Origami n' Stuff 4 Kids: environment

Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts

World Environment Day: Biodiversity

Many Species. One Planet. One Future.

June 5th is World Environment Day (WED), established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 as a day to highlight the political, social and economic problems of the global environment.

2010's theme focuses on biodiversity and will start with the Environmental and Conservation Conference in Rwanda. In addition to hosting three days of keynote speeches addressing strategies to restore "forests and freshwaters to mangroves and wetlands" through sustainable development and measures to combat poverty, the Rwandan government has organized a community tree planting involving 10,000 participants.

In North America, the city of Pittsburgh has been chosen to host the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Click here for a list of WED activities for the entire family.

What is biodiversity and why is it important?

Biodiversity is the rich variety of life on earth. This includes plants, animals and even the tiniest microorganisms, creatures that can only be seen under a microscope.

Biodiversity is more than just preserving wildlife so that our grandchildren can enjoy gorillas, whales and tigers. The environment is very complex, and even the tiniest creatures play very important roles.

In Hawaii, scientists dangle from steep rock cliffs hundreds of feet off the ground to hand-pollinate a rare plant, the alula (Brighamia insignis). Why? Because in nature, flowering plants are pollinated by birds and insects--this is how plants reproduce and thrive. In the case of the alula, its natural pollinator, possibly a small native moth, has gone extinct.

This means that without the scientists' help, the alula plant will also go extinct (left).

What are keystone species?

Keystone species is a species--plant, animal or otherwise--that is so important to an ecosystem that its removal will have a dramatic effect on the surrounding environment.

The sea otter is an example of a keystone species. Sea otters feed on urchins, which in turn feed on kelp. Without sea otters, urchins are free to reproduce, eating their way through kelp forests and thus destroying vital habitat for fish and shellfish.

Read more about kelp forest ecocsystems: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/about/ecosystems/kelpdesc.html

Fold an origami sea otter.

How does biodiversity affect ME?

We always hear about how little is known about the rainforest and the potential forest remedies that will be lost with its destruction. What most of us don't know is that many of our life-saving medicines already come from plants and animals found in nature.

Here's a short list of some of the many drugs that have their origin in nature:

ARA-C, to treat cancer: Caribbean sponge

Aspirin, used for fever and inflammation: meadowsweet and willow bark

Calcimar, for osteoporosis: Coho salmon

Captopril, to lower blood pressure: Brazilian arrowhead viper

Codeine, a painkiller: poppy

Digoxin, vital in treating patients with heart failure: woolly foxglove

Integrelin, to treat heart patients: southeastern pygmy rattlesnake venom

Lidocaine, an anesthetic frequently used in dentistry: barley

Quinine, used to treat malaria, and Quinidine, to regulate heart rhythms: Peruvian quinine tree

Tubocurarine, used as a muscle relaxant in surgery: curare vine, Chondodendron tomentosum

Vincristine, used to treat cancer: Madagascar periwinkle

Warfarin, used to prevent blood clots: sweet clover

In fact, scientists are urging the protection of the deadly cone snail, known for killing unwary swimmers, because they hope to find uses for its venom in the treatment of pain, heart disease and spinal cord injury.

Here's an article about medicines from unusual animal sources: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52324

And an article about pharmaceutical plants: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3293327/For-purely-medicinal-purposes.html

AND a cool page about endangered birds: http://www.ornithology.com/endangered.html

Origami Biodiversity

Visit our Animal Projects Page for a list of cool animal crafts, articles and origami:

Happy World Environment Day Card

This year's theme. "Many Species. One Planet. One Future," focuses on the diversity of life on Earth. Events across the world will feature organized clean-ups, exhibits, film festivals and more.

Print (on recycled paper) and fold an Environment Day card:

All Things Tiger for Earth Day

Imagine a world where factories dumped toxic waste into streams and lakes, or chug poisonous black fumes into the air, and there was little you could do to stop them. That's what it was like before 1970.

That is, until the Spring of 1970, when Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to increase awareness of our environment, and measures needed to create a cleaner, safer world. 20 million Americans demonstrated across the United States, and in December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Since 2010 is the Year of the Tiger in Chinese astrology, how about indulging in Tiger-themed origami for Earth Day?

Tiger Lilies

These brightly colored flowers can be found in open woods and forest openings throughout western North America, from British Columbia to California, and Idaho to Nevada. Tiger lilies are edible, and can be used as cake decorations. Native Americans boiled or steamed the bulbs, and Chinese planted lilies in rows for food. And who can forget the character Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, the Piccaninny princess of Neverland, who was kidnapped by Captain Hook?

Print and fold a Tiger Lily:

Vanishing Tigers

As the largest living cat, adult male tigers can weigh as much as 700 pounds and eat 80 pounds of meat in a single sitting. Now these majestic animals are threatened with extinction. For thousands of years, they have been hunted as status symbols and their bones have been used in traditional Asian medicines. Today they must also face habitat loss, as humans move into their dwindling range and compete for food and resources.

Print and fold a tiger:

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

The Western Tiger Swallowtail is a commonly found in western North America, from British Columbia to North Dakota in the north to Baja California and New Mexico in the south.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, found throughout the Eastern United States as far north as southern Vermont and west to Eastern Colorado, is the official state butterfly of Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Butterflies emerge from their chrysalis in February to May, gathering near pools and streams where they drink and replenish minerals.

Print and fold a Tiger Swallowtail Origami:

Year of the Tiger in Chinese Astrology

If you were born in 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 or 2010, you're a tiger! (I am, but I'm not revealing which year.) Want to know what Tiger people are like? Here's a sampling:

"You have an active and creative mind with great ideas for some new activity. You do not like to be tied down by rules or by directives from others. A natural leader born under the sign of courage, you seldom seek others for support as you like to execute a certain amount of independence. You like to be free and do as you please."

Want to learn more? Click here.

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