Plastic Pollution | Social Studies

Welcome to another post on my blog. This week, for Social Studies, we have been focusing on plastic pollution and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. First, we watched an 8-minute video about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch which gave us a lot of information about what it is and what we can do to resolve this global problem.

Ocean Pollution
Credit: Greenpeace

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Credit: Times of India

1. What did the video show us / encourage us to think about?
• This video explains the debris in the ocean. The scientists estimate that by 2050, there might be the same amount of plastic garbage as the amount of fish. SOME estimates hold that 99% of ocean-bound plastic waste is still unaccounted for. Plastic is a global issue and plastic accumulates in gyres (a large system of circulating ocean currents). Just the eastern part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch spans to 1.6 million kilometre square (roughly twice the size of Texas).
• The patch is like a smog of microplastic particles, billions of them, very toxic over a wide area. 
• Plastic can also become brittle and break apart, plastic pieces persist. It’s unable to oxidise or become waterlogged like metals, wood, or paper, all types of plastic are designed to defeat natural decay.
• “All the plastic that’s been produced since 1950, since it’s a synthetic material, hydrocarbons, it’s probability still here on the planet,” explains IPRC oceanographer Sarah-Jeanne Royer, PhD at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.
2. How much plastic is there? What are the scientists working on?
• Scientists are worried about single-use packaging (straws, bottles, bags, cup lids etc).
3. What do YOU think?
• This is not a good thing because each plastic bottle breaks down every 650 years.
• We can help and try to save the environment by using the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), not use single-use plastics, putting the rubbish in the right bins, etc.
• Now, we are seeing the UN talking about it, companies rising up and saying, “We’re going zero waste.” Seeing countries committing to stop the flow of trash from land to sea. It is possible to solve this problem. 
4. How can we help?
• We can help and try to save the environment by using the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), not use single-use plastics, putting the rubbish in the right bins, etc.
• Now, we are seeing the UN talking about it, companies rising up and saying, “We’re going zero waste.” Seeing countries committing to stop the flow of trash from land to sea. It is possible to solve this problem. 

Protecting the Environment | Social Studies

Last month, we looked at protecting the environment and what we did was picking up rubbish in the school area. Our class was split into groups and we chose our designated area to pick up rubbish. After 20-30 minutes, we came back into class and saw how much rubbish was picked up by all groups. The picture below is how much our group picked up in two areas of the school.

Protecting Our Planet - Trashing The World | Social Studies

Protecting Our Planet Starts With You
Credit: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ocean/earthday-infographic-large.jpg

Welcome to another post on my blog. In Social Studies, we've moved on from the big topic of Music Through Time to the next topic, Trashing The World. This topic involves climate change, our oceans, our planet. What we are doing is harming the oceans and the planet. Today's activity was to find the positive things which are going on in the world which is helping climate change. I've found a few articles which is helping pollution, reducing fossil fuels, planting trees, etc. Next to the article, is a link to the full article.

• France voted to ban domestic flights in favour of train travel if the trip takes 2.5 hours or less. Link
• Norway has been the first country in the world to see the sale of electric cars overtake sales of those powered by fossil fuels. Link
• Paris is removing 140,000 on-street car parking spaces, replacing concrete with gardens to make the city greener and more friendly. Link
• History made: for the first time ever, renewable energy surpassed fossil fuels as the European Union’s main source of electricity. Wind and Solar for the win! Link
• Scotland, home to 90,000 species of animals and plants, has announced plans to protect 30% of its land to boost biodiversity and tackle climate change. Link
• In just the first week of 2021, hundreds of locals in Indonesia have helped to clear 110 tons of plastic off four beaches (equivalent to the weight of 57 cars!) Link
• A Danish company lets you grow trees or plants from pencils. Their biodegradable pencils, which contain seeds, can be planted once you’re done using them! Link
• Plogging is a fitness trend that originated in Sweden and means to pick up litter while jogging. It not only takes care of the environment, but keep the ‘ploggers’ healthy too. Link
• Why cut down trees when you can grow wood in a laboratory? MIT scientists have developed a way to grow wood from plant cells that could help slow deforestation. Link
• A compassionate city in New Zealand is closing a busy road from a month to allow an endangered sea lion to nest with her pup and reach the ocean safely. Link