The swine flu outbreak has been all over the news in the last couple of weeks. The centre of the outbreak is Mexico. Mexico has a population of at least five times the population of Australia. Already hundreds of people have died and many people are in hospital. Before long countries in the north have confirmed the outbreak of swine flu including Australia.

   All the schools, restaurants cinemas and sports stadiums in Mexico have been shut down to stop people spreading the flu virus. The flu virus actually began thousands of years ago in birds. But gradually over the years others animals have been infected and now every animal even the snake has its own flu even. Health authorities are worried that the flu will come to Australia.

     Health authories are also worried that that it will spread quickly and cause a pandemic which is when a virus gets out of control and infects alot of people.  I think that they sould work on making a face mask that last longer and everyone should wash their hands. Should the flu come to Australia the government said they are very well prepared for it.

     We probably all know by now that some scientists think that carbon dioxide is up in the sky doing bad things for global warming, but they’re also worried that it might be affecting the ocean. Well, the scientists are right and one of Australias biggest tourist attractions is at risk. some of the amazing coral outcrops are losing their colour, it’s called bleaching and its a problem we’ve known about for a long time. The problem might be starting way inland.

        Carbon dioxide is spewing out of factories, but we,ve all seen it before when talking about global  warming. When waves are crashing down through the air and the wind blowing hard, alot of the carbon dioxide is getting caught in the water. When this happens, the carbon dioxide and water form to make carbonic acid. The carbonic acid is not as strong as real acid but but scientists believe that over a long time, even the carbonic acid could stop coral growing and do plenty of damage.

        No one knows whether there is any way to fix it in the short term effect. But i think that its another important reason to look at how much carbon dioxide we create and talk about ways to reduce it!

  by Harry H

     Orang-utans are on the verge of extinction. If we don’t do something now there won’t be any more Orang-utans. Orang-utans eat bark, leaves, fruit and insects. But now there aren’t many Orang-utans to eat them. Research shows that in twenty years the the population has dropped around thirty five percent.

     One of the main reasons that Orang-utans are dying is because of palm oil plantations. The palm oil in the trees are used in products in our supermarkets. If you look on the back of most things in the super markets they don’t say anything about the bulldozed forests or the dying Orang-utans.

     Some Orang-utans are killed by plantation workers cutting down the trees they are in, leaving their babies as orphans. Millions of hectares of the forests are being cut down so thousands of Orang-utans are being killed. A good balance between money and wildlife has to be made so cut down on the snack food and save the orang-utans!