CONTENTS The Battle to Save Earth 4 Save Paper 8 Pick Your Pens 12 Select Supplies 16 Limit Lunch Waste Start a School Garden 24 T 20 Eco Activity Make a Worm Compost Bin 28 Glossary 30 Read More 31 Learn More Online 31 Index 32 W
THE BATTLE TO SAVE EARTH People create a lot of waste especially at schools It's not only all the paper and pen waste from classrooms but also the food and packaging waste from the cafeteria But you can help battle school waste by making a few simple changes Get ready to tackle school waste Waste Warrior The Three Problems with Waste Heaps of Garbage A lot of garbage ends up in landfills When waste breaks down in landfills it can harm our environment For instance when plastic breaks down harmful materials can leak into the soil and air Waste in landfills is squashed together which keeps out oxygen So the waste rots slowly and as it does so it gives off harmful amounts of methane gas Although most modern landfills are designed to stop harmful materials and gas from leaking out the waste is still there and being stored for a future generation to deal with That is why waste warriors avoid creating waste We have created landfills to deal with our huge amounts of waste
Wasted Resources When we get rid of something we might need to buy something new to replace it For example if we get rid of used paper at school we need more paper to write on This means more trees must be cut down wasting our planet's precious natural resources Polluted Planet We create pollution when we burn fossil fuels to power the factories that make things including school supplies When fuels such as coal and oil are burned they release carbon dioxide and other gases that trap the sun's heat around Earth This is causing rising temperatures and changing weather conditions around the world Air pollution from factories is a huge cause of climate change Trees are being cut down without being replaced in a process called deforestation
