Concept Natural Sciences Magazine - Grades 7 2023

Climate Science Edition

CONCEPT NATURAL SCIENCES MAGAZINE

How do our daily choices impact the greenhouse effect, and how can grade 7 bring awareness of these to our community?

May 2023

PREFACE This scientific magazine is the culmination of a 6-week long collective work of grade 7 learners and educators, based on their investigation of the causes of the greenhouse effect. In this magazine, our learners present their insights on the different human activities and the natural sources that contribute to enhancing greenhouse gas emissions. The objective of this collective magazine was to report their findings and to build the first pillars of the scientific method that will be studied in more detail over the next few years.

Researching, selecting relevant information, recognizing reliable sources, and collecting data contributed to this learning journey.

Through this report, the 7th graders worked on developing the habits of mind thinking interdependently, and communicating with clarity and precision as they needed to convey relevant information through collaboration within their groups.

Additionally, the learners focused on using the correct keywords and vocabulary in order to effectively deliver their message.

CONTENT 8

Nitrous Oxide Emissions

26 Carbon Dioxide Emissions 44 Methane Emissions 61 Testimonies 65 Acknowledgements

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Agriculture x Earth: How can we help?

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How can we help power plants stop affecting the greenhouse effect?

15 18 22

Felipe, Guilherme Auler, Guilherme Bighetto, Luca

Leticia, Manuela F., Sophia B., Vitória

How do industrial processes contribute to nitrous oxide emissions?

Flora, Luisa, Luna, Manuela Y.

How does manure management impact the greenhouse effect?

Bárbara, Cícero, Eduardo, Matheus, Valentina

How does transportation contribute to nitrous oxide emissions?

André, Kristen, Mariana, Natália

EMISSIONS

NITROUS OXIDE

27

How does agriculture impact the greenhouse effect?

30

How does construction contribute to global warming?

34 37 40

Arthur, Davi, Lucas, Lucca

Julia, Maria Victoria, Olívia, Sophia, Valentina

How does deforestation impact our daily life?

EMISSIONS

CARBON DIOXIDE

Felipe, Gustavo, Thomás, Victor

How does the use of electricity and heat impact the greenhouse effect?

Alice, Ana Teresa, Helena, Maria Cecilia

How does transportation contribute to global warming?

Elena, Leonardo, Luisa, Rafael

EMISSIONS

METHANE 45

How does agriculture impact the greenhouse effect?

48

How do biofuels and biomass impact the greenhouse effect?

52 55 58

Beatriz, Heloisa, Rafaela, Sofia

Gabriel Gonçalves, Gabriel Queiroz, Lorenzo, Vitor

How does permafrost impact global warming?

Gustavo, João Luca, Miguel, Pedro

How do wetlands impact the greenhouse effect?

Eduardo, Isadora, Lorena, Manuela M.

How do fossil fuels impact global warming?

Matteo, Melissa, Nicole, Rebeca

7A CAUSES OF

NITROUS OXIDE EMISSIONS

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Agriculture x Earth: How can we help?

GROUP Felipe Guilherme Auler Guilherme Bighetto Luca

In this Scientific Paper we worked on impacting our community. We first learned about the mechanism of the greenhouse effect, its causes and effects and the different types of greenhouse gasses. We then planned a mini-lesson to present how agriculture contributes to nitrous oxide emissions, so we could bring awareness to grade 7 about the problem and some possible solutions. After the presentation, a survey was sent with the purpose of checking the participants' understanding and their willingness to make a change. Based on the data collected from the survey, we built this article to present some information about nitrous oxide emissions and how agriculture is connected to it.

INTRODUCTION: Fertilizers used in agriculture emit an absurd amount of nitrous oxide, and they have been the main contributor to the increased emissions of this greenhouse gas. Nitrous oxide also depletes stratospheric ozone, which increases the incidence of skin cancer in humans on Earth.

Source: BBC

Other contributors to this scenario are the production of nylon, manure management and pollution caused by transportation. According to Stanford News, nitrous oxide emissions have grown 30% about the past 40 years, being one molecule of nitrous oxide 300 times more potent than a molecule of carbon dioxide. Brazil, China and India have been the protagonists of these emissions as they play a big role in the fields of livestock production and agriculture. Nitrous oxide is emitted to the atmosphere due to the fertilizers used in the production of crops to feed livestock.

Besides that, the manure produced by cows is also a big contributor to this same greenhouse gas.

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Besides that, the manure produced by cows is also a big contributor to this same greenhouse gas.

In this study, some tangible solutions are discussed, as well as the importance of paying proper attention to this rising greenhouse gas.

The goal of this survey was to analyze the percentage of grade 7A that might contribute to nitrous oxide emissions as big farms usually do not have a proper control of fertilizers used in their fields and see how willing they would be to change their habits after learning the information from our presentation.

METHODS Grade 7 investigated the sources that contribute to the increasing of nitrous oxide emissions by presenting relevant information in a mini-lesson, sending a survey, analyzing the data, and reporting the results in this article. Some of the questions shared in the survey were: How often do you consume vegetables from big farms?

How willing would you be to switch your vegetable consumption from big farms to small productions?

RESULTS: Graph 1 shows that 15 out of 19 participants who answered the survey consume vegetables from big farms on a frequency 3-5 out of a scale of 1 to 5. To the second question, all the respondents answered 3-5 when asked 'How willing would you be to switch your vegetable consumption from big farms to small productions?', being no responses 1 or 2.

Graph 1: When asked 'How often do you consume vegetables from big farms?', 15 out of 19 participants answered '3', '4' or '5' on a scale of 1 to 5.

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Graph 2: When asked if they would be willing to switch their vegetable consumption from big farms to small production, half of the participants answered '5', while the other half answered '3' or '4' on a scale of 1 to 5.

DISCUSSION According to the website Down to Earth, nitrous oxide emissions have increased 30% in 36 years, which is concerning.

Stanford News also states that the regular population, as consumers, has a lot of power in terms of impact on these emissions.

CONCLUSION After delivering our presentation, the grade 7A community showed a willingness to start thinking of the origin of the foods they consume on a daily basis as well as the impact they have on Earth. According to studies conducted in the Agriculture field, controlling the use of fertilisers could reduce up to 50% of the current nitrous oxide emissions, so making informed choices and being aware of what we consume can contribute to mitigate this problem.

REFERENCES Nitrous Oxide emissions agricultural soils https://edepot.wur.nl/466362

from

10 Ways Farmers Can Fight Climate Change https://foodwise.org/articles/10-waysfarmers-can-fight-climate-change/ Stanford expert explain why laughing gas is a growing climate problem https://news.stanford.edu/2020/10/07 /laughing-gas-growing-climateproblem/

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How can we help power plants stop affecting the greenhouse effect?

GROUP Leticia Manuela F. Sophia B. Vitória Source: Air Quality News

In this paper we introduce the problem of the greenhouse effect caused by emissions of power plants that contribute to an increase of greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide.

In order to bring awareness of this problem, grade 7 students presented a mini-lesson to the whole group and ran a survey. The aim of this study was to present new and relevant information about nitrous oxide emissions to the learners, check their understanding about the causes of these emissions and their willingness to mitigate this scenario.

INTRODUCTION: One of the biggest problems on Earth nowadays is global warming, which is caused by many different factors such as smokestacks, cattle ranching, deforestation and others.

Because of global warming the planet's temperature has been increasing, which brings consequences such as floodings, coral bleaching and ice melting.

Greenhouse gasses are gasses in the atmosphere that trap heat, and they can be carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

According to the website Inside Climate News, human activities share forty percent of the total nitrous oxide emissions, while 60% is emitted by natural sources. Nitrous oxide is a chemical compound, generated by power plants, that convert the energy generated by the burning of fossil fuels into electricity. Many different countries gain their energy from different types of power plants, and some alternatives are hydroelectric, solar and wind energy. The pollution emitted by the burning of fossil fuels in power plants releasing nitrous oxide to the atmosphere comes as the second biggest contributor to worsening the greenhouse effect. Power plants are used to generate electricity, which is essential to urban areas to survive.

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METHODS Grade 7 created a project based on how daily human activities impact our community. To bring awareness to this cause we divided ourselves in groups, and created a mini-lesson to present to our classmates about how power plants contribute to nitrous oxide emissions. We described the mechanism of the greenhouse effect, we explained how the energy sector contributes to global warming and some solutions to power plant emissions. We also created a survey to get to know the opinion of other people and some of their habits. We learned about how people contribute to this problem. In the last phase of this learning journey, we reported the data collected from our survey as a scientific paper to expose this worldwide challenge we are facing, global warming.

RESULTS: After delivering our mini-lesson, we asked the grade 7A community to answer a survey, so we could see how the information we shared about energy consumption and global warming impacted them. To the first question 'How often do you buy general items?', more than half of the 17 learners responded that they 'buy general items every week', while only 11,8% answered they 'almost never' buy new products (Graph 1).

Our second question asked 7A whether they considered themselves consumerists, and 13 out of 17 learners responded “No.”, 2 participants responded 'more or less' and the other 2 learners responded 'yes'.

