International Plastic Free Day 2019
“It is one world. And it’s in our care. For the first time in history of humanity, for the first time in 500 million years, one species has the future in the palm of its hand. I just hope he realises that that is the case.’’ ~ Sir David Attenborough
It was in the year 1862 that the revolutionary invention of plastic was made by Alexander Parkes. A few years later, in 1868 John Wesley Hyatt invented the first synthetic polymer as a substitute for ivory with need to preserve natural resources. Since then, there has been no looking back to the usage of this magical material, being durable, pliable, light and relatively inert by nature. Plastic is considered as one of the first fully man-made material with no natural resources involved in it. Plastic made it huge in the market and became a solution for almost everything. Despite the hazardous effects, plastic became a part of everyone’s lives; so much so that in recent decades, we have all witnessed the drastic change that our planet has undergone. It has become essential to eradicate plastic for the future generations to breathe in a cleaner environment. It was until recently that ‘Plastic free day’ became a part of ‘International Plastic Bag free world’ initiative commenced in 2010 by GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives), Fundacio Prevencio Residus I Consum and Zero Waste Europe. This day is a call for everyone to come together to combat one of the major environmental challenges: to eliminate the use of single-use plastic bags in the world. Most plastic bags take hundreds of years to degrade, and many aren’t even easy to recycle. They collect in the ocean, affecting wildlife and even making their way back into the food we eat.
3rd July ‘International Plastic free day’ came up as a unique opportunity to spread the word that a plastic free world is possible. At Victorious Kidss Educares, we strive to involve students in varied initiatives to make them aware of their surroundings and imbibe international mindedness considering the global perspectives. Our young and dynamic environmental campaigners of MYP have taken a step forward towards the betterment of future generations with great enthusiasm and zeal. The hands-on activities conducted by our IB facilitators were to educate, get educated on plastic ban and to adopt a lifestyle to bring back the healthy environment we once lived in. It is to bring about a change on a local level to imprint an impact globally. The activities, conducted across all the disciplines and grades were of a varied range: from understanding the hazards of living in toxic environment full of plastic to finding alternatives to live in a sustainable environment. With an aim of making students realise that their consistent efforts will contribute to a better world for tomorrow. Our perspective to view any issue and idea should change and we should transcend beyond our local and national boundaries to make world a better place to live. Our curious minds of MYP 2, during Science sessions, recorded the trash they generated in daily lives using four corner method, followed by reflection to use resources wisely by reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering. MYP 1 students were engaged in an interactive activity “There is no away” to list down the ways and techniques to reuse and recycle plastics which developed International mindedness and communication skills as each one voiced their opinion on this global issue.