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Measure how much
junk mail your family receives in a certain amount of time, then
contact Direct marketing, Mail Preference Service and other organizations
to get their family off junk mail lists and measure the reduction.
How many pounds of paper are saved in one month, etc.? |
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Measure packaging
and compare cost savings with buying in bulk versus lots of individually
packaged items. How much garbage is generated by excess packaging,
what does it cost, where does it go, what are the alternatives? |
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Save trash, do
a mini waste sort. Measure and categorize the waste and report on
charts. |
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Make a mini landfill
to show its parts, the items found in it and their decomposition
rates. How quickly are these landfills filling up? How could we
extend the life of a landfill? What are some of the problems associated
with landfills and what are some solutions? |
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Where does methane
gas come from and how does it affect global warming? |
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Demonstrate the
greenhouse effect by measuring the temperature within a light trap
(box covered with glass or plastic). |
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Demonstrate
ways to reduce and/or reuse garbage. By doing these things could
you save money on your garbage service? How? |
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Make a worm compost
bin and demonstrate how easy it can be to compost food waste. Include
some tests or variables involving the size and type of bin, the
amount and kinds of food that are being put into the bin, amount
of food versus the amount of worms, etc. |
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Determine how
much energy and landfill space is saved by recycling. |
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Check out local
stores and see how many items are made from recyclables or can be
recycled. |
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Compare the durability
of printing inks made from common vegetables. |
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Demonstrate
how paper can be recycled and paper made at home. |
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Compare the durability,
look, texture, etc of hand made “recycled” paper made
from different types of paper and plant materials. |
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What effect does
acid rain have on plant life? |
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Is trash incineration
a viable alternative to landfills? |
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What effect would
an oil spill have on plant life, marine life, etc? |
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What is the role
of heat and microbes in composting? |
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Examine roadside
litter, determine both cause and source, and recommend methods of
combating it. |
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How does the
rate of rainfall affect soil erosion? Demonstrate. What role does
trees and plants play in reducing soil erosion. |
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What are all
of the benefits of having plants and trees lining a stream or river.
What is a riparian area? Show models of with and without. |
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Can food scraps
quickly and economically be turned into food scraps? |
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Create a perfect
compost pile with just the right balance of materials (brown stuff
(carbon), green stuff (nitrogen), air circulation, moisture). Build
several different piles and vary the amounts of the types of materials
in each. What effect will differences in the ingredients have on
the finished compost? |
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Test the effectiveness
of compost as something that adds nutrients to the soil by planting
two small potted gardens/plants, adding compost to one and only
using soil for the other. |
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Are safe homemade
cleaners as effective as commercial cleaners? What are the cost
differences? What are the dangers of certain chemical cleaners and
what do the labels tell you? |
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Ideas for water
conservation at home and at school. If you have a leaky faucet how
much water is being wasted per day, per year? |
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Design, construct
and test a mechanical method of separating solid waste from recycling. |
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Check out how
much paper your school recycles and come up with ideas to recycle
more paper or other materials such as aluminum cans, glass, etc. |
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Find out how
many paper products your school buys are made from recycled paper.
Come up with a plan to increase this amount. What does “closing
the loop” mean? |
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Organic fertilizers
versus chemical fertilizers. |
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How earthworms
affect our soil. Put two kinds of soil (potting soil on top and
clay soil on the bottom) in a glass jar. Put earthworms in it and
feed them. Put in dark place and watch for a month. What happens? |
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Transfer station
tour, see what’s being recycled and what’s not. Come
up with ideas to improve recycling in the county. |
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Build a model
of a watershed and show how people can affect it. |
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Build a model
of an aquifer out of a plastic two-liter bottle to show how groundwater
is affected by wells and pollution. |
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Using plastic
two-liter bottles you could make a water filter, sand pendulum,
lung capacity tester, collapsing container experiment (temperature/pressure),
oceanographic densiometer, terrarium, and much more. For these ideas
and more read Recycling Two-Liter Containers for the Teaching
of Science, by Alfred De Vito. |
