Chapter 1 History Making Things New Again Environmentalism is a big word But its meaning is simple Practicing environmentalism means being a friend to Earth and all its creatures Environmentalists want to keep our air healthy our land clean and our water fresh They want to take care of our plants and animals by making sure our planet remains a safe place to live Some environmentalists focus on encouraging people to stop polluting Others work to protect our plants and animals One of the most important environmental jobs is to teach people about recycling The Story of Recycling Recycling is when something old is broken down and made
Boxes should be flattened before recycling
Landfills continue to take up more and more space
into something new This can be done with paper plastic glass and many metals The more we recycle the less trash and waste there is This means less pollution on our land in the air and in our water By recycling we also save our natural resources like trees from being made into new products For example 900 million trees are cut down each year to make paper The concept of recycling isn’t new In early Roman times bronze coins were melted down and made into statues During wartime the Romans melted down jewelry and made it into weapons Recycling played an important role during World War II 1939 1945 In the United States people collected tin cans scrap metal and aluminum foil They also collected old toys and pots and pans The metals were then melted down and used to make tanks and weapons for fighting in the war After the war was over people didn’t recycle as much Machines and factories created goods cheaply and in mass amounts People began throwing things out rather than trying to find a way to reuse or remake them This new way of life was called throwaway living landfills across the country filled up with trash
