World Science Day for Peace and Development- November 10

Science is one of the best tools we have for improving life.

Unfortunately, humanity has used many scientific discoveries and technological inventions in ways that have exacerbated the state of the environment and made the world a less safe place. Thousands of nuclear bombs sit around us waiting ... oil spills at a rate ... burning fossil fuels creates smog and global climate change ... and that's just a small part of how humanity is negatively impacting the world.

Some people look at these grim results of science and technology and blame science itself. They blame inventions and technology rather than humanity itself for the overpopulated population, the urge to control lands and resources, and short-term profit-driven thinking.

The solution to bad use of science is not to remove responsibility from ourselves and blame science, but to use science in a better, more responsible and more mature way, with long-term thinking.

The UN has created Science Day for Peace to urge people to use science in the name of peace and find innovative technologies to make the future sustainable!

The field of sustainable development is extremely important for the environment. The damage done to the environment not only harms vegetation and wildlife but also humans and endangers the present and future of us all. If we continue to live the way we live today, we will already in this century need three planets to survive, instead of one Earth.

Ways to live sustainably

Every day the choices we make in our lives affect the environment, the climate and other species besides us. From what we eat to how many children we decide to give birth to. We can do a lot to “choose sustainability” and reduce our environmental footprint to leave more room for animals and wild plants that are important to our continued existence in the world and advanced science and technologies have an important contribution to make to enable us to do so.

Think twice before you go shopping. Every product we buy has an environmental footprint, from the materials used to make it to the pollution emitted during its production and the packaging that ends its days in landfills. Think about the amount of space we need for the garbage we produce! To get rid of this much garbage one has to bury it in the soil, which pollutes it and our water sources, or burn it, which pollutes the air. Both options are bad for the environment. If you are already buying something, try to buy something recycled or second hand that has minimal packaging.

Make sure your large purchases have great environmental benefits. If you are buying appliances, make sure they are energy efficient. Buying a car? Buy cars that are as fuel efficient as possible. If you are buying a house or apartment, make sure they are built with a standard of green construction. All of these benefits will also reduce your electricity bill and fuel expenses.

Stop using plastic. The plastic is not biodegradable. It fills in vast quantities about 40 percent of the world's oceans. Every year thousands of seabirds, sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals are killed by trapping or suffocating in plastic. You can reduce your use of plastic in a few simple steps: use reusable bags when shopping, use reusable water bottles, use bags as little as possible. Give up the hardships of drinking and avoid products made of plastic or packaged in them if possible (choose products that are not wrapped when you shop in the grocery store or stores, reduce the online shopping that uses a lot of plastic packaging materials).

Reduce the consumption of animal products. Food engineers are developing meat substitutes and substitutes for milk and eggs from plants. Leather and fur products also have synthetic substitutes. The industrial farms for animal husbandry are among the main causes of the environmental crisis. This is according to a detailed UN report examining the impact of the meat, dairy and egg industries on the environment. According to the report, the animal food industries are a major cause of global warming and are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions as a result of human activity (more than all transportation combined: by air, sea and land).

Avoid products that endanger wildlife. Some products contain ingredients that threaten the living environment of animals, because of deforestation or the use of their water they need. One of the elements that threaten the livelihoods of animals is the palm oil whose production is responsible for the extinction of tropical forests, which are home to a huge variety of organisms, threaten the ecology and contribute to the extinction of wildlife such as the orangutan, sumetra tiger and Asian rhino.

Drive less, drive green. Ride less in cars and walk more or ride a bike. If you are traveling, try to travel with more people to reduce the number of cars on the road, use more public transportation.

November 10 is also Sesame Street Day and Vanilla Cupcake Day

World Environment Day- June 5

World Environment Day is an international holiday celebrated every year on June 5 by UN member states to raise environmental awareness. The day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 and first marked in 1974. Meetings are held during the day. And conferences on education and awareness on the subject, including ways of treating and preventing environmental problems.

The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of issues related to the environment, promote change of attitudes on environmental issues and increase the cooperation of all countries, so that people will enjoy a prosperous and secure world in the future.

Environment Day is celebrated around the world in many activities, such as outdoor concerts, processions, tree planting, writing and painting competitions in posters in schools, as well as recycling and cleaning operations.

June 5 is also Hot Air Balloon Day, National Veggie Burger day and Ketchup Day

Earth day coloring pages- Coloring pages of earth

Free printable coloring pages of Earth- maps, globes, ecology, Eco-friendly, save our planet, go green, reduce-recycle-reuse,and more to save our world for Earth day that occurs in April 22. 

