Earth Day
Celebrate our planet and its amazing inhabitants! Use the library’s database collection to learn how to keep our environment healthy and safe for us and future generations. (Hint: if you are asked to sign into a database, use your library card number and your last name!)
- Using World History in Context, search “First Earth Day.” Scroll down to Primary Sources and select “The First Earth Day.”
- When was the first Earth Day celebrated?
- Who started it and why?
- Scroll down toward the bottom of the article to the picture of the Earth. What is our planet saying?
- What is one good thing that has happened for the Earth (Congressional Act, community organization, volunteer program) as a result of the awareness created by Earth Day? (hint: read the paragraph under the picture, in the “Significance” section.)
- When was the first Earth Day celebrated?
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Using Science Online, enter the word “environment” in the search bar. Since there are 3,964 hits, narrow your results by selecting “Definition” in the right column. Open the second definition.
- Environment is an organism’s ____________________.
- Name two kinds of pollution that are causing harm to our environment.
- Environment is an organism’s ____________________.
- On the home page of America’s News, scroll down to the topic “Environment” and click on it. On the right side, select “Air Pollution.” Select the first article, “Coronavirus and traffic-- Air quality improves—for now.” Read the first four paragraphs.
- To what does it attribute the reduction in air pollution and planet-warming emissions? In other words, why are the skies clearer?
- When (in what year) was the last time the air quality was so good in L.A.?
- What are the two emissions that highway traffic causes? (hint: they both have four letters and begin with the letter “s”)
- People with what two chronic conditions can breathe better in the fresher air?
- Can you think of ways to reduce traffic once people can get out and about again?
- To what does it attribute the reduction in air pollution and planet-warming emissions? In other words, why are the skies clearer?
- Using National Geographic Kids, search “Save the Ocean.” Choose the first article from April 2019 entitled “35 Ways You Can Save the Ocean from Plastic.” Use the arrows above the pages to move forward so you can view all 35 ways on pages 24-27. (Hint: you can use the + or – magnifying glass to make it bigger and easier to read!) What are three ideas from the article you could do?
- Go to Issues & Controversies and search “Global Warming.” Scroll down until you find the most recent article (number 10), dated February 13, 2020-- “Climate Change: Should the U.S. Government Take Aggressive Steps to Combat Climate Change?” Read the first few paragraphs.
- What are some of the “disastrous consequences” of climate change for life on Earth?
- Why do you think there is a picture of a California wildfire at the beginning of the article?
- What is one factor climatologists believe is responsible for global warming?
- Talk to your parents and/or read the opposing views. Who do you think should be responsible for bringing about change?
- What are some of the “disastrous consequences” of climate change for life on Earth?
- Using Sirs Discoverer, find and read the article “Bees Feel the Sting.”
- Why do scientists think bees are weakened and susceptible to (more likely to get) viruses that are making 1/3 of them die or disappear?
- Bee-sides honey, what are some of the foods we eat that bees pollinate?
- Why do scientists think bees are weakened and susceptible to (more likely to get) viruses that are making 1/3 of them die or disappear?
- The last Friday in April is Arbor Day, when we celebrate trees as part of our environment. Using Britannica Library Children, search “rainforest.” Click on the first article “rainforest.”
- Where is the world’s largest rainforest found?
- What is one reason tropical rainforests are important?
- What is one way they are being destroyed?
- Where is the world’s largest rainforest found?
- Return to the library home page at metrolibrary.org and select the gold Download and Stream box. Scroll down to the Movies, TV & Music section and click on Kanopy. If you don’t already have an account, ask your parent or caregiver to help you create one with an email and password. Select Kanopy Kids at the top of the page (unlimited views through May 31). Search “recycling” OR click on this link: Watch “Extreme Recycling.” (Hint: If you want to read along while they’re talking, go to More and click play to see the transcript/captions.) Enjoy the entire 26-minute episode that explores a recycling center, or fast forward to 16:40-19:05. What are their unique animal helpers (draw one on the back of this sheet!), and what do they do at the recycling center?