A Good Planet Is Hard To Find

A Course in Ecology for Fifth and Sixth Grades
at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, NM

©2003 by Mary Zemach
Developed with ideas inspired by Molly Rauber
Edited by Cary Neeper
Unitarian Church of Los Alamos
Los Alamos, NM

Dear Educators:

Many religious educators are looking for a good ecology program. This is a time-tested, engaging program for middle schoolers celebrating our Seventh UU Principle.

The purpose of this course is to enhance the ecological awareness of 5th and 6th grade children, while illustrating with relevant activities how they can make a difference in protecting the environment. It is designed to illustrate and increase awareness of the UU Seventh Principle:

This course will show 10, 11, and 12-year-olds that they can make significant contributions to the care and preservation of our earth. Stories, games, crafts, field trips, child-produced slide shows and videotapes, and recycling projects give special meaning to topics not often presented to their age group.

Some of the activities and topics that make this course unique include:

1. learning about ecological toilet alternatives
2. experiencing an oil "spill" in the classroom
3. exploring a grocery store to discover wasteful marketing practices
4. discovering the cost of waste by surveying visible items at the local garbage dump
5. applying the principles of conservation in the children's own church.

With a few exceptions, the sessions described can be done in any order. The ongoing projects and general theme provide continuity.

Class projects that continue throughout the year:
1. constructing a map of the world showing problem areas
2. creating a list of 100 ways individuals can help clean up the Earth, and
3. collecting nature stamps.
Directions for these projects are presented separately. Note that they are designed to allow several students to work on them together. They are suitable for all levels of capability.

Since time is always too short and students can be very active (and accustomed/used to doing two things at once, like doing homework while the TV is on), try to present some of the stories and lead discussions while the class is working on the map or completing individual projects. In most sessions, the projects make the point of the lesson. Questions listed under the heading "Discussion" are suggestions, sample topics to talk about during the "Activities." The stories are best told by a well-prepared teacher in his or her own words, rather than reading from the curriculum.

Please note that most sessions require advance preparation, collection of materials, and finding library references. The sessions will be most effective if the teacher is familiar with the subject and has prepared by finding books and appropriate pictures to show the class. Relevant library books should be available for students to read if they finish their projects early.

It is important that the teacher understand environmental problems and believe heartily enough in their solution to make these preparations.

Sessions presented in detail have been used in the Los Alamos Unitarian Church for the last fifteen years. They work very well as described. Though we have rooms of various sizes available to the Sunday school, there are no special requirements for space or time arrangements. Our church service follows the Sunday school hour, which gives us a two-hour time slot (2.5 hours, including the coffee hour) for field trips. In case of bad weather, we plan a backup session for field trip days.

We have included in the list of sessions a few ideas and suggestions for activities that need development utilizing the resources you have on hand. On occasion we have included special sessions relating to the Earth when people with different resources are available. For example, we asked a local naturalist to bring in coyote scat for study with dissecting tools and hand lenses. People working on a dinosaur dig were asked to talk about their experiences and show the gastroliths and pictures of bone as it was found.

You'll find here more sessions than there are Sundays in the school year, so teachers may choose those each finds most appealing. However, please use the ideas presented here as inspiration for developing your own ideas and for using the resources and experience available in your congregation and your town.

We hope you will enjoy this adventure in discovering how to tread lightly on Earth. Do use your imagination to add your personal touch to the lessons.

Sincerely,
Mary Zemach

An excerpt of the curriculum follows. If you would like to order your own copy contact:
Joyce Zaugg, director of religious education with the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, NM.
The cost is $10 plus postage.
Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 1738 N. Sage, Los Alamos, NM 87544, (505) 662-2346,

Table of Sessions

Session 1. Let’s Face It: We’re Stuck Here p. 10
Since Earth is the only habitable place we know, we had better learn to protect, preserve, and appreciate it. Construct a mobile of our solar system. Play a guessing game, "Clues From Space," to stimulate discussion of planets and their characteristics.

Session 2. Earth Abuse Is Nothing New 13
Studying the history of land misuse. We aren't the first people to cause ecological disasters. History stories include the deforestation of North Africa and the flooding of the Nile. Begin work on the world map illustrating ecological problems.

Session 3. An "Alien" Culture on Earth p. 16
Explore the largest part of Earth, the oceans, and consider the intelligent creatures that call it home, the whales.

