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The Kids
Ecology Corps is Kid Power!
You
Can Change the World!
Do you know that
you can change the world? The Kids Ecology Corps is
about your using what we call
Kid Power
to make change.
If you want to make
changes, you have to make a
commitment.
Making a commitment means sticking to something until it is
done. It also means that you have made a decision. If you make
good decisions, the changes you make will be good changes.
If you want to
change something that is too big for you to change by
yourself, you have to work with other people.
What happens if you
and your friends and a lot of other people believe the same
thing? What happens when everyone who believes the same thing
works together? They become what is called a
critical mass.
They can put lots of energy into making a change. When they
make a commitment to work together, they can make big changes.
Sometimes the changes are so big that the whole world changes.
We call the whole
world the
global community.
The
global community is
you, your family and friends, your community, your state, the
United States, and all the people and nations of the earth.
When the United
States Congress makes a law about the environment, other
people around the world pay attention. Sometimes, the laws in
the United States change the way other countries do things.
For example,
Congress passed laws that say a car's engine in the United
States can only produce a certain level of emissions. An
emission is
something that that is deliberately or accidentally put into
our environment that may do harm to living things. When a car
runs, the exhaust fumes it puts out contain tiny particles of
dirt and gases called hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides.
Hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are harmful emissions.
To sell cars in the
United States, car companies in Japan and other countries had
to make cars that polluted the air only as much as the law
said. That means that the engines they made had to be changed.
Some people had to learn new jobs. Other people had to change
the way they work. The emissions law in our country led to
changes in the way business was conducted in other countries.
It changed the global community.
How Does
Kid Power Work?
Kids working
together can make big changes. For example, let 's pretend --You:
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Decide you want
to start recycling in your school cafeteria.
-
Make a commitment
to make it happen.
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Learn about
recycling and what the school board says can be done in your
school.
-
Teach your
friends why recycling is good.
-
Show them how
recycling is done.
-
Get them to make
a commitment to help set up recycling in your school
cafeteria.
You
and your friends now form a critical mass.
You begin using your Kid Power to change things.
-
Teach the
teachers, the principal and your parents about recycling.
-
Work together
to show the good things that happen when recycling is
done, such as getting money for books for the new library
by selling recycled soda cans.
-
Design a
recycling center to show the principal.
-
The center is
built in the cafeteria.
-
You and your
friends teach other kids how to use the recycling center.
-
You put
together information on how much recycling is done, how
having clean recyclable saves money and how much money is
earned by selling recyclable.
Because so
many kids and adults at your school are committed to
recycling,
-
The school
board decides to look at recycling for all the schools in
your district.
-
Your
information is so impressive, they decide to do so.
-
They ask you
and your friends to help design the recycling program for
other schools.
-
Recycling
centers are put into every cafeteria.
Now
-- That's Kid Power!
KEC
Kids Learn: Activities
KEC Kids learn and
these activities will teach you more about
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how long it takes
for trash to decay in the earth.
-
how the pollution
that gets into our water can get into our food.
-
whether the air
in your community is polluted.
-
what happens to
plants when acid rain falls.
-
how you can make
your own recycled paper.
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terms that tell
you something about the environment.
The activities in
this section are really science experiments. Get your friends
and science classmates to do the same experiments. They should
get the same results. Scientists call that
replicating
the results. When we can replicate an experiment's results,
that usually means that what we learned is always true.
Be sure to clean up
after you do each of these activities. Pick up your trash and
throw it away the correct way. Put everything away in its
place.
Pick an Activity:
#1: How and What Does Nature
Recycle Naturally?
#2: When You Use Water, You Use
Everything In It.
#3: Is the Air In Your Community
Clean?
#4: Create Acid Rain in Your Own
Kitchen!
#5: Be Your Own Paper Recycling
Company!
#6: Do You Know What Soil Is Made
Of?
#7: How Tall is Your Favorite Tree?
#8: Build Your Own Rainforest
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