For our next question we wanted some feedback, so we also did a scale of 1 to 5 and asked the following: “On a scale of 1 to 5, how much do you feel your knowledge about energy consumption and greenhouse effect increased after our mini-lesson?”, to which more than 87% answered with numbers 3-5 (Graph 2).

The last question of the survey was 'How willing are you to reduce your products consumption or start buying products from sustainable brands?', to which 88,2% of the group answered 3-5 on a scale of 1 to 5, being 1 not willing at all and 5 very willing (Graph 3).

Graph 1: More than 64% of grade 7 buy products every week, according to the survey.

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Did you know that the wealthy population contributes almost 50% more than poorer people regarding what they consume?

Graph 2: More than 87% of the participants answered 3-5 to the question 'On a scale of 1 to 5, how much do you feel your knowledge about energy consumption and greenhouse effect increased after our mini-lesson?'.

Our research and our study show that the more we consume, the more we contribute to generate electricity and to the nitrous oxide emissions, so it is urgent that we start rethinking what we really need and what we can avoid or reduce consumption.

REFERENCES

Graph 3: More than 88% of grade 7A is willing to reduce their often consumption of products or start buying products from sustainable brands.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Analyzing the data collected from the survey, we can see that 64,7% of grade 7A buy general items every week. Even though more than 88% of the learners are willing to reduce their products consumption or start buying from sustainable brands, only 29,4% of the students already buy from sustainable brands, which means more information is needed in order for more people to start taking action. According to a 2015 study disclosed by News Climate Columbia, we produce almost 60% of greenhouse gasses just due to our consumerist habits.

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Common Sources of Federal Greenhouse Gas Emissions https://www.energy.gov/management /spd/common-sources-federalgreenhouse-gas-emissions Greenhouse gasses and climate change https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics /zhssgk7/articles/Zatz

Greenhouse gasses surge to record in 2018, exceeding 10-year average - UN https://www.trtworld.com/life/greenh ouse-gases-surge-to-record-in-2018exceeding-10-year-average-un-31654 What is nitrous oxide and why is it a climate threat? https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11 092019/nitrous-oxide-climatepollutant-explainer-greenhouse-gasagriculture-livestock/

May 2023

How do industrial processes contribute to nitrous oxide emissions?

GROUP Flora Luisa Luna Manuela Y.

By researching industrial production, we learned that our planet is seriously being affected by global warming, greenhouse gasses and climate change. Nitrous oxide has been a big contributor to this scenario, and different sources have been involved in the increased emissions of this greenhouse gas.

In this study, we show how nitrous oxide is released to the atmosphere by industrial processes and its contribution to climate change. According to BBC, scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have estimated that nitrous oxide represents 6% of greenhouse gas emissions. We also researched unknown information like what is the biggest nitrous oxide producer. Besides being a greenhouse gas and contributing to global warming, nitrous oxide can also cause health problems, such as dizziness, unconsciousness and even death. Alternatives to help mitigate this scenario would be reducing the amount of fertilizers in agriculture or optimizing it, reducing meat consumption and reducing or avoiding buying nylon fabric.

INTRODUCTION: In the past years global warming has greatly affected our dear planet Earth, and not in a good way. The production of nitrous oxide (N2O) currently contributes about seven percent of manmade global warming. If we want to reduce global warming, nitrous oxide emissions must be limited starting now. The quantity of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere nowadays is around 20% above pre industrial levels.

Breathing N2O can cause health problems, such as dizziness, unconsciousness, and if a big amount is inhaled, death.

Greenhouse gas emissions from industry come from burning fossil fuels for energy, as well as greenhouse gas emissions from certain reactions necessary to produce goods. Mining, construction industry, and

other industrial processes can also release gasses through processes such as oil refining, burning fossil fuels for transportation, heating, cooking, electricity generation and manufacturing. Industries release greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere by using the energy generated by the burning of fossil fuels to produce cement, iron, steel, electronics, plastics, and clothes.

You might be wondering what country produces the most nitrous oxide emissions.

According to the European Commission, China is the leader with a value of 341,510.00 thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Next up are India, which emits a CONCEPT NATURAL SCIENCES MAGAZINE

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value of 220,220.00, The United States contributing 183,060.00, and representing the fourth country that most emits this greenhouse gas is Brazil with a value of 166,170.00. In this study, we show the connection between nitrous oxide emissions and industrial processes, as well as some tangible solutions to help mitigate this problem.

The third question was 'Do you check whether the fertilizers used in the plants of your home are ammonium-made?', and only 11,8% of the group answered 'yes' (graph 3).

METHODS To bring awareness to grade 7A, our group prepared a mini lesson to present new and relevant information about nitrous oxide and its connection to industrial processes. We also sent a survey to check the participants' understanding of the topic and their willingness to take action upon the problem presented. Some of the questions asked were: 1. How often do you believe you buy vegetables grown with fertilizers?

(Graph 1) 2. How often do you buy nylon clothing fabric? (Graph 2) 3. Do you check whether the fertilizers used in the plants of your home are ammonium-made?

We, then, collected the data from the survey and reported the results in this article, as shown below.

Graph 1: 41,2% of grade 7A buy vegetables grown with fertilizers sometimes, while 29,4% buy always or most of the time, and the other 29,4% buy never or almost never.

Graph 2: When asked 'How often do you buy nylon clothing fabric?', 64,7% of the respondents said 'no'.

RESULTS: According to graph 1, when asked 'How often do you believe you buy vegetables grown with fertilizers?', 41,2% were those who said sometimes.

The second question was 'How often do you buy nylon clothing fabric?', and 64,7% answered 'no' (graph 2).

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Graph 3: Only 11.8% of grade 7A checks whether the fertilizers used in the plants of their homes are made of ammonium, whereas 47,1% do not know the origin of the fertilizers used in their places.

May 2023

DISCUSSION According to the results of our questionnaire 64,7% said that they do not buy nylon clothing, although it is known that nylon is largely used by people nowadays, which means that people still need to be educated regarding the origin of the products they consume on a daily basis and how it impacts the environment, such as clothes, packages, and food. According to the American Chemical Society, 8 billion pounds of nylon are produced every year with 11/2 pounds being consumed by each person on Earth. Although there are different types of nylon, the main composition is made of crude oil, in other words petroleum, according to Sweport, which besides releasing nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, also adds plastic products to the environment. Polyester and nylon are synthetic types of fabric made from a non-renewable resource, oil. It sheds microplastic fibers that end up in waterways and oceans every time it is washed, and because it is not biodegradable, it will end up sitting in a landfill at the end of its product life cycle.

CONCLUSION Our research shows that the planet is being greatly affected by nitrous oxide emissions, and this has been contributing to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Our mini-lesson showed our community how important it is to know what we buy and what impact it has on the environment, so they can make informed choices such as buying local groceries that do not overuse fertilizers or even use none, and make smart choices by buying clothes that are not made of nylon.

REFERENCES A Chinese Chemical Company Captures and Reuses 6,000 Tons of a SuperPolluting Greenhouse Gas https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02 102020/china-super-pollutants-nitrousoxide-linggas-henan-shenma/ China Moves to Freeze Production of Climate Super-Pollutants but Lacks a System to Monitor Emissions https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21 012022/china-super-pollutantemissions/ Safe Practices for the Production of Nitrous Oxide from Ammonium Nitrate https://www.asiaiga.org/uploaded_docs /aiga%20080_16_safe_practices_for_the_ production_of_nitrous_oxide_from_amm onium_nitrate.pdf The First Nylon Plant https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acs org/education/whatischemistry/landma rks/carotherspolymers/first-nylonplant-historical-resource.pdf What is Nylon Fabric: Proprieties, How It is made and Where https://sewport.com/fabricsdirectory/nylon-fabric

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How does manure management impact the greenhouse effect?

GROUP Bárbara Cícero Eduardo Matheus Valentina E

Source: University of Minnesota Extension

Nitrous dioxide is a growing and concerning greenhouse gas, besides being more powerful than carbon dioxide. One molecule of nitrous oxide is able to trap around 300 times more heat than a molecule of carbon dioxide. According to recent studies published by the IPCC and Nature, nitrous oxide emissions from human activities have gone up 30% since 1980 although little attention was paid to. This article shows how manure management adds nitrous oxide to the Earth's atmosphere and some tangible solutions to mitigate this problem.

INTRODUCTION: Global warming is a major concern nowadays and it is caused by the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a layer of gasses that warm the Earth and allow comfortable temperatures to sustain life. However, human activities have increased the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.The major gasses are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane(CH4), chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and nitrous oxide (N2O).

With more greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the Earth is getting warmer and harming the environment. One of the consequences is the sea level rise. The melted ice goes to the ocean and increases the amount of water. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (IPCC), from 1961 to 1993 the sea level increased 1.8mm per year. Since then, it has increased 3.1mm per year.

Nitrous oxide, one of the most powerful greenhouse gasses. N2O (nitrous oxide) is 300x times more powerful than CO2 (carbon dioxide). Globally, China is the biggest N2O emitter. But throughout history, the United States has been the biggest producer.

