Facts For Kids

Facts For Kids About Environmental Issues

Want to teach kids more about the environment and how they can be responsible stewards of the Earth’s resources? Below are facts for kids about environmental issues.

•An estimated 80% of the world’s forests have already been lost to deforestation.

Climate change, also known as “global warming,” is a change in the weather patterns, water supplies, and planting seasons on Earth.

•Global warming stems from natural causes (such as volcanoes and continental drift) as well as manmade causes (such as the ozone depletion and deforestation).

Acid rain is a term used to describe moisture that falls from the sky that contains pollutants that man has added to the atmosphere (primarily from factories, vehicles, and ships).

•Almost 800 species on Earth have become extinct.

•Climate change is causing the polar ice caps to melt, which is, in turn, threatening the existence of polar bears.

•More than 80% of ocean pollution comes from the land, primarily from chemicals and particles that creep into waterways, which feed into oceans.

•The ocean is polluted, on a regular basis, by: oil, solid garbage, fertilizers, sewage, and toxic chemicals.

•There are areas of the ocean known as “dead zones,” because the oxygen has been depleted from the water. The runoff from chemical fertilizers is thought to be the cause of dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico.

•In 1921, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for his work on photovoltaics and solar power.

•Windmills were used as far back as 200 BC to pump water and grind grain.

•Americans use approximately 380 billion plastic bags per year, which averages out to almost 1,200 bags per person.

Click here for more facts about environmental issues.