Embracing Our Earth - Earth Week Event 2024It's time for Bridgeway Academy's annual Earth Week event. Did you know that our planet is uniquely designed specifically to host life? For the week leading up to the 54th anniversary of Earth Day (Monday, April 22nd), our Beta Honors Club students put together activities to help us learn more about our Earth through both common objects in our daily lives and global issues. God said we should be good stewards of the Earth--taking care of it and all that lives on it. We will learn how to do that while also learning how to help our planet through what we buy and do. Every item has an impact on our planet, some good but too many in a bad way. For each day during the week, there is an adventure-filled activity described below, focusing on a different aspect of taking care of the Earth. There will be fun and learning for the whole family! There are age-appropriate videos, websites, activities, and journal questions to complete. Get started with this handy footprint calculator. High school students, there will be community service hours given for the journals and any activities you complete during the event. It varies by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st. The first adventure is on April 16th! Details follow for each day of the week. "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." -- Native American Proverb Day One - Our Fabulous ForestsApril 16thWe’re starting our Earth Week adventure learning about something we all need to survive – Trees! Did you know that if we kept losing our forests at the current rate so many things would go wrong on our Earth? Our carbon dioxide levels would go up and our oxygen levels would decrease even more. Pollution would increase overall as it is our trees that clean the air. Even more animals and birds would go extinct, and other plant life would die. It would be harder to build everything from furniture to homes, our food prices would go up even more, and paper would be in short supply. Many of our medicines come from the rainforests and more are being discovered there regularly. However, our forests are at risk because of human demand for things like palm oil, coconut, avocados, and other imports. For our first mission, we’re going to learn more about deforestation and what we can do to stop it with a couple of these videos. Video 1 - Elementary and middle school Video 2 – All grades Video 3 – Middle and high school Next, select at least one of the activities below to complete Activity 1 – Go to the Arbor Day Foundation and learn more about its work. Participate by planting a tree or donating so that others can! Ms. Holly, who leads our Beta Honors Club has purchased trees and fruit-bearing plants from here for her house and donated 10 to the forest! Activity 2 - Be an Amazon Activist through this link and start making changes from what you’ve learned. Tell us about it in your journals or on our Bridgeway social media! Activity 3 – Take your learning a step further by researching the value of our rainforests and make a presentation for your family. Share it with us in your journal section. Finally, take some time to reflect on what you learned today by journaling answers to the following questions. A few sentences for each will do.* What are three things you learned in this mission? How can you embrace our Earth through preventing deforestation? Even a single change like not buying products with palm oil in them can make a difference. Do you think we could make enough of an impact if we made changes now? Why or why not? *High school students can complete these steps along with the journal to earn community service hours. Hours vary by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st! Day Two - Secret Life of ClothingApril 17thOur second Earth Week adventure has us learning about something we all need – clothing! The life cycle of a simple t-shirt is complex. Today, we are learning what goes into the clothes we wear and how it impacts our Earth. Watch this video about the process. Surprising, right? So much waste goes into a shirt, all so we can have it super cheap. But is the cost to our planet worth it? Or is it better to spend a few extra dollars on something with organic cotton or made of recycled materials like fabric made from soda bottles? It uses half the water and energy of cotton! Do you really need all those clothes and the latest fashion? What’s the point if it poisons the Earth? For our second mission, learn more about how we can make our clothing in better ways with these videos. Video 1 - All grades Video 2 - Middle and High schoolVideo 3 - All gradesNext, select one or more of the activities below. The more you do the better our Earth will be! Activity 1 – Answer the questions at the end of the TED lesson and do the Dig Deeper part Activity 2 – Green your wardrobe with these great ideas. Activity 3 – Go through your clothes and donate what you are not wearing often. Better yet, donate through www.givebackbox.com Finally, take some time to reflect on what you learned today by journaling answers to the following questions.