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In Latin-America, Brazil has been the biggest N2O producer, and since 2010, 300 thousands of tons of N2O are produced per year, according to Grid-Arendal. One of the biggest producers of this greenhouse gas in Brazil is the sector of manure management, representing 5% of all these emissions. Manure management is the storage and treatment of animal waste, being commonly used as a fertilizer in agriculture. In this study, grade 7A presents how manure management contributes to nitrous oxide emission.

METHODS To bring awareness to the grade 7A community, our group prepared a mini-lesson with relevant information about manure management explaining what it is and how it contributes to increasing the greenhouse effect, also we presented some possible solutions. At the end of the presentation, a survey was sent, and the learners from this group answered some questions related to their understanding of the topic presented and how they could take actions to try to mitigate this problem.

Some of the questions asked in the survey were: How can you help mitigate the contribution of manure management to nitrous oxide emissions?

On a scale of 1 to 5, being 1 not very often and 5 very often, how often do you eat meat?

The goal of the survey was to make grade 7A aware of how manure management increases the greenhouse effect and how they can contribute to mitigate this scenario. The results of this survey can be observed in the next section of this article.

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RESULTS: As observed in graph 1, when asked 'How can you help mitigate the contribution of manure management to nitrous oxide emissions?', 46,7% said they could avoid waste of food, 6,7% answered they could eat less meat, 6,7% said they could control the animals’ food, and 60% chose the option of controlling the fertilizers.

Graph 2 shows that 60% of the group has meat on a medium frequency basis, while 20% consume meat either often or very often, and the other 20% consider themselves as meat-consumers on a notoften or not-very-often basis.

Graph 1: When asked 'How can you help mitigate the contribution of manure management to nitrous oxide emissions?', sixty percent of the participants answered that they could try to control the use of fertilizers to help mitigate the contribution of manure management to nitrous oxide emissions.

Graph 2: Sixty percent of grade 7A answered '3' to the question 'On a scale of 1 to 5, being 1 not very often and 5 very often, how often do you eat meat?'.

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION According to the data collected from the survey, the majority of grade 7A chose 'avoid waste of food' and 'control the use of fertilizers' as a way of helping mitigate the nitrous oxide emissions by manure management. According to WWF, 6-8% of the global greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by avoiding food waste.

A recent study from Cambridge also shows that the use of fertilizers could be reduced up to 80% of the current levels if solutions were implemented but still keeping food safety and high productivity.

Yet, the best way to tackle this problem would be disencouraging manure production, which would require a reduction in meat consumption. However, controlling people's diets is a sensitive area where many people might not be willing to change. A recent study published by the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization has found that about a third of the global food production will be in danger if the greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at their current rates.

REFERENCES Millar, Neville. “Management of Nitrogen Fertilizer to Reduce Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Field Crops (E3152) - MSU Extension.”

MSU Extension, Michigan State University, 19 Oct. 2015, https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/man agement_of_nitrogen_fertilizer_to_reduce_ni trous_oxide_emissions_from_fi.

BNulius, Clare. “More Bad News for the Planet: Greenhouse Gas Levels Hit New Highs | World Meteorological Organization.”

World Meteorological Organization, World Meteorological Organization, 26 Oct. 2022, https://public.wmo.int/en/media/pressrelease/more-bad-news-planetgreenhouse-gas-levels-hit-new-highs. aan den Toorn, S. I. “How Much Can Combinations of Measures Reduce Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from European Livestock Husbandry and Feed Cultivation? ScienceDirect.”

ScienceDirect.Com | Science, Health and Medical Journals, Full Text Articles and Books., Sciencedirect, 5 May 2020, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ticle/pii/S0959652621013573.

Curnow, Mandy. “Managing Manure to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Agriculture and Food.” Agriculture and Food | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Agric.wa, 6 Sept.

2021, https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/climatechange/managing-manure-reducegreenhouse-gasemissions#:~:text=Nitrous%20oxide%20emi ssions%20from%20ruminants,and%2029%2 5%20less%20urinary%20nitrogen.

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How does transportation contribute to nitrous oxide emissions?

GROUP André Kristen Mariana Natália

Source: Irish EVs

Global warming is a growing and concerning problem to modern society nowadays. The consequences involved are ice melting, which is connected to sea level rise and animal migration. Predictions are that in the next few years it can get much worse and cause full countries to flood bringing destruction of lands and nations. In this article, grade 7 shows how transportation contributes to nitrous oxide emissions, an important greenhouse gas that has been increasing recently. Our group created a presentation to show relevant information about transportation and nitrous oxide, then ran a survey to check the participants' understanding of the topic and their willingness to take action.

We, then, analyzed the data collected from the survey, which are shown in this study.

INTRODUCTION: The global air quality has been going downhill since many years ago, as pollution has been increasing due to the continuous and rapid population's growth. According to Our World in Data, the world population increased from 1 billion in 1800 to 8 billion today, and as a consequence, more resources are needed to supply people's needs, such as food, housing, electricity, transportation and general goods, which require a high demand of agriculture, construction and energy, therefore, the burning of fossil fuels, releasing pollutants and greenhouse gasses to the Earth's atmosphere.

Cars are a helpful technology that contributed to humanity's development significantly. However, the negative effects of using cars is that 90% of the gasses that they emit are nitrous oxide, which is a potent greenhouse gas, being able to trap 300 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Some other sources that contribute to increasing greenhouse gas emissions are cattle ranching, deforestation and mainly the burning of fossil fuels. According to the website Statistica, the top 10 countries that burn fossil fuels the most include China, United States, India, Russia, and Brazil.

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Because of global warming many polar bears, penguins and other arctic animals are losing their natural habitats because of ice melting, and according to The Polar Bear Capital of the World, in 2021 scientists estimated there were 618 bears against 842 registered in 2016.

As a consequence of the ice melting, the sea level rise also puts other species who inhabit coastal areas in danger. According to Unisinos, the frozen water covers an area of 13,6 millions of kilometers in Antarctica and 1.7 millions of kilometers in Greenland. With the ice melting there will be more lands covered in water that makes more countries submerged and less land for more people to live and that gets worse with the continuous population growth in cities like Amsterdan and Venice, which have significant chances of disappearing by 2100 if actions are taken immediately.

Source: ABC

METHODS To bring awareness about the nitrous oxide emissions we presented a minilesson about how vehicles contribute to the increasing of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, the main problem and some tangible solutions that we can do as individuals. The goal of the survey was to check the participants' understanding of the topic and their willingness to take action upon it. Some of the questions asked in the survey were:

On a scale of 1 to 10, on what frequency do you use cars powered by fossil fuels?

What action could you take as a way of reducing nitrous oxide emissions?

The results can be found in the following section of this article.

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RESULTS: The first question of the survey was 'On a scale of 1 to 10, on what frequency do you use cars powered by fossil fuels?', to which 7 out of 17 learners answered '10', while the other 10 participants answered either '5', '7', '8' or '9'.

The second question was 'What action could you take as a way of reducing nitrous oxide emissions?', and according to graph 1, 50% of grade 7A, half of the class, could start walking to get to places, 35,7% of the learners would be willing to use electric cars and 14,3% could start riding their bikes.

Graph 1: Seven out of 17 participants use cars powered by fossil fuels very often.

Graph 2: Half of grade 7A walk to get to places instead of using cars as a way of trying to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions.

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Nitrous oxide is the third largest contributor to the manmade greenhouse effect, after carbon dioxide and methane.

According to Carbon Brief, nitrous oxide emissions could double by 2050 if we human and natural sources continue to emit this greenhouse gasses at their current rates. On the other hand, emissions could be reduced by as much as 22% if actions were taken now.

Transportation represents 4% of the nitrous oxide emissions, and the expectations are that it continues increasing. Some tangible solutions we as individuals could start doing are:

REFERENCES Overview of Greenhouse Gases https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overvi ew-greenhouse-gases#nitrous-oxide Nitrous Oxide Emissions could double by 2050, study finds https://www.carbonbrief.org/

Drive less and walk, ride or carpool whenever possible Use public transportation Encourage companies that invest in electric cars

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7B CAUSES OF

CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS

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How does agriculture impact global warming?

GROUP Arthur Davi Lucas Lucca Source: WWF

According to the BBC website, agriculture is responsible for up to 14% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities. But what is the relationship between deforestation and the greenhouse effect? To answer this question and to bring awareness to our community, we researched and gathered some data to explain what agriculture is, and its relationship with global warming and greenhouse effect. We delivered a mini-lesson with the purpose of bringing information about how human activities contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. By researching, we also learned that agriculture involves other problems, such as deforestation, land availability, water supply, and waste.

Some solutions proposed in this study are consuming less goods, following a more sustainable diet, choosing recycled or responsibly-produced wood products. After delivering a presentation, exposing the problem and some tangible solutions, a survey was sent to the community, so we could see how much impact and awareness our information caused.

INTRODUCTION: Agriculture is the cultivation of food and goods through farming that produces the vast majority of the world's food supply. Many environmental issues affect whether farmers have a good year or not, such as soil quality, water quality, climate and terrain.