Choose the coloring page of the earth you want to paint, print and paint for your enjoyment. To print the page you would like to color, click on page and then click Ctrl+P. 

Don't forget to recycle the paper after use and if you can - print on both sides.

National Geographic Day - January 27th

On January 27, 1888, National Geographic was founded. The goal of the organization was to explore the world and promote knowledge in the general public. Nine months after it was founded, its first magazine was published and since then it has been published regularly, once a month, 12 times a year.

The first director of National Geographic was Alexander Graham Bell, the British scientist and inventor who invented Bell's phone (many think he was the one who invented the telephone, but there is controversy over this and some consider Antonio Mauchi the inventor of the telephone prototype).

For almost 130 years, the magazine has reviewed and published thousands of topics, presenting its readers with articles and pictures of distant lands, remote islands, magical and breathtaking landscapes, rare animals, wonderful plants and special and exotic customs of people from other cultures.

At first the magazine consisted of many text articles and few drawings. But when they saw that the popularity of the sheets containing many images was greater, the publishers switched to extensive pictorial content.

Thousands of issues have covered the magazine since its inception. From beautiful dancers on the island of Bali to brutal killing of animals by hunters. Thanks to the magazine people got to know new things that never occurred to them and were not even able to imagine. Thanks to him the distant and unfamiliar world became closer and closer.

The articles published in the monthly deal with a variety of topics such as history, science, geography and geology, and from time to time a special edition is published dedicated to a particular topic. Recently, the magazine has been particularly vocal on environmental issues such as deforestation and endangered species. The magazine has won many accolades for the beautiful and quality photography and the quality of the booklets and is well known due to the detailed maps that are published alongside articles about various places around the world.

On September 1, 1997, the National Geographic television channel was founded, which is a documentary channel that deals mainly with geography, hiking, animals and science.

One of the most famous stories of the magazine, is the story of the girl who scribbled exile from Afghanistan. In 1985, a photo of photographer Steve McCurry was published on the front page, showing the face of an Afghan girl with bright green eyes and a penetrating look. The girl's figure became famous all over the world. After the United States invaded Afghanistan, they began searching for it and in 2002 it was identified as an exile, an refugee of Afghan origin who fled to the United States during the war. The story of her life was published in the March 2003 issue and a documentary series was made about it on the National Geographic television channel. The organization has set up a foundation named after Sharbat Gola, whose funds have established a number of schools in Kabul, Afghanistan, and has promoted the education of girls in Afghanistan and other countries in the region, including food and drink concerns.

The Afghan Girl - Link to the article  

The organization has supported other important and significant projects such as the North Pole Expedition of Robert Piri and Matthew Anson, Antarctica Exploration by Robert Barlett, the excavations at Hiram Bingham's Machu Picchu, the first flight over Richard Byrd's South Pole, the Underwater Diving of Jacques Costo, Jane Goodall's Chimpanzee Exploration, Diane Pussy's Gorilla Exploration, George Bass' Archaeological Exploration, Robert Blard's Decked Titanic Discovery, Paul Zerno's Dinosaur Exploration and more. 

In honor of National Geographic Day, look for issues of the magazine at home or at your parents 'or grandparents' house. In many libraries you can also browse the magazines. If you have the TV channel, watch interesting shows. We tend to take the existence of the National Geographic for granted, but when you think about it, its contribution to humanity is so important, enormous and significant and without it we would have known much less and perhaps the development of humanity would have been slower.

Link to National Geographic website

National Geographic title page (source)  

January 27 is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Chocolate Cake Day

Solstice - the shortest day of the year - December 21

December 21 is the shortest day of the year, the day with the fewest hours of light, and the most hours of darkness.

On this day, the winter solstice occurs in the northern hemisphere, the point where the hemisphere is at its maximum distance from the sun.

This process usually takes place on December 21st, which is why it is also called the first day of winter.

As of this day, the days will lengthen until June 21, when the northern hemisphere is at the point closest to the sun, so it is the longest day of the year and is considered the first day of summer.

If you haven’t done so yet, it’s time to change the place of winter and summer clothes in the closet, make sure you have an umbrella on hand, buy boots, check that the vehicle is ready for winter, and curl up in an upside-down blanket as much as possible.