* What are three things you learned in this mission? What Activity (s) did you complete? Think about your wardrobe. What is the minimal amount of each kind of clothing you could live with, now that you know the damage it can do? How could you spread the word to others about the need to make our clothing less harmful? *High school students can complete these steps along with the journal to earn community service hours. Hours vary by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st. Day Three - Feedback on Food WasteApril 18thWe all need to eat. Eating is needed to sustain life, and it is something which can be enjoyable. Many of us prefer to eat animal products while others prefer a diet that is mostly plant-based. While food is needed for life, the waste we create from growing and making it is damaging our lives and the planet. According to the US Department of Agriculture, food loss or waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply. That’s approximately 133 billion pounds of food a year! There are many causes of food waste. All of it while much of the world goes hungry, including those in the US. Much of this food already had a negative impact on our Earth due to chemicals used to grow it, pollution from making and shipping it, damage from factory farms, and synthetic or harmful ingredients added to processed foods. For our third mission, let’s delve deeper into the facts behind food waste. Video 1 – Elementary School Video 2 – Middle and High School Video 3 – Middle and High School Next, complete one or more of the activities below Activity 1 – Learn more about food waste and take some of these challenges at home! Activity 2 – These 25 Ways may take longer to implement but it is worth it in the long run – Some of our students have been making great gains in their homes with this list! Activity 3 – Go to https://www.localharvest.org/ and find where to buy locally-raised animal products. Support them by getting your chicken, beef, pork, eggs, or milk from them! Or join companies like Misfit Market or Imperfect Foods. Our Beta Honors Club students love to use these. Finally, take some time to reflect on what you learned today by journaling answers to the following questions.* What are three things you learned in this mission? What Activity (s) did you complete? How are you planning on embracing our Earth now that you’ve learned about Food Waste? Brainstorm ways to spread the word about food waste so that others can help you in making changes. How can you be a food waste ambassador? *High school students can complete these steps along with the journal to earn community service hours. Hours vary by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st. Day Four - Plastic PollutionApril 19thWhile there’s no way to fully escape plastic, we can drastically reduce our purchases of it and use of it. Plastic lingers in landfills for hundreds to thousands of years and is so toxic! Most plastic is made from oil, so a lot of pollution and damage to our Earth happens just to get that oil out of the ground and turned into plastic as well. Using a reusable water bottle, being mindful of plastic packaging, buying in bulk, or storing in glass jars are just a few ways we can embrace our Earth and reduce that waste. Using new plastic alternatives like corn and potato starch “plastic” is also a great way to help our Earth with this big problem. For our fourth Earth Week mission, watch the grade appropriate video links below. Video 1 - Elementary and Middle School Video 2 - All grades Video 3 - Middle and High School Plastic Pollution is actually the global theme of Earth Day 2024! There is so much on this website to help you learn more about the topic and how to make changes. Our Beta Honor Club students are using what they’ve learned and pledging to embrace our Earth better with change, like using mesh bags for produce and bringing their own bags when shopping. Next, select one or more of the activities below to complete. Activity 1 - One way to reduce waste is to reuse or give to another person to use. You can join places like Freecyle or the Buy Nothing Project. Activity 2 – Take the Plastic Free Pledge and work towards it Activity 3 - Reuse plastic containers with these fun projects! Finally, take some time to reflect on what you learned today by journaling answers to the following questions.* What are three things you learned in this mission? What Activity (s) did you complete? Which of these actions are you going to take to help reduce plastic pollution? Do you think we can do enough to fix some of the damage? Why or why not? *High school students can complete these steps along with the journal to earn community service hours. Hours vary by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st. Day Five - Our Wounded WildlifeApril 20thOur fifth day of adventure is upon us, and we’ll be talking not just about our Earth’s wildlife, but how their being wounded impacts us too. There is a growing crisis where our wildlife is in decline by almost 70% in only the last 50 years. More species have gone extinct in that time than any other in recorded history. Those that do survive are impacted by ingesting microplastics and lead. Lead poisoning