We teach our children a lot of things. One of the important things to teach them is about the environment.

This article will hopefully give you the tools to teach environmental, leadership and other complex issues to your children with some TLC.

How better than with a bit of TLC – The Last Christmas – The North Pole is MELTING!

Written by marine scientist and children’s author Dr Ian Irvine, The Last Christmas is a book guaranteed to engage and empower children and parents.

It is an eBook to help parents teach their kids about environmental issues and help them understand global warming.

Helping parents to entertain and teach their children about the environment, leadership, bravery, kindness, loyalty and ways even kids can help prevent global warming.

Set in the North Pole this delightful read will entertain little people with the help of Vixen, (who must save Christmas), and of course, that man with the big laugh and tummy like a bowl full of jelly!

So…can Vixen save Christmas?

How can I educate my child about global warming?

1) Is Earth’s climate really changing?

Yes, scientists know that the world is getting warmer, very quickly.

2) How do we know global warming is happening?

There are many ways of finding out what Earth’s climate used to be. For instance, scientists have drilled right through the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica. Ice cores they collected show how Earth’s climate has changed over the past half a million years. There have been ice ages, when it is very cold, and warm periods. But the world has never warmed as quickly as it is now.

We also know global warming is happening because:

• glaciers and ice caps are melting and shrinking across the world;
• the sea level is rising;
• all over the world, it’s getting hotter;
• many animals and plants are struggling to adapt to changing climate. For instance, reindeer hate mosquitoes. Because the Arctic is getting warmer, there are far more mosquitoes. Reindeer have to spend a lot more energy swatting them away, which leaves them with less energy to prepare for the winter.

3) Why is global warming happening?

It’s mainly due to the enormous amounts of coal, oil and natural gas that people burn for energy. This releases a gas called carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas because it helps to trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.

At the same time, the world started to warm rapidly. You can see the graphs here.

4) What are the effects of global warming? 

Some important effects are:

• Animals and plants that live in cold climates may not survive in a warmer world;
• Tropical diseases spread by insects, such as malaria, can occur in places they have never been seen before. And they can affect many more people;
• In the future, rising seas will flood out millions of people who live near the coast. You can see some effects on NASA’s Climate Time Machine here.
• Shrinking sea ice, particularly in the Arctic, will affect animals such as polar bears and seals that rely on ice;
• Wilder weather – there will be worse storms, floods, droughts and heat waves;
• Acid seas. When carbon dioxide dissolves in water it makes the water a bit acid. Many small sea creatures, such as plankton, can’t make proper shells if the sea becomes more acid. They will not survive. Bigger sea creatures rely on plankton for food. If the plankton disappear there will be no food for fish or whales. And no fish for us!

5) What can you and I do to help?

• Don’t waste power. Turn lights and appliances off when you’re not using them. If it’s cold, put on a coat rather than turning the heating up.
• Talk to your family and school about using green power – green power that comes from renewable sources like wind and solar energy. They don’t release carbon dioxide.
• Use less water, and reduce the amount of waste you create. This can reduce greenhouse gas emissions a lot.
• Find many more things you can do to help here.

Have you discussed climate change with your kids or have they asked you about it? Please share in the comments below.

Main image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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