Continuing on with the previous article that I posted, which was about Well-Being day during the No Impact Week (NIW) 2015, I will now be explaining what Environmental Core Council has accomplished on the Nature day during the NIW.

 

Nature day is a second day of the No Impact Week. As the name of the day suggests, Environmental Core Council has implemented and set up a tagline, "Nature is awesome" and "Take a breather." For those of you who may be wondering what a "breather" might be,  "breather" is a name that we coined for a plant. (After all, plant is an essential organism responsible for inhaling the carbon dioxide that humans produce and for providing us back with oxygen- we need oxygen for breathing). Our goal for this particular day was to become environmentally conscious individuals by being friendly to the nature. As part of our initiatives, we decided to add green space everywhere in teachers' classrooms.

 

We made a sign-up form opened to all high school teachers who wanted to get a small/medium-sized plant for free. After teachers signed up for plants, Environmental Core Council members purchased plants and distributed these plants to the teachers who signed up for plants. We also put Environmental Council (ECo) logo sticker on the pots of plants. The teachers were definitely exhilarated after receiving plants. However, I also reminded each teacher that it is his/her responsibility to take care of the plant. In this way, it is not only us, the Environmental Council, who are trying to spread environmental awareness within the school community, but also the teachers who are taking care of the nature and being environmentally friendly.

 

Environmental Core Council has also made a video for promoting the Nature day. The link to the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjsH5UIX7JI. It is a short clip but it not only encompasses the focus of the nature day, but it also shares the importance of nature not only within the school community but also within the world.

 

In sum, we as the Environmental Core Council have implemented various initiatives to address the theme of nature. However, I believe that we could have done more meaningful activities that could invite and motivate students to become more environmentally conscious and be friendly to the nature. One idea that I've came up while writing this article was to have a simple activity, in which all the students in elementary, middle and high school students could participate. We could have a simple event- "Did you know" event, in which we could come up with numerous cool facts about nature. In this way, students can become amazed and more excited to be actively part of participating in the No Impact Week.

 

For example, I have come up with possible 10 "Did you know" with the help of the website: http://www.did-you-knows.com/did-you-know-facts/nature.php .

 

Here are the list of 10 "Did you know":

 

1.     Did you know reindeer like bananas?

2.     Did you know lemons contain more sugar than strawberries?

3.     Did you know 85% of plant life is found in the ocean?

4.     Did you know Koalas sleep around 18 hours a day?

5.     Did you know rabbits like licorice?

6.     Did you know most lipsticks contain fish scales?

7.     Did you know elephants are the only mammal that can?t jump?

8.     Did you know a crocodile can?t move its tongue?

9.     Did you know a group of geese is called a gaggle?

10.   Did you know the Amazon rainforest produces half the world?s oxygen supply?

 

Here are some pictures that I took of a plant with the Environmental Council logo sticker put on the pot and the Nature day poster.