Energy, Climate, Environment

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 09.07.01

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Purpose
  2. Introduction
  3. What Are Plastics
  4. Anything You Can Do, I Can Do BETTER!
  5. From Natural to Not So Much…
  6. Better Things for Better People - Marketing of Plastics
  7. So What Is the Big Deal??
  8. Health Concerns
  9. Out of Sight, Out of Mind
  10. Are We Really Recycling?
  11. Strategies for Implementation
  12. Stage One - You as the Consumer
  13. Stage Two - You as the Recycler
  14. Stage Three - You as the Global Citizen
  15. Reflection
  16. References
  17. Reading List for Students
  18. Materials for Classroom Use
  19. Appendix - Implementing District Standards
  20. Endnotes

Flexible Enthusiasm: Consumption and Awareness of Plastics in Our Lives

Stephanie Anaissa Brown-Bryant

Published September 2009

Tools for this Unit:

From Natural to Not So Much…

By the 1930's chemical technologies were created to use coal, and natural gas or petroleum to develop new plastics. So exactly where does all of this plastic come from? The answer is oil, of course. Around the world, about eight percent of oil extracted is used to make plastic products.7 It takes two liters of oil (.4 gallons) to make about .5 kilogram (one pound) of plastic.8 A national survey in 2007 revealed that more than 70% of people did not know that plastic was an oil based product.9 With skyrocketing gas prices, the depletion of our natural resources is more important than ever. The problem here rests in the fact that we don't know that we are using natural resources to produce plastics!

Comments:

Amy Loretta Neiter

November 19, 2009 at 8:29 am

Thank you

I am happy to be able to use your site to teach myself and my children.

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