Welcome

Hello and welcome to SOSquiz!

How the site works… Well, it’s quite simple really. Just click on an item in the MENU above that intrigues you, like “Save Our Seas”, and proceed to the page where you can read the brief Environmental Report about it, and then take the quiz to test your knowledge. If you don’t know what a particular word means, just click on it and it takes you to the definition in Wikipedia. If you think you know it all, or you’re just feeling lucky, try the quizzes before reading the reports. SOSquiz is written in plain English and tries to answer the What, Where, Why, When, Who and How. Consider environmental education a bit like classes in common sense, which seems to be the least common of the senses used these days. Education is a right, not a privilege, therefore, all written material found here is free to use, but not abuse. The website is the culmination of more than 40 years of education, activism, and experience and it focuses on human impact on the environment. We do not want to depress you, but we are not going to sugar-coat it for you either. Wherever we look there are environmental disasters in cities, countryside and oceans. It is more important than ever that we think critically about what is happening around us and talk to people to get them to do the same, and stop accepting the status quo as it is without question. Anyway, we are always trying to add new free content and quizzes about the environment, so enjoy the site and come back again soon to discover more knowledge and test it with our quizzes. Please remember that what goes up, must come down, what we sow, we shall reap, and a long list of viceverses… Good luck and have fun!

It’s not all doom and gloom though, so here are some awesome DAD JOKES about the environment…

– What’s the best way to start a climate change debate? With an icebreaker

– What’s life without a bit of fossil fuel humour? Hum-drum! (Ba dum, tss!)  

– We might not have all the solutions for climate change yet,… but we’re definitely getting warmer!

– Most people claim they support recycling, but they sure get mad when someone recycles their joke

– How many climate change deniers does it take to change a light bulb? What are you talking about? It’s fine!

– Why do people think climate change activists are angry and crazy? Because they’re mostly mad scientists

– Man, I’m tired of people telling me to turn off my lights to save the environment. I tried it once, and nearly killed some poor bloke on a bike

– I began to worry about climate change when I was looking for a new house and the Real Estate Agent used the phrase: “Potential Waterfront Property”

– 2021 is all about noticing things we could’ve done differently. We should’ve done more to stop the spread of Coronavirus, poverty, wildfires and climate change, but you know what they say about hindsight… It’s 2020!

– Who knew climate change would have such a dramatic effect on Leonardo DiCaprio? If it weren’t for that iceberg sinking the Titanic in 1997, we would never have had the pleasure of watching him drown… (Only joking, buddy. I see you there Re:wilding the planet)

– The real reason we aren’t doing anything about climate change… Imagine how dumb we’d look in front of our children and grandchildren, if in twenty years time we discover climate change was, in fact, a hoax. We’d have cleaned up the environment, preserved rainforests and millions of species, removed dictatorships based on fossil fuels, created a more sustainable lifestyle and made a better world for our children for decades to come, but completely for nothing. How dumb would we look!

About the webmaster, designer, author, coffee maker… Steve Tayleur’s Autobiography

I would personally like to thank you for reading this far down the page. Anyway, I was born in Ipswich, Australia in 1975, and apparently, I was the 5th person born in Australia that year. I was raised on the lighthouses along the Queensland coast until I was 11. My family were stationed on Booby Island, Lady Elliot Island, Dent Island and finally, Pine Islet. My family also holds the distinction of being on the last 3 automated lighthouses in Australia. As other noteworthy events in my life go: I learnt to swim when I was 6 months old, walked at 8 months and learnt to ride a bike when I was 3. I became fascinated in the environment at the age of 4 when I discovered a yoghurt pot covered in barnacles supporting the 1972 Olympics held in Sapporo, Japan. It obviously looked like it had been floating around in the Pacific Ocean for those 7 years before I found it washed up on the beach at Lady Elliot Island, the most Southerly point of the Great Barrier Reef. On February 23rd, 1980, Category 4 Severe Tropical Cyclone Simon hit Lady Elliot Island. I remember the wind howling through the trees in the evening and wave splash flying overhead, which was already quite an experience, but then early in the morning we discovered the Thisbe, a large sailing vessel, washed onto the reef and my family participated in the rescue of the crew. I spent years playing in the wreckage watching it disintegrate as Mother Nature slowly took back what was once hers. Every morning, I enjoyed fishing to catch my breakfast, which my mother would prepare freshly fried in butter. Delicious! We were transferred to Dent Island shortly before Severe Tropical Cyclone Elinor passed over the island on February 26th, 1983. I went outside while the eye was overhead, which was incredibly eerie. Having experienced so many things so young, I never really felt in danger until I was about 10 on Dent Island when an incident involving the SS Oriana cruise ship occurred. It ran aground on a reef near Hook Island and my father decided to go and investigate in our small dinghy. We arrived as high tide approached and the ship was able to float off. We accompanied the ship on its journey travelling in the same direction we needed to return home. We pulled into the boat port and my father climbed the cliff to lower the winch to lift the dinghy out of the water. I remained in the boat to fix the winch hook to the cables. Unfortunately, before my father could lower the hook totally, the wake of the SS Oriana arrived and violently swept me and the dinghy out to sea. I barely survived the experience being thrown about inside the boat and holding on for dear life. I also barely survived another incident when I was 12 when a canoe turned upside down on top of me in the surf at Bondi beach while visiting family in Sydney. Fortunately, I lived to tell the tale, obviously. I moved back to Ipswich aged 11, which was quite dramatic moving to a city from an island in the middle of the Pacific. When I was 15 we decided to move to England, which was a little traumatic leaving many friends behind and starting again in another culture, where about the only thing in common was the language. I won several prizes at school for Environmental projects, but I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t learning about our beautiful planet. I’ve had many jobs from a young age including Rock DJ and PR Rep, eventually settling on teaching English to foreign students, which I continued when I moved to Barcelona, Spain aged 28. As a hobby in the UK, I participated in local quizzes, but due to strange circumstances I became a Quizmaster shortly after arriving in Barcelona. While I was the Assistant Quizmaster at the Philharmonic Quiz, the Quizmaster Martin Lunn, developed melanoma cancer and died soon after, RIP, leaving me in charge, and I took up the baton until the pandemic arrived. In the meantime I got married to an excellent Clinical Psychologist in 2006, and became a father in 2007 and again in 2009, which greatly changed my perspectives about many things. In 2016, I decided to become a qualified Environmental Educator through the AEEA (Spanish Association of Environmental Education) and I now dedicate my time to saving the planet, engaging in online environmental activism, writing about it, etc. The show goes on…

