成人快手

What is the environment?

Water flowing into a pond with frogs

The enviroment is the world, including plants and animals, that surrounds us. Humans can have an effect on their environment by how they live and what they do.

Water flowing into a pond with frogs

Watch: Discover more about the environment

Learn about recycling and the environment in the UK.

Back to top

Pollution

Illustration showing smoke from burning fossil fuels polluting the atmosphere of a city.

When fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal are burned, a gas called carbon dioxide is released.

The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are already very high. Increasing carbon dioxide levels will be damaging and will make the Earth heat up.

Carbon dioxide traps heat from the sun and causes the temperature of the Earth to rise - this is called

Back to top

Climate change

Climate change affects the Earth in many ways. This includes:

Extreme weather such as high winds, hurricanes and flooding become more frequent.

鈥 The climate can become too hot and dry or too wet, so crops don鈥檛 grow as well.

鈥 Animals are at risk of losing their .

Sea levels rise because of melting glaciers and melting sea ice.

An illustration of a storm with hurricanes
An illustration of an area in drought with cracked earth and dying trees.
An illustration of two penguins on an iceberg
Back to top

What is the UK doing to reduce carbon emissions?

The UK government has set a target to cut the amount of carbon emissions by 78% by 2035.

Here are the some of the ways they are planning to do this:

鈥 by not burning as many fossil fuels.

鈥 using more to make electricity such as wind farms.

reducing the sale of petrol and diesel cars and using electric cars or hybrid cars instead, so there are fewer harmful gases.

鈥 being less wasteful by making buildings more energy efficient.

鈥 using less plastic.

鈥 planting more trees as they take in carbon dioxide and protect the environment.

recycling and using recycled materials to make products.

Back to top

What is recycling?

Waste means materials or things that are thrown away, because they are broken or because people don鈥檛 want them anymore.

There are different kinds of waste:

Food waste

Clothing waste

Electronic goods such as old TVs, mobile phones, laptops, fridges

Paper waste

Packaging waste

A waste sorting plant with different conveyor belts carrying household waste.
Green arrows in a triangle, a recycling symbol.

Recycling is another way of reducing waste. So, rather than throwing something away, it can be re-used or parts of it can be re-used to have a new purpose.

Things that can be recycled include:

  • Glass
  • Plastic
  • Paper
  • Metal

If a product has a recycling symbol on, it means it can be recycled.

Green arrows in a triangle, a recycling symbol.
Back to top

Activities

True or false: Environment

Guess the bin: Environment

Back to top
Back to top

Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

Bitesize Primary games
Back to top

More on Geography of the UK

Find out more by working through a topic