Session 4. Using Up the Buffalo p. 18
Illustrate that different cultures make different impacts on the environment. Indians used everything from the buffalo they killed(even using the tips of their tails for paint brushes). White hunters nearly exterminated the species for their hides and tongues, sometimes killing them just for sport.

Session 5. Wilderness Behavior p. 21
Discover with first-hand experience how to behave in the outdoors, and why. This session involves a field trip to a park or wildlife area. If wood is not available for a campfire, take along a backpacking stove. Visit with a Park Ranger or a scout leader who will describe the natural setting and how it can be protected by campers, hikers, and picnickers.

Session 6. Remote Damage-Acid Rain p. 23
The stories of the red spruce of the Adirondacks and the salmon in Lumsden Lake illustrate the problem of acid rain, which raises questions of responsibility when damage occurs far from the source of the problem.

Session 7. Fast Food p. 25
Discover how much waste we produce with one meal. Go on a field trip to a fast food restaurant. Take scales and weigh everything before and after eating. Calculate the percent by weight of what is thrown away.

Session 8. Taking a Close Look at the Dump p. 27
Go on a field trip to the local landfill and inventory goods that are thrown out. Is anything recycled or available for reuse?

Session 9. Fun For Nothing, Indoors p. 30
Make noise makers from paper, illustrating that good toys can be made from trash.

Session 10. Making Christmas Presents p. 31
Illustrate that scrap material can be used to make useful gifts. Students will make potholders or safety reflectors to be used as holiday presents. Old Christmas cards may be used to make holiday gift tags or paper or notes. Two or three sessions may be required for these activities.

Session 11. Indoor Pollution p. 32
In this lesson, students will explore the church and videotape sources of indoor pollution where they are found. This lesson usually requires two sessions.

Session 12. Living Holistically p. 33
Living holistically means being aware of the impact our lives have on the Earth and other living beings and trying to minimize that impact. Make energy-saving tooth powder.

Session 13. Saving Water p. 35
Review water usage of a nearby river. Use role-playing to bring out different arguments in deciding who should get the water.

Sessions 14 and 15. The Cats of Borneo p. 36
Tell the true story "The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo" by Charlotte Pomerantz to help the class become aware of the complex relationships between humans and other life support systems on Earth. The story illustrates how interfering with nature (the interdependent web of existence) can snowball into more trouble than the original problem presented. Have the class make slides and a script, practice it in a second session, and present it during a church service. (The book is now out of print. Get it on inter-library loan.)

Session 16. Saving A White Teddy Bear p. 38
Identify large oil spills and paint them on the world map. Dunking white stuffed animals in old crankcase oil and trying to clean them illustrate the problem with oil.

Session 17. Pollution Sleuthing p. 41
Go on a field trip to a grocery store. The class will roam the aisles looking for examples of good and bad packaging. They will note how far some products have traveled and consider the environmental cost. This session will take more than one hour.

Session 18. Using Up Energy p. 44
On the world map, mark oil and coal reserves, nuclear sites, shipping lanes, whale migration routes, and other areas impacted adversely by energy production and use (acid rain areas and whale migration routes, if not already done).

Session 19. Toilet Talk p. 46
This serious session on alternative waste systems is guaranteed to reduce pre-teens to helpless giggle fits. Facts of human sanitation are examined. Install water savers in all church toilets.

Session 20. One Person Can Make A Difference p. 48
Tell the story of Rachel Carson. Also, discuss how one person persuaded a city to re-use its sewage water.

Session 21. What to Do About Garbage p. 50
Raise our awareness of garbage, how much we generate, how we can produce less, where it goes. Make a home for worms, a compost pile. Compare the number of steps required to acquire food in plastic as compared to paper, aluminum and glass.

Session 22. One Teenager Counts p. 52
To illustrate how one teenager can make a difference, tell the story of Andy Lipkis and the Los Angeles Tree Project.

Session 23. Fun For Nothing, Outdoors p. 55
Go on a field trip outside to the church yard or a nearby park. There each student invents a game, using only what can be found, and teaches the game to the class.

Session 24. Convenience Foods p. 57
This session illustrates that you can make many of the things found in the grocery store, saving packaging, transportation, and money. Students make and bottle root beer.

Session 25. Foods People Eat p. 58
Discover different foods people eat in different parts of the world. Become aware of the amount of food available to different people. Eat sample meals from around the world. Try chewing wheat, making wheat gum.

