2023 on Green World: the stats, our reflections & more || wrap up

Hi,

Welcome back to Green World! This year has been amazing for our blog, so today we wanted to share some stats, personal reflections from each of the editors and some important information for 2024!

2023 in stats

52 posts

86 463 views

most viewed post: Geothermal and Hydropower Energy in Iceland || Iceland Series (part 2)

best posting month: August

worst posting month: January

2610% increase in views compared to last year!

How was it for us?

Elsie:

This year has been an incredible experience for me. I'm so grateful for all of your support and have loved writing weekly posts on topics that mean so much to me. My favourite post to write was National Parks post, it made me want to travel to all those amazing places. I've also found writing the energy comparison series really interesting because they required a lot of background knowledge and research and made me think more deeply about the complex topic of electricity production. I can't wait to see what 2024 brings us.

Freya:

I have not written as many posts for the blog this year as I had hoped I would have, but the ones I did write I am very proud of. In particular the post about the importance of nature for our mental health. I found it such an interesting topic to research and write about as it was something that I hadn't really thought that deeply about before. In the past twelve months, the blog has expanded so much, and I am so grateful to be able to be a part of it. I look forward to seeing where 2024 takes us!

Zoë:

I was, once again, not as present as I would have liked to have been on this blog this year. However, I made all the blog graphics, which I thoroughly enjoyed. What I did write for this platform, I am very proud of, such as my posts about electric cars. I've been enjoying taking more time over writing posts, and thinking of posts to write. I have several ideas which I can't wait to write in 2024! I've found making the graphics more consistent very rewarding and I can't wait to keep making them in the new year!

Important info for 2024

The vote for the replacement of the quiz series ended in a draw. The two winners are book reviews and challenges. Therefore we will be alternating these two formats, a different one each month. All other series which we have been writing will be continued into the new year!

We hope you all enjoyed this as much as we did. Thank you so much for reading and following us over the last year. See you in 2024!

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Comments

19.07.2020: Animal of the week: Honey Bees

Hi everyone, This week's animal is the honey bee. Enjoy! General Information An average honeybee hive is made up of one queen, hundreds of male drones and thousands of female workers. If the queen bee dies then a new queen is created. The workers select a young larva and feed it with a special food called ‘royal jelly’. The ‘royal jelly’ makes the larva grow into a fertile queen. Queens live for several years but the workers only live for five or six weeks. An average worker will make a twelfth of a tee spoon of honey during her entire life. Drones are turned out of the hive and left to die in Autumn. In the summer months, the queen bee is very busy, she can lay up to 2500 eggs in a single day. How they affect the world around them Honey bees are very important for flowers, fruit and vegetables. This comes from the fact that they are pollinators. They help the plants by transferring pollen between male and female parts, meaning the plants can g...

The life of ... a koala

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about koalas. Also known as koala bears, koalas are marsupials. So they're actually not bears. Koalas, phascolarctos cinereus , are tree dwelling and probably best known for spending most of the day sleeping. They live for up to 15 years in the wild although captive koalas generally live for longer. Koalas have a stout, gray body and a cream-coloured chest. They have a broad face, small yellow eyes and big fluffy ears. In adaptation to climbing, their feet are strong and clawed. Adult individuals in South Australia weigh 14kg and are 60-84cm big. Their Eastern cousins are considerably smaller. Koalas are found in Eastern and Southern Australia, where they live in eucalyptus trees. They feed on the leaves of these eucalyptus trees, eating up to 1.3kg a day. With a body weight of up to 14kg, this means they eat just under 10% of their body weight every single day. However, the le...

Green Pets || easy house plants to get you started // best house plants for beginners

Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to talk to you about some easy house plants you could look after to get you started on your green pets journey. These are plants that are easy to look after and that I recommend for an introduction into caring for house plants. If you are a beginner or want to look after some plants, then this is the post for you! 1. Cacti - moon cactus I don't actually have a cactus, but they are the obvious place to start. They need little water and thrive in warm conditions; they are described as "low maintenance". I have done some research and it looks like the moon cactus (Gymnocalycium mihanovichii) is the best one in terms of not being too fussy with needing minimal water and tolerates lower light levels. I would like a cactus at some point, but if you are just starting out wanting to care for some house plants, then this is the one to start with! 2. Aloe Vera One of my first house plants, this is one that is rela...