December 21st is also Short Story Day, Crossword Birthday and 

Elsa's Birthday from the movie "Frozen" 

World Soil Day - December 5

World Earth Day celebrated on December 5 is a day dedicated to the earth's soil which is one of man's most important resources. Earth, as the World Soil Day website points out, is "where food begins." All of our fruits and vegetables grow in the soil or on top of shrubs or trees that come out of the soil, the food for the animals we grow grows in the soil. Even the natural fibers we produce for clothing are made from plants that grow in the soil or from animals that eat plants that grow in the soil.

Along with water and sun, the soil is one of the most important components in agriculture.

Still, some of the things people do cause the soil rich in valuable minerals to shrink and lose its quality.

When we throw in the trash materials that contain toxic chemicals, like nylon and plastic, they are buried in waste sites and absorbed into the soil where we grow our food. The toxic ingredients are swept away in rains and floods and spread to large areas, and also seep into the water we drink, let the animals drink, use for washing and watering plants.

An example of damage to land can be seen in the case of Love Canal, a neighborhood near Niagara Falls in New York. The neighborhood was established near the Love Canal Canal, and in the 1940s, with government approval, water was diverted to it from a chemical plant that operated at Niagara Falls that contained toxic chemicals. The chemicals were absorbed into the soil and drinking water and caused a massive environmental pollution disaster that harmed the health of hundreds of neighborhood residents. Many of them had leukemia, asthma and kidney disease, and suffered from miscarriages, births of babies with malformations and more.

To maintain our precious soil, we need to reduce the use of plastic and plastics and stop consuming disposable utensils (just as Greta Thunberg says). The many purchases we make also contribute to soil pollution, as the increased consumption causes the industry to continue to pollute the environment with chemicals and the products of the industry are the waste that is thrown away and buried in the soil.

 December 5th is also Ninja Day and Repeal Day

International Day for Disaster Reduction- 13 October

"Traditional and local knowledge is the essential information base for many societies seeking to live in harmony with nature and adapt to disruptive events of weather, global warming and rising sea levels." ~ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

The International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) is designed to encourage every citizen and government to take part in building communities and peoples more resilient to natural disasters.  

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The UN General Assembly declared October 13 as the International Day for the Reduction of Natural Disasters in 2009. The activities promoted by this day are prevention, preparedness and reduction.

Natural disasters can be floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, strong storms and other natural phenomena that cause destruction.

While we do not have control over natural disasters because they usually happen by force majeure, it is important first of all to save the planet, because global warming causes disasters, and we can also prepare for cases where God forbid something happens. We can develope and use early warning systems, build stronger buildings and more.

Link to UN's International Day for Disaster Reduction page.

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October 13 is also National Day Without Bra 

Asteroid Day - June 30th

International Asteroid Day is a day announced at two simultaneous press conferences in London and San Francisco on December 3, 2014, in memory of the Tunguska event that took place in the Eastern Siberian Taiga on June 30, 1908.

As of 2016 the United Nations has now officially recognized it.

An asteroid is a small body in the solar system that is in orbit around the sun.

The Tunguska event was a violent explosion near the Tunguska River, in the heart of the Taiga Forest in Siberia, on the morning of June 30, 1908. The accepted theory is that the explosion was caused by a meteorite (which is part of an asteroid) on Earth. The blast caused enormous damage to nature, but because it happened far from a settlement, no people were injured.

At the center of the explosion, all the trees were found lying in the ground in a circular shape, facing out of the center, within a radius of about 15 to 30 km. All the flora and fauna in that range were destroyed.

Eyewitnesses who watched the event from a distance told of a huge fireball that emerged from the sky accompanied by strong, hot winds that knocked people to the ground. After the explosion, seismic waves were felt that shook the houses similar to an earthquake. The explosion was so powerful that it could be seen from a distance of 800 km.

On February 15, 2013, a meteor exploded, also in Russia. The incident was similar to an explosion in Tunguska, but the meteor exploded in the air and did not hit the earth.

Asteroid Day is designed to raise awareness for asteroids and what can be done to protect the Earth from them.

There are many programs to eradicate the danger from asteroids. In California, USA, for example, there is a non-profit organization called the B612 Foundation, which aims to develop a space mission in which a spacecraft will land on a small asteroid, explore its surface and install a rocket engine that will significantly change its trajectory.

There are other asteroid detection programs that will help monitor each of them and alert them as they approach Earth. 

June 30 is also  Social Media Day and Meteor watch day