The Consumption Presumption
- 1. The Consumption Presumption 2009 TEEA Conference
- 2. Consumption Presumption? Consumption = the selection, adoption, use, disposal and recycling of goods and services
- 3. Consumption practices creating strains on environment
- 4. Consumption practices creating strains on environment Fundamental change needed! Change attitudes on waste!
- 5. Solid Waste Education What is SWE? Educating about … consumption … buying practices … natural resources and resource mining … the 3R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle … current solid waste management practices … sustainable consumption and disposal
- 6. Why teach SWE in classrooms Educators lead the way
- 7. Why teach SWE in classrooms Educators lead the way Students are the business owners, manufacturers and government officials of the future!!
- 8. Why teach SWE in classrooms Educators lead the way Students are the business owners, manufacturers and government officials of the future!! Schools are large segment of waste production in a community
- 9. Why teach SWE in classrooms Educators lead the way Students are the business owners, manufacturers and government officials of the future!! Schools are large segment of waste production in a community Saves money in budgeting
- 10. Why teach SWE in classrooms Educators lead the way Students are the business owners, manufacturers and government officials of the future!! Schools are large segment of waste production in a community Saves money in budgeting Teach students practices that will last a lifetime Life lessons across disciplines of science, social studies, math, health, etc. reinforce behavior and change attitudes Children bring home ideas learned in class and affect home behavior as well!
- 11. What’s really in our trash? Activity: 21 st Century Pyramids
- 12. What can be done?
- 13. What can be done? Current practices more like this
- 14. What’s the formula for success?
- 15. Did you know? Earth911.com Recycling steel saves 75 percent of the energy that would be used to create steel from raw materials, enough to power 18 million homes. The Recycle Challenge Recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to run your TV for 3 hours . Dosomething.org Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
- 16. Did you know? Every month Americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper but all of these jars are recyclable! National Recycling Coalition If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year
- 17. Reduce Single most important action to be taken … Source Reduction!!
- 18. Reduce Single most important action to be taken … Source Reduction!! How? Examine environmental impacts for decisions made or products purchased
- 19. Reduce Buy in Bulk… … with a reusable bag/basket!!!
- 20. Reduce Buy and sell second hand (less demand…less supply)
- 21. Reduce Less packaging please!
- 22. Reduce Cut down on fast food waste
- 23. Reduce Buy environmental sound products Buy products that are less toxic
- 24. Reduce Buy Recycled Products!!!
- 25. Reduce Print on both sides of paper!
- 26. Reduce Don’t trash it!
- 27. Reduce Avoid Disposables!!! Disposables contribute to throw-away lifestyle
- 29. Reuse Reuse is creating a new use for an item that might otherwise be sent to the landfill or recycled Trash to Treasure Get creative! Ex. Capri Sun purse, Firestarters from lint and egg cartons
- 30. Recycle Collection, sorting and remanufacturing of items into new products Find out options for recycling in your communities Make it a research project for the students Contact local solid waste organizations or committees
- 31. Standards covered by Solid Waste Management Curriculum TNSWEP website http://www-tnswep.ra.utk.edu/ Projects WET, Learning Tree, WILD Mobius Curriculum http://www.alliedwastedalycity.com/mobius/index.cfm EPA’s Quest for Less and Recycle City http://www.epa.gov/
- 32. Please visit our website at www.harvestingpeace.org for more ideas and volunteer opportunities. The following url will lead you to a collection of solid waste education links and materials for use in your classroom. Please feel free to use this presentation in your schools and classrooms, it can be downloaded there as well. http://sites.harvestingpeace.org/educator-resources/
Editor's Notes
- #3: Isn’t this a session on the 3R’s, why is she talking about consumption and economics? Our objective in this session is to give teachers resources on how to teach the most important of the 3R’s: Source Reduction…Let’s start with an economics lesson. Presumption = an attitude or belief
- #4: Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never before seen.
- #5: Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never before seen.
- #7: Schools that model and teach principles of environmentally responsible behaviors to students will have a long-term impact. Teachers greatly impact the lives of their students and spend a significant amount of time with the children they teach.
- #8: The future of our planet will someday rest on the shoulders of the children you are now teaching. Teachers and parents are working everyday to educate the next generation of business owners and government officials.
- #9: Schools represent a large sector of the waste producers in this country, and they are typically some of the larger institutions in every municipality. If schools embrace environmentally responsible behaviors, there will be an immediate impact on its community’s contribution to the local landfill.
- #11: Changing buying and recycling habits when young will form habits that last into adulthood. Multidisciplinary subjects—math, science, art, health, social studies, history etc. Student participation inspires parent involvement (in home situation and then parent work situation). Can lead local governments that support school initiatives to find ways to reduce, reuse and recycle in their community at large.
- #13: Through source reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting, precious natural resources and energy are conserved, pollution is reduced, and less space is needed at the landfill. Failure to recover recyclables or minimize waste production results in the unnecessary depletion of our natural resources.
- #14: Through source reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting, precious natural resources and energy are conserved, pollution is reduced, and less space is needed at the landfill. Failure to recover recyclables or minimize waste production results in the unnecessary depletion of our natural resources.
- #18: Source Reduction is cutting down on the amount and toxicity of waste entering the waste stream.
- #19: Source Reduction is cutting down on the amount and toxicity of waste entering the waste stream. We’re talking fundamental change in consumption. Looking at your own buying (or selling) habits and finding the least environmentally destructive product. Here’s some ideas how to do this.
- #21: Sell unwanted items in yard sales or consignment or donate them to thrift stores. Sell on Craig’s List, LSN and other such sites.
- #22: Packaging lessons can cover nature’s packaging, toxicity, pricing comparisons, etc. 33% of waste comes from packaging. Styrofoam containers versus reusable container. Lunch box versus ziplocks with brown paper bags.
- #25: This forces manufacturers to create more environmentally sound products. It forces companies to use recycled materials in packaging and come up with solutions to further close the recycling loop.
- #28: Products made for single or limited use before disposal contribute to our “disposable” attitude and “throw-away” lifestyle.