The greenhouse effect is gasses that trap heat from the sun and keep Earth warm. Recently, Earth has been getting warmer and some consequences might include ice melting, sea level rise, extinction of some plants, and increase of fires. But what is the relationship between carbon dioxide and agriculture?

Agriculture causes deforestation in order for crops to grow.

Source: Fix

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Cattle ranching also plays a big role in the greenhouse effect as animals need free land to farm, and they also feed from crops, which depend on agricultural land to grow. Ruminants, such as cows, release a big amount of carbon dioxide and methane by natural processes like breathing, burping and farting. Did you know that the amount methane released by burps can be the equivalent to 3.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide being released to the atmosphere?

RESULTS: To the first question, almost 59% of grade 7B answered '50%', 11,8% said '100%', 17,6% said '10% or less', while only 11,8% chose the correct option '30%'.

When asked if they felt they acquired more knowledge about how deforestation impacts global warming, more than 70% of grade 7B said 'yes'.

METHODS: To bring awareness about how agriculture contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect, we read texts about the greenhouse gas CO2 and agriculture. We, then, created a minilesson to present relevant data and information, and at the end of the presentation we sent a survey to check the participants' understanding of the subject and their willingness to start taking actions upon it. Some of the questions were: How much percent of agriculture do you think is destined to feed people in the world?

Do you feel you have acquired more knowledge regarding how deforestation impacts global warming?

The results of the survey can be found in the next section.

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Graph 1: When asked the question 'How much percent of agriculture do you think is destined to feed people in the world?', only 11.8% of the participants chose the correct answer '30%'.

Graph 2: To the question 'Do you feel you have acquired more knowledge regarding how deforestation impacts global warming?', more than 70% of grade 7B answered 'yes'.

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DISCUSSION:

CONCLUSION:

As observed in graph number 1, many people believe that most of what is produced in agriculture is destined for human consumption, which is a misconception, as only 37% of the crops harvested are not directed to feed livestock (World Resources Institute, 2022). It is urgent that we start switching habits not only to avoid a food crisis, as by 2050 we will have 9 billion people to feed and with less agricultural land available due to the increase of climate change, but also to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions.

As mentioned before, deforestation requires diverse actions to be solved, and some solutions are proposed below: Reduce deforestation by consuming less, avoiding single-use packaging, eating sustainable food, and choosing recycled or responsiblyproduced wood products Reduce red meat consumption.

REFERENCES Quanto Vale o Verde: A Importância Econômica das Unidades de Conservação Brasileiras https://www.wwf.org.br/ The cows that could help fight climate change. https://www.bbc.com/portuguese Causes of Air Pollution https://www.ck12.org/student/

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how does Construction contribute to global warming?

GROUP Julia Maria Victoria Olívia Sophia Valentina

Through this journey, Grade 7B has looked for many different pieces of information that connect agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, deforestation, and electricity to the topic of the greenhouse effect, and how the gas CO2 plays an important role in global warming.

We were full of questions and confusion, wondering how buildings and houses contribute to global warming. After reading some articles, we found out that cement production represents 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year as over 70% of the world’s population lives in a concrete structure!

To bring awareness to our community, we researched, learned and created a presentation with graphs and informative pictures to show relevant data about how the construction sector contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect. The results of this study are shown below.

The focus of this article is that people understand that their daily choices have an impact on climate change, and we also present small actions as viable solutions to reverse this situation.

INTRODUCTION: The sector of construction has been a great contributor to the global carbon dioxide emissions as it includes the production of cement, which creates 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Cement is an ingredient of concrete, which is largely used nowadays in buildings, houses, and industries, being the second most consumed product on the planet, according to the British scientific journal Nature.

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Carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to global warming, as it is the most abundant greenhouse gas, and it traps a lot of heat in the atmosphere.

As the population increased a lot between 1960 and 2020, evolution was necessary, more technology and the need for more resources went along causing more CO2 emissions.

May 2023

Concrete and cement are very important materials for the construction sector as they are very strong and resistant materials that prevent many buildings from going down easily nowadays. The main challenge that scientists still face is “ which material can substitute the concrete that has the same resistance but that has less negative impact on the environment?”

In this study, grade 7B shows how the sector of construction affects global warming, and some tangible solutions we could start doing as a community.

Figure 1: The production of cement and concrete emit carbon dioxide, as observed in the illustration above. Source: Bellona.

METHODS To bring awareness to our community in grade 7B, our group created a lesson to present the impact of construction and manufacturing on global warming and some tangible solutions to try to mitigate this problem. After delivering the presentation, a survey was sent, so the participants could show their understanding of the topic and their willingness to start taking small actions.

The questions in the survey were: 1. Do you give preference to constructors that build using reduced-carbon materials? (graph 1) 2. Would you be willing to move from your current home to another one built with reduced-carbon materials? (graph 2) 3. After this mini-lesson, would you be willing to look for reduced-carbon materials if you were to build something? (graph 3) CONCEPT NATURAL SCIENCES MAGAZINE

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RESULTS: According to graph 1, 47.4% of grade 7B answered they do not give preference to using reduced-carbon materials.

Graph 2 shows that almost 58% of grade 7B are not sure if they would be willing to move from their current homes to another one built with reduced-carbon materials. On the other hand, when asked if they would be willing to look for reduced-carbon materials, almost 90% of the participants said ‘yes’.

Graph 3: Close to ninety percent of grade 7B would be willing to start looking for reduced-carbon materials after learning new information from the mini-lesson.

DISCUSSION

Graph 1: Out of 19 participants, less than half of the group answered that they do not give preference to reduced-carbon materials.

Graph 2: When asked if they would be willing to move from their current homes to another one built with reducedcarbon materials, more than half of the group said ‘maybe’.

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According to Specify Concrete, over 70% of the world’s population live in a concrete structure, and it is urgent that we start looking for environmental-friendly alternatives, such as green cement, ashcrete, microsilica, fibrous concrete, plastic waste, and others. These options are either a combination of concrete and other materials or substitutes made 100% of a new material, which reduces the use of concrete in buildings, and consequently the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

After being exposed to new information about how cement and concrete are big contributors to the enhanced greenhouse effect, the majority of grade 7B showed willingness to start looking for smart alternatives, but still some resistance in choosing a home built with these reduced-carbon materials.

This resistance could be explained by the fact that many people still do not have enough information about the quality and resistance of alternative materials, as when we talk about buildings and homes, we also talk about shelter and safety.

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CONCLUSION: After delivering the presentation and sending the survey, we conclude that grade 7B learned new information about how construction affects the environment, and how we can make smart choices to mitigate this problem.

Besides making smart choices, big investments and encouragement are also needed from the government so alternative materials become part of our daily lives more often.

REFERENCES Eco-Friendly Alternatives To Traditional Concrete https://www.specifyconcrete.org/bl og/eco-friendly-alternatives-totraditionalconcretehttps://www.specifyconcre te.org/blog/eco-friendlyalternatives-to-traditional-concrete Alternatives to Cement to Make Construction More Sustainable https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en /technology/innovation/alternatives -to-cement-constructionsustainable/ Plastic waste and climate change what’s the connection? https://www.wwf.org.br/ CO2 emissions from buildings and constructions hit new high, leaving sector off track to decarbonization by 2050: UN https://www.un.org/en/ Cement and steel — Niobe steps to net zero https://www.nature.com/

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May 2023

How does deforestation impact our daily life?

GROUP Felipe Gustavo Thomás Victor

Source: National Geographic

Deforestation is a major concern in our modern society. According to CNN Brasil, more than 375 km2 of the Amazon has been deforested in 2023. Deforestation happens due to cattle ranching and agriculture, causing the overheat on Earth's surface by the greenhouse greenhouse effect. Some actions we as individuals can take is to reduce the use of cars, consume less manufactured products and less red meat.

As mentioned by the World Economic Forum, if every single person on the planet planted a new tree every year for 20 years, those 20 new trees could take up about half a ton of carbon dioxide a year. However, a quicker and smarter solution would be preserving the wild forests we already have on Earth, which requires us to start adapting our diets to consuming less meat and more fruits and vegetables. Going in the opposite direction, data shows that 48 trees are cut down every second. The causes and consequences are clear: the more cattle ranching, the less trees we have available, and the warmer the climate.

This article focuses on deforestation, its causes and how it contributes to global warming.

INTRODUCTION: Throughout time, ways of transportation, types of food and places to live were changed, which caused an increase in the carbon dioxide emissions, bringing negative impact to the world.

Currently, one of the main causes of increased carbon dioxide emissions is deforestation, which can be caused by the burning of trees to clean land for cattle ranching. Cattle ranching not only emits carbon dioxide, but is also related to nitrous oxide and methane emissions, both greenhouse gasses as well. Besides contributing to the enhanced greenhouse effect, deforestation also leads to the loss of natural habitats, which contributes to big losses of biodiversity.

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Source: Mongabay

May 2023

Cattle ranching is the activity of raising livestock, such as cattle and sheep. This practice contributes to carbon dioxide emissions, as it removes a lot of trees from their natural lands, which are carbon sinks, and puts in their places a lot of animals, which produce carbon dioxide through respiration, besides emitting other greenhouse gasses, as already mentioned before.

