Thursday, June 1, 2023
The world’s highest rubbish dump; futuristic solar trees; a frightening croc attack and the State of Origin wrap up.
LINKS
Mount Everest rubbish
Solar powered trees
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/30/world/solar-tree-electric-vehicle-charging-spc-intl/index.html
Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/may-2023/
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THE LOWDOWN
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For many mountaineers having the chance to climb to the highest point on Earth is a life long ambition and a hard fought dream.
Standing at 8,849 metres, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain above sea level, and every year hundreds of adventurers brave the extreme conditions to attempt to reach its peak.
But as the popularity of conquering Everest increases – sadly, this has led to a serious rubbish problem.
To reach the summit, each climber spends weeks on the mountain, needing to adjust to the altitude at a series of camps on the way. During this time, it’s estimated each person generates around 8 kilograms of waste.
A climber who just returned home released a video showing the enormous amount of trash he came across on the mountain. I’ll post a link in our episode notes. The video shows the mess which is full of mountaineering equipment, discarded tents and used oxygen cylinders. Because unfortunately what goes up – is not coming back down. Climbers who face difficult conditions leave behind belongings they no longer need, to make their bags lighter.
So there are now calls for stricter regulations to enforce clean climbing practises.
And this is a quick reminder to all you – rubbish goes in the bin. Be part of the solution, not part of the pollution.
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops. And today we’ve landed in England, where futuristic solar powered trees could soon be re-charging electric vehicles..
A tech company has created these metal trees with a 7 metre canopy, replicating regular tree branches. There’s a link to photos of them in your episode notes.
The branches will capture the sun’s energy, then this energy will be stored in a battery located in the tree’s trunk. So if you park your electric car r near one of these revolutionary trees, and plug it in. voila. Your car will charge. And because of the size of these trees, multiple cars can be charged at the same time.
They’ll be rolled out to shopping centre car parks and sports stadiums by the end of this year. Genius.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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This is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. A man, who was holidaying in far north Queensland has spoken about being attacked by a crocodile on the weekend. In fact, he was snorkelling, when he literally swam into the mouth of a croc. For a second, he thought it was a shark, until he reached up and realised his head was INSIDE the jaws of the saltie. Incredibly, he used all his might and managed to lever the croc’s jaws just open enough to get his head out.
His friends screamed for help, and they all managed to get safely back on their boat. Luckily the croc is thought to be a young one, not an adult. Because here’s a fun fact for you – adult saltwater crocodiles have 66 teeth and are known to have the greatest bite pressure of any animal in the world.
So this is not the usual end of a story involving a croc attack, because unbelievably he only suffered minor cuts. Now that’s what I call a lucky escape.
SPORT TIME
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It was a nail biting first State of Origin – full of drama; crushing tackles and spectacular tries, with Queensland only victorious in the final minutes.
The maroons were dominant with an early onslaught of points. Scoring twice in the first 12 minutes.
But it was not just their attacking game that was strong – with their superhuman defence also impressive, preventing two NSW tries.
Finally, at 31 minutes the Blues cracked Queensland getting onto the scoreboard.
After halftime NSW came back firing, scoring out of nowhere and for the first time taking the lead.
But it was high drama and anyone’s game as both teams kept up momentum. Each team leap frogged the other in taking the lead. Queensland in front, then the Blues, then back to Queensland. But in the dying minutes, the Maroons sealed the deal with Cam Munster getting over the line. FInal score Queensland wins 26 to 18.
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- What is the name of the mountain, where the peak is the highest point on Earth?
- Metal trees built to charge electric cars will get their power from what source?
- How many teeth does a saltwater crocodile have?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s June 1 – The start of winter… and doesn’t it feel like it? It’s also World Reef day… So from the highest mountains down to the depth of the oceans, it’s another reminder to keep our planet clean.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today…
Mia from Yass, John from Munno Parra, Jimmy from Tullera, Bonnie from Dulwich Hill, Lachlan from Warrnambool, Molly from Tennyson Point, Jack from Calala, Grace from Spring Farm, Luke from Spring Mountain, Max from Sydney, Caitlyn from Sutherland and Koby and Grace from Pitt Town.
Belated shout outs go to… Charlotte from Warrnambool and Brent from Pitt Town.
And today’s classroom shout outs go to…
Class 3/4 with Mrs Sansom at Barrington Public School, class 5/6W and Mr Wright at Balgownie Public School, class 6 aqua with Ms De Masi at Toormina Public School, class 6D and Mrs McKenzie at Christian College Bellarine, class 3/4C and Mr Gahan at Trinity College in Mildura and lastly today to class 4/5H and Mrs Hutt at Exeter Public School
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Mount Everest
- They’ll be solar powered, so the answer is the sun.
- 66
Don’t forget .. if you’ve got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out – or if you want a classroom shout out – drop us a line at [email protected] or fill out the form on our website.
That’s all we have time for. Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids Today – we’ll be back again tomorrow
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day. Over and out.