Health wise, my family has suffered a little: My mother died aged 60 and my father 70, and I believe air pollution greatly contributed to their early deaths from stroke and heart disease, but that said, both of them smoked. I foolishly smoked for 9 years too, before giving up. I have mild asthma, and allergies are common in my family. Here in Barcelona, I protest with “Eixample Respira” against air pollution, traffic noise, etc. I also protest against Asbestos with “Glories LLiure d’Amiant”, because of the terrible death of my uncle Trevor who used to be a builder installing materials containing Asbestos for many years, both in the forms of corrugated sheets for roofing and as insulation material. I should also mention that he was a smoker, so I suppose smoking should be on my future list of things to fight. Shortly after he retired, he started to feel a strange pain in his chest, so he got some tests done and it turns out he had lung cancer. They thought it was mesothelioma, which is a type of cancer caused by asbestos fibres which irritate the cells of the lung lining. He underwent an operation to remove the affected part of the lung and did a course of chemotherapy. All went well for a while, until he started having a similar problem in the other lung. Back to the doctor he went, same result, another operation and chemo, but this time he wasn’t so lucky. The cancer had spread. He tried everything the doctors suggested, but the medication also took its toll on his health. After nearly 8 years of fighting cancer, this burly happy builder I knew and loved was left without dignity and hope, and slowly drowned in his own rotting lung tissues. At least 100,000 people die because of Asbestos every year and it can take anywhere between 10 to 50 years to develop into cancer. I would not wish cancer on anyone, let alone lung cancer…

UPDATES

2019 – SOSquiz is alive! My blog material needed its own website, and so I thought combining it with quick environmental quizzes was a good learning idea…

UPDATE 2020: New pages and quick tests were added to the site, while coping with Covid…

UPDATE 2021: More material has been added including to already existing pages. New quizzes were made and the format has been changed to that of a brief Environmental Report…

UPDATE 2022: We have now reached 10 SOSquiz pages and tests. I was feeling inspired as a result of seeing the IPCC’s latest report issuing a code red for humanity. Good luck to us all!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Please feel free to get in touch by contacting us through these social media sites:

https://twitter.com/SosquizO

How it started

How it's going

SOSquiz Glossary of Terms (with links to Wikipedia)

 

5G technology

6th mass extinction (Holocene Extinction)

Abyss

Active Denial System

Activism

Adolescence

Ad hominem

Ad Populum

AEEA (Asociación Española de Educación Ambiental)

Agent Orange

Agrochemical industry

Alcoholism

Algal bloom

Algorithm

Alzheimer’s disease

Animal testing

Anorexia nervosa

Anxiety

Arable land

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)

Artefact

Asbestos

Atmosphere

Atmosphere of Earth

Atmospheric methane

Bacteria

Bad faith

Bank

Battlefield

Begging the question

Bill Gates

Biological warfare

Bisphenol-A

Bitcoin

Black carbon

Black sites

Blue whale

Body piercing

Bot

Bottom trawling

Brain

Burden of proof

Burnout

Cancer

Carbon

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere

Carbon Footprint

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Carcinogen

Carpet bombing

Casualty of war

Central Nervous System

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Cetaceans

Challenger Deep

Chemical weapon

Chemotherapy

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Civil war

Climate change

Clinical Psychology

Clothing

Clothing Industry

Coastal erosion

Coastline

Cockroach

Common sense

Communism

Computer network

Conservation

Conspiracy theory

Consumerism

Contamination

Controversy

Copy and paste

Coral bleaching

Coronavirus (Covid-19 or SARS Cov-2)