Unfortunately, people do not give much attention to this problem. Brands like Forever 21 and Zara, according to an article published by Sustainably, are just one of the million brands contributing to deforestation and bringing a negative impact to the environment.

According to recent information published by the Nation Space Research Institute in 2021, the piece of land burned in the Amazon forest can be represented as the size of the country Qatar. In this study, grade 7B shows relevant information about deforestation and small actions to try to mitigate this problem.

1. After being exposed to the problem of deforestation, would you be willing to try to reduce your impact on global warming?

2. "Every second, 48 trees are cut down" - How do you feel after reading this information?

RESULTS: According to graph 1, 47.4% of grade 7B answered they do not give preference to using reduced-carbon materials.

Graph 2 shows that almost 58% of grade 7B are not sure if they would be willing to move from their current homes to another one built with reduced-carbon materials. On the other hand, when asked if they would be willing to look for reduced-carbon materials, almost 90% of the participants said ‘yes’.

METHODS In order to bring awareness about how deforestation contributes to increasing the greenhouse effect, our group created a mini lesson to show to grade 7B community relevant data about deforestation. A survey was sent at the end of the presentation, so the participants could answer some questions to check their understanding of the topic, and to see their willingness to take small actions to mitigate this problem. Some of the questions asked were:

Graph 1: When asked if they would be willing to reduce their impact on global warming, almost 43% of grade 7B answered 'yes', whereas nobody said 'no'.

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CONCLUSION: As previously discussed in this article, deforestation involves many other issues besides contributing to carbon dioxide emissions. Some small solutions we can propose, after learning new information about deforestation and its impact on global warming could be: Graph 2: To the question 'Every second, 48 trees are cut down - How do you feel after reading this information?', 53,3% of grade 7B answered 'worried', 26,7% chose 'sad', while 20% said 'angry'.

DISCUSSION According to NASA, deforestation rarely has one single cause, being the main ones the agricultural expansion, the wood extraction, and the infrastructure expansion, such as road building and urbanization. This type of information shows us that solutions are not simple and direct either.

As mentioned by the article Plant-based meat has a packaging problem, even reduced-carbon alternatives still emit greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, which would require further actions, such as also reducing the amount of inpackage products and goods we consume. When asked if they would be willing to reduce their impact on global warming, almost 43% of the participants answered 'yes', and as observed in graph 2, many people react with concern and sadness when they read that 'every second, 48 trees are cut down', however, taking actions upon this kind of data demands education and change of habits.

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Reduce deforestation by reducing cattle ranching, which would require the population to reduce the amount of red meat consumption.

Avoid the over consumption Check the origin of the products we buy and choose the companie/ industries that use sustainable materials

REFERENCES Cattle boom in Brazil’s Acre spells doom for Amazon rainforest, activists warn https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/c attle-boom-in-brazils-acre-spells-doomfor-amazon-rainforest-activists-warn/ The Amazon https://www.wwf.org.uk/where-wework/amazon How can we stop deforestation? https://www.theworldcounts.com/stori es/how-can-we-stop-deforestation Plant-based meat has a packaging problem https://www.leafscore.com/grocery/pl ant-based-meat-has-a-packagingproblem/ Causes of deforestation: direct causes https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

May 2023

How does the use of electricity and heat impact the greenhouse effect?

GROUP Alice Ana Teresa Helena Maria Cecília

Source: WWF

Electricity is one of the biggest contributors to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Most of the energy used comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which affects the majority of us.

Consequences of global warming are more frequent heavy rains, which end up causing floods and destruction. In this article, relevant data about electricity is shown, as well as some tangible solutions to try to mitigate this problem.

INTRODUCTION: The burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity is the main contributor to the emission of polluting GHGs such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), among others, impacting public health and aggravating the climate crisis.

The concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere prevents the sun’s heat from being radiated back into space, further heating the Earth's surface, therefore increasing temperatures on Earth. This increase in temperatures resulting from the intensification of the greenhouse effect is known as global warming.

The growth in energy demand can lead to a drastic increase in the emissions of greenhouse gasses, as the production of

energy depends mainly on the burning of fossil fuels and this could also be due to a greater need of energy, for example, as the need for air conditioning would increase precisely because of the additional global warming generated by these new emissions. This phenomenon is known as positive feedback.

It is extremely important to understand the consequences of the greenhouse effect and global warming because it will soon begin to affect average people in everyday life with natural disasters and a constant rise in temperature. The goal of this study is to raise awareness about the contribution of energy use to the greenhouse effect, and encourage our community to reduce their carbon footprint.

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Source: EPA

METHODS:

RESULTS:

To bring awareness to our community in Grade 7B, our group constructed a minilesson to present to the class. The minilesson included information about the harm that energy and heat related carbon dioxide emissions can cause to the atmosphere through an excess of greenhouse gasses. It had three partsthe introduction to give a brief explanation, a problem to present the harm that energy-related greenhouse emissions are causing, and a solution to explain possible small actions that could contribute to mitigate this problem. It also included a link to our survey. Our survey had a few questions about what the class learned in our mini-lesson and if they would change anything in their daily life because of it.

The first question in our survey, ‘How often do you use electricity at home?’, presented answers as a scale chart from 1 to 5 (graph 1). Both 1 and 2 had 0%, and 3 showed 6.7%. 4 made up for 46.7%, and 5 had the exact same amount at 46.7%.

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The next question ‘How willing are you to reduce your energy use?’ was also a scale from 1 to 5 (graph 2). 1 showed 6.7%, 2 presented 13.3%, 3 had the most votes at 40%, 4 also presented 13.3%, and 5 had 26.7%.

The following question was ‘Did our mini-lesson convince you to reduce your energy use?’ and was in the form of a pie chart. The biggest slice is the ‘Kind of’ option, with 80%, the second biggest is 13.3, ‘Definitely’, and the lowest is the ‘Not really’ option at 6.7%. After that, the final question was ‘Are you willing to start using sustainable energy after our mini-lesson?’ (graph 3). It was also in the form of a pie chart, and 100% chose the option ‘Yes’.

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Graph 1: Over 90% of the participants use energy very often at home.

DISCUSSION:

CONCLUSION:

Out of 15 people that attended the mini-lesson and answered the survey, 14 use a large amount of electricity, and 15 said they would be willing to start using sustainable energy, which means the information we shared in our presentation had a positive impact on grade 7B. According to a study published by Oxford University, ‘switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy could save the world as much as 12 trillion dollars’. Saying that clean energy is expensive cannot be accepted as an excuse anymore as gasoline and diesel prices have gone up significantly lately.

After bringing awareness that electricity contributes significantly to global warming, grade 7B showed willingness to try to reduce their use of energy and how sustainable alternatives are a good option to try to mitigate this problem.

They include, for example, the use of biomass, geothermal resources, solar panels, hydroelectricity, and wind electricity.

REFERENCES IPCC National Geographic Shrink that Footprint United Nations IRENA

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May 2023

how does Transportation contribute to global warming?

GROUP Elena Leonardo Luisa Rafael

A major concern to our society nowadays is the continuous increase of carbon dioxide emissions. Transportation represents 24-25% of the global CO2 emitted in our planet according to Our World in Data. In this study, grade 7B discusses tangible solutions to mitigate the excessive production of CO2 and the challenges involved.

To bring awareness about this topic, our group presented a mini-lesson explaining the problem and some small actions as tangible solutions, about what we can do to reduce the over production of CO2 by transportation. A survey was sent at the end of the lesson with questions about how often they use their car and if after being exposed to concrete information from reliable sources, they would be willing to reduce their carbon footprint.

Some of the small actions proposed as tangible solutions are still the old and gold trying to switch as often as we can from car to walking, cycling and using public transportation.

INTRODUCTION: Across the world carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have been increasing, which brings consequences, such as ice melting, flooding and death and migration of living beings. This is happening because CO2 is a greenhouse gas, in exceeding amounts, traps a lot of heat, which causes our world to get warmer. The more production of greenhouse gasses is due to a continuous increase of world’s population, which consequently increases the global demand for more food, houses and transportation.

According to the website US Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), one of the causes of the increase of carbon dioxide emissions is transportation. In the past, people used to commute by walking or by horses. However, 40

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nowadays more and more cars, motorbikes and buses are being used, with the transportation sector representing 24-25% of the global carbon dioxide emissions, according to Our World in Data. EPA shows that a typical car emits about 4.6 metric tons of CO2 per year. As stated by the UK Department for Business, a diesel car with 4 passengers pollutes less than a diesel car with 2 passengers, because if you have 20 people and you just place 2 in each car it would be 10 cars polluting, on the other hand, if you fill up a car with 4 people, it would reduce the number of cars to 5 instead of 10.

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As stated by the UK Department for Business, a diesel car with 4 passengers pollutes less than a diesel car with 2 passengers, because if you have 20 people and you just place 2 in each car it would be 10 cars polluting, on the other hand, if you fill up a car with 4 people, it would reduce the number of cars to 5 instead of 10.

