Green World

The first animal of this series is the Yangtze finless porpoise, a dolphin living in fresh water in southern China in the Yangtze river. It is one of the very few dolphins living in fresh water and the only species left in the Yangtze river. Unfortunately, the porpoise is facing extinction. What is it? The Yangtze finless porpoise is a dolphin species living in the Yangtze River in southern China. It is one of the very few dolphin species that live in freshwater, and the only one that survived in the Yangtze river after the Baiji Dolphin was declared functionally extinct in 2006. It characteristically is about 2 meters long, has no fins -as the name suggests- and no beak. Its mouth however is curved upwards like a smile, giving the Porpoise and cute and friendly face. It feeds on small fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Sadly, the Yangtze finless Porpoise is considered "critically endangered" as there are only about 1000 of them left.  Why i...

Hello, Welcome to the November Factfile! Finally, it is December, and Christmas is just around the corner! Settle in, and read all the hot info from November. Here's a quick reminder to vote about the fact file's future. It closes in a month! Thanks, and enjoy! News COP26 Quickly for everyone who does not know: COP stands for "Conference of the Parties" and is a conference hosted by the UN, which brings together the members of the UN to discuss climate issues and come up with agreements regarding these issues. This year, COP was held for the 26th time-hence COP26-in Glasgow from October 31st to November 13th. These are the main outcomes from this conference: The nations agreed on four main topics to take action on Mitigation, Adaption, Finance and collaboration. Apart from that, they agreed on keeping the 1.5 degrees limit but also stated that action must be taken immediately to make it. Mitigation is about reducing carbon emis...

Eco Bricks Are they the key to the world's plastic pollution problem? Or at least a helpful factor if they became a permanent solution with no disadvantages? But what are they anyway? How are they useful? And how can individuals help every day? Here are some tips for everyone wanting to save plastic and help the earth. Eco bricks are plastic bottles, filled densely with hard and soft plastic that make a bottle so hard and sturdy that they could be used to build houses. Which in fact, they are. To make an Eco-Brick, you need a clean and dry plastic bottle, a long stick and lots of plastic. All plastic must be clean and dry, so it should be washed and dried or hung up to dry before usage. Now the bottle can be filled with layers of soft and hard plastic alternately that is pushed down with the stick to fill every corner of the bottle. That is done until the Eco-Brick is entirely stuffed with plastic and hard as a brick. The advan...

Hello everyone, This post is all about how to help the environment over Christmas. 1. Try not to travel massive distances by plane Christmas is the time of the year to get the whole family together, not go on holiday. Enjoy the environment around you, talk to the friends and neighbours that you normally talk to, you don't need to fly half way aroudn the globe for just one week. Of course, if you are travelling to visit family this doesn't really count. 2. Christmas trees; Most people buy a new Christmas tree every year and then throw it away in January. The more environmentally friendly option is to buy a small Christmas tree in a pot and put it out in the garden and let it grow for the rest of the year and then bring it in again next Christmas. There are quite a few advantages when doing this. 1. Planted trees don't drop loads of needles. 2. It saves money because you don't have to pay for a new tree every year. 3. It saves t...

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...

Hi Everyone! Our blog has been going through some changes so in this post we are talking you through a few things that will be changing and how your vote can impact them! 1. We've got a new blog editor! There were already three of us writing on here but we recently invited MK to join us! They will be writing their own posts and taking part in joint ones too! This is very exciting for us and we hope that you will all enjoy having a new perspective and input. 2. Vote on Factfile's potential replacement- your vote matters! After doing animal of the week throughout 2020, we decided to move to monthly fact files, which we have been doing throughout 2021. So for 2022, we thought we could change it up a bit. We have so many ideas and we've put a few in a vote for you all to take part in, meaning you can have your say in what kind of monthly content you want to see from us. We could keep the fact file too and there is an option for that so,...

Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to tell you about the benefits that house plants can have to your health. Enjoy :) 1. Reducing stress levels A study proved that having house plants makes you feel calmer and more natural, which in turn makes you feel less stressed and overwhelmed. I definitely agree that plants are very calming and I'm not surprised that it is scientifically proven! 2. Allergy relief Having house plants can reduce dust and mould, which could be amazing for people with those allergies. Obviously, you would want to avoid plants with a lot of pollen! 3. General Happiness Plants can boost your mental health and make you feel better about yourself. Employees who work in offices with plant life feel better about their jobs, feel less stressed and have less time off for health reasons. Some therapists even use plant therapy to help people with depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. 4. Boosting humidity If ...