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.
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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.
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Teach your friends why recycling is good.
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Show them how recycling is done.
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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.
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Teach the teachers, the principal and your parents about recycling.
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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.
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Design a recycling center to show the principal.
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The center is built in the cafeteria.
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You and your friends teach other kids how to use the recycling center.
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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.
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The school board decides to look at recycling for all the schools in your district.
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Your information is so impressive, they decide to do so.
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They ask you and your friends to help design the recycling program for other schools.
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Recycling centers are put into every cafeteria.
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You and your friends
The principal and the parents agree to begin a recycling program.
Because so many kids and adults at your school are committed to recycling,
Now -- That's Kid Power!
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.
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how the pollution that gets into our water can get into our food.
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whether the air in your community is polluted.
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what happens to plants when acid rain falls.
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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?