Session 26. Grow It Yourself p. 59
Discover first hand what permaculture is, what xeriscaping is and what organic gardening means. Take a field trip to an organic garden exhibiting permaculture or xeriscaping. Review ways you can help the environment by using less energy and water in your home.

Session 27. Natural Death p. 61
Discuss burial customs from many cultures while sitting among the graves on a field trip to a local cemetery.

Session 28. Deadly Cleaners p. 63
Review common toxic household cleaners. Show that household cleaners need not be toxic by mixing window cleaner, furniture polish, and toilet bowl cleanser. Use them on church windows, toilets, and furniture.

Session 29. Consider the Sun p. 65
Discuss different kinds of solar buildings and compare heating bills with a frame house.

Session 30. Sunday Before Easter. Natural Dyes p. 66
Learn about Native American attitudes toward the Earth. Collect dyes for Easter eggs on a field trip to nearby woods.

Session 31. Easter Sunday. Hiding Eggs p. 67
Dye eggs with the natural dyes made earlier and hide the eggs for the younger children of the church to find.

Session 32. Careers in Ecology p. 68
Discover careers in ecology. Using role-playing, discover ways you can help the Earth in any profession: an opera singer, a baseball player, or a doctor.

Session 33. Cleaning Grease With Grease p. 69
In order to emphasize our reliance on natural products, make soap from beef tallow and bacon drippings. Learn how and when soap was invented.

Session 34 and 35. Do It Yourself p. 70
Learn that we can make useful items ourselves. We don't have to buy everything ready made. Make cardboard furniture.

Session 36. Cards For Nothing p. 71
Make Mother's Day or other occasion cards from pictures cut from nature calendars. This is good rainy day substitute for a cancelled field trip.

Session 37. Dissect Coyote Scat p. 72
Learn what coyotes eat.

Session 38. Religious Ecology p. 73
Learn how different religions feel about the Earth.

Session 39. A Deadly Explosion 74
Raise awareness of the population problem and food distribution problems.

Ongoing Projects

The World Map

This project gives everyone, regardless of their capabilities, a chance to participate. Work may be done during gathering time before each session and during many of the discussion periods and story times.

Lay a 4’ x 8’ sheet of ¾- inch plywood horizontally on a table, on bookshelves, or on tall sawhorses at table height. Place it in the classroom so that it maybe kept up all year. Outline the continents on the plywood (one session): Lay out the enlarged strips of the world map on the plywood. Slip carbon paper, shiny-side down, under the map and draw the outline of the continents and islands. Assign one area to each child so all participate in drawing the map. OR, project the map outline onto the plywood and draw over the projected image, first with chalk as a draft, then with permanent marker. OR, lay out a grid on the plywood and copy in each grid section from the map provided with grid. Referring to a world map on the wall, fill in any gaps or distortions. Using a permanent marker, enhance the carbon lines that have been transferred to the plywood.

Prepare papier-mâché:
Shred or tear newspaper for papier-mâché to be used to make land and mountain ranges on the world map.
Since time is short, you may want to take the shredded paper home and bring the finished papier-maché to the next class. Mix the shredded paper with wheat flour until it is slightly slippery. Use a powerful electric mixer with a dough hook or mix it by hand. Refrigerate the mix if not used within a day or two, or it will become moldy.

Apply papier-mâché to the outlined continents (two sessions with 4 to 6 children attending):
Make the coastal areas thin and build up mountain ranges as indicated on the world map on the classroom wall.
The map is large enough that 10 or more children may work on it at one time.
Ask the Religious Education Director to turn on a fan aimed at the map during the week. If it does not dry quickly enough, it could mold. Again, refrigerate any papier-mâché to be used the next week.

Paint the map (two sessions, 4 to 6 children):
Try to get this done as early in the year as possible. The paint must be dry before special features are added.
Using large brushes, paint the ocean blue, most land masses green, glaciers white, and deserts brown. Use acrylic craft paint. It leaves a glossy finish that does not come off onto clothes and fingers. Poster paint comes off on fingers after it is dry. Later the children will be leaning on the map to draw in features like whale migration routes.
Note that accidental spills or smudges of acrylic paint must be washed off clothes and hair while it is still wet. Wash out brushes and cap paint immediately after use. Have the children wear smocks.

