Environmental Connections Contest
2009 Winning Essay
Animated About Recycling
In 2008, Sue Cullumber, the Science teacher at Howard S. Gray, was selected to take a trip with the Toyota International Teacher Program to the Galapagos Islands. During her stay, she saw that the schools of the Galapagos had set up a recycling program. Upon her return to Howard Gray, Sue told the students about the program, and we began to work on a recycling program of our own. During the recycling project, we also heard about the barrel design project, and we decided to participate. The students decided to get involved in a recycling program because of the fact that trash is dumped in public areas, and people don’t have enough of a conscience to pick it up. The Howard S. Gray School wanted to make it known that we do our best to help and protect our environment.
The barrel design that was created by my group sends the message “Make recycling fun with you favorite cartoon or anime characters.” My groups put two anime characters on the barrel because anime is appealing to pre-teens and teens. It is appealing because, like any cartoon or anime comic, you can become that character and do what they do. One of our characters is seen recycling a soda can while the other is saying “Save the desert habitat.” These characters convey the message to support recycling. The rest of the scene, which is a desert scene, sends the importance of helping the desert plants and animals to survive and thrive.
During the first few weeks of the project, all of the students designed posters that used recycling in ways that everyone could do, including making crafts out of recyclable items and using less energy by turning off the lights when you leave the room. The classes now turn off the lights when we leave the room and turn off the computer screens when we are not using them. It just takes little things like turning off the lights to start understanding the importance of helping our environment. Two of the classes in our school also took part in “Take Pride in Your Hospital Day” in which we picked up garbage around the hospital campus and recycled it. Each class also has a recycling bin in the rooms so that the students and teachers can take part in recycling and the learning process involved. These ideas all tie into The Barrel Project because the classes all found ways to incorporate the things we learned into the designs that went on the barrel, including reducing the amount of pollution that is emitted into the air by using less electricity or biking more places instead of having your parents drive you.
Communication played a huge role in the completion of The Barrel Project. Without proper communication, we could not have decided on what to put onto the barrels. The teachers also used communication by helping the students decide what needed to be out on the barrels and by giving us ideas as to what could be out on them. In the brainstorming process of the project, the “referee”,” or the person in charge of keeping the team on track, would agree or disagree with what was being said, and the team would then decide what to include or exclude from the barrel design. Teamwork was also a key component in the barrel design for three reasons. The first reason is that not one person alone could have completed the barrel design on time. Secondly, the ideas were chosen by teams of three or four students, not one person. Finally, the completeion of the barrels rested solely on teamwork, without which the recycling project could not happen, thus letting the Howard Gray School miss out on a very important life lesson.
I personally think that the Howard Gray School could learn a little bit more about recycling and the importance of helping the environment. The students at Howard Gray know a very limited amount of information about recycling, and I think we need to learn more and start implementing that information in our daily lives. Even people at the Phoenix Zoo can be affected by the importance of recycling. If the Zoo patrons see the barrels and the messages they send, more and more people will begin to realize, “Hey, I scan do more to help the environment! I should start changing my ways to become a Green person.” And that knowledge isn’t just limited to students and community members; it also pertains to parents of children and teens. Parents can teach their children at a young age about recycling. A recent study shows that if children observe their parents doing something good, like recycling, then they will pick up the behavior and continue doing it throughout their lives. I believe that everyone at the Howard Gray School has learned something important, and that they will hopefully take ownership in doing their part to help and protect the environment. Anyone can make the change; they just have to be committed to staying in the recycling loop and continue protecting the environment.
|
