Go+Green

=**Essential Question:**= How do the environmental changes affect America?

=Challenge:= To get more people to recycle& be conscious about the percentage of trees being cut down. Also, to gain their awareness about what they can do to help the environment.

==****Guiding Activities:**** == 1. Student Survey 2. Ms. Lindstrom 3. Internet Research (see questions below in guiding resources)

=Guiding Resources:=

Interview Questions for Ms. Lindstrom

 * 1) What activities do you do with your club to help out the community?
 * 2) We do a lot of garden clean ups. We go out to the Sapienza gardens with trash bags and pick up all the garbage. We have also occasionally cleaned the courtyard. We went to Wooddale Park and planted a buffer around the lake to bring new habitat in. Also, we planted flowers in the front of the school. I invited speakers to the school to talk to us about environmental issues. Hugh Carola from Hackensack Riverkeeper came to talk to the kids in the club about our water usage and some of the issues with pollution in that area and the building that is going on in the Hackensack area. Also, the club works with local environmental groups for ideas about how to help the environment. Earth scouts have come in to present eco-friendly gift-wrapping. The recycling program at PV is on going. There are recycling bins in all the classrooms, either paper or plastic. The club has also switched everything in the school to paper and plastic except the ice cream cups.


 * 1) What lessons do you teach your students regarding the environment?
 * 2) I try to teach the students in my club about sustainability. This means that if we don’t slow down our consumption, recycling cannot happen and everything gets dumped in landfills. I also try to teach them about conservation and how to use as little as possible. Also, to be cautious about their lifestyle choices.


 * 1) How have the students been impacted from being in the club?
 * 2) The impact is how enthusiastic they are to do projects. They find some on their own online to do with the club. Some students have started environmental clubs at their colleges to educate even more people about how they can help the environment.


 * 1) What have you done to help out/ hurt the environment?
 * 2) Help out: I recycle all the time at school and whenever I can. I have al so planted trees and plants. I use a reusable water bottle& lunch box everyday. I do not use plastic utensils. I bring mine from home to school to use.
 * 3) Hurt: Driving is a big thing I do that hurts the environment. I drive everywhere, which causes a lot of pollution.

Survey Questions For Students:
1. Does your family recycle at home? Yes or No 2. What do you do with your empty water bottles? a) Just throw it away in any garbage. b) Find a recycling can. 3. Do you every help the community in any way. Example: Planting or cleaning up your town. Yes or No 4. Has your family ever cut down trees on your property? Yes or No

Internet: we got facts on recycling and how it can help from this website: http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/recycle.htm we found the amount of Americans that don't recycle on this website: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/08/28/25-of-americans-dont-recycle/ we found the number of trees cut down each year and why trees are cut down from this website: http://understory.ran.org/2008/04/22/how-many-trees-are-cut-down-every-year/

**Survey Results:**
1. Yes: 129, No: 9 2. Any Garbage: 63, Recycle: 72 3. Yes: 26, No: 112 4. Yes: 97, No: 43

Sources:
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/08/28/25-of-americans-dont-recycle/ http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/recycle.htm http://understory.ran.org/2008/04/22/how-many-trees-are-cut-down-every-year/

Solution/Action:
In America there are countless environmental issues that people are unaware of. Recycling is extremely important when conserving the environment, but as of August 2007 25% of Americans still fail to recycle. Americans still struggle with recycling today. Another huge issue America has with the environment is cutting down trees. Americans also do not realize how everyday activities, like driving, hurt our environment. The country as a whole needs to change the way we take care of the environment or environmental issues will continue to increase. Thousands of Americans still do not recycle. Recycling is extremely important for the environment. Recycling reduces the need for landfills. When items are recycled the are reused to make new items. Not only do people need to recycle but they need to buy items made from recycled materials. After interviewing Ms.Lindstrom, the advisor of the school environmental club, we learned that she always does her best to recycle. She also informed us that the environmental club spends a lot of time promoting recycling in the school. Although some people do recycle, after conducting a student survey results showed that out of 138 students only nine recycled at home. Although these people don't recycle at home, the environmental club has helped our school learn to recycle. Out of 135 students 72 recycle at school and 63 don't. Even though there is a large number that still do not recycle at school due, to recycling being promoting by the environmental club many students recycle during the school day. Recycling is an extremely important factor in order for America to have a healthy environment and it can definitely be improved. Another huge issue not only in America's environment but the world's environment is the amount of tress that have been cut down. Trees everywhere are cut down for land to build on, for making paper, or just for wood. In some cases trees do need to be cut down but there are still so many trees that can be saved. Each year 3-6 billion trees are cut down. This is not only bad for the environment but it is also taking homes away form animals that live in trees. Out of 140 students 97 of their families have cut down at least one tree on their property. So many trees are cut down everywhere everyday, including our neighborhoods. Along with trees being destroyed, cars are also a hue problem in America's environment. Everyone uses cars but they are hurting our air everyday. Ms.Lindstrom said driving is the worst thing she does to the environment. She said she drives everywhere and wishes she could change that to help our environment. It is extremely important that everyone begins to make changes to save our environment. Simply recycling and buying products made form recycled goods can help save so many materials. In order to fix the problem of too many tress being cut down everyone can cut back on the amount of paper goods they use. The less paper we use the less trees have to be destroyed. Americans also drive way too much. Even though driving is necessary in today's world people can carpool so less fuel is being burned. In order for our country to have a healthy environment every American needs to make a few small changes in their everyday lives.

Notes:
9/17- Today we created our questions for our surveys/interviews. We also e-mailed Ms.Lindstrom to ask her when she'd be available for an interview. We also plan on getting information from the internet later on. 9/20- Today we went to classes to do our student survey. 9/21- Today we starting writing our solution 9/22- Today we asked Lindstrom her survey questions and continued working on the written solution 9/24- We continued writing out solution and started working on the iMovie. 9/27- we fixed the wiki pages and continued working on the iMovie.