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

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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.

Air pollution is

mainly due to the

burning of fossil fuels

that are emitted from

the exhaust pipes of the

cars and factories.

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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

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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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“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we

borrow it from our children. “ ~Native American Proverb

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.

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.

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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 eco-

friendly 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 clean-

up 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