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It’s nearly the holidays … picnics after school, relaxing in the park, meeting up with friends by the river, maybe a day trip to the beach? However, as Dumbledore said … ‘It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are…’
This week’s challenge asks you to think about your choices. Sometimes it might feel easier to be a Young Climate Warrior at home, but can you choose to help combat climate change whilst enjoying the summer and having fun? As a Young Climate Warrior can you choose to remember the reusable carrier bags, to take a picnic in a reusable container, choose to fill up your water bottles and avoid drinks cartons? Will you say ‘no thank you’ to the straw in the café, choose to take your friends’ crisp packets home to recycle them, and take homemade snacks? If you’d like to extend the challenge – how about choosing to sign up to Plastic Free July!
If you’re with your family or friends on a beach or by the river, you might choose to join the ‘Great Nurdle Hunt’. Nurdles are small lentil-sized plastic pellets. Billions are used each year to make nearly all of our plastic products, but a large number end up in our oceans and beaches as a result of accidental spills. Microplastics such as ‘nurdles’ are broken down in the ocean into smaller and smaller pieces, they are then absorbed by plankton, reducing our ocean’s ability to store carbon, as well as harming other sea life. Is it a nurdle? This identification chart might be useful. Check this out – a not-for-profit company ‘NURDLE’ have invented a ‘vacuum cleaner’ that sorts plastic nurdles from sand – that’s a cool job choice! You may find these Beach Guardians inspiring: ‘tackling beach plastics’.
What factors do you think have the most influence over the choices you make? Understanding the issue? Feeling it’s just the right thing to do? Following your friends? What would you choose from these summer-time choices? … Would you rather … buy a drink on the beach every day or fill up your own water bottle each morning? Would you rather buy a new surfboard, or make do with the slightly broken one you found in the garage? You might choose the cheaper option, the easier option, or the ‘cooler’ option, but if you have a Young Climate Warriors hat on, you might also think about the longer term and wider impact that your choice could have on our natural world. Avoiding plastic, avoiding waste, and reducing consumption are all ways to help combat climate change.
When you’ve made your choices and committed to sticking with being a Young Climate Warrior over the summer, then HIT THE RED BUTTON!
