GREEN NINJA
TEACHER SUPPORT MATERIALS
NAME OF GREEN NINJA VIDEO: Everyone can be the Green Ninja
MAIN TOPIC OF VIDEO: How everyone can do things to save the planet
Click HERE to watch this episode! (Link)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Frame:
1. You have finished drinking a can of soda. What should you do to the can next?
Why? Be as specific as possible.
2. You and your mother are at the grocery store going through checkout. When asked,
“Would you like a paper bag or plastic bag?” How would you answer? Please
explain.
3. You are in a rush to get to school. Are you going to bring a refillable water bottle to
school or are you going to grab a non-refillable water bottle from the garage? Why?
Focus:
1. What is a landfill? What is the closest landfill to your home? Be as specific as
possible.
2. Why are landfills harmful to the environment? Be as specific as possible.
3. Use the picture below to answer the following questions:
a. Why are the items below recyclable? Be as specific as possible.
b. Why are the items below compostable? Explain how this works.
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Follow-Up:
1. How can you live like a Green Ninja every day?
2. What can you do to let everyone know that they can be a Green Ninja too?
3. Explain how the phrase- refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and repurpose is related to
being a Green Ninja.
ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Frame:
1. You have finished drinking a can of soda. What should you do to the can next?
Why? Be as specific as possible.
a. You can do one of two things. First, you can put the can inside a recycling
container. Once it is full, the can will be taken to a recycling facility where the
can will be shredded and processed into new aluminum cans. Second, you
can collect all soda cans and once you have a garbage bag full of cans, you
can take it to a recycling facility where you can get paid for recycling. You
can be paid by the piece or by weight. If paid by piece, it is $0.05 (CRV) for
any container under 16 oz. and $0.10 for any container over 16 oz. If paid by
weight, aluminum will fetch a different price per pound than glass or plastic.
Check with the recycling facility for current prices.
2. You and your mother are at the grocery store going through checkout. When asked,
“Would you like a paper bag or plastic bag?” How would you answer? Please
explain.
a. The best answer is “No thanks. We brought our own bags”. In San Jose,
grocery stores will charge you $0.10 for each paper bag that it provides. In
terms of economics, it is better to bring your own bags which are reusable.
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Environmentally speaking, having a reusable grocery bag is better because
trees are not being cut down to create paper bags. Even though paper bags
are compostable, it will take many years for that to happen. The first act in
being environmentally friendly is refusing to use anything that is not
renewable. Plastics bags can be recycled but it takes a huge amount of
energy to recycle it.
3. You are in a rush to get to school. Are you going to bring a refillable water bottle to
school or are you going to grab a non-refillable water bottle from the garage? Why?
a. Refillable water bottles are your best option because of three reasons. First
of all, reusing is one of the best options in reducing the use of resources.
Second, plastic water bottles are made with chemicals such as BPA which
has been shown to cause cancer and birth defects in laboratory animals.
Third, having a reusable water bottle is definitely economical in the long run.
Focus:
1. What is a landfill? What is the closest landfill to your home? Be as specific as
possible.
a. Landfill is another word for a garbage dump. In the United States, sanitary
landfills are places where the garbage is dumped. Sanitary landfills have
safeguards in place which can prevent both air and water pollution. For
example, it has leak detectors which can detect the leaking of chemicals
from the garbage dump into the groundwater below. Additionally, some
sanitary landfills also have exhaust pipes for the methane to escape from
the landfill. Methane is a gas that is produced from the decomposition of
garbage. People might find that landfills are unsightly and smelly.
2. Why are landfills harmful to the environment? Be as specific as possible.
a. Landfills can be harmful to the environment because of the potential air and
water pollution that they can cause. As stated before, some landfills have
issues with dust and smell. If you live downwind from a sanitary landfill, you
may have a whiff of the decomposition that is happening there on a
particular day.
3. Use the picture below to answer the following questions:
a. Why are the items below recyclable? Be as specific as possible.
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1) Items that can be recycled are remade into the same/similar objects as
before but huge amounts of energy are used in the process. If left alone,
it will take hundreds or thousands of years for it to break down.
b. Why are the items below compostable? Explain how this works.
1) Items that can be composted take no extra effort and or energy to break
down. There are broken down by bacteria through the natural process of
decomposition.
Follow-Up:
1. How can you live like a Green Ninja every day?
a. You can live like a Green Ninja every day considering the following. First of
all, realize that your individual daily actions can impact the environment.
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Individual actions do matter. Second of all, be a smart consumer. Reading
labels and thinking about where things come from, how they are made, and
whether we really need them are all things to think about. Third, consider
your diet, and the idea that red meat and processed foods typically have
higher environmental impact than fruit, veggies, and grains.
2. What can you do to let everyone know that they can be a Green Ninja too?
a. Consider yourself a role model. If those around you see that you are serious
about being green and not just talking about it, they will more likely follow
your actions. Second, it is also about awareness. How would you build that
awareness? That would be through education. This can be either formal (in
a school setting) or informal. Once again, it is all about being a role model.
Third, having environmental-theme days on campus is quite powerful. For
example, Earth Day started with a few individuals over forty years ago in the
United States. Now, it is worldwide with millions of people celebrating it.
3. Explain how the phrase- refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and repurpose is related to
being a Green Ninja.
a. Why would a Green Ninja live this way? First of all, by refusing to use or buy
something that either you don’t really need, or is not recyclable or reusable,
you are stopping the use at the beginning. Second, if you reduce, you are
not buying as much which means less resources are being used. Third, if
you reuse, you are once again not buying as much which means less
resources are being used. Fourth, if you recycle, you are using less raw
materials even though recycling does require energy. Lastly, if you
repurposed, you are using the recycled materials in a new way which is also
a great idea.
ADDITIONAL NOTES AND RESOURCES
Check out some of the resources for The Five R's at the Green Schools Initiative web
page at: http://greenschools.net/article.php?list=type&type=51
 6 Resources for Becoming a Zero Waste School
http://greenschools.net/article.php?id=396
 Waste Reduction & Recycling Checklists & Tools
http://greenschools.net/article.php?id=465
Five R’s of Responsible Waste Management-Waste Fact Sheet
http://www.rivcowm.org/opencms/WasteGuide/FactSheets/FiveRs.pdf
Credit: This teacher resource has been adapted from content originally developed by
Chung Khong.
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