March 25th is Earth Hour, a global program sponsored by World Wildlife Fund for Nature to help the environment. The challenge is simple – give one hour of your time for the planet. You can spend the sixty minutes doing anything positive for the environment – pick up trash, plant a tree, or turn off all your lights and electric devices. It is a good time to be thoughtful and intentional about ecological problems and their solutions. Earth Hour offers a number of teaching and learning tools on their website, as well.
This year, Assistant Professor of Management Jaynne Rivas’ Business and Society’s class will host a recycling competition, “Race to Recycle” with funding support from a community grant. Teams will compete to gather the most recyclable plastic by April 13th – they can be student groups, academic departments, or any group of individuals. Teams should register here and then start collecting #1 or #2 plastics (these can be identified by the looped arrow symbol with a number in the center on the plastic item).
#1 plastics are polyethylene terephthalates, and are usually things like lightweight disposable beverage bottles, cups, and other packaging like plastic trays. #2 plastics are high-density polyethylene, which are usually things like cups, milk jugs, and thicker plastic bottles such as shampoo containers. These are the easiest plastic substances to recycle, and most recycling facilities can handle them. The larger the recycling number, the more difficult the process of recycling the material, so fewer facilities are available to handle it. That is why this competition is limited to #1 or #2.
The graphic above gives examples of what types of plastics are recyclable, and what they can be repurposed into. Unlike recycling aluminum or steel, where the repurposed product is put to the same uses as the originals, plastic recycling goes in different and sometimes surprising directions (with the resulting material sometimes becoming a higher number of plastic). It is also a good guide to what you can look for to win the contest. Note, for example, that a plastic Coke bottle can be recycled (#1) in this competition, but the plastic rings holding multiple bottles together cannot (#4).
At the end of the competition, Dr. Jaynne Rivas’ class will demonstrate a new Precious Plastic molding-machine, and a prize will be given to the winning team!
The library offers a lot of resources to learn about the environment and volunteering. Several databases are of value – GreenFILE documents the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and governments and examines what can be done at each level; and the Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection offers scholarly journals and technical reports from global publications that examine environmental action and policy. Social issues databases like CQ Researcher Plus Archive or Opposing Viewpoints are also useful, with both of those having a focus on more than environmental topics. We also have curated content in a Sustainability Resources libguide.
Books about volunteering to help the environment include titles like The Eco Hero Handbook: Simple Solutions to Tackle Eco-Anxiety by Tessa Wardley, Environmental Activism on the Ground: Small Green and Indigenous Organizing by Liza Piper, Earth Day and the Environmental Movement: Standing Up for Earth by Christy Peterso, The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear by Douglas Bevington, A Healthy Nature Handbook : Illustrated Insights for Ecological Restoration From Volunteer Stewards of Chicago Wilderness by Justin Pepper, and Everyday Environmentalism: Creating an Urban Political Ecology by Alex Loftus.
If you’d like to learn more about sustainability at IU East, like the Sustainability Council Facebook page!
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