Frozen worlds

The main threat to frozen worlds is the Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect is the idea that certain gases in the air trap the heat from the sun.

These gases are called ‘greenhouse gases’ or ‘GHG’ for short. When the sun beams shine on the earth, they get excited by the warmth and start whizzing around with lots of energy.


This makes the temperature of the earth go up because the atmosphere is nice and warm. This is normal and is important for life. Without the greenhouse effect the earth would be too cold for us to live on.


Some activities make greenhouse gases. For example, burning coal and crude oil to produce electricity or power our cars. This means that the Greenhouse Effect is bigger than it should be.


This causes global warming and climate change. The impact of this will be terrible if we let it carry on.


We can save the frozen worlds. We can improve the efficiency of our lives. Efficiency means that something serves its purpose and does not produce waste.

For example, an efficient kettle will boil water using as little electricity as possible. It will not use more electricity than it needs. It will not waste.

The frozen worlds will thank you.

Walk, scoot or cycle wherever you can.

Swytch bikes is a company that can turn any regular bike into an electric bike. This might be easier for you and your body to use.

People with children or people who carry bags might like this website: https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/cycling-guide/guide-cargo-bikes

https://www.vanraam.com/en-gb . This website sells lots of types of bikes. Including walking aids, tandems, tricycles and bikes with wheelchairs attached. Their products are very expensive. But the designs are so cool.

https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/cycling-guide/guide-to-adapted-cycles . This website also has information about accessible bikes.

Everyone should be able to get outside together and move

Be energy efficient in the kitchen

  • Try meal planning:

--Make a list of all the meals you are going to eat this week. Then you can shop in one go. And you know what you are going to buy. You will not waste money on what you do not need.

--You can make sure that you are eating properly too. It is ok to write ‘going to a restaurant’ or ‘ready-made meal’ on some days as well. You do not have to be a master chef!

  • Only cook what you will eat. If you do make too much food, store it.

  • Storing food in the fridge or the freezer uses electricity.

--Check you fridge: do you have anything that does not need to stay cold? For example, eggs will stay fresh in a cool cupboard instead of the fridge.

--You can also preserve food by canning, fermenting or drying it. There are many different options.

  • These methods can also help to save the Grasslands.

Challenge

Spend the day without any electricity. Try deleting social media for a week (or longer).

Reduce the amount of electricity that you use

  • Turn the light off when you are not using it

  • Unplug electrical devices when you not using them

  • Wonderbags. These are special bags.
    - You just boil the food up and put the pot in a bag. The bag ensures that the food continues cooking for a lovely energy-free, slow cooked feast. Without extra electricity or gas.

  • Put your mobile phone and computer on 'Airplane' mode when you are not using them. This will stop unnecessary files and interactions.
    - The battery on the device will not get lower. You device will not receive pointless interactions. This saves energy.
    - When you turn 'Airplane' mode off again, your device will function completely normally. You will receive all your messages from the people who are important to you.

Be energy efficient with the laundry

  • Reduce how often you wash your clothes

- If your clothes are a little smelly- hang them up by a window or outside to air. The air flow will make them slightly less smelly.
- Take your clothes in the shower with you if they need a rinse. This means that you do not need to put the clothes in the washing machine. You use the same energy and water to wash yourself and your clothes. This is very efficient.
- If it has just a little stain, do not wash the whole garment. Soak the stain or wipe it with a damp cloth. The sooner you soak a mark or a stain, the easier it is to clean out.

  • Do not use a tumble dryer. Leave your clothes out to dry on a washing line outside or inside.

  • Reduce how often you iron your clothes. You can smooth the creases out with your hands when they are wet. Then, hang your clothes on padded hangers to dry. You clothes will stay smooth.

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/media-library/home/about-us/responsibility/net-zero/our-journey-to-net-zero.pdf

This is the 2021 pledge from Thames Water. Thames Water is a water providing and cleaning company for London, England.

In this pledge, they pose some fantastic ideas. For example using sewage waste as natural fertiliser for farming. And using the biogas produced from the sewage cleaning for heating buildings.

I would love to have a poo heater! That is such an inventive idea!

Check the efficiency

Check the efficiency standard of the appliances in your home. An appliance is a devise or a machine. For example, a dishwasher, a hairdryer.

If you use something that has a low efficiency standard. Find out how you can improve its efficiency. Or reduce how often you use it.

Before you buy an appliance, ask the seller about the efficiency of the appliance. You can also find out about efficiency of products online.

Use a smart meter to help you to understand your energy consumption. You can learn how to improve the efficiency of your home. Have a look at this link for more information- https://www.ovoenergy.com/smart-home/ovo-greenlight

Challenge

Make dinner without any gadgets. No cooker, no mixer, nothing.

Make washing the dishes energy efficient

  • Fill the dishwasher up completely before running it.

