Bigtown has changed

In the ten years since our molecules were last down this route, there have been a lot of changes. They are surprised to be approaching the city of Bigtown and find that the farmers' fields which used to surround Bigtown have all disappeared. New communities called suburbs have taken up the land where cows grazed and vegetables used to grow.

Even more surprising is the size of the landfill site which collects the garbage from Bigtown. It is enormous! Where did it all come from? Talk about making mountains out of molehills!

Packaging, problems to solve

Can you think of one negative thing that might happen if suddenly all manufacturers cut out excessive (extra) packaging right now?

Problems to Solve:

Many municipalities are running out of places to dump their garbage.

1. The average Canadian produces about 2 kilograms of solid waste a day.
   At that rate, how much solid waste will be produced:
   • by you in a year? since you were born?
   • by your family in a year?
   • by your town/city/community a day?
     
     
2. If one cubic metre of solid waste weighs 90 kilograms, how many cubic metres of solid waste are produced in your community in a day?
   
   
3. Measure your classroom and calculate its volume. How many classrooms of solid waste do the people of your community produce each day?
   
   
4. What are five effective ways we could reduce the volume of waste in our dumps?

Grocery packaging survey or "why wrap a coconut" Accompany your parents on their weekly grocery shopping trip. Make a list of all packaging used. Make a list of smart packaging. Why don't we find as many soft drink bottles and beer bottles in the garbage as we do pop cans? Make a list of excessive packaging - size, layers, non-recyclable, different materials. What is thrown away as soon as it arrives home? (Are there things your family buys that you do not need?) Does your family use reusable shopping bags? If not, why not? Be Active Write a letter to a store manager or a manufacturer to express your feelings about wasteful packaging. Encourage others to do the same. If enough people write, the message will get through. Be a problem solver. Suggest smart packaging ideas. For example, encourage the use of reusable shopping bags; question why two grapefruits are wrapped in a tray covered with cellophane.

Fun time

Word search

This puzzle contains 31 words related to the world around us. Can you find them? They are listed vertically, horizontally, diagonally and backwards.

The six letters which are left over spell an environmental word.

E   V   R   E   S   N   O   C   N   I   A   R
L   D   E   R   E   T   T   O   A   E   C   E
C   I   H   A   B   I   T   A   T   L   I   V
Y   S   T   E   E   R   T   U   U   A   D   I
C   P   A   L   P   S   L   O   R   B   R   R
E   O   E   O   O   L   E   Z   E   O   I   I
R   S   W   P   O   C   A   O   U   L   B   A
I   E   M   P   O   G   E   N   S   G   T   R
R   O   T   L   U   G   R   E   E   N   E   E
C   R   O   L   N   D   N   A   L   T   E   W
R   G   E   A   G   A   R   B   A   G   E   D
Y   B   R   E   A   T   H   W   A   S   T   E

The leftover letters spell? ___________

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