Teens vs. Trash

  • Location
    Oakland, California
  • Status
    Active

The Problem

Our main goal for Teens vs. Trash is to educate people on how negative garbage is to our oceans and what we can do to change that. We wish to teach people how to change their daily lifestyles to benefit the environment and our communities. Plastic waste can take almost 1000 years to decompose in landfills! That means, in those 1000 years, these plastics can damage ecosystems and harm all different kinds of animals and plants. There are so many things we can do to help reduce the amount plastic in our oceans. For example, we can choose to use reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones. We can remember to recycle the plastics we use instead of littering. We can carry our groceries in reusable shopping bags instead of getting a plastics one every time we visit the store. Our goal is to save our oceans and the environment, as well as all the plants and animals living there. But, we will need everyone's help in order to slowly but surely reduce the amount of plastic used on this planet.

Our Plan

Our project will achieve our dreams of a healthier environment by educating people at the Oakland Zoo. We will focus on the negative effects plastics have on our oceans and what we can change about our daily lives in order to lessen those effects. As well, we will (like we've done in the past) organize more beach cleanups periodically throughout the year to get people from all over the community to be more involved. Beach cleanups are a great way of educating the public about plastic pollution and also gives people a chance to help out. These cleanups bring everyone together to make our world a better place! We have also created a fun station for our Teen Wild Guides to volunteer every weekend! We have teen volunteers who walk around the entire zoo and pick up trash that people leave behind. Trash can be very dangerous for the animals at our zoo and we don't want any of it to find its way into any of the exhibits. We collect a huge bag of trash every time we do this station! Not only does this make the zoo a more beautiful and natural environment, it also shows the visitors what they can do to help maintain the zoo's beauty and fun!

Themes Addressed

  • term icon
    Community Enhancement
  • term icon
    Recycle
  • term icon
    Wildlife

The Benefit

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