We Root for Earth

In this episode we share our experience with monitoring river water quality and we provide reminders on having a sustainable Thanksgiving. We are so happy to be restarting our club podcast We Root for Earth with our newest members. The Environmentalist are 6th, 7th and 8th graders who care deply about protecting our environment and making a difference in our community. Join us on our mission to improve the environment!

Happy Thanksgiving!

ReduceFoodWasteThisThanksgiving

We are thrilled to begin our third season with a new group of students.  We have been busy working on two projects which we hope will inspire you to get involved with environmental issues.  You are welcome to compete against us in The Purple Plow Challenge.  Check out their webpage for information about the project.  We Root for Earth!

After months of planning, our project is finally happening!  Hear about our first Habitat Hotels workshop which was a great success.  This workshop taught families the importance of pollinators, why non agressive bees need homes and how to build them.  The workshop was made possible by the support of our local library and by the grant money provided from EarthEcho International as part of our 2nd place win in the OurEcho Biodiversity Challenge.

This is the last podcast for our first season but dont worry, we will be back in June to start season two.

In this episode we have students from our 9th period Science Class that are here to talk about invasive species and Illinois prairie. 

In this episode hear from our team of students who tried a plant based diet for the first time.  Check out our blog posts on Instagram We Root for Earth or lookg at the recipes we tried on our website.

World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2 billion people living without access to safe water. Students are learning about human impact on our natural resources as they investigate communities around the globe facing a water crisis.  As they put together proposals on how to fix these problems, students are tracking their water use and many have made a commitment to reducing water use.  These are their stories of what they hope to change.

In this week's episode, hear about our new challenge of trying to a plant based diet.

In addition, we are joined by guest speakers from the 7th grade science class who share their plans to reduce human impact on the environment in order to protect animals.

In this episode learn more about the Sustainability Challenge and hear how we are staying on track.  So far, we have successfully completed 15 out of 15 tasks.  We have found this challenge to be rewarding and we have enjoyed sharing our daily progress on our Instagram We Root for Earth. Check it out and see what we have accomplished.  This week we are also joined by special guests Sammie and Harper who share some things they have learned that can help reduce our human impact on the environment.

Let’s be honest — you’re probably like most people who have already given up on their New Year's resolution.  Why not start something new that could have a more lasting impact?  Join us on our journey to be more sustainable.  In this week's episode, learn small habits you can easily change that can make a big impact on the environment.  We are excited to have a special segment this week with our guest speaker, Autumn, who will tell us what she learned about  e-waste and recycling batteries during a school project.

Homemade gifts and life experiences are personalized gifts that come from the heart.  Try giving these types of gifts this year.  If you are not creative or not sure what someone would like, before you buy lotion, candles or soaps, consider using a small business in your community or look for environentally sustainable companies.

Check out some of these business for environmentally friendly gift ideas.

Made Trade

By the Sea Necklaces

Cozy Crackling Candles

ELF

Grove

Green Coast Glitter

Amazon

The Spruce Eats

Lush

Socks that Plant Trees

We were inspired by the following websites and social media accounts:  Plastic Free July, Olivia for the Ocean, My Green Closet, Good Housekeeping

Happy Thanksgiving!  This podcast is about simple ways you can celebrate a wastefree Thanksgiving.

Here are some eco-friendly tips:

• Go natural. Decorate with nature. Bring pine branches, pinecones, acorns, and colorful leaves into your home. It will add fragrant beauty to your table.  And after the holiday, these decorations can all be returned to nature.
• Shop locally. Try shopping at a farmer's market near you. Local foods require fewer greenhouse gases to get to you, and are usually grown on smaller farms using more sustainable practices.
• Reduce food waste. Tons of food will be scraped into the garbage this Thanksgiving. Start with smaller portions to reduce this waste.
• Repurpose. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner is the leftovers. Store in reusable containers with reusable lids, and try making a delicious stock for soups, chilis and stews with what is left of the turkey.
• Recycle. The aluminum trays used for baking the turkey (if you use one) are recyclable. Cleaning these pans can be a bit of a chore, but it’s a big piece of aluminum worth recycling.

In this episode, we tackle textile waste and how it can be recycled. Also what makes it a costly and difficult procedure. A few things from a past episode, Fast Fashion Episode 1, (Our first official episode!) were mentioned such as upcycling, so if you want more specifics be sure to check that out.

Sources used

Chicago Textile Recycling

BBC

This episode discusses what an oil spill is and more specifically why the California oil spill is important. Along with how individuals can help. Sources used for information: LA Times, CNN, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Cover picture from ABC News

Check out our new podcast and hear about our experience on World Water Monitoring Day. 

It is the start of a new school year, so this episode is an introduction to some new members and just a conversation between us about the environmental issues that matter to us.

In this episode learn about a few different ways you can reduce the amount of plastic that can be found in your lunchbox.

If you have ideas on how to create a zero waste school lunch, please share them with us.

Todays episode is a continuation to Episode 6: The Prairie State? We share some ideas on what can be done to help restore the prairie and at the end of the episode we share some exciting news.

Join us as we learn about the habitats around our school in Northeastern Illinois.  This is Part 1 of 2 in a series talking about our new project Habitat Hotels, our plan to increase the pollinator population.

In this episode we hear personal testimony from a school administrator who took our suggestion to try using bar shampoo and conditioner as a way to reduce single use plastic.

In this episode we talk about a project we started for the students of our school so they can learn about the importance of plants. We hope you enjoy hearing about the project.  Let us know if you want to know more about it.

Learn about a project we worked on for the Purple Plow Challenge sponsored by the Department of Agriculture

Learn a little history about Earth Day and what you can do to make a difference.

Our first official episode is about Fast Fashion because with it being spring, a lot of people are probably doing spring cleaning which may mean cleaning out closets and getting rid of clothes which do not decompose in a landfill.

We are a group of students sharing what we are learning about environmental issues and we would love it if you would join us our journey to make the world a better place.