Also, as stated by Transport & Environment, an electric car emits 22% less CO2 than a diesel car, and 28% less than a petrol car. While electric/ hybrid cars are still not an option that can be afforded by many people around the world, walking, cycling and using public transport are still the best choices, according to Walking Abroad.

Source: New York Times

METHODS Grade 7B decided to create a mini-lesson to show to the community the problems related to carbon dioxide emissions as well as some tangible solutions.

The steps for the confection of this article were:

1. Creating a mini - lesson: we were divided into groups, and the topics to be explored were Transportation, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Electricity and heat and Deforestation. Our group decided to research about how transportation contributes to increase the greenhouse effect.

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2. Next, we divided roles, researched, read articles and watched interviews.

3. After researching, we started building a mini lesson about it, with the information that we learned, so we could teach our community about how transportation plays an important role in global warming, as encourage them to take an action.

4. After delivering our presentation with the problem and possible solutions, we shared a survey with some questions to check the community’s understanding and their willingness to take an action.

Graph 2: After being presented to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that the transportation sector causes, 93,3% of grade 7B answers ‘yes’ to the question ‘Would you be willing to reduce your carbon emissions after this mini-lesson?’.

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

According to the first question of the survey, ‘How often do you use cars?’, we can see that out of a total of 15 participants, more than 50% of Grade 7B learners use cars very often (graph 1), because they need to go to school, go shopping, to travel, and go home. We need cars basically for everything, because they are faster, safe, and private.

The second question was ‘After this class, could you try to reduce your carbon emissions?’, and surprisingly more than 90% of Grade 7B answered ‘yes’, whereas a small percentage answered the opposite (graph 2).

According to the graphs above, more than half of the group commute by car very often, which can be explained by the fact that São Paulo might be dangerous in many neighbourhoods, and commuting by car can be safer, another reason would be that a lot of people prefer to use their own transport. Additional to those facts, many people might work far away from their home so they prefer to use a car instead of other alternatives as most of the time it is faster, and according to the research conducted by Origem Destinode 2012 do Metrô de São Paulo, 65% of the job opportunities are downtown whereas a big majority of people who work downtown might live far away because of better prices of housing or safety reasons.

Also, as observed in the second graph, 93,3% of grade 7B answered they could try to reduce the use of car, which shows that a significant awareness was raised in this group regarding how transportation contributes to global warming.

Graph 1: Seven out of 15 people in grade 7B use car very often.

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CONCLUSION: The conclusion of this study is that people are aware of the negative impact of transportation to our environment, but it is our role to be constantly spreading the word and reminding each other of the importance of switching the use of car to walking, cycling and use public transport whenever it is possible, as we tend to use our car because it is more comfortable, safer and private.

Acquiring an electric or hybrid car is also an alternative to reduce our carbon emissions, although not everyone can still afford it.

REFERENCES Acordo da UE sobre infraestrutura de carregamento abre caminho para metas mais ambiciosas de redução de emissões de CO2 de caminhões https://www.transportenvironment.org/ Which form of transport has smallest carbon footprint? https://ourworldindata.org/travelcarbon-footprint

the

Por que sempre escolhemos os carros? https://blog.bynd.com.br/2017/07/porque-sempre-escolhemos-os-carros/

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May 2023

How does agriculture impact the greenhouse effect?

GROUP Beatriz Heloisa Rafaela Sofia Source: NASA

Agriculture is a significant contributor to global warming, representing between 13 % and 21% of the global greenhouse gas emissions according to studies. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and is mainly produced by manure management and cattle ranching.

Overall, agriculture is responsible for a big share of global greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce the impact of agriculture on the greenhouse effect and global warming, some small actions can play an important role in mitigating this problem, which are discussed in this study.

INTRODUCTION: Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and raising livestock. It includes preparing plant and animal products for people to use and their distribution to markets.

Even though agriculture brings food to our tables, it can also involve a lot of problems, such as pests, crop diseases, and massive losses due to climate change. Agriculture is a big source of methane, which is an important greenhouse gas that traps heat from the sun and contributes to keeping Earth warm. As part of the carbon cycle, carbon can be found in the soil, being transferred to animals when they feed from crops. Ruminants, such as cows, transform this carbon into methane within their guts and eliminate it through burps and gasses.

Source: University of Colorado Boulder

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Climate change is a major concern nowadays. Some ways of targeting it could be using less electricity, choosing eco-friendly types of energy, and shrinking the footprint by making smart choices regarding food, and transport, as stated by the UCAR website. Greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by shifting to alternative technologies that either do not need gasoline (like bicycles and electric cars) or do not need as much (like hybrid cars). Another very important solution is taking carbon dioxide out of the air, like planting trees and preserving our forests. This study aims to bring awareness to our community of the human activities that contribute to enhancing the greenhouse effect.

METHODS To bring awareness, our group created a mini-lesson about how agriculture contributes to methane emissions. We delivered a presentation with texts and images and sent a survey where grade 7C had to answer some questions about the information presented, and how they could take action upon it.

RESULTS: After delivering the mini-lesson with some new information about agriculture and how it impacts global warming, our group sent a survey to check the group’s understanding about this topic and their willingness to help solve this problem. One of the questions of the survey was ‘How often do you consume red meat?’, as it is known that about ⅓ of the agricultural land is directed to feed livestock.

According to graph 1, we can see that around ⅔ of grade 7C community consume red meat very often, 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, while only a small percentage represents people who consume little red meat in their diets. Graph 2 shows us that not half of the participants would be willing to change their habits to help mitigate methane emissions caused by agriculture and cattle ranching.

Graph 1: About ⅔ of grade 7C community consumes red meat very often, while only a small percentage represents people who consume little red meat.

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Graph 2: When asked if they would be willing to change their habits to help mitigate the methane emissions caused by agriculture and cattle ranching, 46,7% of grade 7C said ‘yes’, while 40% did not know.

DISCUSSION According to the information provided by the website Our World in Data, by 2050 we will have 2-3 billion people more to feed, which requires smart choices from our population. Only 23% of all the agricultural lands in the world are being used to feed humans, while 77% is directed to feed livestock. By reducing the consumption of red meat, besides having a healthier lifestyle, we could avoid a food crisis in the future and help Earth fight against global warming.

CONCLUSION: After delivering our mini-lesson about agriculture, grade 7C got to know more information about how agriculture impacts global warming, but it is also known that it is hard for people to switch their diets, as food is part of the culture and it could also be related to people’s routine and family memories.

REFERENCES Greenhouse Gases https://www.epa.gov/reportenvironment/greenhouse-gases Rice agriculture: Restricting methane https://www.nature.com/articles/nplants 2015121 A planet that sustains everyone, everywhere https://www.unep.org/news-andstories/speech/planet-sustainseveryone-everywhere How much of the world’s land would we need in order to feed the global population with the average diet of a given country? https://ourworldindata.org/agriculturalland-by-global-diets How Do We Reduce Greenhouse Gases? https://scied.ucar.edu/learningzone/climate-solutions/reducegreenhouse-gases

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May 2023

How do biofuels and biomass impact the greenhouse effect?

GROUP Gabriel Gonçalves Gabriel Queiroz Lorenzo Vitor

Source: NASA

This study talks about biomass and biofuels burning. It was divided into 4 phases, introduction, problem, solution, and survey. In the first phase, introduction, we went through some summarised texts, and articles talking about the burning of biomass and biofuels, and how it affects the Earth. In the second phase, we deepened our knowledge in relation to our topic, and read more scientific papers, articles and texts from reliable sources.

This took us to the problem, which shows us that more than twenty billion kilograms of methane are released per year just because of biomass and biofuels burning.

Another problem we acknowledged was that methane is twenty eight times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat, which is a lot for a greenhouse gas.

All of these gasses being released into the

atmosphere are all a consequence of incomplete combustion, which produces many greenhouse gasses.

According to IEA, the burning of biomass represents 5 to 15% of the global annual emissions of methane. Among the causes, we can find individual use, such as wood or coal burning to cook or generate heat in simple homes, and large-scale deforestation for different means, such as to make space for urban areas, companies, cattle ranching or agriculture., can be The solution with the biggest impact would be to avoid burning of lands, but it is also known that many companies that contribute to deforestation are not interested in avoiding it at all. Ethanol is a type of biofuel, and besides being cheaper, it is more sustainable to use than regular gasoline.

INTRODUCTION: The greenhouse effect works as a greenhouse, in which the sun rays go through the glass and heat is trapped keeping temperatures warm, which causes global warming. It is a major concern nowadays as the consequences of Earth getting warmer are ice melting, flooding and consequently, not only animal but also human migration.

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It has many different causes, such as deforestation, agriculture, cattle ranching, industries and transportation. These different sources emit greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. This article shows information about how the burning of biomass contributes to methane emissions.

Source: Offshore Engineer Magazine

Methane is a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and 60% of its emissions are human made, according to National Geographic. Biomass burning is the burning of live and dead vegetation, and it contributes 20 to 60 billion kg of carbon released to the atmosphere in the form of methane per year.

Scientists estimate that humans are responsible for around 90% of the fires, while the natural fires account for only a small percentage, as claimed by NASA. Burning vegetation

releases a lot of greenhouse gasses, including methane and carbon dioxide, besides causing respiratory problems.