Corruption

Cosmetics

Cosmetic Industry

Covid-19

COVID-19 recession

Cyber attack

Cyber warfare

Dark Web

DDT

Dead zone

Deepwater Horizon

Deep sea mining

Deforestation

Dementia

Depleted Uranium

Depression

Developed countries

Developing country

Dietician

Doctor

Domestic violence

Drinking water

Drought

Drunk driving

E number

Earth

Earth Overshoot Day

Eating disorders

Education

Eco-anxiety

Eco-friendly

Ecology

Economic sanctions

Economy

Ecosystem

Electric motor

Electric vehicle

Electromagnetic radiation

Electronic Waste

Elon Musk

Energy industry

Engine Efficiency

Environment

Environmental Disaster

Environmental education

Environmental impact of war

Environmental Issues

Environmental Report

European Union

Experience

Extinction

Extreme weather

Factory

Fallacy

False Dilemma

FAQ

Farmer

Fascism

Fast fashion

Fast food

Fauna

Fertilizers

Fibre

Fight Club

Fight or flight response

Flood

Flora

Food additive

Food allergy

Food industry

Food wastage

Food-drying

Forbes

Formaldehyde

Fossil fuel

Fossil fuel industry

Fracking

Free content

Friends of the Earth

Fungicide

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Geneva Convention

Global dimming

Global warming

Glyphosate

Government

Great Barrier Reef

Greenhouse effect

Greenhouse gas

Greenpeace

Greenwashing

Greta Thunberg

Groundwater

Guided bombs

Habitat destruction

Hasty Generalizations

Healthy diet

Heavy metals

Herbicide

Holocene Extinction

Horsepower

Human digestive system

Human impact on the environment

Humanitarian disaster

Humanity

Hybrid vehicle

Hydrothermal vent

Infectious Diseases

Infertility

Insecticide

Intensive farming

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Internal combustion engine (ICE)

International waters

Internet

Internet forums

Internet service providers (ISP)

Internet Troll

IPCC’s 6th Report

Knot

Lady Elliot Island

Land mine

Landfill

Larvacides

Lead poisoning

Lead–acid battery

Leather

Leather tanning

Light pollution

List of fallacies

Livestock

Long Covid

Luxury goods

Magnetic nanoparticles

Malnutrition

Marine diesel oil

Marine pollution

Massacre

Meat Industry

Mesothelioma

Microbiome

Microplastics

Microsoft

Mid-ocean ridge

Migration

Military-Industrial complex

Mindfulness

Mining

Mood disorders

Mooring

Museum

Napalm

NASA

National Geographic

National Security Agency (NSA)

Nature

Nature (Journal)

Neonicotinoid

NOAA

Noise pollution

NOx

Nuclear power

Nuclear weapons

Ocean acidification

Oceanography

Organic farming

Overfishing

Ozone

Ozone layer

Palm oil

Parabens

Parkinson’s disease

Particulate Matter (PM 10, 2.5 & UFP)

Peripheral

Peripheral Nervous System

Pesticide

Petroleum Industry

Petroleum Jelly

Pharmaceutical industry

Photosynthesis

Phthalates

Phytoplankton

Plastic

Plastic pollution

Plate tectonics

Plogging

Pollution

Polypropylene

Pornography

Post hoc

Poultry

Poverty

Precipitation

Preservative

Pressure

Prestige

Psychological impact of climate change

Psychotic disorders

Quality of life (QOL)

Quiz

Radiation

Rechargeable electric battery

Recycling

Renewable energy

Retail therapy

Road traffic safety

Sailing Yacht A

Salinity

Saliva

Sea

Sea level rise

Seabed

Seawater

Seawise Giant

Sensitive skin

Shelf life

Shoemaker

Shrapnel

Skin

Sleep

Social media

Soil

Soil erosion

Solar power

Soviet submarine K-222

Speed

Stomach

Straw man

Stress

Suicide

Surfers Against Sewage

Surveillance

Sustainable Fashion

Synapse

Synthetic fibres

Taboo

Talc

Tang Ping

Tattoo

Tectonic plates

TED (conferences)

Territorial waters

Tesla, Inc

Textile Industry

The Lancet (Journal)

The Matrix

Tornado

Toxic waste

Transport

Trivia

Troposphere

Ultrafine particles (UFP)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

Unmanned drones

Urban Heat island

Urban sprawl

Vaquita

Vendetta

Victoria

Volcano

Wall Street

War

Wastewater

Water table

Water vapour

Weapon

Weapons of mass destruction

Weather

Western world

White phosphorus

Wildfire

Wildlife

Wireless radiation

World Health Organization (WHO)

World Oceans Day

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

World Wide Web (www)

“Year without a summer”

Zooplankton