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Read the Ads:Buy Earth-FriendlyProducts

From your newspaper and the editors of PARADE

Save thePlanet

Are you concerned about the environment?Use your newspaper to get the facts and act!

Join a Green Group: Check the Community Calendar

Recycle, Precycle,Reuse and More

PAGE 10Give Nature a HandHands-on ways for helping out.

PAGE 12Speak Out and Spread the WordWhat you say can make a difference.

PAGE 14Pick a ProjectGet involved on your own or as part of a group.

Is the Earth in Danger?Read this and decide for yourself.

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PAGE 6Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink!Make recycling a way of life.

PAGE 8Save Your Energy!Try these conservation tips.

PAGE 4Shopping for the EnvironmentHow you spend your money can help— or hurt—the planet.

Contents CH

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2 Save the Planet

WHAT’S THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE NEWSPAPER?Well, of course, you recycle newspapers, but the connection goes much deeper. The newspaper alerts you to environmental news, from issues pending before Congress to problems in your hometown. The ads let you know about green products, from cars to paper towels. Features in the lifestyle section might show you how to compost or save electricity. You can make the world a little greener just by being informed! You can use the newspaper to spread the word yourself—from writing a letter to the editor to sending in an announcement about an event your group is sponsoring. Your newspaper is a key tool in working for the environment. USE IT.

PAGE 16ResourcesWant to learn more? Here’s where to look.

Save The Planet is a product of PARADE Classroom®, a program of supplemental materials designed to support the Newspaper In Education efforts of PARADE magazine’s partner papers. © 2009 Parade Publications, 711 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017. All rights reserved. PARADE and PARADE Classroom are registered trademarks owned by Advance Magazine Publishers Inc., used through its division, Parade Publications.

n the 1960s, the environment was clearly in danger. Pesticides such as DDT were endangering eagles and ospreys. In late November 1966, New York City’s smog was so bad that, within a few days, it killed 168 people with respiratory diseases. In 1969, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River was so dirty that it caught on fire. Randy Newman’s sarcastic song about it, “Burn on, Big River,” played on radios all over the

country. Two-thirds of the nation’s rivers and lakes were too polluted to swim in.

Then on April 22, 1970, something momentous happened. More than 20 million Americans, many of them young people, gathered for the first Earth Day. Their concern helped spur the U.S. government to action. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started up that year. Subsequently, Congress passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. In 1973, it passed the Endangered Species Act. Since then, environmental conditions in the U.S. have improved. People started recycling and quit using leaded gasoline. Cities stopped dumping raw sewage into rivers and oceans. But there’s still a long way to go. Consider:

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IIs the Earth in Danger?

Air Pollution The American Lung Association grades air quality each year in cities and states. They have found that reducing air pollution actually raised life expectancy in 51 cities. But, despite all the efforts to go “green,” some cities have actually gotten more polluted. Six out of ten Americans live in counties that have unhealthful levels of ozone or particle pollution. Visit www.stateoftheair.org/ to find out the state of your city’s air.

Water Pollution Governments around the world worked together in the 1970s to control the dumping of waste into the oceans. Over time, a protocol

was developed which cut down on the amount of pollution in the oceans. It still happens illegally and it takes a toll on human, plant,

and animal life. Work remains developing alternatives to ocean dumping including recycling, producing

less waste products, saving energy, and changing the dangerous waste into less harmful material.

Global WarmingAccording to the Environmental Protection Agency, global warming means the increase in Earth’s temperature as a result of increased greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. The average temperature of the planet has gone up about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the last hundred years. It’s expected to increase another 2 to 6ºF in the next century. If that happens, it could

result in major changes to our weather and our environment. Temperature increase may alter the world’s habitats and ecosystems affecting human, plant, and animal life as the delicate balance

changes. Warming temperatures could melt the glaciers and add more water to the ocean, raising

sea level and causing coastal flooding. That could affect the quality of drinking

water too. Global warming could also cause droughts and make it hard to

raise needed crops, affecting our food supply. Learn more at www. stopglobalwarming.org.

Endangered SpeciesThe Earth loses some 27,000 species a year, about three an hour. Most endangered animals and

plants are losing their habitats due to the growing human population.

The number of people on Earth has jumped from 1.7 billion in 1900 to more

than 6.7 billion today. Housing and activities that help people and the economy—such as

logging, mining, farming, fishing, dam building— also disrupt natural habitats. Air pollution, water pollution, and poaching are also threats. Cutting trees for farms and ranches is the greatest danger to the rainforests, where more than half of the world’s species live. The world now loses about 2 acres of rainforest every second, about 38 million acres a year. For more on endangered species, visit www.fws.gov/endangered.

What can you do about all these problems? Well, you don’t have to camp out in a redwood tree for 738 days like activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill. You can begin by turning the page...