Earth Day

The Earth Day Network grew out of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 and now, almost 50 years later, works with more than 50,000 partners in over 190 countries, using education, public policy, and consumer campaigns to preserve and improve the environment. The Network notes that more than one billion people world-wide participate in Earth Day activities.

The focus of  this year's Earth Day - this coming Saturday, April 22nd -is on plastic pollution, the bottles and bags that choke our waterways, litter our beaches and streets, and pose a deadly threat to fish and birds throughout the world.

 

While many schools have marked Earth Day with special lessons and events each year, we were impressed with a Climate Education Week Toolkit created by the Earth Day Network, with a week's worth of lessons focused on ending plastic pollution. The Toolkit breaks its resources down by ages - those for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. In addition, for each lesson topic, it has three kinds of activities: those that provide basic information about the subject; those that prompt students to analyze and think about the problem; and those that give suggestions of ways that students in each age group can help address the problem. 

The Toolkit also includes links to videos, such as How Much Plastic is in the Ocean? from PBS, as well as books, TED Talks, and even catchy songs for younger students. We think this is a terrific resource for both educators and parents -- for Earth Day and year round. 

photo credit: Emilian Robert Vicol via flickrcc