making a difference 50 simple things elementary kids can do to save the earth!

Making a Difference

50 simple things Elementary Kids can do to Save the Earth!

We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable supplies

of air, water, and soil… preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and I will

say, the love we give our fragile craft Adlai Stevenson

What to do to help our awesome land.

Guard our buried treasures

What is happening to our land?

What Kids say:

“We have to stop buying things that we use once and then throw away.”

Karen Leason, Age 10

What Mr. Fulton says:

“There is no away!”

Take a guess

• What is glass make of?

a) Frozen water

b) Sand

c) Plastic

Did you know:

• Every month we throw out enough glass to fill up a giant skyscraper? Over 28 billion bottles and jars!

• Glass can be recycled at factories where they break the bottles, melt them down and make new jars and bottles this saves energy.

Buy Now Play Later

• How many of your toys were once your mom’s or dads?a)All of them

b)None of them

c)One or two of them.

What can you do?

Look for toys that are make to last and not going to break the first

time you use them.

Take a guess:

• How many times can one aluminum can be recycled?a)Never

b)Once

c)Again and again and again.

Did you know?

• We use over 65 billion aluminum cans every year and we could recycle every one of them.

• There is no limit to the number of times an aluminum can could be recycled. You might be drinking out of a can that was used 20 years ago.

• Recycling aluminum saves energy. The energy you save from recycling one can could keep your TV running for three hours!

Precycle it!• Over half of the plastic we

buy and throw away each year is just packaging. What happens to it when it’s thrown away?

a)Nothing it just sits there and clutters up the Earth

b)It rots back into the earth

c)People reuse it .

What can you do?

• Look for things in packages that can be reused or recycled

• Look for cardboard or paper packages not styrofoam or plastic.

• Some times the packaging costs more than the item!

Pass it on.!

• How much of the stuff we throw out could be recycled?a)None of it - garbage is no good for any thing

b)Just a little bit

c)Half of it

What can you do?

• Have a garage sale

• Donate to the Trift store,Salvation Army,or Twice But Nice

• Offer things you no longer use to other people.

Stamp out Styrofoam

Take a guess

• If you lined up all the Styrofoam cups used in just one day, how far would they reach?a)A mile

b)Around the earth

c)Across Canada

Did you know?

• Styrofoam is permanent garbage. In can’t EVER become part of the earth again

• Styrofoam is dangerous to animals. Some think it is food and eat it.

What can you do?• Avoid Stryrofoam - it is often made from

one of the chemicals that caused the ozone layer to thin.

• Carry a cup in your back pack.

• Use dishes that you can wash rather than throw away.

• Bring a litterless lunch, not just this week but every week.

Feed the worms!

• Take a guess• Which of these is

something a worm won’t eat??a)Beef Steak

b)Dirt

c)Vegetables

Did you know?• You can make compost out of any thing

that was once alive. (don’t use meat though)

• Each of us produces about 600 kg of organic “garbage” per year. That would weigh more than all the kids in this school.

• None of it needs to go in the landfill it can go back into your garden.

• Worms can help you compost and they are good for your garden.

What you can do

• Start a compost• Don’t throw away

perfectly good apples and oranges. If you don’t like something in your lunch tell your parents so they won’t waste money buying it.

What can you do about solid waste?

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

What can you do about Preserving our oceans,

rivers, lakes and streams?

What Kids Say

• “If we, the people, pollute the water, we will kill the fish and the animals that live nearby will die too. Then it will make the food chain out of order. Then we will die because the food chain is not in order.”

Joey Leichter, Age 10

What is a food chain anyhow?

All of our energy comes from the sun.

Energy from the sun is captured by plants through photosynthesis.

Animals capture the energy from the plants.

Some animals eat plants and other animals

Some animals eat only other animals.

Every link in the chain is important.We must keep all the parts. Even some things we don’t like or can’t understand why the are important.

Aldo Leopold (paraphrased)

Weeds are flowers too.

Crab grass Thistle

More weeds

Rattlesnake

Insects

Viruses and Bacteria

Starlings

Sharks

Leeches

Wolves

Remember..

