In Year 5 we have been talking about sustainabilty and, in particular, helping our planet.
After the unit of work, involving projects, learning, experimenting, researching and discussing, students were asked to write a reflective piece about what they believe to be the dangers Earth is facing and what we can do about it.
Here is a selection of some of their responses:
I never thought seriously of Earth’s dangers, but at school I discovered things that made me think. I learned that there are many dangers to our planet.
DEFORESTATION
One danger is deforestation, approx.1.3 million square kilometers of trees are being cut every year!!! That’s disastrous because trees produce oxygen. When deforestation happens lots of animals lose their homes. Deforestation needs to be stopped. If you really need to cut a tree, you can cut it, but then you need to plant a new one.
GLOBAL WARMING
Over the last century, global warming has had a huge impact on Earth.Global warming happens when primarily fossil fuels burn, this increases carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere. This has caused Earth’s temperature to increase. Consequently, this has already had an impact on the planet, such as extreme temperatures, ice sheets melting and sea level rising. This is not good at all!
FSC PAPER
You may wonder, ‘what’s FSC paper?’ FSC paper is paper that has been recycled or has come from sustainable forests so it is a good thing to buy books with written FSC.
PLASTIC POLLUTION
Do you look around yourself? Did you notice that almost everything is made of plastic? Plastic is a hard material so is useful for many things, but it is also one of the dangers for Earth. Plastic goes in the sea where animals mistake it for food. Plastic can contain toxic things that can kill animals. Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down. Also after it breaks it leaves microplastics (tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5mm) that get eaten by animals that we eat. So we eat plastic. Did you know that more than 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown in the US each day? That is a lot!
AIR POLLUTION
Cars pollute the air and increase carbon dioxide. Electric cars don’t pollute the air so they’re better. A solution to cars is to walk or go on the bike.
O KM FOOD
When you buy food make sure it doesn’t come from distant places, because it may have been on cars, boats, trains… before it arrived. A solution could be to have your own garden and plant your vegetables.
ENERGY
Energy is very useful in our lives, but we need to be sure not to waste it. You don’t need to:
– Leave the lights on when you leave your house or there is daylight.
– Leave the tv on.
– Charge your device when it is at 100%
Energy can be produced also with solar panels or wind turbines.
REUSABLE BAGS
When you go to the supermarket and you buy lots of things you usually take a plastic bag, but did you know that 160,000 plastic bags are thrown away each second? This year 5 trillion plastic bags will be consumed. · Most bags are simply thrown. Less than 1 percent are recycled. You could just buy a reusable bag and use it every time. Very easy!
CONCLUSION
If we don’t do something soon lots of species will become extinct and we will drink water with microplastics that could make us die! We need to act. If everyone does his part we can help Earth. Do a little change to your life and you will solve many problems. Earth is our only home and we need to respect it.
Tell your family and friends the dangers Earth is facing. I will tell my mum to remember to use reusable bags and I will watch less TV.
AT SCHOOL
At school we learned about Earth dangers and did some projects. My favorite project was when we did some little wind turbines with plastic bottles. Mine didn’t work but I enjoyed making it.
FROM LARA CAPRIOTTI Earth forever!!
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Our Earth is big. With big things comes big responsibilities. We have to take care of our planet. If we don’t act now, none of us or living species will exist anymore and Earth will become one of the planets like Venus or Mercury. Little actions can make a big change. Only by just throwing rubbish in the correct bins or turning off the lights when nobody is in the room we can do a lot. Us children have to make the most of it, convince the adults and tell everyone about pollution, climate change and global warming. While we speak, about 160, 000 single-use bags are being thrown away in the world. These very big numbers tell us how we humans act and pollute the world. We all have to take part in making Earth a better place: there is no other place like our home! Every single one of us can make something, now. Walking or riding a bike to places could reduce the carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere: that causes global warming. Closing the tap water while you lather your hands or brush your teeth could reduce water waste. Buying refillable bottles instead of plastic ones could decrease the amount of plastic pollution. All of these small actions can make a big change. Ecosystems are being destroyed, along with all the species of animals and plants, and it’s all our fault. Trees, that give us all the oxygen, are being cut down, and it’s all our fault. The temperatures are getting warmer and warmer, glaciers are melting, and it’s all our fault. Technically all of the problems Earth has are all our fault.
We have to stop pollution, deforestation, climate change, global warming and everything else now or never! This is our only chance!
By Ester Cerofolini
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During this topic, I learned that nowadays, our planet, Earth is facing many dangers caused by human actions. In the list, we can find global warming, plastic pollution, deforestation, loss of habitats, more species becoming endangered, glacials melting…. I also understood that many people just ignore the serious problems of our planet because, like in the petrol industry, people care more for money than for the environment.
Here is some of what we spoke about in class and the steps we can take to reduce the impact these problems have on Earth.
Global warming: global warming is mainly caused by the emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; how can we reduce them? Well, we can start by investing in renewable energy (which is made from sources such as the wind and the Sun) instead of choosing unrenewable energy, which uses fossil fuels (such as coal) to produce energy. Why are fossil fuels not good to use? The reason is that their burning releases carbon dioxide. Another step consists in switching to a GPL, methane, or electric car; but remember there are other solutions such as bicycles, public vehicles, shared cars, or …your feet to go somewhere!
Plastic pollution: we all use plastic in our daily lives don’t we? Now, did you ever ask yourself why we use plastic that often? The reason is that plastic is a durable and cheap material, so it’s easier to buy. Many people are now considering the impact plastic has on the environment and the ecosystems, which, let’s face it, is really big; it is the major cause of death of marine species, that get tangled in plastic until they die. But doesn’t plastic biodegrade? Yes, it does, but we found out that when the material breaks down into tiny pieces called microplastics, it is still dangerous to wildlife and to us because fish may eat the tiny pieces, thinking that they are plankton and, when we eat fish we may also eat microplastics! Plus, most of us, including kids are now learning about the gigantic plastic islands that are created in the oceans, which are really damaging to the planet.
So, we all must try to reduce plastic use to make our planet more healthy right? But how can we do it?
Firstly, let’s keep in mind that most of the plastic we consume is single-use, this means that we use it once and then we throw them in the bin and they end up in the oceans. Likewise, we need to find ways to replace these items, such as plastic bottles which can be replaced with reusable bottles, plastic bags with reusable bags, etc. We can easily find more eco-friendly utensils in dedicated stores or online.
In class we discovered a dramatic fact, did you know that 160,000 plastic bags are thrown away each second in the world?!
Deforestation: everyone uses paper in the world, but astonishingly most people don’t know how the overusing of paper is destroying our beloved forests. In fact, over 15 billion trees are cut down each year to produce paper! This is extremely hurting the planet, because trees are able to absorb most of the carbon dioxide we produce and they are also the home of many species, but with their number decreasing there will be a huge loss of habitats. How can we help? We suggested that choosing FSC paper (which is made from areas that don’t allow the illegal deforestation) could be a solution; another one could be to plant a tree in your garden or donate it to your city’s park or school, as David in our class did.
This, we discussed, is the reason why we must help our planet, if don’t start now, the future generations will not sadly live in a peaceful world where humans and nature rely on each other.
I think the most meaningful thing we did during this project, was to write a persuasive letter to our parents about these problems, which will then eventually be sent to the Italian government.
Last but not least important, I just wanted to add that this project has helped me and my family to continue doing the small daily habits to save our planet with more responsibility, even if sometimes it needs more effort. It also made me think that all of us should include sustainability in our lives.
Elisa Corrado
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