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Activity 1
Learn more about what your carbon
footprint is by watching this short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q7_aV8eLUE
Activity 2
Find out where your electricity meter
is (ask a grownup to help you) and monitor how many units of electricity you
use each day for one week. You might even have a Smart Meter which you can
look at instead for clearer readings. Note down how much electricity you use
on one day and then work out what you can do to make it less the next
day. This could be by turning off
unused lights, remembering to turn off electric devices rather than leave
them on standby or by only boiling as much water as you need in a kettle. Write down or make a photo collage of what
made the biggest difference in your home.
Activity 3
During the Coronavirus Pandemic we
have had to change the way we live.
What things have you done in your household that have resulted in you
producing a smaller carbon footprint? E.g. used the car less, made fewer
trips to the shop etc. Can you make a
diagram of all these things? Can some
or all of these things stay the same as we come out of the pandemic?
Creative challenge:
Now
that you have learnt more about your carbon footprint, we would like you to
have a go at designing you own environmentally-friendly house. So what is an
eco-house? What is an eco-house? An eco-house
is built in such a way that it reduces
energy consumption and waste.
Things you might want to think about
for your design could include: how to take advantage of natural lighting, how
to collect your own water to use for watering plants in the garden or even to
flush the toilet, how to generate your own electricity etc.
Here are a couple of videos to help
you generate some more ideas about eco-friendly homes:
In the first video, meet a couple who built their own Hobbit style
eco home in Pembrokeshire, Wales. They built their home from waste and
natural resources rather than going out and buying new materials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUxIN3FIvks
You can find out more information about how they built their home
at:
https://tinyhouseblog.com/earthcob/simonshouse/
In the second video, you can watch what a child explain their
model of an eco-friendly home they created:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eww0efCsuco
You can choose how to present your
work. You might want to draw and label a picture or you may even decide to
make your own 3D model, the choice is yours. Have fun designing and who
knows, one day you might even use some of your ideas in a home of your own!
How can you
help?
There is a lot we
can do to reduce our impact on the environment. Here are a few ideas of how
you can help:
Reduce
– although we need to recycle and reuse items we buy we also need to really
reduce what we choose to buy.Wasting
lessHave
showers instead of bathsSwitching
to green energy sourcesBuying
local foodsEating
a little less meat and dairy producesUse
local swapping or give away sites such as Freecycle or Olio and look to pass
on items you no longer want or need.
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