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More than 1,000 schools across the UK have signed up（报名）to a project with the aim of helping schools become carbon neutral（碳平衡的）by 2030. Carbon neutral means cutting down carbon emissions（碳排放）to zero or balancing them out in other ways. Carbon emissions are gases such as carbon dioxide（CO₂）that come out into the atmosphere, where they make climate change worse. This has also caused the temperature rise.

Emissions are caused by all sorts of human activities, such as burning fossil fuels（coal, oil and gas）to make energy, cutting down forests and some types of farming. Becoming carbon neutral includes cutting the amount of carbon emissions a school produces and balancing those that are left by taking some carbon out of the atmosphere.

The project also shows how small changes can make a big difference. These might include thinking carefully about energy use, cutting waste, growing food closer to where it's eaten and walking or cycling to school if it is possible. Ways of balancing out the carbon emissions that a school still makes include planting trees and plants that take in CO₂ as they grow.

Ysgol Bro Dinefwr Secondary School in Wales has promised to run entirely on renewable（可再生的）energy（such as wind and solar power）within the next three years. At Down High School in Northern Ireland, the students are looking after their own bees. So when flowers and crops produce food, that helps. Other schools have projects to cut food waste by weighing it after each meal to know how much is not being eaten. Some put the waste into a system that can turn this waste into useful things. They will be put on the garden to help plants grow.

Climate change is seen as a major global challenge. We can see it all around us. So join together, find out ways your school can put efforts to, and talk to a teacher about signing up.