#SOL18 3-28-18 POP! Update

A book by Claire Nivola called Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle caught our imagination early in the school year, making Sylvia Earle our class hero, and “You can’t care if you don’t know” our manta as we work to raise awareness among our peers and families in landlocked Colorado about ocean plastics. Students self-selected into advocacy groups, working to make a change regarding one of the four most common types of ocean plastic. We also have a “Great (School) Clean-up” crew and two student project coordinators. We spend some time at the end of every day working on POP!, our Plastic Oceans Project. 

It was a breakthrough day for POP!

Today the #foamfree group realized that the smoothies sold at lunch in the cafeteria as an add-on treat are sold in styrofoam. They decided the change they can make is to convince decision makers to change the container…and someone from #skipthestraws chimed in, “And they can stop serving them with straws while they’re at it!” 

The #skipthestraw group invited the #foamfree group to come with them when they present their data to the head of nutrition services for our school district—the decision-maker. The straws group has been collecting unused straws for three weeks in order to make a dramatic visual statement when they meet. Their goal: convince him to switch back to traditional mini milk cartons, the ones without straws.

The single-use plastic water bottle group decided to meet with the principal to ask if they can put out recycling containers in the cafeteria for the little bottles of water kids often toss in the garbage. To inspire other kids to change their habits, they’re going to post a weekly graph illustrating how many bottles are used and how many are recycled.

All of our groups started out with huge aspirations. Over time they have each independently (with little nudges from the coordinators) narrowed their focus to a single, manageable, and impactful goal. They have begun to embrace influencing the attitudes and behaviors of their peers as a worthwhile endeavor. It has been a powerful evolution to witness.

“Just as we have the power to harm the ocean, we have the power to put in place policies and modify our own behavior in ways that would be an insurance policy for the future of the sea, for the creatures there, and for us, protecting special critical areas in the ocean.” Sylvia Earle

Quote thanks to Brainy Quote.