Hi, I'm Loll Kirby, author of "Old Enough to Save the Planet." Illustrated by Adelina
Lirius and published by Magic Cat Publishing. I'm going to share some different sections
from the book with you today. And the first of those is Felix. There is Felix's page and
reading the information now. I'm big enough to save our trees. Felix, from Germany, was
concerned about the vast number of trees being cut down all over the world. When he was nine
years old, he launched Plant-for-the-Planet to get schoolchildren all over the world to
join together and plant new trees in their own countries. His idea was so successful
that a few years later, over a million trees had been planted in nearly 100 different countries.
A huge number of trees are cut down around the world every day. Trees are cut down to
make room for farmland, housing or harvesting wood. Trees of all shapes and sizes form a
vital part of the habitat of many of the world's creatures. Humans taking oxygen from the air
and get rid of carbon dioxide, but trees do the opposite. Without them, we wouldn't be
able to breathe. Felix adds the last bits of soil just here around a tree that he's
just planted. The traffic outside Himangi's school in India became such a problem that
the nine year old took action and started a campaign to encourage people to cycle instead
of drive. She also organized better places for cars and rickshaws to wait so that children
could leave school safely. Other local schools were so impressed with her ideas that they
started using them as well. If everybody uses a car traffic jam built up quickly in areas
with lots of homes and workplaces. People can get hurt trying to move safely among the
vehicles and accidents can happen. The exhaust fumes given off by cars, vans and trucks create
air pollution, which can cause health problems. In some towns and cities, air pollution can
get so bad scientists say it isn't safe for people to go outside. Here, Himangi waves
goodbye to her friends as she walks home from school. After learning about the negative
effects of plastic waste, British sisters, Amy 16 and Ella 14 set up a charity to share
their knowledge and get people involved in their work. They inform others about how we
can replace single use plastic bottles with reusable alternatives. They've created a website
with lots of useful resources as well as an app to track plastic litter, and they persuaded
many schools, businesses and councils to make positive changes in how they use plastic.
Bigger plastic items like bottles end up in landfill sites. Lots of plastic items can
easily be swapped for more environmentally friendly alternatives, like using beeswax
wrap instead of plastic to keep food fresh. Much smaller plastic items such as microbeads
found in things like shampoo can end up in the ocean and be swallowed by fish making
them sick. Many everyday items are made from plastic, but they can be difficult to recycle.
And here, Amy and Ella explain how a reusable bottle is so much better than a plastic one.
Some plastic items might not even need a replacement. More and more supermarkets are selling loose
products with no packaging, and customers fill up their own jars and bags to take home.
Flooding was wreaking havoc in Indonesia, where Adeline lives, as a result of humans
destroying the natural environment. At the age of 12, she formed a community group called
Friends of Nature to address the cause of these disasters. She organized people to replant
the native mangrove trees that have been cut down, as well as creating protected areas
in the sea to allow new coral reefs to form. She also spent time educating others about
the impact that human activity has on the world around us. Cutting down trees means
that rainwater can flow freely over the land and become a flood. Changing the natural environment
can have serious consequences for plants, animals and humans. Dumping toxic rubbish
in the ocean can cause coral reefs to die away. Biodiversity is a word to describe having
a wide variety of plants and animals in any given habitat, which is very important for
keeping our environment healthy. Overfishing can destroy the biodiversity of our oceans,
and here, Adeline supports a newly planted tree with a cane. When Hunter found out about
an abandoned baby Rhino, he donated his pocket money to help the people looking after it.
Even though he was only seven at the time. He persuaded lots of other people in his home
country, South Africa, to give money towards caring for rhinos as well. He now talks to
people all over the world about how important it is to look after all wildlife and prevent
endangered species from becoming extinct.
Rhinos are being hunted because people want to take their horns. Some of these people
believe that rhino horns are useful for making medicines, while others think they are a sign
of wealth and success. Some people are so keen to get rhino horns that they kill the
rhinos illegally, which is called poaching. Rhinos are a critically endangered species,
which means they are at an extremely high risk of extinction. When a species becomes
extinct, it means that there are no more of them are left alive in the world. And here,
Hunter is spending time with the rhinos his help to rescue. Brooklyn, from the USA, was
seven years old when she wrote a book called "The Adventures of Earth Saver Girl" to teach
people about why litter is a problem. She visits schools to talk about her book and
entertains children with songs and plays to show that saving the environment can also
be fun. Litter is a problem that most of us encounter every day, we might see food packets
dropped in the streets or spot old bottles floating in the river. Litter spoils how our
environment looks, but it can also damage the plants and animals that live around us
if it doesn't biodegrade. When something biodegrades, it decays naturally over time and is absorbed
by the environment without causing it any harm. Man made materials like plastic, rubber
and nylon can take many hundreds of years to disappear completely. So litter containing
items made of these is a much bigger problem. Natural materials like food waste will biodegrade
completely within a few months. Here, Brooklyn is dressed up as Earth Saver Girl encouraging
her friends to join her.
