Water: Middle School




Exercise I. Take Out the Trash
Take a moment to imagine you are on a nice walk with a couple of your friends. The day is beautiful. The sunshine falls in patches on the path as it makes its way through the trees. The wind gently rustles the leaves. The creek gurgles lightly as it flows over and around the rocks in its path. What a beautiful stream, clear, sparkling...and full of trash! Yuck!
You look around and realize that the number of visitors to your favorite outdoor spot has grown over the years, and they have brought with them large amounts of trash. You and your friends decide to do something about the litter problem.
Work with the other members of your group to design a community outreach campaign that will encourage visitors to the stream not to litter. Your group will work together to design this campaign by answering the following questions:
Why Do People Litter?
Before you can fix the problem, you must understand why it happens. List some beliefs and behaviors that might lead to littering.
What kinds of beliefs and behaviors should replace the litter-causing behaviors?
Can People Change?
What kinds of activities should be part of this campaign? Some ideas are listed in the picture to the right.
Design a commercial, draw an advertisement, or create a public service announcement that would encourage people to stop littering.