  • Use a dishwasher. It is less water and energy efficient to wash up by hand. How great is that!

  • Scrape the food from your plates as much as possible. This way, food will not clog up the pipes. You will not need to use as much chemicals and money to clean the pipes.
    Scraping the dishes takes a little extra time but it allows you to pause before rushing off to the next job. Monotony can be restful.

  • Use left over water to soak things that have food stuck. Left over water could be undrunk water from the kettle or even left over bath water.

Do you want to find out more about water cycles and saving the fresh waters?

Ecospheric in England do massive reconstructions of old houses to make them more sustainable. They share their work on their website.

Change the way you keep cool and warm up

Instead of using radiators and fires to stay warm; you can:

  • Close doors of the room to preserve heat

  • Open the windows in hot weather and close them in cold weather.

  • Dress appropriately for the temperature.

  • Make sure that your building has insulation. Insulation is the ways that we can stop warm air from leaving the room. Double glazed windows, insulation, add a false wall with insulation to insulate existing outside walls

Instead of using air conditioning and fans to stay cool; you can:

Live with other people to share living costs. Make the most with the space that you have.

Live in a home that fits the users. One person does not need a 5 bedroom house. A big family does.

MuttiCool Clay Refrigerators in India have invented refrigerators that do not use electricity or any power! These could be really helpful for poorer communities.

Shift to renewable energy sources

A renewable energy source is something that produces electricity from natural processes. These sources are constantly restored.

For example, we can make electricity using energy from the sun or from the movement of the wind.

  • Find out what sort of energy your energy supplier uses. If they use a finite resource, stop using them. Use a different energy supplier.

  • Companies that produce sustainable energy:
    - Solivus solar panels
    - HomeBiogas composter
    - Energy floors. These are dance floors. They use the energy from humans to produce electricity.
    - Turbulent.be water produced energy
    -Waterotor water
    -Suez energy produced from landfill

  • Smaller tools for powering appliances when you are out on adventures:
    -Waterlily portable wind and water power
    -Mobile Solar Chargers

Change your internet browser to Ecosia.

This is an amazing company that uses renewable energy to power their corner of the internet. All browsers use search adverts. This gives the company money. However, Ecosia uses this money to plant trees where they are needed all over the world.

Challenge

Go 'off-grid'. This means living without the electricity produced by the national grid. You produce all the electricity that you need by yourself.

This is very exciting. Take a look at Earthships or YouTube for various 'off-grid' practises.

A student from Britain designed a bike that uses human power to wash clothes- https://spincycle.gumroad.com/l/spincycletechnicalguide

Do not use aeroplanes when you travel. Aeroplanes produce an immense amount of greenhouse gases.

Make your travel efficient

  • Use public transport. Trains, trams and buses are travelling anyway. When we use them, that is 1 less car killing the planet. Using a railcard or season ticket can make this cheaper for you too.

  • Lift share. This means sharing transport with other people. Can you drop your friend off along the way to your destination?

  • If you are driving with friends or family, hire a bigger car or a mini-van. Rather than driving lots of separate cars.

  • Stop idling. Idling is when you park the car or pull up but you do not turn off the engine. This is horrendous for the environment. It also damages your car's engine. If you are not moving, turn off the ignition.

  • Cover up your car with a sun protector and park in the shade when you park. This means that your car will not get too hot when the weather does. You will not need to use the air conditioning as much when you drive.

  • Open the windows to cool yourself down when you drive. This is instead of switching on the air conditioning.

  • Use a cold protector or a garage when you park your car. This means that your car will not get too cold and icy when the weather does. You will not need to use the heaters as much when you drive.

  • Use blankets and jackets to warm yourself up. Sit on blankets to keep your bottom warm. This is instead of switching on the heated seats or heaters.

  • If you do not need to drive very often, get rid of your car. When you need to drive, hire a car or ask someone to drive you. When you do not need to drive, do not. This can save money on insurance and tax.
    Cars can be donated to families who need them most.

  • Reduce how far away you travel. Holidays are lots of fun. However, find holidays in your country. Try to limit your holidays abroad to once a year. Staying local is often cheaper. It is also often less energy consuming.

  • Next time you need a new car, buy an electric car. Try to buy a car second-hand.

Some researchers in the United States of America have designed paint that is really white. This sounds unimportant. However, this white paint reflects the sunlight.

This means that buildings painted with this paint would not get so hot. We would not need to use more energy to cool our houses.

The research paper is here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.1c02368

Challenge

Find out the name of a company that uses lots of fossil fuels. Or a company that sells fossil fuels for energy and fuel. Write them an email everyday and ask them to shift to renewable energy.

Find out what their impact on the environment is. Post it on social media.

The company will not like this. They may be encouraged to change their ways in order to get customers.