| 8. Waste |
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| Waste, junk and rubbish are
the dark side of a consumer society that takes poor care
of its environment, whether rural or urban. In fact we
now produce more waste than consumer goods. With packaging
and containers, we produce more rubbish than we are able
to eliminate (see incinerators). As individuals we can
REDUCE waste by buying fewer unnecessary things
that are later discarded, REUSING instead of
throwing out, using things in other ways or giving them
to someone; and RECYCLING useless objects and
waste by converting them into useable products. |
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| Ascertaining. In general, we need to ascertain
things when, based upon something of which we have partial knowledge,
we want to “go further”. For example, when we want
to know what is taken for granted in a statement or question, or
when, given a specific occurrence, we want to know how it came
about. There are many possible ways of ascertaining things. |
| A) Find in a shop, supermarket, etc. two like products:
one with a lot of packaging and without packaging. For example,
apples, lettuce, meat, etc. |
| 1. |
Observe and make a note of the type and materials
used in the packaging, and how much packaging each product has. |
| 2. |
Observe and/or ask if the packaged products are
of better quality than the unpackaged ones. (Compare prices,
place of origin, class, sell-by date if there is one, etc.) |
| 3. |
Why do you think people buy packaged products? |
| 4. |
What do they do with the packaging after removing
the products? |
| 5. |
What is the relationship between packaging and
pollution? |
| 6. |
What is the relationship between
packaging and energy consumption? |
|
| B) Ask other people (a someone in your family, a
neighbour, etc.) these questions and write your conclusions based
upon their answers. Note down what you’d like to ascertain
regarding these questions. |
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| List the type of waste
found in a park, garden or forest: bottles, plastic bags, etc. Based
upon your list, group the objects by general type: glass, plastic,
metal, etc. Before going on an excursion, prepare four or five large
boxes with the names of the four or five most common types. Clean
up part of the forest putting each object in its corresponding box. |
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| Exercise. Garbage
and sewage, in Wondering at the World. 7.4.10 |
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| © Grup IREF 2003, with the support of the European Commission, DG XXII (Socrates/Comenius 3.2) |
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