At Monroe Middle School, seventh-grade students have been studying issues related to consumption. Consumption is the study of how people use the world’s resources to make goods, products and services. Students examined topics such as fossil fuels, recycling and food waste. Students were then challenged to explain how these topics could relate to their lives as seventh graders in Monroe. They could choose from several options; such as writing a persuasive essay, designing a brochure, writing and producing a commercial using makerspace technology, and writing a letter to the Monroe Times. Each of these projects had a common thread — increasing the effect that 12- to 13-year-old students can have on our community.
By Ava Bauman
Parents: Amy Hanson and Barry Bauman
Have you heard of consumption? That’s what the 7th grade students at Monroe Middle School have been learning about for a while now. We have learned about food consumption and how there is enough food for everyone, but some still go hungry. Also, we have learned about how more developed countries have higher consumption rates of things like oil, food and more household products. Another thing that we’ve been learning about is computer and internet consumption. Some people have easy access to internet and others have to go to places like libraries to use computers. Finally we learned that the world’s biggest producers are also home to the highest consumers. The U.S. is one of the biggest of each.
Since learning this information about consuming, I want to show how important it is to know this. As a citizen of this planet, you should know that every year 1.3 billions tons of food goes to waste. Also, research shows we will run out of oil in 55 years or less. Finally, the average household in America has about 300,000 items. These numbers are eye opening and should provoke change.
Ultimately there are things we can do to change and help the planet. We can start with only eating what we need to and not buying what we think we will eat tomorrow but never do. We can also use electricity less, which will impact you directly by saving you money on your energy bill. Finally, we can be smarter shoppers. Next time you go shopping think “do I really need this? Or will it go to waste?” Overall our consuming patterns are one day going to consume us if we don’t do something soon.
By Emma Tran
Parents: Jaimie Tran and Nguyen Tran
Middle school social studies classes have been studying consumption. We have learned how much resources we use up and how that isn’t the greatest thing at all. Shirts, for example. Those use a lot of resources. For example, one shirt takes up 2,700 liters of water. T-shirts need this much water because of how much water cotton needs in order to grow. We have also been learning about what we can do to not use as much resources and maybe save money.
Imagine that you are currently drinking out of a plastic bottle. Why plastic when you can get a reusable one? Besides, you might be thinking, it’s OK I will reuse it. DON’T unless you want to be drinking chemicals. After reusing a plastic bottle over and over again the bottle will either began to leach chemicals or it can grow bacteria. A woman named Priscilla Langone reused a plastic water bottle and she experienced a hoarse throat so bad she couldn’t talk. She stayed that way for three days. This shows the dangers of reusing a plastic bottle if you don’t recycle it. You might think another decent option would be to throw it into a waste bin; this is not the case. Plastic water bottles can take up to 450 years to biodegrade. Yep, 450 years! All of the plastic bottles used in your lifetime could be taking up space in the bottom of a lake. The fish in this lake could be eating the rotting plastic.
Imagine you are currently eating. Will you finish your food? If not, is it because you made too much? If so, will you offer it to your friends and family? If you did and they end up not liking the food? You made a lot. Well, why did you make that much? That is a waste of resources. Then you might say, I will just have left-overs. Well yeah, but what if you forgot about the food? You now have moldy food just sitting there in your fridge. Now, I am not saying to make your kids or family eat the food. Just learn from it and next time don’t make so much food. Make sure that your family will eat the food and they will like the food. In the picture it shows that you lose about 45percent of fruits and vegetables; think about that and then ask why. Why did you waste the food? Did you not make the food for your family? Now here are some things you can do to save money but most importantly you aren’t wasting resources. You could unplug chargers when the chargers aren’t charging anything, you can turn the faucet off when you’re not brushing your teeth. What do you do when your clothes get too small? Do you throw them away, give them away or reuse them? Well, if you said yes to one of the last two good job, but if you do the first one you’ve got some work to do. Instead of throwing your shirts away, make them into rags so you can save money. You can also make a stuffed animal and make someone’s day better if you give the stuffed animal as a donation to a hospital. Please, after reading this letter, don’t keep on wasting resources and use them correctly.
By Maisie Mayer
Parents: Tara Mayer and Joshua Mayer
I’m Maisie, a seventh-grader at Monroe Middle School. I’d like to discuss a topic with you. That topic is about the environment and overconsumption. As a seventh-grader I have learned about consumption and how what we consume is bad for our planet. To begin with, consumption is the buying and using of products. Products are made by producers. As Americans, we are major consumers. There are many ways you can stop living a wasteful life, and also save money. As a citizen, knowing about recycling is important. It’s important because you might find yourself self-consciously recycling since you hear about it so much. “The first step to change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.”
— Nathaniel Branden.
Take plastic for example. It ends up in our oceans and around the world. Considering plastic takes a long time to break down, it is very bad for the environment. A way to use less plastic is to take cloth or reusable grocery bags to the store, instead of using the plastic bags they have. According to Toronto Environmental Alliance, a plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. You know those plastic water bottles? You might be drinking out of one right now, well they can take up to 450 years to break down. Recycling is a major part in our consumption. We need to recycle for several reasons. It is important to recycle because recycling can create jobs, save animals and eventually save the planet. Here are some simple ways to recycle things right, from Recycle Right Wisconsin. One, check for the recycle symbol on containers or boxes. If there is not one then don’t recycle it. Two, rinse out your plastic. Food residue can cause problems when sorting recyclables and affect other materials like glass and paper. Plastic also causes many forms of pollution. Recycle your plastic and the planet will be a safer and happier place!
Water. We also waste water. Saving water is crucial, because only about 2 percent of water is drinkable on our planet. Just a cold hard fact. We need water to survive or we will die. One way is to take a shorter shower. Yes, most of us probably take a way longer shower than needed. According to Constellation: An Exelon Company, an average shower wastes about 2.1 gallons per minute. The less water you use the lower your water bill will be, and if I know anything about adults, they love saving money. Paper is another thing we waste. During class the teacher will say, “Stop killing trees!” because we are using unnecessary amounts of paper. According to Mr. Rooter Plumbing, an average American consumes more than 700 pounds of paper each year. Paper accounts for 25 percent of the waste in landfills. About 68 million trees are cut down each year, those trees could have been homes to many different species of animals. Trees are also needed to make oxygen, and once again we need that to live. Trees don’t just give us oxygen they take in harmful greenhouse gases in the air, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide etc.
Overall, we need to start living a less wasteful life. Stop buying those useless things and save up for something else you need. Buy reusable things, recycles and save other resources. The reason this is so important is because without the resources on this planet, or the planet itself, we will die. There are currently no other inhabitable planets in our solar system so why waste what we have now? Whether you start small, or do something huge, it’s helping the planet and ultimately, ourselves.
