Young Students Become "Green" Ambassadors

While participating in a mastery glass that focused on sustainability, third graders at Mendham Township Elementary School became so engaged with the importance of going green that they became “Green” ambassadors. In this role, the students researched the dire consequences of waste, particularly plastic waste on the environment. As the students and their instructors noted, only recently the remains of a whale washed up on the shores of the Philippines with approximately 40kg or 88 lbs. of plastic debris in its stomach! They then went on to study what steps they would like to advocate that people follow to support sustainability.

Looking at the problem in the U.S., the students saw the value of a three-part approach to sustainability: reduce, reuse, and recycle. However, the students would like to advocate that reducing is a great way to spearhead sustainability.

Plastic is causing harm to our environment and to our oceans. Not everything we try to recycle actually gets recycled. By reducing the use of plastic in the first place we are minimizing the energy and waste created in the production of plastics. Of course, recycling is better than adding to the landfills. However, recycling involves the use of additional resources, while cutting down (reducing) is a more direct way to being green.

The students’ presentation included the following recommendations for reducing waste:

• Use reusable water bottles.
• Convince restaurants and supermarkets to donate their leftover food.
• Convert to solar power to generate electricity.
• Turn off water/conserve water.
• Re-purpose trash to make something useful.
• Develop your own system to reduce waste at home as a family.

The students’ presentation concluded with a “Zero Waste Challenge” to their fellow students. Each student and teacher could sign a pledge for their class to look at ways to “Reduce the Use” of plastics and other items that may be filling landfills or are difficult to recycle. Amazingly, students quickly began to make different calculations that looked at the impact of eliminating/reducing plastic. For example, bringing a reusable bottle filled with water to school every day instead of a new plastic water bottle. As Mrs. Erica Parke, one of the teachers for the sustainability mastery course observed, “Every little bit helps. The less we use disposable items that end up in recycle containers or in landfills the better off we all are!”