Plastic bags, plastic bottles, and plastic caps! On rainy days, plastic street litter gets washed down the sewer, into local waterways then up onto our beaches. These students want you to understand how local street litter becomes a huge global marine litter problem!
This illuminating documentary is #6 in Cafeteria Culture's YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS series - created by 8th grade students in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
A message from the 8th grade filmmakers:
Jamaica Bay Beach, located in Queens, NY, is a national park that has a litter problem. Plastics and other types of litter are getting on the beach, which is confusing the animals that live there because they do not know what is and is not food. On a trip to Jamaica Bay to conduct a beach litter survey and a cleanup. We collected many types of garbage, from plastic bags to bottles to polystyrene cups…you name it! With your help, we can conserve our beaches and save animals’ lives by making sure we dispose our trash correctly and reduce the amount of plastic we use. Please help us keep our streets and beaches clean for a safer and better future environment!
#cleanstreetscleanbeaches #saveourbeaches
"Keep it Wavy, Keep it Clean” illuminates the vital role that citizen science, litter surveying and beach clean-ups play in terms of reducing the ever increasing amounts of plastic litter entering our local waterways and oceans. Using data collected from beach ad street litter surveys, we can educate our communities, as well as our elected officials, on what specific types of local litter are most prevalent, making our parks and beaches ugly, and negatively impacting marine wildlife.
From a Eunomia, UK, 2016 report:
- Over 80% of marine plastic pollution comes from land-based sources.
- 94% of the plastic that enters the ocean ends up on the sea floor.
- Barely 1% of plastics are found floating on or the near the ocean surface and by contrast, the amount estimated to be on beaches is 5 times greater.
"Keep it Wavy, Keep it Clean” was created by 8th grade students at MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn (NYC Department of Education, District 17). The curriculum is part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, YOUTH ARTS + MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS School Program (2016), which has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional support via our UL Innovative Education Award (2015), The Fund for the City of New York, and private donors.
Cafeteria Culture is creatively working to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Learn more at cafeteriaculture.org
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