Approximately 3 billion people in the world are exposed to air pollution from biomass burning, which originates from using wood or coal as cooking fuel in simple stoves, home heating with open fires, deforestation and agricultural practices, as stated by the World Health Organization.

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METHODS

RESULTS:

To bring awareness about the impact that the burning of biomass has on the greenhouse effect, we decided to create a mini-lesson to bring relevant information to our grade 7C community and send a survey to check the participants’ understanding of our subject. The survey consisted of a Google form with relevant questions, such as: After this presentation, how much knowledge would you say you acquired regarding biomass on a scale of 1-10?

Do you believe that disencouraging deforestation could help solve this problem?

By observing the first graph, we can see that 50% of grade 7C felt they had a reasonable knowledge about biomass and biofuels represented in numbers as 6 to 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. In the second graph, 66,7% of grade 7C answered the survey saying they improved their knowledge about how biomass contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect, and 33,3% of the group still needs more information to better understand this topic.

Graph 2: To the second question ‘Do you believe that disencouraging deforestation could help solve this problem?’, two thirds of the participants answered ‘yes’.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION After analyzing the data collected by the survey, in which we asked our viewers some questions in regard to biomass burning, our questions told us that the majority of grade 7C believes they improved their knowledge about the burning of biomass after our minilesson, and that they understand that deforestation is one of the biggest causes involved.

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However, as we can see in the results of this study, around 33% of the participants do not seem to understand the relationship between deforestation and the burning of biomass, as well as its consequences. That shows that some people need more information about this topic and how it contributes to increasing the greenhouse effect. After focusing on getting to know more information about biomass, we conclude that the most effective solutions are: to stop burning trees by not encouraging companies that cause deforestation. another alternative would be to bring technologies to places that still use coal or wood to cook or generate electricity.

REFERENCES 13 Major Companies Responsible for Deforestation https://earth.org/ Biomass explained https://www.eia.gov/ Household air pollution https://www.who.int/en/newsroom/fact-sheets/detail/household-airpollution-and-health How landfill sites work https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/ Methane, explained https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

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May 2023

How does permafrost impact global warming?

GROUP Gustavo João Luca Miguel Pedro

In this study our group showed what permafrost is and how it emits methane, by presenting a mini-lesson to our group (7C) which included an introduction to permafrost, the main problem involved and possible solutions. At the end of our presentation we sent a survey to collect data about how our audience became aware of this issue and if they were willing to take action upon it.

After the survey, our group analyzed the answers from the audience and got more information about how permafrost contributes to methane emission and whether they could reduce it or not, as shown in the results of this article. After we analyzed the data we briefly discussed it targeting some specific solutions, such as reducing the use of car. As a conclusion, this study shows that methane can be emitted by different sources, and that targeting and proposing solutions are still challenging.

INTRODUCTION: In the last few years, the emission of greenhouse gasses has grown a lot. And one of the most dangerous gasses is methane, which could be emitted in many ways. One of the methane sources is permafrost, which is composed of soil, gravel and sand, that is permanently frozen and contains a big amount of CH4 (Methane) and CO2 (Carbon dioxide). There are two types of permafrost, the continuous and the discontinuous one.

The continuous permafrost is a sheet of Permafrost that is connected while the discontinuous one is permafrost that is broken up into separate areas.

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As it is a natural source, emissions from permafrost seem to be hard to control, but the University of Edinburgh has been researching how plants may play an important role in preventing permafrost from thawing. Meanwhile, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by taking small actions, such as reducing car use and the amount of goods we buy can still be smart choices. In this study, Grade 7C shows how permafrost impacts global warming and some possible solutions for it.

METHODS: In order to bring awareness we presented a mini-lesson, which included an introduction, problems and solutions to methane emissions by permafrost. At the end of the mini-lesson, we made the survey available, so everyone in Grade 7C could reflect on daily choices that could impact global warming by reducing the chances of having more permafrost thawing.

RESULTS: For the first question, which was “How often do you travel by car?”, 35,7% of the people answered that they “Barely” travel by car, 21,4% said they use their car “Every day”, 42,9% said they travel by car “Every other day” and no one answered that they never use the car.

Graph 1: More than 64% of the respondents travel by car either every day or every other day.

In the second question, they had to answer, “Can you reduce the amount of time you travel by car?”, on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 meaning they cannot reduce it at all, and 10 meaning that they could totally reduce the amount of time they travel by car. In a total of 13 responses, more than half of the group said they would be from 5 to 10 as willing to reduce the use of car to commute.

Graph 2: More than half of the group said they would be 5-10 willing to reduce the use of car willing to reduce the use of car to commute.to commute.

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DISCUSSION:

CONCLUSION:

Regarding the results obtained from the graphs, some questions were raised: 1. Why did 44% of people use the car every day and 0% never use the car?

2. How can the 54% of people that said they could reduce the amount of car use, actually reduce the car use?

In our mini-lesson, survey and scientific paper, our objective was to provide information about permafrost and how it is affecting global warming and the greenhouse effect. We also wanted to spread the word about how this problem is concerning and how we need to act fast. After delivering our minilesson, more than half of the group said they increased their knowledge about permafrost and how it contributes to enhancing the greenhouse effect, and they showed willingness to try to mitigate this problem.

After the discussion we came to the conclusion that most of the people choose to commute by car as São Paulo is a big city, and the population might be afraid of being robbed or just by convenience. Some people also stated they could not walk or cycle, as a way of commuting between places, since they lived too far.

REFERENCES Permafrost https://education.nationalgeographic.or g/resource/permafrost/ Thawing permafrost could leach microbes, chemicals into environment. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/thawi ng-permafrost-could-leach-microbeschemicals-into-environment What is permafrost and how is it emitting methane? https://earth.org/data_visualization/wha t-is-permafrost/

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May 2023

How do wetlands impact the greenhouse effect?

GROUP Eduardo Isadora Lorena Manuela

Wetlands are big flooded areas where animals can live, and they can be found in the Gulf of Alaska, Brazil and the Pacific and Atlantic coast. According to the National Geographic website, wetlands are producing a lot of methane, representing ⅓ of these emissions.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and one molecule can trap as much heat as 28 molecules of carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, cause the greenhouse effect, which leads to global warming. Consequences of global warming are ice melting, floods, animal migration, and others.

Methane emissions from wetlands are caused by the activity of microbes in the water. The scenario gets worse, according to NASA, as wetlands can be filled with waterlogged soil and permafrost, which contributes to carbon absorption. With climate changing, thus flooding and temperatures getting warmer, these wetlands become more vulnerable and likely to emit methane. A possible solution, according to Berkeley Lab and Nature, would be increasing the salt contact, which could reduce methane emissions, as well as investing in studies to find plant species that could reduce the emission of this greenhouse gas.

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays global warming is one of the biggest concerns of our modern society, as the overheating of the Earth brings consequences, such as ice melting and floods. The excess of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane contributes to global warming.

As explained by WWF, wetlands are places in land covered by water, that could be fresh, salt, or somewhere in between. They can be permanent ou just happen seasonally. They have their own ecosystem, including microbes. These microorganisms are essential to this ecosystem, but they also emit a big amount of methane.

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Wetlands are a natural source of methane and they represent around one third of this greenhouse gas emissions. According to the British website Met Office, Brazil represents over 60% of the Amazon and around 80% of the world’s larget tropical area, Pantanal, playing an important role in regulating the global climate system.

Further studies are needed to better understand how methane emissions can be prevented and to predict future impacts on climate change.

In this study, grade 7C shows how wetlands contribute to methane emissions, and some solutions involved.

Source: Met Office

METHODS: In order to bring awareness to our community, grade 7C researched, gathered information, and delivered a lesson with relevant data about wetlands.

At the end of the presentation, a survey was sent to check the participants’ understanding of the subject presented and to analyze whether the information brought awareness to the group. Some of the questions in the survey were: 56

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1. How do wetlands contribute to methane emissions?

2. After learning new information from this lesson, do you believe that studies about wetlands are important to mitigate climate change?

RESULTS: After analyzing the data collected from the survey, regarding the first questions, we observed that 87,5% of grade 7C learned that the problem of wetlands are caused by microbes, pollution and loss of natural wetlands (graph 1). To the second question, 88,2% of the participants believe that studies about wetlands are important to help mitigate climate change (graph 2).

Graph 1: When asked about the real cause of methane emissions from wetlands, 14 out of 16 participants chose the correct answer ‘microbes, pollution and loss of natural wetlands’.

May 2023

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:

Graph 2: To the question ‘After learning new information from this lesson, do you believe that studies about wetlands are important to mitigate climate change?’, more than 88% of the participants answered ‘yes’.

After delivering this mini-lesson about wetlands, grade 7C learned new information about this natural source of methane and how it contributes to the greenhouse effect. As it is a natural source, solutions might not be that simple, and are still unclear, which means further studies are needed to better understand the mechanism by which methane is emitted by wetlands and how it can be prevented. Fortunately, according to Berkeley University and National Geographic, there are already studies investigating specific types of plants that could stop the microbes' activity. Another solution would be increasing the salt content in wetlands, which could also reduce the emission of this same greenhouse gas.

