Pupils undertake mass climate change test using teabags

Schools in Sweden are participating in a major experiment to assess the impact of climate change by burying teabags.

Scientists at Umeå University are investigating the level of carbon dioxide emitted by the decomposition process. In order to be able to make better predictions about future climate change, scientists are seeking to find out how this decomposition occurs.

The pupils’ task will be to bury teabags and then to dig them up again after a few months. They will then weigh them to see how much of the tea has decomposed. The ‘Teabag Experiment’ is being organised as part of Swedish Researchers’ Night.

One of the scientists involved in the experiment, Taru Lehtinen, said: “The experiment is a unique way to explore the speed of decomposition in different environments. With the pupils’ help, we can gain valuable information about how climate change is affecting the decomposition of plant material in the soil and in turn, what effects this is having on the climate.”

This is the seventh year that a mass experiment involving pupils collecting data to help scientists is being undertaken. The Teabag Experiment also involves scientists at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety. The experiment is co-ordinated by VA (Public & Science), with financial support from the Swedish research council Formas.

Annually, the European Commission has declared the last Friday in September as European Researchers’ Night. In Sweden, the event is called ‘ForskarFredag’ and this year is celebrated on Friday 25 September. The public is invited to try their hand at science, experiment, investigate and meet scientists in thirty cities across Sweden.