Many Children Take a Love for the Planet Back to School

 

For many children in the United States, going back to school means more than returning to classes and homework. It means getting back to school groups and student organizations interested in environmental sustainability.

Sustainability can involve everything from reducing food waste and making fertilizer from organic material to organizing campaigns for cleaner oceans and waterways.

April Peebler is executive director of a California-based group called Heirs to our Oceans. It tries to help 12- to 17-year-olds from around the world learn about and fight for environmental causes.

Peebler told The Associated Press that young people are usually more active in sustainability issues than adults are. “There’s a lot of passion there, and a strong desire to deal with the problems facing the environment,” she said.

Fifteen-year-old Hannah Ono of Massachusetts has been active in environmental causes for years. When she was 10-years-old, she and some friends launched a petition on the internet. They urged Americans to tell the restaurant Dunkin Donuts about their opposition¹ to Styrofoam cups.

About 300,000 people signed up for the online campaign. Ono says they helped persuade the company to stop using the cups for coffee and other drinks by 2020. “My next petition is for the City of Boston to ban Styrofoam containers,” she said.

Perhaps the most famous teenage environmental activist² is 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden. She motivated others to launch climate-change strikes around the world last year.

Thunberg plans to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City later this month. She will join world leaders who are expected to present plans to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions⁴. Studies have linked such gases to rising temperatures in Earth’s atmosphere.

Thunberg spoke⁵ at a recent meeting of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. She told them, “I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.”

Joelle Alley⁶ is head of EarthTeam, a California non-profit group. It offers an internship⁸ program for children interested in sustainability. The group offers to pay young people who sign up as interns⁷.

Alley says the group starts each school year by presenting its program to around 10 under-resourced high schools in the Richmond, California, area.

She says EarthTeam organizes teams of 14 interns from each school. The children then work with adults to identify environmental problems at their school and in their community. The students then “come up with action campaigns to help solve the problems.”

The Food Recovery Network is one of the largest student-led movements fighting food waste and hunger. Students at U.S. colleges connect with college dining halls, local shelters and food pantries to make sure surplus food is given to those in need.

Regina Anderson is the group’s executive director. She says students have recovered 3.9 million pounds of food so far this year.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

emission³ – n. the act of giving off; something that is given off

internship – n. a program for a student or recent graduate who works for a period of time at a job in order to get experience

sustainability – n. the act of using methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources

pantry – n. a room or closet used for storage (as of provisions) or from which food is brought to the table

passion – n. intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction

petition – n. a formal written request made to an official person or organized body such as a court

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

4 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

7 interns   

n.住院实习医生( intern的名词复数 )v.拘留，关押( intern的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Our interns also greet our guests when they arrive in our studios. 我们的实习生也会在嘉宾抵达演播室的时候向他们致以问候。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• The interns work alongside experienced civil engineers and receive training in the different work sectors. 实习生陪同有经验的国内工程师工作，接受不同工作部门的相关培训。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

8 internship   

n.实习医师，实习医师期

参考例句：

• an internship at a television station 在电视台的实习期
• a summer internship with a small stipend 薪水微薄的暑期实习