The earth does not belong to manMan belongs to the earth

Man did not weave the web of lifeWe are merely a strand in it

What we do to the web We do to ourselves.

Chief Seattle 1853

What can you do to conserve water?

Be a water leak detective

If a leaky faucet fills a coffee cup in 10 minutes how

much water will it waste in a year Enough for:?

a) A glass of water.

b) A bath

c) 52 baths

What can you do?Prestp on, Presto off

• Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth

• Wash your car with a bucket of water

• Sweep your driveway

• Use drip irrigation

• Plant native plants – xeric landscaping

• Turn your tap off when peeling vegetables

• Keep water in the fridge so it is cold.

• Obey water restrictions

Take a guess

• Where do you use most of the drinkable water in your house?

• a) the kitchen sink

• b) the garden hose

• c) the toilet

What can you do?

• Get a low volume toilet or put something in the back of the toilet so less water flushes

• Don’t flush needlessly

Shower or Bath

Take a guess

Which uses more water

a) A bath

b) An eight minute shower

What can you do?Don’t Dump it!

• Take a guess

Which of these would you want in your drinking water?

a) Furniture polish

b) Motor oil

c) Paint thinner

None of them!

Storm drains lead to streams.

What you can do

• Get rid of harmful chemicals properly. Don’t dump them on the ground or down the drain. If you don’t know how to get rid of them phone the Ministry of Water,Land, Air Protection 558-1717

Protect those streams!

What can you do?

Plant, Plant, Plant, don’t litter and conserve water!

Plant, Plant, Plant!

What about our Air,Energy and Global Climate Change

What can you do!

Help cut down on the use of fossil fuels.

Walk,run, bike, skate, scoot, ….

Did you know that over half the energy used in the home is for

heating and that over half of that is wasted?

What can you do?Turn down the heat

Turn up the cooling

Turn off the electricity that is not being used.

Take a guess

• How does most heat escape from your house?

• A) through the walls

• B) through the basement

• C) through the windows and doors

What can you do?

• Pull down window shades at night and close the curtains when it’s cold

• If your parents want to put up weather stripping ask if you can help

• Go on a leak hunt with a feather or a ribbon

• Close the door

Saving energy can help in many ways.

When you are an adult and making choices – choose green energy.

The main thing is “get involved”

• Join an environmental club• Help teach your parents • Write letters about concerns• Be aware, do your homework, take action• Dream for a better world• Appreciate what a beautiful part of the

world we live in.

• Every week is Earth Week

Taking ethical, safe, meaningful action,

“The Monday Group.”• Take only positive positions – Be for something• Do your home work - become an expert• Eliminate Stereotyping-treat everyone as an

individual of high moral worth. • Keep a balanced view• Keep your options open• Don’t make excuses or scape goat• Try, try again

Share the work- be wary of the tragedy of the commons

• We are all in this together. Whose job is it?

Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then...do

something. Don't just stand there, make it happen.

--Lee Iacocca

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

“Every week is Environment Week and every day is Earth Day

(but nobody is perfect)Mr. Fulton

Please help me sing - to the tune of Home,Home on the

Range

Oh, give me a home,where the fresh waters foam And the white mountain peaks pierce the sky

Where the Peregrines fly through the crystal blue sky,and the kokanee hatches close by.

Home Home in B.C.where the mountains sweep down to the sea, Where the salmon and trout, swim swiftly

about and the Grizzly Bear watches close by.

Please help me save, where the tall grasses waveAnd the pine trees old hands with the stars

With the sounds of the frogs and the smells of the bogs

It’s the land that is dearest to me

Home Home in B.C.where the mountains seep down to the sea, where the salmon and trout, swim swiftly aboutAnd the Grizzly Bear watches close by.

If you have a chance to restore or enhanceAnd to give all your best to the earthYou will not regret all your toil and your sweatIt’s the land that is dearest to all.

Home Home in B.C.where the mountains sweep down to the sea, where the salmon and trout, swim swiftly aboutAnd the Grizzly Bear watches close by.

Have a great week!