The Children's Quiz Answers

Click on a question topic below to learn:

• how the different statements are scored;
• how to reduce your footprint.

These days, students are continually being tested and are under great pressure to get good scores, grades or levels. This pressure to do well for ourselves, our families and teachers, and so we can compete in the 'job market', can distract us from the more important lessons we all need to learn. It is essential that we learn ways of getting on with other people better and how to protect the world and make it a better place. Treating people and the planet with care and respect will reduce our impact on the earth and reduce our footprint.

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• The cost of achieving education for everyone in the world over the next ten years would cost only half the amount spent on toys each year in the U.S.

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Many animal species are seriously endangered. Animals we all know well such as the tiger, orang-utan and gorilla are facing extinction within the next ten years. Just imagine a world in which these wonderful creatures only exist in picture books, in old films or in cages in zoos. We should all care about what happens to animals, even if we are not particularly interested in them. Many people believe that animals, just like us, have rights. They also form part of the 'web' of life on the planet. Just like a spider's web, if one of the strands on the web is removed it is weakened; if several are removed, the whole web might collapse. Pets are not part of this web because they are not 'wild' animals. In fact pets are often a threat to animals in the wild, for example cats attack and kill birds. There are many organisations that are trying to protect the habitats of endangered animals and by doing so protect the animals themselves. You may already be a member of one of these international, national or local wildlife organisations.

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did you know?

• About 5000 different animal species are now threatened with extinction
• Around 50 animal and plant species become extinct each day because of rainforest destruction
  
• One quarter of the world's animal and plant species could become extinct in the next 20 - 30 years

Take Action

• Join an organisation campaigning for the protection of wildlife and the environment
  
• Find out about local wildlife sites, nature reserves or woods and how you can get involved in supporting them
• Create a wildlife garden or a pond at school or at home and find out which plants will be best for birds, frogs, fish, butterflies and bees
• To find out more, please visit:
  The World Wildlife Fund www.wwf.org.uk/gowild/index.htm

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Most of the leaders in the world are men. This is not because men make better leaders, but because they often use their power or make rules that make it more difficult for women to become leaders. It would be much fairer if there were equal numbers of men and women leaders. There are many examples of successful women leaders in religion, politics, business and many other areas of life. Mother Teresa was a nun who helped the sick and dying in Calcutta; Indira Gandhi was the first woman Prime Minister of India and Anita Roddick set up the Body Shop.

Do you agree? Do you know any successful women leaders that you would like to tell others about? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• Only one in twenty of the world's Presidents and Prime Ministers are women
  
• Women do two thirds of all the world's work but only earn one tenth of world income

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War can never be the right way to solve a conflict. It is a tragic waste of human life. It destroys families, their homes and their communities. It can also have a terrible effect on the environment. As war is so damaging, believing in it as a way of solving conflict will not help your footprint! Some people though believe that if all peaceful solutions have been tried and failed then war is the only option. For example, many people believe that war was the only way to stop Hitler. But, as General Eisenhower said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, [is]… theft from those who hunger and are not fed."

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• In some countries twice as much is spent on armies and their weapon than is spent on education and health
  
• Nine out of every ten people killed in war are innocent civilians, not soldiers or fighters. And most of these are women and children.
  
• Most of the world's 20 million refugees are victims of war.
  
• With the money India spent on 20 fighter jets in 1992, it could have provided education for all the 15 million girls in India who do not go to school.
  
• The cost of achieving education for all the world's children over the next ten years would cost the same amount that is spent on weapons and armies every four days!

Take Action
Don't ask for, buy or play with toy guns or other pretend weapons. They may only be toys, but think about the terrible damage the real things do.

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Far too much of our waste goes into the bin. Rubbish which ends up in the bin is either landfilled taking up huge amounts of space or incinerated pumping out smoke and fumes into the air and leaving behind poisonous ash. This is completely unnecessary because much of the rubbish we produce can be re-used or recycled. Paper, tins, cans, glass and cardboard can all be recycled. Clothes can be re-used by younger brothers or sisters when they are grown out of or given to a charity shop for someone else to buy. However, while recycling and re-using are important ways of reducing waste, not making so much in the first place is the best way to reduce your footprint.

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did you know?

• An average family produces about one tonne of rubbish every year. This weighs about the same as two small cars
• 3000 used plastic drink bottles can be recycled to make one plastic garden table

Take Action
REMEMBER THE 4 Rs

• REDUCE what we buy in the first place. If we buy less then we will throw away less!
  
