School Waste

I recently had the pleasure to do a school project on school waste. I did an action project for Environmental Science on the topic with my group members Callie O'Connor, Kristen O'Connor, and Gabie Gatea.
Our issue is waste in schools. Our focus was trying to learn about waste in our schools as well as others and how it impacts the environment.   60% of what we throw away can be recycled. Alden recycles paper and plastic. Our action included researching waste disposal in schools. My job was to research composting. I learned that fruit and vegetable scraps can be composted. I was intrigued to find out that bizarre things like  newspapers and wood chips can be composted. I also found out that meat, bones, and pet waste can not be composted. That would be bad for the environment if those items were composted. We also had the privilege of calling Lakeshore, Pioneer, Holland and Caledonia Mumford. Lakeshore and Pioneer were a lot like Alden. Holland, on the other hand, doesn't recycle anything except cardboard boxes. Holland refuses to compost. They wouldn't compost even if they had the opportunity to do so.  Caledonia Mumford is a very advanced school. Caledonia Mumford recycles plastics and cardboard. Caledonia Mumford also has a composting program. They take their fruits and vegetables and turns it into compost.  I leanred that their composting program is very efficient, and the kids get into the habit of composting. I found out that Caledonia Mumford does a lot more than others schools.  I learned that our school does a lot more recycling than we thought.
School Waste is a bigger issue than we thought. Schools like Holland are part of the problem because they don't recycle.  I hope that Alden has a composting program in the future.

Recyling

Another issue in our environment is recycling.  The average person generates 4.5 pounds of trash every day. That is 1.5 solid tons of waste thrown out every year.  75% of our solid waste is recyclable. 60% of what we throw away can be recycled.  Only 30% is actually recycled. That's crazy stuff!

In 2004, 55 billion aluminum cans  were either thrown out or they went to landfills.That's 9 billion more than 2000.  This was enough to fill the Empire State building twice!  Aluminum cans are mostly recycled, though they are counted for less than 1% of  our waste.  The item that we throw out most is paper. To be honest, paper can either be thrown out or recycled based on what we do with paper.   Paper is thrown out more than any recyclable item.  2000 pounds equals one ton of recyclable paper. 
 The amount of paper that we throw out each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes each year. If we recycle paper, we can save 3.5 cubic yards of landfill. It also saves 380 gallons of oil and 7,000 gallons of water.  We also eliminate 60 pounds of air pollutants.
Let's help the environment and recycle.

 Source: http://www.greenwaste.com/recycling-stats

Global Warming

There is no doubt that global warming is the biggest issue in our environment.   There is also no sign of global warming  slowing down or stopping together. There is no denying that global warming does exist, although some people are in denial of this.  The rate of warming  is increasing. If you recall the hottest summers were in the last decades of the 20th century,and the summers in the 2000's were very hot.  The Arctic is the most affected by global warming.  The Arctic has warmed up increasingly for a number of years.  Arctic ice is also disappearing. The polar bears in the Arctic depend on the ice, and an increasing number of polar bears have drowned because of the disappearing ice. With the way things are going, the Arctic is expected to have no ice by 2040.  Glaciers are rapidly melting.  Montana's National Glacier Park now only has 27 glaciers.  There is also an uproar of extreme weather events such as wildfires, heat waves, and tropical storms. Experts say these events also contribute to global warming.  Some people believe humans are causing global warming.  That is true because of all the deforestation and industrialization that humans are producing.  But others think the natural cycles in Earth's orbit is the cause of global warming.  According to a 2007 report, we could be facing food and water shortages in our lifetimes. This will have catastrophic effects on wildlife. Increasing numbers of wildlife will be extinct in the next 50 years.  There you go. Global warming shows no sign of stopping. It is only going to get worse.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html