Animals 31-35 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to our blog, today we are sharing another 5 incredible animals. This is part of a series to celebrate our 50th blog post, all about unusual animals! Enjoy! 31. Pangolins These creatures are often mistaken for reptiles but they are in fact mammals. They are covered in scales and use them to defend themselves because similar to a hedgehog, they curl up into a ball. They eat ants, termites and larvae. They eat using their tongue, which is very long- sometimes even longer than their body! Sadly, Pangolins are in high demand as their meat is considered a delicacy their scales are used in traditional folk remedies, which means that there is an illegal trade. Luckily, there have been many initiatives put in place to help these animals by WWF and similar organisations. 32. Macropinna Microstoma This is a species of fish that live at about 600m below sea level. They hang nearly motionless in the water and have a very unusual...

Air pollution

Hi Everyone, Today we're talking about air pollution. We've all heard about air pollution, normally in connection to cars, coal mines or planes. But what are the consequences of too much air pollution and what can we do about it? One type of air pollution is known as PM2.5. These are particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. This means that we cannot see them without technology such as microscopes. They are produced in a number of different ways including power generation, motor traffic, domestic heating and chemical reactions taking place in the air around us. Although these particles are very small and "invisible", they can cause a lot of damage. Research data now shows links between this form of air pollution and cancers, premature births, diabetes (especially type 2) and heart and lung disease. It is shown to cause 400 000 deaths across Europe every year. Unfortunately this form of air pollution is widespread. A guardian article explains how in Europe alone...

Energy comparison: wind turbines

Hello, Finally, we are back with another energy comparison. Today we're looking at wind turbines. Wind power is a fast-growing renewable energy source. In the US, the wind power industry currently employs 120 000 people across all 50 states. It could grow to employ hundreds of thousands of people by 2050. 9% of the electricity in the US in 2021 came from wind turbines, that’s 136 000 megawatts. The wind power industry saves 329 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. General knowledge and categorisation We should probably start off by clarifying how wind turbines actually work and what types there are. I’m not going to give an in-depth description of how wind turbines work because I don’t want this post to turn into a physics lesson. To put it very simply, the wind turns the blades, which turns the rotor. The rotor then turns the generator, which converts the kinetic energy (movement) into electricity. There are obviously a lot more...

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...

January 2021 Factfile - a bit of news from the past month and more!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the first monthly fact file! We are going to share a news article from last month as well as animals and more! News You might have heard that the UK has authorised the use of a pesticide harmful to bees. It has been authorised for use on sugar beet with their excuse being to do with the virus yellows disease. But bees are in serious decline and this is not going to help. It is authorised for emergency use and only in specific conditions but, in our eyes, that doesn't make it okay. Farmers need bees to pollinate crops and now they are killing them with a horrible pesticide. What do you think? We would love your opinions below! For more information on bees in our honey bee post click here . We have also found an article about some Indonesian monkeys from the island of Bali who steal anything expensive, that tourists have because they know they will get a reward! They know which items have the most value and wi...

July 2021 Factfile - some news from the past month, animals and plants!

Hi Everyone, July is over and August is here. This month we've divided the 'News' section into 'Good news' and 'Bad news'. This will hopefully make the post more structured and easier to navigate. News Good news: Pandas classified as vulnerable Giants pandas are now classified as vulnerable according to Chinese officials. They were originally classed as endangered , but now that numbers in the wild have gone over 1 800 they have been reclassified. This is due to hard conservation work in China and funds from volunteers all over the globe. However, they are still vulnerable so it is important that the good work continues. For all those who have supported giant pandas through websites or those who work actively with them: keep up the good work! First baby beaver born on Exmoor in 400 years A baby beaver has been born on Exmoor, England, for the first time in 400 years! This is due to ...

October 2021 Factfile | news, animals and more!

Hello, October is over and November is here - let's hope it's a cosy month full of stunning Autumn colours and beautiful rainy days! News Good news Judge postpones wolf hunt in Wisconsin Every year in Wisconsin there is a wolf hunt in autumn. But this year, something amazing happened: A judge halted the season. For years there has been a dispute, on one side environmentalists, and on the other hunters and farmers. The farmers claim that wolves destroy their crops and that killing them is the only solution. Environmentalists argue that wolf populations are too weak and that the animals shouldn't be killed. Let's hope that this is the first step toward stopping the wolf hunt altogether. Bad news Pacific islands are disappearing For many of us, the threat of climate change feels distant. But for the people of the Pacific islands, the terror is all too real. These are their homes, and they are rapidly becoming submerged b...

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