Sustainability Fair

Everyday people go about using different types of things for their own personal needs. But do we ever think about how our actions are affecting Earth? On Friday, April 19 my school held a small 'fair' where the purpose was to create awareness of the resources that we use everyday and how we can reduce the amount of something we use, Etc to help our planet in some way. Around the entire 'fair' there were plenty posters that had different "Did you know?" facts stating how much of 'something' we use everyday and how doing 'something' about it can help the environment. Some of these were...

Save 40 liters of water by taking a shower

By recycling 1 aluminum can it's enough to run a T.V. for 3 hours

A ton of recycled paper equals 17 trees in paper produced

More than 1/3 of ALL energy is used at HOME

(Found at the Hawaiian Water Plant Station: Random Fact:
Purple is the color of non-drinkable water whereas the color Blue is drinkable (normally) Although not always true, it's believed to be true most of the time.)

These are only a few of them, there had been plenty more around the fair, but these are a few that I found the MOST interesting. Not only were there posters, but there had been sections, each with a table and posterboard explaining different aspects of the Earth and what damage we're causing (as humans) and what we can do to prevent different 'disasters'. One station that I went to explained fuel cells and their purposes. Apparently, fuel cells can be used instead of gasoline and are a better way of receiving power because it saves up energy. Fuel cells can be used with laptops and other electronics through satellites that give off solar energy.

Another station that I went to described my school campus and what the members of my school's staff are trying to do to make our campus a better place. In our school we have a Lily Pond with fish, turtles, and other thriving life. That water has been used to water our fields and such therefore conserving some water that would've been used on that grass. Also, the water doesn't evaporate any more which saves our planet even more water. Since the Lily Pond water contains nutrients as well, it also makes the grass happier and healthier. On my school campus, there are golf carts that drive by, carrying boxes and other items from one places to another. We have these golf carts because our campus is very large and it's very hard to transport things and even people from one place to another within a short period of time. Previously these golf carts had been running on gasoline, but now 85% of them run on electricity and that saves a lot of energy. Like the water, it's not only beneficial because of the conserving part, but also because it makes the air a lot cleaner for the students. The last one that I'm going to mention about how our school is trying to help the Earth is our biodegradable forks, spoons, and knives. These utensils had previously been plastic until early this year when we switched to starch based utensils. They aren't costly at all, so it's not only helping the environment but it saves some for the school to use for other environmental or educational purposes to make the atmosphere a better place for the students. Unlike regular forks, spoons, and knives, these biodegradable utensils are well, biodegradable and decompose faster than the plastic ones.

On the topic of decomposing there had been a timeline that showed how long it takes for different objects to decompose. Here is a list of things that I wrote down from that timeline:

4 yrs - Paper

25 yrs - Magazines

40 yrs - Cigarettes

120 yrs - Plastic (Bottles, Etc.)

200 yrs - Aluminum (Cans, Etc.)

300 yrs - Plastic bags

500 yrs - Styrofoam

Forever - Glass

One of the most impressive stations of all the stations was the one where a bunch of 5th grades (50 kids) had collected 1,800 bottles from the ground where they found them all over campus, Etc. and got $90 dollars for them. With this money they found a Adopt-A-Tiger Foundation where they could adopt the endangered species of Sumatran Tigers. With just $90 dollars they adopted three Sumatran tigers named Djelita, Berani, and Chrissie. The money was/is used to help these tigers and trying to help bring up their small population of 400-500 to higher numbers. When I found out about the amount of these tigers left in the world I was taken aback because I would've never even known about this before going to this station. I found it very heart warming to see that these 5th graders decided to do something for these Tigers at such a young age and already had an idea of trying to help out our Earth.

The most interesting, but a little on the repulsive side, station that I visited was the Worm Station. At this station the people explained that a specific type of worm, the Indian Blue Worms, help to decompose rubbish by eating the rubbish and pooping and peeing out a rich soil where people can use this to grow plants in. These worms are photophobic or creatures that hide from the light, so they only live in dark places. The only eat organic foods, so no meats or dairy, but some of the foods they eat include magazines, cardboard, dryer lint, junk mail, kleenex, napkins, vacuum dust, and wrapping paper. These worms really are helpful to the environment and are probably the only creepy crawlies that I will ever accept having on Earth. To give an example on how they work beneath the posterboard was a huge black trash bin where there were different types of rubbish thrown in together and worms crawling around inside making the rubbish into rich soil. I could see some of the soil as well for these worms had been there for awhile. It was amazing what work these worms could do and I was really impressed with what I saw.

At the end of the entire Sustainability Fair I went to the end where there had been a 'WORM GAME' where a person would pick a drawn, colored, and paper cut worm with a question on it from a huge box of sand. On the worm was a question, a question for the person who had received it to answer. They gave the people a chance to walk around to find the answer if they didn't know it already which I found very kind because it gave each person a chance to learn something new. When you got the answer correct they gave you a coffee cup, which held a slip of paper explaining that by using that cup we could save the hundreds of cups we use every day on campus. Instead of using these cups everyday we could use these coffee mugs and ask the snack bar ladies to fill them up with soda with a charge of only 50 cents. I found this a really creative and smart way for my school to try and help the environment and I think that it could make an impact on the amount of cups we use.

The entire Sustainability Fair was breathtaking. It really was marvelous and I had a lot of fun walking around and learning all these new things. I was surprised at most of the stuff that I learned, but happy at the same time. After going to the fair I couldn't help but smile because I was so glad that my school was trying so hard to make Earth a better place. I'm glad that my school had been taking part of helping the environment and really trying to do all these different things. Nothing comes without effort, and effort is what my school is willing to give.