Chapter 18: Saving the World, One R at A Time!

It is widely acknowledged that our world faces urgent problems—such as climate change, displaced populations, and limited resources—that negatively impact natural environments and socio-cultural relationships (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2010). Although these issues of sustainability concern everyone, children have greater stakes because it is their future that may be comprised (Elliot & Davis, 2009), they are typically hit the hardest by disasters and social injustices (Siraj-Blatchford & Pramling Samuelsson, 2016), and they are the future of sustainably sensitive citizens. This 5E lesson on waste reduction touches on all three aspects of sustainability: environmental, socio-cultural, and economic (Siraj-Blatchford, 2016) in an age-appropriate way. To illustrate, the lesson emphasizes the use of fewer natural resources (environmental), working with others to produce less waste (socio-cultural), and saving money (economic). In particular, the lesson will focus on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle) because even though children in kindergarten understand that waste is managed and should not be left lying around (e.g., litter), almost none understand why we recycle (Palmer, 1995) or the importance of reducing and reusing.