• REUSE as many things as possible. Take bags with you when you go shopping, reuse envelopes
  
• REPAIR things rather than throw them away and buy new ones
  
• RECYCLE any material which can be turned into something new

To find out more, please visit:
Environment Agency www.environment-agency.gov.uk/kids/?lang=_e

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Looking through a newspaper you can often read about the stunning dress or expensive jewellery being worn by a rich and famous film star on one page and on the next page read about people dying of hunger in Africa. This isn't interesting - it's sick! It doesn't have to be this way. Human greed and selfishness have made some people very rich and kept others very poor. There is enough in the world for everyone if it is shared more equally. As Gandhi once said, there is enough in the world for people's needs but not enough for people's greed.

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did you know?

• Today, 24,000 people will die of hunger
• Two and a half million children die every year from illnesses they get because they don't have clean water
  
• One out of every three people in the world do not have electricity or a telephone
  
• The three richest people in the world have as much wealth as all the people who live in the world's 48 poorest countries put together!
  
• Switzerland is 500 times richer than Mozambique

Take Action
Check out some of the following websites to find out how some organisations are taking action against world poverty and what they are asking people to do to help.
Oxfam www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet
Christian Aid Children's site www.globalgang.org.uk
CAFOD www.cafod.org.uk

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It is natural to choose friends who are popular - that way we can feel part of the 'in crowd' or the gang that always gets noticed. However, not all popular people make the best friends. After all, if everyone wants to be their friend they can afford to be choosy! It is best to have friends who care about you and who you feel able to trust. That way you can relax with them and have fun. Choosing friends because of colour, culture or religion just adds to the racism and divisions that already exist in the world. Racism and lack of respect for different cultures and religions is one of the main causes of conflict and war. All of this has a damaging effect on the world and increases the size of our footprint.

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

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Bullying is not something we can afford to ignore as it causes agony for the victims. Bullying on a global scale, where one group of people abuses another, can cause huge suffering. This means that bullying has a bad impact on the world and increases the footprint. If you are sometimes involved in bullying, or worse if you enjoy bullying, you need to talk to a teacher or responsible adult about it so that you can work out ways to tackle the problem. We need to act to stop bullying but confronting the bully by shouting or attacking is not the best solution. This means you act in the same way as the bully, and remember, an eye for an eye just makes both go blind! The best way to sort it is report it!

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• At any one time In the UK at least one out of every seven school children is involved in bullying, either as a victim or as a bully

Take Action

• Find out about your rights as a child from Save the Children www.savethechildren.org.uk/rightonline/index.html or from UNICEF www.unicef.org/young
  

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We cannot avoid the fact that we are a part of our local community and environment. We use schools, leisure centres, shops, libraries, parks and other shared facilities. Involvement in our local community connects us with the world around us. There are always things we can do to help people or protect and improve the environment. This has a positive impact and reduces our footprint. One of the best ways of helping out is by joining a local group or club.

Do you agree? In what ways do you take action or could you take action in your local community? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

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If you don't think litter is your problem, you obviously don't care very much about your local community! Litter makes the place look a real mess. It can block up drains and attract rats which carry disease. Also litter creates more litter. People will think that if the local community is already a mess, what difference will a bit more litter make? So, if you never drop litter, then you show that you care for the people and the environment in your local community and reduce your footprint. If you actually pick up litter and put it in the bin or recycle it, you are a real star for your local community!

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• About £342M a year is spent by local authorities in England on street cleaning and litter clearance.
  
• "Littering" is a criminal offence. Any one over 13 years old can be prosecuted. You can be fined up to £2,500!

Take Action
Organise a litter hunt! Perhaps as part of a group you could organise to pick up all the litter around your school or an area in your community. Remember though to have an adult help you organise such an event and be safe - wear gloves, don't pick up dangerous items like broken glass or do a litter hunt in dangerous areas like roadsides or riverbanks.
Find out more information from www.environment-agency.gov.uk/kids/?lang=_e www.tidybritain.org.uk

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There is really very little excuse these days for not recycling rubbish. Paper, glass, tin, aluminium cans, cardboard and old clothes can all be recycled. Many parts of the country now have collections of recyclable materials from your door and nearly everywhere has recycling centres to take your rubbish for recycling. So by recycling we can put an end to much of our waste, reduce our impact on the environment and reduce our footprint.

Do you agree? What are the recycling facilities like where you live? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• Each of us throws about 377 kg of rubbish away every year.
  
• 12 million people visit a bottle bank each week for recycling.
  
• Packaging fills up to a quarter of an average dustbin.

