11.3 Frietag

Would you buy sneakers made from old parachutes or bags with straps made of car safety belts? It sounds strange, but products that make use of recycled materials are becoming very popular. 

 For example, the Swiss company Freitag is  producing bags made out of canvas that was used to cover trucks. The bags were such a big hit that they’re now being sold all over the world. 

Also, there are bigger recycled things like the Papertainer Museum. It’s a huge building constructed with recycled paper. Amazingly, it can be taken apart and put back together again in a new place.

People are very interested in recycled objects these days because they are concerned about the environment. Products and buildings that use recycled materials help the Earth by reducing trash and greenhouse gases. So next time you need sneakers or are repairing your house, look for materials that can be recycled. It’s creative, fun, and good for the Earth!

11.2 Global Warming

Want to see the effects of global warming without waiting ten or twenty years? Then use one of these frightening Global Warming Mugs.  

Each mug is covered with a map of the world. When you pour in a hot beverage, the mug shows what happens when the world heats up and the oceans begin to rise. Land disappears before your very eyes!

WATCH Florida be swallowed by the Atlantic. 

SEE California turn into a modern-day Atlantis.

WITNESS Central America become a few small islands.

This is a mug with a message. It comes in a nice gift box, so you can give it to your environmentally minded friends! Five percent of the profit from the sale of these mugs goes to the “Stop Global Warming” fund.

11.1 Emu

An emu is a giant bird that lives in Australia. A tourist who knew all about this bird wanted to take a picture of one.  When the man got near to the emu, the bird suddenly ran toward him. It tried to strike his eyes with its beak. However, the man was clever. 

He knew that the tallest emu is always the “boss.” He also knew that the tallest emu often strikes the smaller ones with its beak. This lets them know who the boss is. So, the emu was trying to strike the tourist with its beak because the tourist was shorter. 

What did the tourist do? He raised his arms. At once, the emu stopped. Now the man was taller than the bird. He took a nice picture, turned around, and walked away — still holding his arms high in the air.

10.5 Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains in Australia is a great place to go on holiday. Among the many places for tourists to visit, The Three Sisters in Katoomba is perhaps the Blue Mountains’ best-known landmark.  So how did The Three Sisters get its name? 

According to Australian legend, three sisters, Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These beautiful young ladies fell in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, but they weren’t allowed to marry because of tribal law. The brothers refused to accept this law and decided to capture the three sisters. This started a major battle between the tribes.

As the lives of the three sisters were in great danger, a witch doctor from the Katoomba tribe turned them into stone to protect them from harm. He planned to change them into humans when the battle was over. Unfortunately, he was killed during the fighting.

Since he could not return the sisters to their former beauty, they remain to this day as huge rocks.

10.4 Rain

How many times have your weekend plans been ruined by sudden rain? When this happens, it’s clear that the weather strongly affects the events in our world.  In fact, according to some historians, weather has even changed history. 

One famous example is Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. At the time, many people thought he was going to conquer all of Europe. But he sent his armies into Russia during the winter, and they were defeated because of the severe cold. Nikolai I, Russia’s emperor at the time, said that his country’s two best generals were “General January” and “General February.”

Weather also played a big part in the U.S. presidential election of 1948. In this race, Dewey was expected to win. However, on the day of the election, there was heavy wind and rain in northern California, where many of Dewey’s supporters lived. Because of this, turnout in the region was low, and Truman was elected president instead of Dewey.

Of course, weather was not the only reason why these events happened. But history might have been different if the weather had been better.

10.3 Mayans and Aztecs

Before the year 1500, the Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas were three great civilizations in Mexico and South America. All three were defeated by Spanish armies, but some historians say that with the armies came an even more horrifying weapon: smallpox. 

 In the early 1500s, the Spanish attacked the Aztecs and Mayas. At first, the Spanish army couldn’t defeat the Mayan and Aztec, who were thirty times more powerful and familiar with the area. However, one of the slaves in the Spanish army was infected with smallpox and it spread quickly. Spanish soldiers were immune to the disease, but the Mayan and Aztec soldiers had never encountered smallpox before. It weakened their armies and allowed the Spanish to defeat them.

Smallpox quickly spread south, reaching the Incas of South America in 1525. Like the Aztecs and Mayas, the Incas were unprepared for the disease. It killed their king and his successor. Without a leader, the Incas were easily defeated by the invading Spanish soldiers.

10.2 Contact Lens

You probably think the contact lens is a very modern device. Therefore, it might surprise you to learn that it’s actually based on a 500-year-old idea!  The famous artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci drew a sketch for a contact lens in the early 16th century. But many centuries passed before his idea of a contact lens came true. 

It wasn’t until the turn of the 20th century, in Germany, that the first contact lens was developed. Made of glass, it covered the wearer’s entire eye. Although contact lenses slowly gained popularity during the 1950s and 1960s, they remained expensive, uncomfortable and difficult to care for. They were also likely to fall out. But with the development of soft lenses in the 1970s, contact lenses became cheaper and more comfortable. Today’s soft contact lenses are inexpensive and easy to use. Contact lenses are more popular than ever and getting better all the time.