has killed more of the United States national bird, the bald eagle, than any other reason in the last 40 years. There is another consequence too…when we eat those animals, be it fish, beef, deer, even chickens, we sicken ourselves too from the lead and the chemicals. We can embrace our Earth by making changes per our prior days' adventures, and also with other initiatives, like not buying any item containing microplastics and buying lead-free fishing sinkers or ammo. We can help slow down the rate of decline in our wildlife by focusing on those changes even more. For our fifth mission, let’s learn a bit more about our wounded wildlife. Video 1 – Elementary and Middle School Video 2 - Middle and High School Video 3 – Middle and High School Next, select at least one of the activities to complete Activity 1 – Research an endangered animal or insect. Did you know our honey bees are in danger? Make a poster about that species and share it with your family or friends. Activity 2 – Delve deeper into lead poisoning in California Condors and in people. Make a plan to spread the word about this danger and share your plan in your journal. Activity 3 - Plant a native garden! Look up what plants are native to your area and build a small garden of them. This will provide a safe habitat and help native insects and birds thrive. Are you in an area where monarch butterflies are? Don’t forget the milkweed! Finally, take some time to reflect on what you learned today by journaling answers to the following questions.* What are three things you learned in this mission? What Activity (s) did you complete?What changes can you make in your and your family’s life to help our wounded wildlife? Using what you learned, do you think we can slow or stop the decline or extinction of so much wildlife? Can they make a comeback? *High school students can complete these steps along with the journal to earn community service hours. Hours vary by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st. Day Six - What Else Can We Do?April 21stWe’re almost to Earth Day! It has been a fun week of missions and learning about parts of our daily lives we can change to embrace our Earth. It may seem overwhelming, but even the smallest changes can make big impacts. The more of us who make these changes, the better outcome for our Earth and for us! Our Beta Honor Club students came up with this list of what they want to do or have been doing. Watch one of the grade appropriate video links below Video 1 - Middle and High School Video 2 - Elementary School Then, complete one of the following activities. Activity 1 – There’s lots to see and do on Earth Day’s website Activity 2 - Complete a couple of the 41 awesome activities here to make a difference Activity 3 – Try out some of these games to learn more! Finally, take some time to reflect on what you learned today by journaling answers to the following questions.* What are three things you learned in this mission? What Activity (s) did you complete? What will you, as an individual, do to help out - to be that pebble in the pond whose ripples spread out to make bigger and bigger changes? Tell me two ways in which you have not Embraced the Earth. *High school students can complete these steps along with the journal to earn community service hours. Hours vary by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st. Day Seven - Let's Embrace the EarthApril 22ndIt’s Earth Day! Did you know that Earth Day is the largest globally celebrated secular holiday in the world? More than 500 million people in 174 countries celebrate it. Today is the 54th anniversary of the day we celebrate our unique Earth! It is a special time to be thankful for this amazing planet and all it has given us. It is also a great time to give back. Visit EarthDay.org to learn about some campaigns that you can join to help make a positive change in our world. Find out what Earth Day activities are taking place in your community and get involved. And then commit to changing at least one daily habit that will have a meaningful impact on our planet’s future. For our final mission, we are going to celebrate our Earth by learning more about this holiday. Video 1 - Elementary Video 2 - Middle School and High SchoolNext, complete one of the activities below based on your age. Activity 1 - Earth Day Activities and STEM Ideas for Kids Activity 2 - 12 Meaningful Earth Day Activities for Every Grade Activity 3 - Check out and go through some of the great resources here Take some time to reflect on what you learned today by journaling answers to the following questions.* What did you do today to celebrate our unique Earth? Write about the major concepts you learned over this past week? What would you like to see for next year's Earth Week celebration? Thank you for taking part in this journey to learn more about our planet and how you can leave an impactful legacy. *High school students can complete these steps along with the journal to earn community service hours. Hours vary by level of participation. The more you do, the more you earn! After Earth Day, email them to your advisor or holly@bridgewayacademy.com. Deadline is May 1st.