Take Action

• Carry out a waste survey in your school. Find out what goes into the bins. Can any of the waste be reused or recycled? Ask your School Council or Head Teacher for a recycling scheme in school
  
• Make sure that you and your family recycle all household waste that can be made into something new
  
• Buy recycled paper
  

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Some children travel to school by car because there is no other way to get there. However, if you choose this way to get to school, when there are other ways of getting there, you will do more than leave tyre prints; you will leave behind a giant footprint too! You will add to traffic congestion and pump out pollution into the air. The more cars there are on the streets, the less safe the streets will be and the less pleasant for people walking or cycling. Lots of traffic makes it dangerous for children walking or cycling to school, which are the healthiest and most environmentally friendly ways to travel. It may seem strange, but walking reduces your footprint! Cars, buses and trains produce carbon dioxide, the main gas that is causing global warming. However, buses and trains cause much less carbon dioxide per person because they carry so many more people. Global warming is being blamed for floods, storms and diseases that are causing misery for millions of people around the world.

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• At 8.50am, one car in five on the roads is taking children to school. What a traffic jam!
  
• Seven out of every 10 primary school children who travel to school by car live just one or two miles away from their school. These journeys could easily be walked, improving fitness and giving children a chance to meet friends on the way to school
  
• In 1952 there were 2 million cars on the road in Britain. Today there are 22 million
  
• Car parking spaces in the UK take up an area twice the size of Birmingham

Take Action

• Encourage your school to set up a walking bus. This is a bus with legs rather than wheels! A walking bus is a line of children, walking in pairs to school along a certain route with an adult driver at the front and 'conductor' at the back. There are bus stops where children are picked up at certain times so like a normal bus you can miss it! Unlike a normal bus, it is free, healthy and totally non-polluting!
  
• Nag your parents to walk, cycle or use public transport instead of the car, especially for short journeys
  

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Being trendy seems to be pretty important these days. But being fashionable is costly, and not just on your pocket! There are other hidden costs too - costs to people's health and wellbeing that we are often blind to when we go shopping. Many of the companies who make and sell the trendiest clothes and trainers manufacture their products in poor countries. They often employ people for very long hours in dangerous and uncomfortable factories and pay them tiny amounts for their work. Some well known companies have even been found employing children as young as 12 in their factories. Caring about the lives of the people who make your clothes will help to reduce your footprint. By refusing to buy clothes from companies that exploit their factory workers, you will be putting pressure on those companies to improve working conditions.
Some might argue that there are better things you can do with your money than spend it on the latest fashions. After all, the only reason we have fashions is because they come and go so quickly! Buying clothes from charity shops like Oxfam is not only cheaper, but also gives money to a good cause. Reusing clothes and helping charity at the same time is a sure way to reduce your footprint. You never know, if enough people bought their clothes from charity shops, second hand clothes might just become the latest fashion!

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• Some of the workers that make the clothes we wear earn just 11p an hour and work 11 hours a day. That's just £1. 21 for a full day's work!
• A designer jacket costing more than £100 in the UK would bring the Bangladeshi woman who made it just 51p.
  
• In the world's poorest countries about 250 million children between the age of 5 and 14 work, often in dangerous conditions

Take Action

• Ask the shops where you buy your clothes or trainers if they can guarantee that the workers who made the products on sale are treated fairly. If they cannot give you this guarantee, tell them that you will not be buying from the shop anymore.
  
• Make sure that all your old clothes are reused: pass them on to younger brothers or sisters or make sure they go to a charity shop

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If you know what Fair trade is all about and you still choose not to buy Fair trade products, you have a stomping great footprint! If you don't know what Fair trade is about, here is your chance to find out. Producers of Fair trade goods like tea, coffee, bananas, chocolate and honey receive fair wages, enjoy good working conditions, are able to send their children to school and get health treatment. They also take good care of the environment which they work in. By buying Fair trade products we show that we care about the lives of people in poorer countries and the environments which they live in. This good effect on the lives of others means we seriously shrink our footprint!

Do you agree? Which Fair trade products have you tried? How did you rate them? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• There are now more than 70 Fair trade coffee, tea, chocolate and honey products available. Most supermarkets now also sell Fair trade bananas
  
• If farmers in Ghana sell cocoa (for chocolate) to large multinational companies they earn just £37 per sack. If they sell their cocoa to Fair trade companies they earn £66 per sack.
  
