8th June, World Oceans Day

Different dates and celebrations, all related to the environment and the urge to protect it!
8th June marks World Oceans Day  and aims at raising awareness of the central role oceans play as a source of food, oxygen and medicine. As in every situation, if we take action together, we can protect the oceans and prevent more and more garbage, especially plastic: no more plastic bags when shopping, no more flowers wrapped in plastic, no more plastic bottles!!!! Plastic! Plastic!!! We are surrounded by plastic bags, toys, bottles... so much plastic that there is already a plastic patch 2x the size of Texas / US floating in the Pacific Ocean!!! Have a look at this mockumentary narrated by Jeremy Irons following the life cycle of a plastic bag. It's incredible!

Unbelievable, right? The largest garbage damp is in the Pacific Ocean. Now watch shocking numbers and images of that Pacific garbage patch and animals:


What do you do to protect the environment? The oceans? To avoid more plastic production and consumption?

Happy World Oceans Day, y'all!

22nd April - EARTH DAY

This Thursday, April 22nd marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. This annual celebration is recognised around the world with rallies, teach-ins, and other events meant to highlight the importance of environmental protection.Since the event was intrduced back in 1970, there has been incredible progress in the way people view their impact on the planet but, unfortunately, not enough to slow down global warming...

If you do worry about environmental issues or are simply curious, click on the following links:

http://www.earthday.org/
http://holidays.kaboose.com/earth-day/earth-day-guide.html
http://www.earthday40th.com/tag/earth-day-2010-opinions

Whether you like LINKIN PARK or not, most teens love this band and they have a powerful song we can use in class - "What I've done" - if the lyrics are too complicated (?) at least the images are clear enough for our pupils to understand their message. Here it is:

Find more videos like this on LinkinPark.com

Think about what YOU've done to protect what belongs to us all: Planet Earth!

Start today: PROMOTE GLOBAL AWARENESS AND PREVENT GLOBAL WARMING!

Together, we can :)

27th March - EARTH HOUR 2010

PLEASE observe EARTH HOUR next Saturday 27th March from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m.

Earth Hour Banner in Vietnam: "Turn off the electricity, turn on the future"




Don't miss the video that follows!


If you are interested in this topic, follow these suggestions:
http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx
http://www.wwf.pt/o_que_fazemos/hora_do_planeta/hora_do_planeta_2010/ (IN PORTUGUESE :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0TDvHSBiBM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_hour
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Hour (IN PORTUGUESE :)
Are you joining in with Earth Hour? Post details of your event under "comments" below.

LITTER

Do you know the word LITTER? What does it mean? Do you know any other words with more or less the same meaning?

Well, LITTER means rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places) but there are some more words to refer to worthless material that is to be disposed of: garbage, trash, scrap, waste,...

Following my last posting on PLP (Projecto Limpar Portugal) I picked up a poem by one of my favourite writers - this time reggae poet LEVI TAFARI - that I would like to share with you:

“Well hello everybody

How do you do?

I wanna introduce
myself to you!
My name is LITTER
I dwell in the gutter
I’m comprised of glass,
wood, metal and paper
I’m getting larger
hour after hour
you’ll find me lurking
in your area.”
“I move around the city
I make it untidy
to human beings
I’m really unhealthy
I’m not very pretty
in fact I’m quite ugly
some people even say
I’m real dirty
so I do what I can
to upset man
I’m unpopular
I’m not part of this plan
a menace to society
I’m very naughty
like poison
I’m quite deadly
vermin love me
I make them feel secure
I’m produced by the rich
thrown out by the poor
I’ve been around
a really long time
even though you’ve made
dropping me a crime
and if you think I’m rough
you ain’t seen nothing yet
I’ll get up to your neck
and make you sweat
this is a promise
it is not a threat
yes you can call me names
say I’m no good
but it won’t stop me

messing up your neighbourhood.”

“Because

I’m LITTER

from the gutter

and my mission

is to make you SUFFER.”

LITTER, by Levi Tafari (Rhyme don’t pay, Headland 1999 – pages 51+52)

Too much litter is, indeed, what is leading people from all over the country to join their efforts for a common goal as PLP. In a straight forward language, Levi Tafari deals here with a topic that is on top of the agenda and a must for teachers who are currently teaching "The world around us" since the poem can be used to talk about consumer habits, threats to the environment, attitudes,...
I hope you enjoy the poem / Levi's writing as much as I do :) 

Earth Day - 22nd April

Have a look at this video suggested by a student last year. It calls our attention for the need to save energy and water. Proper education is to teach / learn to save our Planet!!!

Earth Hour 2009

According to WWF, over 2,800 cities and towns in more than 80 countries supported the event last Saturday 28th. Indeed, many landmarks worldwide took part and went dark for 1 hour. WWF hopes this public support will convince governments across the world to agree to take effective action to tackle climate change.
I just hope you really switched your lights off to show our leaders you DO care about the environment!!! Ours is a small planet but the ONLY ONE we've got...

Earth Hour 2009

Dear all,

I'm sure you have often wondered what you could do about global warming.

The environment definitely concerns us all and should be preserved but the truth is that profit has always been the top issue ever since the industrial revolution...

So, why not show your commitment to the environmental cause and join the movement Earth Hour 2009?

Here follows the challenge: wherever you are on SATURDAY 28TH MARCH AT 8.30PM LOCAL TIME, TURN YOUR LIGHTS OFF FOR AN HOUR and take part in this global event, which seeks to ignite a new call for action on climate change around the world.

For further details and registration, visit http://www.earthhour.org/home/

DO SOMETHING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND HELP SAVE PLANET EARTH - DO IT FOR YOURSELF BUT, ABOVE ALL, FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME!!!!