Our environment is under threat. We went out into our local area to find out what issues are facing our environment in Fulham, London. We found evidence a number of problems in our area.

Graffiti:

Graffiti is a problem in our area because it costs £250,000 in a year just to get rid of graffiti. It makes London look like a rubbish tip and causes visual pollution. Graffiti is just not done with a spray can it can be with pen or even stickers. Lucky Fulham is not as bad as other places and our council is very good at removing graffiti.

Litter:

We thought litter was one of the biggest problems in our area. On a short trip out we saw sweet packets, chewing gum, beer cans but worst of all they was broken glass. The problem with broken glass is that when it a summer’ s day and you’re playing football barefoot you can step in the broken glass then you have to get tweezers to take it out. Litter, if don’t clean up in can go in the rivers and block the water ways such Thames. Some sea animals eat litter thinking it is food and this can kill them.

Air pollution:

The air quality in Fulham is high according to www.londonair.org.uk but in some places in London they are not so green. Trucks and other high polluting vehicles are a big problem. In some places, they are not allowed in that area, these are called “green zones”. We are always trying to think of ideas to combat air pollution like planting trees or making more widespread green zones.

Loss of habitat:

The animals are dying because of their habitats are being destroyed by human development and roads. This is killing of native animals to this country like Squirrels, butterflies and fish. The animal’s habitat is getting smaller every day. Ours is a built up area with rows and rows of housing and other areas set aside for human activity such a parks and tennis courts. When walking about we noticed that there are lots of roads and paths made of concrete and bricks and also large areas of grass or dirt. There appear to be very few natural areas left in our school’s vicinity. Around Bishop’s Palace there are some areas of natural woodland but this is really very small compared with the size of our city. It’s clear to us that if there are few areas available for wildlife to live and we might need to look at ways of producing habitats for our native creatures. One example of this is already in place in the tall trees outside our school where the council has placed several bat and bird boxes to encourage nesting of these animals.

We are really thinking about how we might be able to help combat these issues in our local area.