Action Plan
Part A: Solution
In one year the bottled water industry expends 2.5 million tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide and kills an estimated 1.1 million marine organisms (Grey). Our solution is centered around reusing items that you can find around the house, things like plastic bottles, spare clothes, or grocery bags. By reusing items, we aim to reduce people’s overall consumption and alter their consumption habits. We also aim to educate people on how consumption choices are linked to carbon emissions, and that little changes in our lifestyles can make a big difference.
Overconsumption is tied to the biodiversity crisis through means of pollution and habitat degradation, as well as carbon dioxide emissions released during production or waste disposal. Plastic pollution impacts biodiversity by causing direct mortality via starvation, or indirect mortality through absorption and increased concentration of pollutants or degradation of habitat. One pound of manufactured PET plastic produces three pounds of carbon dioxide emissions (Blue 2018). Even if you recycle, studies show that each piece can only be recycled around 2 to 3 times before it is no longer usable (Sedaghat, 2018). Humans are consuming resources at a faster rate than the world can naturally replenish, causing the depletion of natural resources like fresh water and arable land.
Part B: Challenges
One challenge we keep in mind is ensuring that the repurposed craft materials are familiar products. We expect that if children recognize these materials from their homes and communities, they will more easily understand how the craft relates to sustainability and personal consumption habits. We also want the craft to be fun and easy to replicate so that the kids can continue learning and crafting at home. We also anticipate some difficulty when it comes to quantifying the efficacy of our action plan; one possibility is counting the total number of crafts produced during our in-person workshop, as well as the number of places lesson plans are distributed. We could also quantify how many plastic bottles and bags we end up using in our in-person crafts.
Part C: Specific Actions
The first step will be to gather materials (plastic bags, water bottles, fabric, paper, markers). We will experiment with these materials and decide on two to three crafts that are easy and utilize materials that most families have on hand. Our current plan is to make water bottle bird feeders and plastic bag ornaments (stars, etc). We will bring markers, paints, and yarn to give children the opportunity to decorate their crafts.
We will contact the Neighborhood house and set up a 2-hour chunk of time on a weekday, most likely a Friday because that is when most of us are free. We will prepare samples of our crafts ahead of time to test how well they work, learn the process, and have a visual representation of what the final product will look like that we can show the kids. We will also think about how to make the crafts accessible to a wide range of age groups.
We will contact the neighborhood house and figure out what materials (such as scissors, tape, glue, markers, etc) they already have and whether they have any suggestions for our lesson plan. After our community center visit, we will make a general lesson plan that could be used with groups of school-age children. The lesson plan will lay out how we made and taught the crafts, as well as ways to use the crafts to talk about biodiversity.
Part D: Promotion & Engagement
As a group, we plan on catering our message to elementary school-aged children and their interests. Children like hands-on activities, so we thought that winter crafts would be the perfect way to bring them into the conversation! We want to make sure that the children enjoy their time, but also want to be sure to explain to them the meaning behind their crafts and why reducing waste is so important. Our lesson plan will include a “how-to” for recycling, a recycling game, and will explain how taking these actions reduces the amount of waste in our landfills and natural areas. By promoting the concept of reusing and repurposing materials in a child-friendly way, we hope that the message will stick with them as they grow up. We plan to translate our in-person crafts into a lesson plan so that our activity can be repeated by other educators and people involved in community outreach. Additionally, we are creating a pamphlet with crafts to do at home, so that our message can be shared with communities we were unable to visit in person.
Part D/E:
Through this action plan, our product consumption team is hoping to foster a passion for conservation and sustainability within the Madison Community. As a part of our lesson plan, we will be sure to include various organizations and events within the Madison community available to our target audience. This will likely include a shout-out to the WID Discovery Expo, and various nature centers around the Madison (and greater Madison) communities – Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, UW Arboretum, etc. We will also be sure to include a list of local parks and ways to connect with nature in our hands-on activity, as well as ask the children what their favorite way to connect with nature is! Our shared goal is to inspire the younger generations to take an interest in the state of our Earth in an engaging manner, and pass this knowledge on to their families and friends. We plan to create a lesson plan for an in-person activity and take-home options for the children to enjoy on their own; additionally, we hope to distribute these take-home flyers to other local community organizations and nonprofits that may offer an extended interested demographic.
A measurable index will likely take the form of informal feedback from the participants and their caretakers. We will ask students what they learned, aiming to get responses about the importance of reusing and recycling. Another avenue for measuring the kids’ engagement in the activity and lesson could be asking them about what their friends and loved ones use around the house that can be recycled or reused. This will be easier in person; however, feedback from local participants may include a record of how many flyers were taken and any other comments or critiques. We will know if this group has been successful if we receive positive comments from activity participants and notice of families who took an activity flyer.
Sources:
Blue M-L. (2018). What Is the Carbon Footprint of a Plastic Bottle? Sciencing. Retrieved on 10/17/22 from https://sciencing.com/carbon-footprint-plastic-bottle-12307187.html.
Grey, C. (n.d.). Why are disposable water bottles harmful to the environment? - office H2O. Why are Disposable Water Bottles Harmful to the Environment? Retrieved October 15, 2022, from https://www.officeh2o.com/2020/02/27/why-are-disposable-water-bottles- harmful-to-the-environment/
Sedaghat, L. (2018, April 13). 7 things you didn't know about plastic (and recycling). National Geographic Society Newsroom. Retrieved October 10, 2022,
from https://blog. nationalgeographic.org/2018/04/04/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-plastic-andrecycling/#:~:text=Every%20time%20plastic%20is