This video from Our Changing Climate highlights the zero-waste movement and alternative solutions to our relationship with plastics and waste.
Students will learn the benefits of going zero-waste, the structural difficulties of living a zero-waste lifestyle, and alternative solutions that are more inclusive and get closer to the source of the problem.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The video acknowledges that zero-waste lifestyles can feel unachievable for some people and offers alternative solutions.
The video takes a global perspective on our relationship with waste.
Additional Prerequisites
The video mentions food waste and composting, but the majority of the content is about plastic waste and single-use products.
The video's content ends at 5 minutes, 52 seconds.
The video begins with an advertisement.
Differentiation
Economics classes could create and execute a plan to reach out to local stores or companies to encourage them to reduce their waste.
Environmental clubs or student government groups could research options for starting a composting service in their school or community and then make a plan to fund the project.
Sociology and psychology classes could discuss the zero-waste movement and how zero-waste influencers appeal to certain demographics while excluding others.
Other resources on this topic include this activity and lesson plan on solutions for eliminating food waste, this video on living 30 days without single-use plastic, and this video on plastic pollution.
Scientist Notes
This resource video examines the zero-waste trend and highlights its true complexity. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.12.6-8 Assess specific rules and laws (both actual and proposed) as means of addressing public problems.
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.1.6-8 Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society.
D2.Eco.3.6-8 Explain the roles of buyers and sellers in product, labor, and financial markets.
D2.Eco.7.6-8 Analyze the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in a market economy.
D2.Eco.15.9-12 Explain how current globalization trends and policies affect economic growth, labor markets, rights of citizens, the environment, and resource and income distribution in different nations.
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
D4.6.9-12 Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address these problems over time and place.
D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
