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Power from the PlanetLook around your classroom: how many uses of electricity can you find? Are thelights on? Is there an electric pencil sharpener? What else do you see?On Earth Day, it’s important to remember that electricity fuels our lives, and allelectricity comes from the Earth’s resources. Power plants run by making steam,(from boiling large amounts of water) and using the steam to turn a turbine andgenerate power. Some power plants run by burning coal mined from the Earth.Others burn oil, drilled from the planet. Still others run by nuclear power, whereuranium ore, a radioactive mineral found in the Earth, heats water as its atomssplit.In 1970, people wanted power plants to burn more cleanly. At the time, coalfiredpower plants poured large amounts of soot, ash, waste and heat into bothskies and waterways. Today, power plants are required to burn more cleanly, inpart because of laws like the Clean Air Act passed after the first Earth Day.Still, using electricity generates pollution. When a light switch or a TV set isturned on, it uses electricity. The electricity comes to your house over wires fromthe power plant. To make the electricity, ore is mined, which can harm habitats.Fuel is burned, and even though a smokestack pollutes less than it once did, itstill emits some possibly harmful chemicals. Power plants also release gases likecarbon dioxide that, some say, may be harming the Earth’s weather systems. Allpower pollutes, and conserving energy is an important way to help the Earth’s environmental systems.Examine the picture of a girl in her home. Can you find at least ten uses of electricity in this picture? Write them in thespace provided on the right.Now, let’s imagine your parents suddenly announce you are moving to a log cabin in the woods to start a new life.Unfortunately, the cabin will only have a small generator, and you can only take 3 uses of electricity with you! Read your list ofdevices that use electricity again carefully. Circle the three things you think your family should take.Next, let’s see how your choices compare to your classmates. Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4. Pretend each group is afamily heading to a cabin. Each family can take only three electrical appliances to the cabin. Figure out how to decide whichthree your family will take. Hint: Have each member of the group read their list aloud. Discuss which three things you couldor should bring. If you choose NOT to bring something important, decide what you will do to replace what that appliance doeswhen you get to the cabin. Now have each group choose a presenter to share their “family’s” final listwith the class.The final challenge: See if the entire class can decide which three things to bring. Good luck!Uses of Electricity1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.10
BuildaGarbagePizza........Every day, says the Environmental Protection Agency,every American (that includes you, and everyone else inthe class)-- produces a little more than four pounds ofsolid waste. Every minute of every day, garbage trucksall over the world carry solid waste somewhere, loadedwith day-old newspapers, orange peels, grass clippings,coffee grounds, pizza crusts, cigarette butts, unwantedtoys, stale bread, soda cans, broken refrigerators, milkcartons, cardboard boxes and so much more.We bury solid waste in landfills, burn it in incinerators,recycle it back into useful products and sometimes evencompost it by turning it into soil.Check out the table below. It represents the differentcategories of solid waste the average American throwsaway, listed in order of weight for each category. First,find the total amount of trash the average person disposesof annually. Then, examine the pie chart. Perhaps youhave studied pie charts in math class or your teachercan show you how to read them.Your job is to label all the slices of the pie accordingto the kind and amount of solid waste the average personuses every year. Two hints: the largest slice representsthe largest source of solid waste; the smallest slice thesmallest source of waste. Can you fill in all the blanks?Now, if every person in your class throws away 4pounds per person, how many pounds of trash does yourclass dispose of every day? Every year? How manypounds does your school produce annually?Here’s an idea for a special Earth Day project: build aGarbage Pizza in your schoolyard. (You’ll need both yourteacher’s and principal’s permissions.) Use chalk todraw a very large circle on the asphalt. Can you figureout a way to both draw a giant circle and create theright-sized slices on your circle? Collect large amountsof items to represent each slice of the pie – piles ofnewsprint for the paper slice, aluminum soda cans forthe metal slice, etc.With your teacher, discuss how much of each itemyou will need, how it will be brought to school and howit will be handled safely. You might want to use plasticsoda bottles for the plastic slice, but your class certainlyshould not pile food scraps in food waste section. Be creative.What might you use to represent the idea of foodwaste?Once you have arranged the display of trash piled upin your Garbage Pizza, provide tours of your pizza toother classes or community groups. Call newspapersand TV stations to give them information about yourproject, and see if they will do a news