For children: Climate change, global warming and practical solutions that can actually help

While scientists are still trying to wrap their heads around (and furiously debating) the question of how exactly life on Earth began, they and we do know about the ingenious plot Mother Nature hatched to ensure that it went on. The first order of the day, was, of course, a reliable, steady source of energy to power up life with.

Ah, there was the sun, just 93 million miles away, glowing generously and steadily and providing all the energy ever needed. But this energy, emitted in the form of photons (light), needed to be harnessed. So up she came with the idea of evolving a molecule – a rather large one – that could do just that: chlorophyll, which was a soothing green colour (because it reflected only green light) and which could be found in cyanobacteria (one of the pioneering photosynthesisers), green algae and green plants. Cyanobacteria, formerly known as blue-green algae, and a minute bacteria, were first off the blocks, photosynthesizing so efficiently that it produced so much oxygen that the era was called the “great oxidation event”.

Eventually, oxygen levels stabilised, as much of the cyanobacteria died, but not before multi-cellular life evolved. After this, there was no looking...

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