World Meteorological Day 2014’s “theme is ‘Weather and climate: engaging youth.’ Today’s youth will benefit from the dramatic advances being made in our ability to understand and forecast the Earth’s weather and climate. At the same time, most of them will live into the second half of this century and experience the increasing impacts of global warming. WMO encourages young people to learn more about our weather and climate system and to contribute to action on climate change” (World Meteorological Organization).
I think this is a perfect opportunity to encourage your pupils to take a look at their lifestyles and discuss changes they could make to their everyday lives to be more environmentally aware. Although awareness is increasing, I think this is something that can be overlooked in day to day life.
I recently stumbled upon online footprint calculator on the WWF website. Personally, I have taken steps to be more environmentally aware and I believed my lifestyle was environmentally friendly. The footprint calculation “includes our food, our clothes, fuel we use for our cars and building materials for our homes.
It also measures how much land and water is required to deal with the waste products of our consumption, such as carbon dioxide and agricultural pollution” (WWF). The website is a great eye-opener and gives tips and advice on ways to reduce our effect on climate change.
Let us know what your school is doing to encourage greater awareness of the Earth’s weather and climate.
