You Can Change the World: The Kids' Guide to a Better Planet
Earth is an incrEdiblE planEt home to amazing creatures plants beaches rivers streams forests and mountains There are so many animals in the world that we can’t even count them we can only guess Scientists estimate that there could be anywhere from two million to fifty million different species on Earth with thousands more being discovered every year And we share this planet with all of them Earth is our friend our family and our home But every day we see problems we would like to fix A piece of trash in a green grassy park Plastic water bottles buried in the sand at the beach A garbage bin overflowing onto the street A skinny stray dog A homeless person on a cold day We hear that the ocean is being polluted animals are dying and species are going extinct That climate change is warming up the planet melting icebergs and threatening animals and people some of the smartest Human beings are creatures ever to walk the Earth but we have also made some big mistakes Now it’s time for us to work together to fix those mistakes When we hear about these problems most of us want to help but it’s hard to know where to start And some of these problems are so big they can seem impossible for one person to fix But we can fix them if we each do our part To do that we have to take action Kids are the future you can save the world one step at a time As you will discover in this book there are lots of amazing children in the world just like you If you want to join the mission to save our planet then this is the book for you INTRODUCTION
These pages contain information ideas and activities to show you your friends and family how to make simple changes every day to make the planet a safer happier and greener place Because it’s up to us to protect our Earth Things to remember when you’re changing the world 6 Changing the world won’t happen in a day and you don’t have to do everything at once It’s all about making a few changes at a time 6 Start with the things that are easiest for you You don’t need to read this book in order pick the activities you want to do most 6 This book is about being more aware of the things you are doing and the choices you are making every day It’s not always possible to make the best choice but it’s important to be informed so you know how your actions affect the world around you 6 Saving the planet is fun We’re all on our own journey and 6 Track your progress so you can see all the important changes everyday we can do something to help the fight you have made Everything you do matters INTRODUCTION
PLASTIC
thE numbEr of plastic items on Earth is in the trillions It is estimated that there are more than five trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean alone That is a huge number With five trillion teaspoons of water you could fill over 9,800 Olympic swimming pools And if you joined all of those pieces of plastic together they would go around the whole planet more than 4,000 times Plastic never goes away In fact every piece of plastic ever made still exists on Earth in some form Plastic objects break down into smaller microplastics but they never disappear completely Plastic contains chemicals that are harmful to humans and animals often mistake small bits of plastic for food and feed them to their young who can choke on them or become sick It piles up in our environment and it’s showing no signs of slowing down Getting rid of the plastic in our lives is almost impossible How many things in your house are made of plastic or have plastic parts Maybe too many to count But cutting back a little bit can make a big difference Every time you choose an alternative to plastic you’re helping save an animal save our oceans and stop the spread of toxic chemicals making the world a happier place And there’s an easy way for you to start with single-use plastics Single-use plastics are objects made of plastic such as straws that you only use once before throwing them away Lots of countries are trying to ban single-use plastics but for now we can do our best to avoid them
