STUDENT
CONSERVATION TIPS
Below
is list of fun conservation ideas and projects that you, your
family, friends, and teachers can enjoy!
NATURE
- Identify
as many species of birds as possible in the local park near
your school. Call your local paper with the information,
citing it as a good nature story for the community.
- Conduct
a photography contest at your school focusing on animals.
Ask a local newspaper photographer to judge.
- Develop
a nature themed bulletin board at your school.
- Arrange
for a school poster contest with an environmental or wildlife
theme.
- Make
a bird feeder. Use various shapes and seed types to attract
different species. Keep a journal so you can identify
feeding patterns as they emerge.
- Study
animals classified as endangered species; collect pictures
of them; study them; discuss why they are endangered and
what can be done to help save them.
- Leaf
collection - Collect as many leaves as possible. Identify
them; trace them; make a collage. How many different species
of trees are in your area? Make an album by putting leaves
in a plastic photo album and labeling them.
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RECYCLING
AND WASTE REDUCTION
- Become
an Environmental Shopper: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reject
and React. Learn how to use your dollars to protect
the environment.
- Start
a composting pile at your school.
- Make
a worm bin to dispose of your garbage.
-
Conduct a waste audit at your school. Find out what can
be recycled, what is being recycled and what more can be
recycled.
-
Lobby your school board to buy products made from recycled
materials (e.g. Recycled copier paper).
-
If you do not have curbside collection for recyclables in
your community, campaign to have drop-off areas designated.
-
Organize a "Take the Pledge Not to Litter" campaign
in your school to reduce litter.
-
Work with your local business community to provide attractive
litter and recycling containers. Obtain merchants'
agreement to empty the containers with their trash or recyclables.
-
Become a litter basket for a day. Attach a brown bag to
your clothing and collect any litter you encounter at your
school. At the end of the day, put on a pair of gloves
to examine the litter. Decide what can be recycled, composted,
trashed or eliminated. (Caution children not to pick up
unusual looking or hazardous waste.)
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GENERAL
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
- Contact
your local library; ask the librarian to run a free slide
or movie presentation on an environmental subject.
- Arrange
a visit to your local sewage treatment plant to increase
your knowledge of how sewage is treated.
- Plant
a vegetable garden using old egg cartons to start your seeds.
- Investigate
if businesses and industries in your area have an environmental
policy.
- lnvite
your school custodial staff to speak about the cleaning
products they use. Try to find substitutes to replace those
your research identifies as toxic or hazardous.
- Develop
an environmental newsletter for your school.
-
Find out how water pollution affects us. Have the children
pour an inch of red food coloring into a glass. Then have
them pour one inch of water into the glass. Stand a stalk
of celery or a white flower into the glass. Let it stand
overnight to see how the plant has absorbed the red water.
Polluted water is absorbed in plants the same way. Discuss
with the children how we can reduce the amount of pollutants
getting into our plants and eventually to us. (e.g. Stop
using chemical fertilizers. )
- Make
a Mini-Landfill. Fill a pair of women's pantyhose with the
following items:
a foam egg carton, empty tin can, empty
glass bottle, piece of newspaper, an apple core, chewed
stick of gum, a piece of natural fiber, a plant clipping,
and a plastic straw. Bury the filled pantyhose at least
8' deep, away from saturated soils. Mark the spot. After
three months have passed, dig up the pantyhose from the
ground and remove the contents carefully. Observe which
materials have begun to biodegrade.
Discuss with the children why this has happened.
- Candleholders
From Plastic Soda Bottles -
Have an adult cut the top off a 2-liter soda bottle (approximately
six inches down). Trim the edges with a sharp pair of scissors.
Make sure that the edge is even all around. Have the children
decorate the holders by gluing various items to the holders
(e.g. Use leftover scraps of paper or materials). Complete
the project by adding a candle.
- Soda
Bottle Terrarium - Have an adult remove the neck of a 2-liter
plastic soda bottle (hint - use the bottoms of the bottles
used in #5 above). Cut the bottle with a knife. Remove
the label and the black plastic bottom. Place the bottle
in hot water to remove the bottom more easily. Fill the
black bottom with potting soil and place plants, rocks and
figures into the soil. Water thoroughly. Take the clear
plastic body of the bottle, turn it up side down and slide
it into the black bottom, making a dome for the terrarium.
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COMMUNITY
IMPROVEMENT
BEAUTY,
LITTER, ACTIVISM
- Participate
in PRC's “Lens on Litter” photo contest. Submit photographs
of the worst littered areas in your community to win prizes.
- Find
out if any of your local parks have nature trails. If they
don't, contact your local park board to help establish one.
- Write
letters to companies that use too much packaging.
- Study
the voting records of elected officials (found in your local
paper) to see how they vote on environmental issues. Write
letters praising those with good records and urging those
with poor records to do better.
- Organize
a safe clean-up of school grounds or other community sites;
recycle the recyclables you collect.
- Plant
deciduous trees at your school.
- Plant
a wildflower garden.
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ENERGY
AND WATER CONSERVATION
- Ask
your school's utility company to do an energy audit of your
school.
- Learn
about conservation. Contact your local conservation district
(water/soil) and find out what conservation practices are
used in your locale.
- Help
your school develop a plan to replace existing incandescent
lighting with energy-saving bulbs and fixtures.
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