Written by: Anita Dai, Primary Art Teacher
In this day and age, almost everyone understands that the earth is in serious trouble. We know that polar ice is melting, the coral reefs are dying, and the rainforest is dwindling.
Knowing all that, sometimes there is still a little voice in your head saying, “These problems are so big! Whatever I do, it won’t make much of a difference anyways.”
It certainly is easy to be so overcome at the thought of a bleak future that we respond with cynicism, apathy, or denial. Not so for the YCIS Eco-Warriors. A group of students from Years 3, 4, and 5 met every Friday after school this past semester to talk about some of the issues affecting the environment and to come up with ideas for how to make a difference.
Here are some of the ideas they came up with:
We don’t enjoy wearing masks and staying indoors on Red Air days. Chloe Xiang (Y4C) has some helpful suggestions: “We should plant more trees. We can use bicycles so we don’t pollute the air.” Chloe Cai (Y3A) is also very passionate about the air. She says, “We should keep the trees safe. It is the best way to help everyone because trees make the air. If there are no more trees, people AND animals will die.” Yi-Qing (Y3D) laments, “Almost all the creatures in the earth will die if the trees are cut down and air pollution, water pollution and litter is everywhere.”
All the students are very concerned about the animals in the ocean. Jerry (Y5A) recommends, “Don’t throw plastic anywhere because it will hurt the animals that live in the water.” Matthew (Y3B) takes it one step further: “Don’t use single use plastic. Because you can only use it one time and then it goes into the trash.” Lily (Y3D) exhorts, “Stop using plastic bottles and bags because the wind blows them into the sea. And then the animals like turtles think they are jellyfish and they eat them and die.”
So what are some solutions? Kyle (Y5B) suggests, “Use re-usable things like a metal water bottle or a cloth or silk bag.” Luiza (Y5B) is practical and knows it is impossible to avoid all single-use plastic packaging. Her recommendation? “Re-use single-use plastic items.” When containers of food like peanut butter or honey come in a plastic container, wash them out when they’re empty and they can become handy holders of pens or dispensers of home-made salad dressing.
What is most important is that we don’t sit around and expect other people to come up with the solutions. If each of us develop environmentally- friendly habits, all those small actions will build up and make an enormous impact. Luiza wisely states, “We can act immediately instead of waiting and thinking that our planet can heal magically. I would switch off lights to save electricity.” Kyle says, “Take shorter showers so we don’t waste fresh water.” Ivy (Y4C) suggests, “Help endangered animals by trying to be a vegetarian.” That statement sounds funny, because the meat we usually eat, like beef, pork and poultry come from animals that are not endangered. However, the cultivation of these animals is only possible because land that formerly was home to wild animals has been taken over to make room for these animal farms. The more meat we eat, the more likely we are kicking endangered animals out of their homes. Even if you just take one meal a day, or one dinner a week and make it vegetarian, the cumulative effect can be quite significant.
The Eco-Warriors do not want endangered animals to go extinct. Isabel (Y3C) suggests, “Try to be more healthy so we don’t have to kill more tigers to make medicine.” When probed further, however, she admits, “Even if we get sick, we still shouldn’t use tiger medicine.” Chiara (Y3B) makes an important point, “Taking care of the earth is important because we want our children to see tigers.” As parents, we of course want to make sure that our children and our grandchildren are able to appreciate the natural wonders and amazing creatures that we have been privileged to experience and see. Unfortunately, according to forecasts by official institutions such as the UN, if changes are not made immediately, by 2060, our world will be vastly different, with some cities and coastlines underwater, pollution that makes blue sky days the anomaly instead of the norm, and ecosystems that are becoming less and less diverse. Extreme weather conditions could also lead to many disasters that threaten people’s lives. Yi-Qing shows her compassion and makes an even more critical point when she says we need to take care of the earth, “not just for your children, but also for the animals!”
Like many of our students at YCIS, Chiara (Y3B) has had some experience taking action. She suggests that one thing students can do is to “make fundraising projects, and then give the money to people who protect animals. Like in Girl Scouts, we sell all the cinnamon rolls and the money went to help homeless puppies and cats for their vaccinations.”
Another important way our students can make a difference is to help communicate information. Surprising as it is, most people do not understand the impact of single-use plastic. To this end, the Eco-warriors created a display about all the steps we can take to reduce waste. If you want ideas for what you and your family can do, just take a look at the bulletin board on the first floor outside of the POP room. Finally, to inspire everyone to take action, the Eco-warriors took a popular song, “Animals” by Maroon 5, changed the lyrics, and created their own music video about plastic.We hope you enjoy the above video and take the time to reflect on some environmentally-friendly habits you can also adopt. The earth says thank you!