Waste

Essential questions:

How do our everyday actions impact the waste management process?

What changes can we make to our lifestyles to reduce waste and ensure a healthy planet?

How can we change community habits and thought processes surrounding e-waste?

What actions can be taken to reduce the harmful impact of e-waste on Earth’s systems?

What conflicts exist between human interest and human impacts on Earth’s systems?

How can communities minimize human impact on their local ecosystems while maintaining economic and technological growth?

Garbage Pizza (Kickoff): Using real materials, students examine different contents that make up their garbage and create a pie chart to illustrate their findings. Students discuss the issues of waste and possible solutions.

Wasting E-Way: Students will learn about the realities of e-waste, how it fits into waste management, and the dangers it poses to the environment. Students develop and implement an e-waste collection and disposal campaign.

Balance of Powerville: Students learn about the complex interactions between Earth’s major systems, as well as how those systems are impacted by human actions. Students participate in a town hall-style meeting to experience the complexity of real-world debate into human impact.

Community/Career Connections: Students will utilize localized climate data and news from their communities to learn more about what’s going on in their own backyard. Students will have access to various resources to understand the environmental justice history of their area and start to plan their Student Action Project.