|
Student Union
Austin Glen, |
Third-graders
know not to litter,
what about you?The following letters were written at the end of the school year by students in Maria Dumas' third-grade class at Jefferson Elementary School, as part of a project they worked on in cooperation with the Hawaii Nature Center and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"The goal of the project is to bring awareness to the public that trash is a problem and it is threatening our water system," Dumas explained. "It isn't the only problem, but it's one that everyone can do something about now."
The students called themselves the Trash Busters, Dumas said. They armed themselves with gloves and trashbags and picked up trash at school during recess time for about a month. They also made posters with environmental messages, which they hung around the school.
For their time and effort they received an all-expense-paid field trip to, and guided tour of, the Pouhala Wetland Marsh. An additional award of $500,000 will be used to purchase science supplies for the classroom.
Dear People of Hawaii,Did you know that our land, air and water are being polluted with garbage? Pollution damages our vegetation, animals and people. This is a serious problem, but together we can make it better.
Please help me and my friends at Jefferson Elementary School pick up trash. It only takes a minute but you can also help by putting trash in the trash can, reporting illegal dumping and sorting your trash for recycling. Let's keep Hawaii clean!
Austin Glen
Dear People of Hawaii,If you see trash, don't just step over it and walk away. Pick it up and throw it in the trash. If you are pouring oil in the ocean, please don't do that. If you don't pick up your trash, it will pollute the water and the air. Some birds can die by getting trapped in a plastic bag. If you feel sorry for creatures you love, pick up your trash and keep our Hawaii clean.
Please keep Hawaii clean for us and for you. If you have the strength to keep Hawaii clean, God bless you. Keep up the good work of cleaning.
Frantaysha Woo
Dear Friends of the Earth,Our world is really dirty and full of rubbish like candy wrappers, plastic bags and soda cans. So please throw the rubbish in the trash cans. If we all do this, we can make our world clean.
If we don't clean our environment, people can get sick by breathing the polluted air. Also, animals can die, like the birds that eat rubbish from the ground because they think that is food.
Even fish and sea turtles die from the polluted water. So please make our environment clean. Throw your trash and rubbish in the litter can.
Melanie Yuen
Dear Residents,Do not throw rubbish on the ground. If you litter everywhere, it will get blown into the water and the sea creatures will die by it. The soda rings will choke the turtles. The land creatures will eat it because they don't know if it's their food. If people throw leftover foods like bones of the fish, it will make bacteria and make the place smell stink.
We are doing a project to help the environment and we are going to pick up trash, too. Please support us by telling people about it and doing it yourself.
Truman Tseng
Dear People of Hawaii,You are making Hawaii look like garbage by not throwing rubbish in the rubbish can. Everyone needs to pick up their rubbish after their self.
Pick up rubbish now and you won't live in a dump.
Trav Gerard
Jefferson Elementary School
www.k12.hi.us/~jefferso/main.htm
Join the Student Union
Student Union is a forum for Hawaii's teenagers to tell the community what's on their minds and in their hearts. It appears every Thursday, starting today. We welcome opinions of no more than 700 words on any topic. Please include your name, address and phone number. E-mail to letters@starbulletin.com, fax to 529-4750 or mail to Student Union, Editorial Page, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813. For more information, contact Jeff Finney at 529-4735 or jfinney@starbulletin.com.