• Divine and Dubble (www.dubble.co.uk )are two popular varieties of Fair trade chocolate bar that are now available in many shops

Take Action

• Whenever you or your family buy tea, coffee, chocolate, honey or bananas make sure you give the people who produced them a fair deal by buying Fair trade products
  
• Find out more about Fair trade from these organisations:
  Fairtrade Foundation www.fairtrade.org.uk Oxfam www.oxfam.org.uk

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Low energy light bulbs use one fifth of the energy of normal bulbs. This means the electricity used to power one normal bulb could power five low energy bulbs instead. Low energy light bulbs are more expensive to buy but because they last much longer and use much less electricity they save money in the long run. It is important to save electricity whenever possible by turning off lights and equipment not in use. Equipment such as TVs left on standby still use electricity. Most electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas. Burning these fuels produces carbon dioxide, the main gas that is causing global warming. Some scientists think that global warming is the greatest threat to the planet in the next 100 years, so if you don't save energy you have a seriously large footprint!

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did you know?

• It has been calculated that TVs left on standby in the UK use more than £12 million of electricity! Enough electricity to power a whole town!
  
• We could get all the electrical energy we need from renewable energy like solar (sun) power and wind power, which cause no pollution and no global warming. So why don't we?
• As temperatures rise, ice caps in Antarctica could melt. If this happens the level of the sea could rise by 6 meters: London would then disappear under water!
  
• Only 4 out of every 100 people live in America, but they produce one quarter of the world's carbon dioxide - the gas that is causing global warming. But George Bush, America's President, is refusing to take any action to help stop global warming.

Take action

• Switch to low energy light bulbs and switch off when not in use!
  
• Ask your parents or your school to consider buying renewable electricity. Some electricity companies now offer people the chance to buy clean 'green electricity'. Ask your parents or school to check out switching to clean electricity. Two examples of 'green electricity' are:
  Unit[e] www.creationday8.co.uk
  Npower/Juice www.npower.com
  

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Health experts recommend that we should eat at least five portions of fruit or vegetables each day. This provides important vitamins for keeping our bodies healthy. Even eating some fruit or vegetables each day is a good start! Healthy people are more likely to have the energy and motivation to work and take action for a better world. People who eat lots of fatty and sugary foods are more likely to be ill. They will waste time and money being treated by doctors, dentists and hospitals. All this means a bigger footprint!

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did you know?

• A quarter of the people in the world suffer poor health because they do not have enough to eat, while another quarter suffer poor health because they eat too much

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The less meat you eat, particularly red meat, the smaller your footprint. This is because meat production uses up a lot of land. Either animals need large areas of grass to graze on, or crops need to be grown to provide their food. This is a waste of land. The land could grow vegetables and cereals for us to eat instead. What's more, huge areas of rainforest are destroyed every year to create grazing land for cattle that are then slaughtered for beef.
Many people also believe that producing meat the way we do in Europe is cruel. Factory farming means animals are often forced to live in very crowded conditions. Some spend their whole lives inside a barn without seeing the light of day.

Do you agree? Do you know any tasty vegetarian recipes? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• Three hectares of land can produce either one tonne of beef or between 50-100 tonnes of grains, pulses (like beans or lentils) and vegetables
  
• Half of all the grain grown in Europe is used to feed animals that are killed for meat rather than feeding humans
  
• There are 30 million egg-laying hens kept in 'battery' cages in the UK. Each cage usually holds five hens and each hen has less space than an A4 piece of paper

Take Action

• Become vegetarian or eat less meat
• Buy, or persuade your family to buy, organic or free range meat and eggs. Both of these mean that animals are well treated.
  
• Find out more from these organisations:
  Vegetarian Society www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/receipes/youthrecs.html

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Many children believe that they will never be silly enough to smoke, drink alcohol or take drugs. There is certainly nothing adult about it (unless you think it is grown up to cough, have a headache or act like an idiot!) but peer pressure and wanting to experiment often leads young people to try different drugs. Anyway, many people believe there is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol in small and sensible amounts (when you are old enough to do so!) Smoking is a different story! Tobacco is one of the most addictive drugs of all. Starting to smoke at a young age is likely to lead to early addiction and most adult smokers wish they had never started. The most important thing is to talk openly about drugs. The more you understand about them, the more likely you are to make sensible decisions about using them. Taking drugs is not only about health. Drugs affect the environment too. Rainforest is often destroyed to make room for growing coca plants (cocaine) for example. Drugs can have terrible effects on people's health, on families, on communities and on the environment. That's why taking drugs seriously damages your footprint!

Do you agree? Add your voice to the debate on this issue

Did You Know?

• Diseases caused by smoking kill three million people a year
• Each cigarette shortens the life of a smoker by five minutes

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