REFERENCES Methane Explained https://www.nationalgeographic.com/e nvironment/article/methane What is a wetland? And 8 other facts https://www.worldwildlife.org/ Wetland Emissions and Atmosphere Sink https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158 6-022-05447-w Global Methane Emissions https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2020/08/13 /global-methane-emissions-soaringbut-how-much-was-due-to-wetlands/

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How do fossil fuels impact global warming?

GROUP Matteo Melissa Nicole Rebeca

Source: MET Group

Fossil fuels are made of microscopic plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

Throughout time these plants and animals fell to the bottom of the ocean and formed layer after layer, being covered by sand and mud.

According to National Geographic, the burning of fossil fuels emits carbon dioxide and methane, being responsible for almost three-fourths of the emissions in the past 20 years.

Although fossil fuels bring advantages, such as heating, electricity, and energy for transportation, they also embed the disadvantages of not being renewable, polluting, and contributing to the enhanced greenhouse effect, as stated by METGroup.

In this study, we present how fossil fuels impact global warming, the consequences, and how we can take small actions to mitigate this problem, such as saving energy and reducing the use of regular cars.

INTRODUCTION: Fossil fuels are a big concern in our modern society as the burning of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide and methane.

Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the sun's rays and keep the Earth's surface warm. The over-emission of these gasses causes the greenhouse effect, responsible for the phenomenon of global warming. According to Geological Survey, fossil fuels account for 80% of the total energy consumption and were the fundamental drivers of the Industrial Revolution.

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Other contributors to enhancing the greenhouse effect are agriculture and deforestation. Fossil fuels are found on the Earth's crust, can be made of plants and the rest of animals, and take millions of years to be formed. This article shows how fossil fuels play an important role in increasing global warming and some tangible solutions.

May 2023

Source: UN News

METHODS: To bring awareness about how human activities contribute to increasing the greenhouse effect, our group created a mini-lesson to explain the causes and effects of global warming, and how fossil fuels play a big role in this as one of the causes. After presenting the information, a survey was sent to the grade 7C community so we could collect data about how fossil fuels are present in people's routines and they could start trying to mitigate this problem. After analyzing the data, the results were reported and discussed in this article.

RESULTS: After delivering the presentation about fossil fuels, the learners in grade 7C had to answer some questions from a survey, such as: How often do you use the internet, TV, and lights? (graph 1) How often do you travel by airplane? (graph 2) How willing are you to help mitigate this problem?

As we can see in Graph 1, all the participants who answered the survey chose 3-5 on a scale of 0 to 5 when asked how often they use the internet, TV, and lights. No answers were recorded as 0, 1, or 2.

As observed in graph 2, also on a scale from 0 to 5, the majority answered they travel by plane often or very often (from 3 above).

To the third question 'How willing are you to help mitigate this problem?', 64,7% of the participants answered they would not be very willing to help, 11,8% said they cannot help, while only 23,5% would be ready to help solve this problem.

Graph 1: When asked 'How often do you use the internet, TV, and lights?', almost 59% of grade 7C said they use it very often (5 on a scale of 0 to 5).

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public transportation and switching to walking and cycling whenever possible are also ways of reducing the burning of fossil fuels.

Graph 2: On a scale of 0 to 5, more than 80% of grade 7C travel by airplane on a frequency of 3-5.

Our main goal in our presentation was to teach the concept School learners about how fossils fuels are polluting and destroying our earth and what we can do to stop it.

DISCUSSION After analyzing the data from the survey, we can see that although grade 7C learned that fossil fuels are a major contributor to the greenhouse effect, so to global warming, they seem to be unwilling to reduce their impact on the environment. This may be associated with lifestyle and people's routines.

According to International Energy Agency, methane contributes 30% to rising temperatures on Earth, whereas 70% of these emissions could be actually prevented and around 45% could be cut to zero. The expectations are that by 2030 the methane emissions from this sector will be reduced in 75%.

CONCLUSION According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, as individuals we can try to conserve energy or minimize our miles. Turning off the lights and electrical appliances not being used and buying more efficient equipment are ways to help conserve energy. Carpooling, using 60

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REFERENCES Fossil Fuels https://ethw.org/Main_Page Fossil Fuels https://www.gsi.ie/enie/Pages/default.aspx Fossil Fuels https://education.nationalgeographic.org/r esource/fossil-fuels/ Pros and cons of fossil fuel https://group.met.com/en/mind-thefyouture/mindthefyouture/pros-and-consof-fossil-fuels The sources and solutions: Fossil fuels https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/sou rces-and-solutions-fossil-fuels

TESTIMONIES Gustavo One challenge for me was that during the presentation our QR code failed and we had to deal with some technical difficulties. One thing I enjoyed was learning about permafrost and the different ways methane can be emitted.

Pedro For me, it was only a little bit difficult to do a very important project about a new topic.

Miguel Was a little difficult to use the graphs in the paragraphs. And something nice was that all the information supported our presentation.

João Luca My biggest challenge was understanding what permafrost was right in the beginning, and something I enjoyed was learning how there are so many different and unique ways of emitting methane.

Eduardo u One challenge was on the day of the presentation when one member was absent. I enjoyed learning about wetlands.

Isadora One challenge for me was for me to present, and I enjoyed getting to know more about wetlands, and the problems involved. manuela m One challenge for me was to present with one member missing. I thought it was cool and different to learn about this. lorena One challenge for me was to research something that I never had heard before. I enjoyed working on the slides.

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TESTIMONIES Flora The challenge was more about the pressure and the stress of getting everything done on time. Something I enjoyed was looking at the final result and being proud and satisfied with our work.

Manuela I think it was challenging to find some information about the relationship between industrial production and n2o. I enjoyed making and seeing the responses on our Google forms.

Luísa In this experience of doing a scientific magazine, my challenge was when we were doing the introduction, for me it was really boring to try to find good sources that talked about our specific topic (which is really specific in my opinion). I enjoyed delivering the minilesson and watching the final results, I felt like we did a really good job.

Bárbara It was challenging research and then putting everything together trying to make everything fit. And it seems to me that not everyone really knew what we were talking about. But I liked that we could finish on time.

Cícero it was challenging to overcome problems that arrived with diverse absences of members of the group, and also staying organized for such a long period. I liked that we were able to deliver on time.

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TESTIMONIES LEONARDO It was a challenge to do the questionnaire, butI enjoyed presenting the mini-lesson.

I learned that transportation emits 24-25% of CO2 in all categories.

LUISA It was a challenge to work always in groups and sometimes stop what you were doing to help others. I enjoyed researching and creating the mini-lesson, also writing the scientific paper.

I learned that a car with 5 people pollute less than a car with 1 person.

ELena It was a challenge doing the abstract. I enjoyed doing the presentation/mini-lesson. rafael It was a challenge for me in the beginning, because we had no information, and it was a little bit complicated to start. I enjoyed creating and presenting the mini-lesson because I really like spreading information and I liked our results at the end. I learned that flying business class pollutes more than economy class, because it takes more space, and fit less people.

ALICe It was a challenge to pick the right questions for the survey and write most of the slides.

However, I enjoyed writing on the slides (although it was hard) and on the scientific paper.

MARIA cecília It was a challenge to find the proper information to put in the presentation and on the Scientific paper. I enjoyed making both, though.

HELENA It was a challenge to combine all of the information with my colleagues. I enjoyed decorating the slides of our presentation and adding information to them.

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TESTIMONIES Olivia This project in my opinion was amazing. First I wasn’t very comfortable studying this topic because it leaves me sad and nervous because this can be the cause of the end of life on Earth. But now I understand it is a topic that can’t be ignored and can be very interesting. I really enjoyed discovering how cement can be very harmful and that there are ways to reduce the production of cement. These viable solutions really impressed me. The only thing that was a little bit hard for me was maintaining concentration in the work and maintaining the whole group working so we could meet the deadlines.

Valentina Garnero I thought this project was really good! I loved the topic and I think that if more people knew the seriousness of the problem, it would be very good for the planet. I think my biggest challenge on this project was seeing the videos and people suffering from it, but I enjoyed learning more about this problem and I saw that it is something that cannot be ignored. I loved our work and thought we completed it very well!

Julia It was a challenge for me produce the slides, but, I enjoyed learning more about my topic because I’ve never learned about it and now a about the manufacturing can be very harmful to life on Earth.

Sophia Iwamoto It was a challenge for me because it's difficult to work on something that you don’t know yet, but I really enjoy the part of research and learn more about something that I didn't know yet.

Gabriel Q The group worked well, even though some parts were bad and left work for later, we managed to work well, and I really enjoyed working with this group.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Ms Maru, our Natural Sciences educator, Lucas Clemente, our Middle School Teaching and Learning Coach, who helped intermediate communication between the pedagogical and the design teams, and Daniela Taira and Daniel Luna, the specialists of the Design Team, for creating the template of this magazine and organizing the content.

We also thank Science Journal for Kids and Teens, an online platform for scientific articles, as an inspiration.

Grade 7