Our boys watched an inspirational slide show showing healthy land and healthy people -vs- devastated land and devastated people. There were visions of deforestation, pollution, over fishing, drought, and garbage. They learned that this is a global issue, and that the poorer the country the more devastated it becomes. Then, that it is the duty of those with more (our boys) to protect the earth for those who have less and we can start here and we can start now.
We read inspirational poems about tackling problems and how we can make a difference. The Starfish Poem “it counted for that one”, some excerpts from The Lorax and of course Sara Sylvia Cynthia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out by Shel Silverstein!
The boys were also educated on endangered species. They were able to vote for two animals that they would like to save with the money they earned selling raffle tickets. We also wrote letters to our Congressman expressing our concern over garbage/pollution and banning plastic bags.
Once they had a vision and realization of how garbage can affect the health of the earth we headed out to pick it up. The boys worked as a team clearing trash, cups, plastics, cigarette butts (yuck) off a heavily trafficked street in their neighborhood. With bags full and a feeling of good deed we stumbled across an empty picture frame that we used to capture a worthwhile and meaningful day.
