Zero waste

great big story

The village of Kamikatsu in Japan has taken their commitment to sustainability to a new level. While the rest of the country has a recycling rate of around 20 percent, Kamikatsu surpasses its neighbors with a staggering 80 percent. After becoming aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide associated with burning garbage, the town instated the Zero Waste Declaration with the goal of being completely waste-free by 2020.

Vocabulary chunks to learn from video :

• Tea fields
• Idyllic mountains
• Produces no trash
• Created carbon dioxide emissions
• Zero waste
• A new way of living
• No such thing as throwing something in the trash
• Everything has to get recycled
• In the beginning it was difficult
• She’s a housewife
• The classification system
• Is the key to Kamikatsu’s success
• A huge burden
• A way of life
• Looking at trash differently

Map of Kamikatsu – Japan

 

 

The Ocean starts with you

great big story

Soda and soap bottles don’t belong in the sea, but it’s too often where they end up. In fact, experts estimate that an entire garbage truck worth of plastic hits our oceans every minute—the vast majority of it coming from developing nations like Haiti. To alleviate the problem, the Plastic Bank pays people to collect plastic waste that can be recycled and reused. Richardson Gustave oversees the organization’s daily operations around his home city of Port-au-Prince, coordinating transportation and inspection, and ensuring that collectors have the equipment needed to complete this vital task. This is the second story in our latest series, “The Brave,” all about the incredible people protecting our Great Big Planet.

Want to help protect our oceans? Get involved: https://oceanconservancy.org/ Ocean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges. With their partners, they create science-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it.

Vocabulary chunks to learn from video :

• Faced with one of the biggest challenges
• Huge amount of plastic
• Make a change
• One bottle less
• Pays people to collect plastic
• Preventing the plastic from going into the ocean
• Attack the problem
• Dispose of any waste
• Alleviating poverty
• It dawned on me that I have to make a change
• We have to be more responsible
• They collect the plastic
• In return you get cash or other services for that plastic
• Going around the centers
• In a sufficient time
• A plastic bank
• 30 Collection centers
• People who are in need
• We are creating a positive change
• They are my greatest inspiration
• Whatever we can do to get it done is what we do
• This is a global issue