Kids Fear Global Warming More Than Terrorism, Car Crashes, and Cancer, According to National Earth Day Survey

National Survey of Middle School Students Shows Kids Believe More Needs to

be Done to Save the Planet

    NEW YORK, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- While recent polls show that
 American adults are most concerned about the war in Iraq, terrorism, and
 healthcare, a survey of more than 1,000 middle school students across the
 country found that kids fear global warming more than any of these issues.
 The survey was conducted by BrainPOP, a New York based educational
 provider.
     Some of the most intriguing findings from the BrainPOP global warming
 survey include:
     -- Nearly 60 percent of children said they feared global warming and
        environmental disasters-such as hurricanes, tornados and flooding-more
        than terrorism, car crashes, and even cancer (22.3 percent feared
        terrorism most; 14.6 percent cancer; 5.9 percent car crashes).
 
     -- Nearly one-third of children reported thinking about global warming a
        lot and worrying about how the effects of global warming will change
        the planet and directly impact their lives.  Another 41.2 percent think
        about it sometimes and say that they are somewhat worried.
 
     -- Roughly 60 percent of children surveyed believe that more needs to be
        done in their community to help the planet and stop global warming.
 
     -- When asked what effect of global warming worries them the most, the
        majority of kids surveyed are most afraid of the toll it will take on
        the lives of people.
     "We were not surprised in our survey to discover that children are
 really worried about global warming. We have received thousands of emails
 from children expressing their fears and asking what they could do to help
 save the planet," said BrainPOP CEO and founder Avraham Kadar, M.D. "Given
 the media attention from things like Hurricane Katrina and the tsunamis in
 Asia, it's no wonder that children are curious and concerned about the
 impact of global warming. Although we have addressed the issue in the past
 with movies on things like global warming and pollution, this year we've
 added a special movie about the human impact on our environment to help
 kids understand what they can do to help out."
     BrainPOP, a Web-based educational company with more than 600 animated
 shorts on topics ranging from allergies to word problems, has produced
 numerous movies about the environment. In honor of Earth Day, BrainPOP is
 making 14 of its environment-related shorts, including "Global Warming" and
 the new "Humans and the Environment," available for free for the months of
 April and May. To see the special Earth Day section, users can go to
 http://www.brainpop.com/earthday. In particular, BrainPOP's "Global
 Warming" movie explains the nuts and bolts of this issue, while the "Humans
 and the Environment" movie discusses some of the many things children can
 do to contribute in a positive way to the health of the planet, including
 conserving electricity, participating in neighborhood cleanups, and making
 their voices heard.
     BrainPOP's survey was conducted by Survey Monkey.com, from April 2nd -
 April 18th, with a total of 1,023 middle school participants. BrainPOP
 solicited participation through a newsletter sent to a network of about
 20,000 teachers nationwide, in which teachers were invited to have their
 students take part in this online survey.
     About BrainPOP
     http://www.brainpop.com
     BrainPOP is the leading producer of animated educational movies for
 grades 3-12. With more than 1 million new viewers each month, BrainPOP
 offers curriculum-based content in the areas of Science, Math, English,
 Social Studies, Health, Arts & Music, and Technology. Guided by their
 hosts, Tim and Moby, millions of students regularly watch BrainPOP movies
 and exchange messages with a dynamic cast of characters who lead them
 through related activities on the BrainPOP web site, including homework
 help, interactive quizzes, comic strips, and experiments. Founded in 1999
 by Avraham Kadar, M.D., BrainPOP has won multiple education and media
 awards and has developed partnerships with a number of international
 brands, including McGraw-Hill, National Geographic, Yahoo!, and AOL. In
 2006, the company launched BrainPOP Junior (www.brainpopjr.com), which is
 targeted to children in grades K-3. Like BrainPOP, BrainPOP Junior teaches
 core curriculum topics in a fun and easily digestible manner, while
 correlating with national standards and testing mandates. BrainPOP is also
 available in Spanish at es.brainpop.com. BrainPOP's first print title, The
 Science Almanac for Kids, was published in 2004.
 
 

SOURCE BrainPOP