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#Trashtag: The Online Challenge Cleaning Places Up

Provided by: BBC |Published on: April 27, 2021

Articles/Websites Grades 6-8, 9-12

Synopsis

This article introduces students to the #Trashtag challenge, where people go to a place, clean it up, and post before and after pictures on social media.
The article conveys an important message that we need to get to the root of the problem by first refusing to purchase disposable items, then reduce, reuse, and (as a last resort) recycle.

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences

Authors: BBC News

Region: Global

Languages: English

Positives

The social media component of this challenge will be engaging for teenage students.
The article provides nice images to accompany the text and includes examples of posts from around the world.

Additional Prerequisites

It may be beneficial to explain to students that many plastics are not able to be recycled and that disposable items are primarily made from new materials, not recycled materials.

Differentiation

Teachers can encourage students to participate in the challenge and share their before and after pictures with the class.
Students can create their own hashtag challenge to encourage their community members to participate in a particular activity related to the environment.
The teacher could design a campaign for waste management and divide students into teams, with each team having a specific task such as designing the logo, creating a hashtag, and choosing activities.
Another resource related to the topic is the video Team Marine - Young Voices for the Planet, which highlights a plastic waste reduction project led by teens in California.

Scientist Notes

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Resource Type and Format