Vincent, an eleven year old from France recognized the environmental impact of large scale farming
and secured funding to set up an organic community garden in his village. He believed this would
encourage his friends and neighbors to consider food production more carefully, and to take
some responsibility for how their food was grown. His project has been very successful,
and has now expanded to include a beehive and a greenhouse. It has also brought people
in his community closer together. Eating fresh food that has recently been picked avoids
the need for lots of packaging and storage and reduces food waste. If you've grown your
own food, you know that it will taste good in any shape and size. Many larger farms spray
chemicals on their plants to help them grow as well as to kill weeds and insects. Growing
food close to where it will be eaten means that it doesn't have to be transported a long
way in refrigerated trucks or airplanes. These vehicles use fuels which harm our environment.
Organic Farms don't use chemicals on their plants and rely on natural methods to keep
their crops healthy. And here, Vincent picks an apple from a tree in his garden. Nine year
old Eunita learnt about the importance of pollination while visiting an ancient forest
in Kenya where she lives. Her trip inspired her to create a garden near her home that
would attract bees and other creatures that helped to spread pollen. She's put up signs
in her town to explain her work to her community, and she sells seeds to help other people start
their own gardens. Bees like to live in areas filled with wild flowers, grasses and trees.
When a bee drinks nectar, the pollen from the flowers sticks to the bees legs. This
bee then carries the pollen to the next flower. Without this pollen, new plants can't grow,
including those that provide foods for us to eat. Bees habitats are being destroyed
so humans can use the land for other things, leaving the bees homeless. And here, Eunita
prepares the plants and wildflowers that will attract bees. Nikita, a twelve year old from
Ukraine, decided to make use of the food waste that was being thrown away at his school.
Along with a friend he set up a project to separate food leftovers from other types of
rubbish, and then turn them into compost which could be used to nourish the city's plants
and trees. Their work was so successful that many other schools around the country have
adopted the idea and are using their waste to create their own compost. All around the
world, a huge amount of food waste is taken to landfill sites every day. One way to reduce
food waste is to take suitable leftovers such as bread crust or apple cores and find a way
to turn them into compost. Compost is made by allowing organic materials such as leaves,
twigs, and food waste to slowly decompose. Compost can be made on a large scale in schools
or restaurants or on a smaller scale at home. This compost eventually becomes a nutrient
rich fertilizer which can be used to help new plants and trees grow. And here, Nikita
empties a bucket of fruit and vegetable peelings into the school compost bin. Shalise was eleven
years old when she started working to clean up the ocean near where she lives in Australia.
She goes down to the beach every weekend to tidy up and make notes on the rubbish she
finds. She also got her local council to provide special bins for old fishing lines and to
put up signs explaining how we can take better care of marine animals and their habitats.
Fishing lines are very dangerous for marine animals who can get tangled up in them and
become seriously injured. Rubbish is destroying the world's coral reefs, making them more
vulnerable to diseases that damage their health. It's not just beaches that need cleaning up.
Rubbish from people living in land can find its way out to sea after it ends up in a river
that flows into the ocean. It takes hundreds of years for fishing lines and other rubbish
to break down and disappear. So it causes a lot of damage if it isn't cleared away.
There are now many garbage patches in our ocean. And the largest of these, the Great
Pacific patch, stretches across the surface area of 1.5 million square kilometers. And
here, Shalise explains to her friend why it's important to collect rubbish from the beach.
Jordan an eleven year old from the USA became concerned about the use of palm oil while
doing research for a school project on orangutans. He discovered that rain forests that are home
to orangutans are being burned down to make space to grow more palm oil trees. He contacted
lots of companies that use palm oil in their products to ask them to say so clearly on
their labels, so that more people will be aware of the issue. He also set up a website
to share his work and encourage others to help. Rain forests are home to a huge number
of plant and animal species. So many in fact that we haven't even discovered most of them.
A large number of everyday food and beauty products contain palm oil from soap and shampoo
to chocolate and bread. Burning Down the rainforests to grow more palm oil trees means that lots
of species including orangutans could die out forever. The smoke that results from burning
down the rain forest contains carbon dioxide and other pollutants which can cause problems.
Palm oil isn't bad in itself, but we need to be much more careful about how and where
it's produced as well as how companies use it. And here, Jordan hands a banana to an
orangutan who plays happily in its rain forest home. The children at Hengde Primary School
in China wanted to find ways to make their school more environmentally friendly. They
worked together to create an ecological field on their school grounds that educated students
about water conservation through games and other activities. Their most important achievement
was finding a way to adapt their drainage system so that wastewater could be used to
irrigate the small farm areas outside each classroom. All their ideas have been useful
and they are still working to find more. Climate change is leading to rising global temperatures
which may lead to more droughts, making it even more important to conserve water as much
as possible. Whether in school or at home, you can reduce water waste, scraping leftovers
and removing grease before washing your plate. Humans cannot survive without water so there
is more demand for it as the world's population grows. Fresh water shortages affect one in
three people around the world, mainly in developing countries. And here, at Hengde, the children
are learning how a spray nozzle on the end of a tap can slow water flow and reduce waste.
Thank you Loll Kirby for such a great read aloud. It's very inspiring to learn the stories
of these young activists from all over the world who are taking action and making a difference
in their communities, and helping save the planet from climate change. At the end of
the book, you will find more information on how you can help save the planet. Don't forget
to check us out next month for our July eco bookworms book club pick. Until then, happy
reading!