or feature storyabout your project. Or, take your own photos and write astory to submit to the newspaper.Be sure to plan what to do with the materials youhave collected after Earth Day. Can you recycle theentire Garbage Pizza when Earth Day is over?...Solid WastePounds of solid waste per person in one year.Food WasteMetalGlassPlastics.Yard WasteRubber, Leather, ClothWoodMiscellaneous.Paper..Extra! Extra! Learn More!1. Arrange for your class to tour asolid waste treatment facility, a landfillor an incinerator. Discuss the tripafter its conclusion.2. In the entire United States, only alittle more than 10% of solid waste iscurrently recycled. If paper, metal,glass, plastics and cloth are recyclable,and if yard waste, food waste andwood can be composted, what percentof solid waste can be reclaimed, andnot incinerated or buried? Doeseveryone in your class recycle all theycan? Why or why not?Check Out The Newspaper!Learning standard: developing a plan toconserve resources◆ Look at the editorial cartoons in thenewspaper. Draw a cartoon thatexpresses your opinion about the trashsituation in your school. Are kids carefulabout the amount of waste at lunchor could they do a better job? (Hint:check your lunchroom or cafeteria forsome illustration ideas.).11
- Page 3 and 4: A Diversity of SpeciesPeople know s
- Page 5 and 6: !TAKEACTION!“No one is too young
- Page 7 and 8: Ahhhh, Water!Riddled with WaterWe d
- Page 9: Below: Fan coral off Grand Cayman,
- Page 13 and 14: DRIVE POLLUTIONAWAY!During the firs
- Page 15 and 16: Pol l i ng the PlanetAt the first E
BuildaGarbagePizza........Every day, says the Environmental Protection Agency,every American (that includes you, and everyone else inthe class)-- produces a little more than four pounds ofsolid waste. Every minute of every day, garbage trucksall over the world carry solid waste somewhere, loadedwith day-old newspapers, orange peels, grass clippings,coffee grounds, pizza crusts, cigarette butts, unwantedtoys, stale bread, soda cans, broken refrigerators, milkcartons, cardboard boxes and so much more.We bury solid waste in landfills, burn it in incinerators,recycle it back into useful products and sometimes evencompost it by turning it into soil.Check out the table below. It represents the differentcategories of solid waste the average American throwsaway, listed in order of weight for each category. First,find the total amount of trash the average person disposesof annually. Then, examine the pie chart. Perhaps youhave studied pie charts in math class or your teachercan show you how to read them.Your job is to label all the slices of the pie accordingto the kind and amount of solid waste the average personuses every year. Two hints: the largest slice representsthe largest source of solid waste; the smallest slice thesmallest source of waste. Can you fill in all the blanks?Now, if every person in your class throws away 4pounds per person, how many pounds of trash does yourclass dispose of every day? Every year? How manypounds does your school produce annually?Here’s an idea for a special Earth Day project: build aGarbage Pizza in your schoolyard. (You’ll need both yourteacher’s and principal’s permissions.) Use chalk todraw a very large circle on the asphalt. Can you figureout a way to both draw a giant circle and create theright-sized slices on your circle? Collect large amountsof items to represent each slice of the pie – piles ofnewsprint for the paper slice, aluminum soda cans forthe metal slice, etc.With your teacher, discuss how much of each itemyou will need, how it will be brought to school and howit will be handled safely. You might want to use plasticsoda bottles for the plastic slice, but your class certainlyshould not pile food scraps in food waste section. Be creative.What might you use to represent the idea of foodwaste?Once you have arranged the display of trash piled upin your Garbage Pizza, provide tours of your pizza toother classes or community groups. Call newspapersand TV stations to give them information about yourproject, and see if they will do a news or feature storyabout your project. Or, take your own photos and write astory to submit to the newspaper.Be sure to plan what to do with the materials youhave collected after Earth Day. Can you recycle theentire Garbage Pizza when Earth Day is over?...Solid WastePounds of solid waste per person in one year.Food WasteMetalGlassPlastics.Yard WasteRubber, Leather, ClothWoodMiscellaneous.Paper..Extra! Extra! Learn More!1. Arrange for your class to tour asolid waste treatment facility, a landfillor an incinerator. Discuss the tripafter its conclusion.2. In the entire United States, only alittle more than 10% of solid waste iscurrently recycled. If paper, metal,glass, plastics and cloth are recyclable,and if yard waste, food waste andwood can be composted, what percentof solid waste can be reclaimed, andnot incinerated or buried? Doeseveryone in your class recycle all theycan? Why or why not?Check Out The Newspaper!Learning standard: developing a plan toconserve resources◆ Look at the editorial cartoons in thenewspaper. Draw a cartoon thatexpresses your opinion about the trashsituation in your school. Are kids carefulabout the amount of waste at lunchor could they do a better job? (Hint:check your lunchroom or cafeteria forsome illustration ideas.).11
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