properly deal with an environmental problem in their professional capacity, and to habitually include the environment as one of the considerations when making a certain decision.
“Our children may save us if they are taught to care properly for the planet; but if not, it may be back to the Ice Age or the caves from where we first emerged. Then we'll have to view the universe above from a cold, dark place. No more jet skis, nuclear weapons, plastic crap, broken pay phones, drugs, cars, waffle irons, or television. Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea”. ~Jimmy Buffet, Mother Earth News, March-April 1990
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Children Children can have a great effect on the environment by the simple little actions they make in their everyday life. They can protect the environment by:
Conserving water in their home and yard.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. “ ~Native American Proverb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk08zyCdT18 Turning off lights and electrical appliances when not in use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmJ4HiJHUJc Using bikes, schools buses or walking instead of each child going with his/her parent’s cars. Planting trees around their houses, schools, and protect the ones that are already planted. Avoid dumping garbage on the roads, streets, and floors and keep their houses and other public areas clean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trUQEp18Zfw Avoid dumping wastes, canals, and other water sources to stay clean. 4
These environmental literate decisions do not only protect the environment, but also leads to prosperous economy and healthy citizens.
Teenagers Teenager’s daily life involves massive consumerism, from plastic sandwich bags, canned drinks and plastic bottled water. So they, in addition to children, can contribute in saving the environment by reducing, reusing, recycling, buying ecofriendly products and supporting green business. They can increase awareness by creating green environmental groups and events on Facebook for people to join. In addition, they can make games and puzzles that include environmental literacy terms to raise other teenager’s awareness, see puzzle. They can participate in a volunteer cleanup day in the school. They also can decrease pollution by walking or using non-polluting transportation instead of driving their cars and also avoid smoking as it increases air pollution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di0fYCArFEE
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All these previous actions of children and teenagers tremendously affect the environment. It results in a cleaner healthier environment, and contribute in the development of the society, as healthy individuals can work and produce successfully, thus benefiting their whole society.
Recommendations: To sum up, individuals should work hand in hand to promote a green healthy environment and apply environmental literacy and education in their everyday life. As environmental literacy seeks to change human behavior and create a sustainable environmentally friendly quality of life.
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Team Members & Contact information: Yasmin Nabil: Editor
Veronia Wagdy: Editor
yasminnabil@aucegypt.edu
veroniawagdy@aucegypt.edu
Sarah Eweda: Media Coordinator
Nagwa Mansour: Media Coordinator
saraheweda@aucegypt.edu
n.mansour@aucegypt.edu
Nahla Petro: Technical Coordinator nahla_petro@aucegypt.edu
SOURCES: http://jharenvis.nic.in/files/Protect%20our%20environment.pdf http://telstar.ote.cmu.edu/environ/m2/s1/envlit.shtml http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2022675 http://www.neefusa.org/pdf/ELR2005.pdf http://www.suite101.com/content/helping-your-teen-go-green-a111526 http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED348235.pdf http://www.springerlink.com/content/w8787826v757x066/fulltext.pdf http://www.docstoc.com/docs/15839225/Environment-Crossword-Puzzle http://www.quotegarden.com/environment.html
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Thank you for reading
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