Go Green  Enjoy tap water

(1)IT'S THE RESPNSIBLE CHOICE

Producing plastic bottles and transporting water require a lot of energy and resources(资源)…just to land in the waste!

(2)  IT SAVES MONEY

Bottled water costs money. Tap water is free for you!

Go Green  Eat responsibly

 (1)                           

Shorter distance(距离) requires less transport fuels(燃料)…and less chemicals needed to keep food fresh.

(2)EAT LESS MEAT

Meat production needs a lot of resources.

(3)AVOID PACKING

Packaging requires energy and resources just to end up in the waste…

Go Green  Keep it on the screen

…and if printing cannot be avoided remember to:

PRINT DOUBLE-SIDED and in black-white.

Set the printer/copy machine to ENERGY SAVING model when done

REUSE single-sided printed paper for internal documents(内部文件) or as not paper…

Go Green  E-communicate

Reduce what gives out quite a lot of Greenhouse Gas(温室效应气体):instead of traveling, make use of VIDEO MEETING, WEB MEETING, and the good old phone.

  For more information visit www.greeningtheblue.org.

 Let's try doing the following experiment.

 What to do：

 Use string to hang a paper clip or other small object at about chest（胸部）level.

 Pick up a stick，such as a broom handle. Take three or four steps away from the paper clip.

Now close one eye and walk toward the paper clip. Try to touch it with the tip of the stick. If you miss，try again，still keeping one eye closed. Now try it with both eyes open and see if it's easier to do.

 How it works：

 In the experiment，you have to judge how far away the paper clip is. Your brain has several ways of doing this.

 One simple way depends on how much your eye has to focus（聚焦）itself. Using only one eye，most people will find it difficult to touch the paper clip on the first try，but the brain still gets some information about distance—though not much.

 Your brain can judge distance much better when you look at something with both eyes. In fact，your brain has more than one way to use both eyes in judging distance. For example，to see anything clearly，you have to make both of your eyes point at the object. When you look at a nearby object，your eyes turn inward. You can feel this happening if you look at the tip of your finger and move your finger toward your nose.

 Your brain gets information from the eyes about how much they are pointing toward each other. Using that information，the brain can tell how far away any object is，whether it is a basketball or a paper clip.

    Why do plants grow in some places and not in the others? Why does some land have so much growing on it, while other land has almost no plants growing on it at all?

    To grow, plants need several things. One is warmth. In very cold places almost nothing grows. Plants also need water. In very dry parts of the Earth only a few unusual plants can grow. That's why dry deserts everywhere are almost not covered by trees or grass.

    Plants must also have a place in which to put down their roots and grow. They find it difficult to grow on hard land. The town is built on hard land. The plants here have only the soil found between the cracks of the stones to grow in.

    Another thing plants must have before they can grow is food.

What will happen if we try to make things grow on the sandy beach? A few plants, such as beach grass, will grow in sand, but most plants won't. Even if the weather is warm enough and we water the plants each day, many of them will die because the sand on this beach has almost no food for plants.

    Do you know why different animals or pests (昆虫) have their special colors? Colors in them seem to be used mainly to protect themselves.

    Some birds like eating locusts (蝗虫), but birds cannot easily catch them. Why? It is because locusts change their colors together with the change of the colors of crops(庄稼). When crops are green, locusts look green. But as the harvest time comes, locusts change to the same brown color as crops have. Some other pests with different colors from plants are easily found and eaten by others. So they have to hide themselves for lives and appear only at night.

    If you study the animal life, you'll find the main use of coloring is to protect themselves. Bears, lions and other animals move quietly through forests. They cannot be easily seen by hunters (猎人). This is because they have the colors much like the trees.

    Have you ever noticed an even stranger act? A kind of fish in the sea can send out a kind of very black liquid (液体)when it faces danger. While the liquid spreads over (散开), its enemies (敌人)cannot find it. And it immediately swims away. So it has lived up to now though it is not strong at all.

    In the most southern part of our planet, there's a place that's covered with snow and ice all year round. But it has the clearest and cleanest air. Amazingly, in this place, the sun sometimes hangs even in the midnight sky. This place is Antarctica (南极洲): the coldest, windiest and harshest (恶劣的) place on the Earth.

    As the world's least-known place, Antarctica is of great interest to scientists around the world. During 30 years, China has sent many scientists to Antarctica. They mostly look at the resources under the icy land and do research about climate change and marine (海洋的) biology.

    Antarctica is a place with fantastic views. However, life there is very hard. Food is one of the biggest problems. Frozen food which can be heated easily is people's daily food. Fresh vegetables are hard to grow in the cold weather.

    Sleep is also difficult. In Antarctica, summer lasts from November to March. During this period, Antarctica points to the sun and receives sunlight 24 hours a day. In order to get some sleep, scientists cover the windows with black plastic cloth to create "night".

    Working in Antarctica is dangerous, especially when meeting gale-force (七级以上的) winds. They can easily blow people away. So there are ropes that connect buildings of some research stations. People can hold these ropes to keep their balance in forceful winds.

    What's morel communicating with others is difficult. Without cables and Internet in some research stations, two-way radios are the only tools to communicate. If people want to say hello to friends and relatives, they can use satellite phones.

    Although it is challenging to work in Antarctica, scientists' passion to learn about this mysterious land will never end. It is hopeful that one day they will step every corner of this icy land.