The carbon connection

According to a Worldwatch Institute report, the United States consumes 30 percent of the world’s paper. Of that paper, about one third is used for writing (pads or stationery) or for printing (office/home printers and copiers). From 1980 to 2000, the consumption of this high-quality paper increased at a much greater rate than that of newsprint or cardboard. Clearly there is no such thing as a paperless office.

Manufacturing paper requires energy. That paper starts as a tree. The tree gets harvested, transported some distance to a plant to get sliced up into chips. Those wood chips are then transported to a pulp mill, which can be thousands of miles away. At the pulp mill, the wood chips are ground into pulp, which gets bleached and washed and sent to the paper mill to be made into paper. Eventually, the paper is cut into the right size sheets for your laser printer, packaged, and then shipped — again, maybe thousands of miles — to your local office store.

Why the lesson on paper production? Well, everyone needs to Think! about the lifecycle of the products they use. Manufactured goods are made from raw materials that take energy to acquire. Each step in the manufacturing process takes energy and so does transporting goods from the factory to stores and then to your office or home. That energy most likely comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere. That’s why the more paper you use, the more carbon dioxide gets produced.

The Carbon connection. (n.d.). Carbon Rally , Retrieved from http://www.carbonrally.com/challenges/18-paper-waste

How to Teach Recycling

In a Google project about Climate Change, the top 50 ideas included tips on recycling and how to promote it in the community. Mind you, these tips came from children of all ages from more than 80 schools around the world:

1. Have global warming/climate change as part of school curriculum. (This can be a good entry point to teach and discuss the importance of recycling.)
2. Encourage less use of paper by writing or printing on the back of recycled papers.
3. Plant more trees for carbon dioxide reduction in the atmosphere.
4. Teach recycling techniques in classes and school programs.
5. Make recycling compulsory in all public facilities like schools, parks and beaches.
6. For media companies, feature celebrities on TV doing public service announcements and promoting carpooling, walking, riding bikes, using public transportation, conserving electricity and recycling.
7. Wherever there are trash cans, place recycling bins near it.
8. Use newspapers as gift wrappers.

With this in mind, it is quite easy to promote the significance of learning and applying recycling to high school students. Recycling helps, but it helps all the more if understood thoroughly and executed properly by your students.

Smart schools. (2005). How to teach recycling, Retrieved from http://www.smartschools.ph/SmartSchools/SmartTools/HowToTeachRecycling.htm

Teachers: 3 ways to green up your classroom

Most teachers realize this because it goes without saying, but teachers, generally speaking, have a large amount of influence over their students. Students, by default, normally feel obligated to do as a teacher asks in the classroom. This means that one single teacher can cause an entire class to become more eco-friendly, and that is a remarkable thing.

So where should you start if you're a teacher looking to green up your classroom?

Here are some tips for a greener classroom:

1. Don't ask your students to get new supplies and materials unless it's necessary. Think about it. Can't your students use the same pencils, folders, markers, binders, etc. that they did last year? Encourage them to do so and explain how it's 'green.' That way they won't feel at a disadvantage when they come into class with used gear for a new year.
   
2. Don't ask your students to use paper unless they need to. Can you deal with having assignments emailed to you? If so, tell your students you prefer email so you and your class can help save paper.
   
3. Provide recycled paper. If you are going to assign homework that needs to be turned in on paper, buy some stacks of recycled paper and keep it in the classroom. You can offer each student a sheet or two for homework and explain why it's better for the planet to use the recycled paper.
   
   You have a lot of power as a teacher, Take Action!

Teachers: three ways to green up your classroom. (2008). Planet Green, Retrieved from http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/green-classroom-tips.html