Add special features. A key explaining the symbols can be added to a corner of the map after it is painted. Copy areas and routes from resource materials referenced in the sessions:

• Whale migration routes
• Paths of acid rain and affected areas. Cut out colored cellophane, using several layers where the acid rain problem is more severe
• Oil spills
• Areas of highest energy consumption
• Areas of oil and coal reserves
• Shipping lanes

Ideas for recycling the world map:
Turn the map over and reuse the plywood for another year’s class of “A Good Planet is Hard to Find.”
Use the map in a course on world religions. Leaving the completed map as is, drill holes in it and insert strings of miniature Christmas lights from the back to indicate where different religions have spread over the world. For each religion connect a circuit of lights to an on-off switch or button marked with the name of the religion. Use bell wire to span long distances. No soldering is needed. Twist connections with pliers. Use a 9- volt battery to light the exhibit.

One Hundred Ways I Can Help the Planet

• Attach to the classroom wall six poster boards or a long piece of shelf paper entitled “What I Can Do To Make the Planet A Better Place.” Print subheadings along the top of the boards or pap Conserving Resources
• Protecting Wildlife
• Reducing Pollution
• Beautification, Restoration of Devastated Areas
• Recycling.

Whenever appropriate, during the sessions, spend a few minutes asking the students to name more specific ways to help. Write them under the appropriate headings. Don’t accept generalities like “recycle things.” Examples, if they need help getting started:

• Pick up litter along one section of highway.
• Walk instead of taking the car.
• Ride a bicycle instead of taking the car.
• Reuse newspapers for wrapping garbage, as mulch under bark, as packing material, for starting fireplace fires.
• Recycle glass bottles.

Challenge the class to think of 100 things before the class is finished.

Collecting Nature Stamps

Collect stamps from the National Wildlife Federation and other organizations. Ask each student to choose a stamp every time they attend class. Prepare an envelope so they can collect them. Keep the envelopes in the classroom, and send them home at the end of the year.

Session 8. Taking a Close Look at the Dump

OBJECTIVE: Go on a field trip to the local landfill and inventory goods that are thrown out. Is anything recycled or available for reuse?

THE SESSION ROOM:

This field trip will take more than one hour.

MATERIALS:

• A signed permission slip for each student.
• Enough cars and drivers to transport the class so that everyone can wear a seat belt.
• Call the landfill manager at least one week ahead to arrange an informed tour and a demonstration of the compacting operation in the pit.
• A bag of garbage from home or from Session 7's trip to a fast food restaurant. This will be given to the operator for the compacting demonstration.

References:

Duncanson, Archie. 1990. Ecology Begins At Home. Los Angeles.
Asimov, Isaac. 1992. Why Does Litter Cause Problems? Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens Publishing.
Asimov, Isaac. 1992. Where Does Garbage Go? Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens Publishing.
Gay, Kathlyn. 1992. Global Garbage: Exporting Trash and Toxic Waste. New York: Franklin Watts.
Kallen, Stuart A. 1990. Recycle It! Once is Not Enough. Minnesota: Abdo & Daughters.
Showers, Paul. 1994. Where Does Garbage Go? New York: Harper Collins.
Kallman, Bobbie and Janine Schaub. Buried in Garbage. Crabtree Publishers.
“Once and Future Landfills.” May 1991. National Geographic 179, #5, 116 ff.

OPENING:

What things do we throw away? Why?

ACTIVITY:

Walk around the landfill and take note of all the material that is set aside for recycling, repair, or sale.
List good and bad features of the different methods for handling waste.

INFORMATION TO SHARE:

The following is information gathered during a tour given October 26, 1997 by manager Mr. Vince Valdez of the Los Alamos, New Mexico, landfill. It is a fine example of a conscientious operation. It serves as an excellent example of many things that can be done to recycle material and minimize costs.

The children were first shown the check-in scale, large enough to hold a semi truck. The scale is equipped with a radiation detector and mirrors to see the type of material carried by large open trucks. The full truck is measured to the nearest ten pounds, and then weighed again empty on exit. Garbage trucks are included. The difference in weight is added up each day for brush and for other trash. Residents of Los Alamos may make one trip each day without charge, more if the load is just brush. Contractors are charged $12.50 per ton, since construction material is hard to handle.

Mr. Valdez then showed the children a chart of the landfill, a cross-section showing from the bottom up: a required liner under pipes that catch leachate draining from trash, a textile mat, granular drainage lay, a soft layer, then the compacted cells of garbage layered with dirt. The leachate is pumped up to make a fountain to release gas, especially methane which is explosive.

Los Alamos is fortunate to have dirt immediately available to the pit where trash is compacted and layered. Other towns use tarps to cover the garbage. This landfill takes about 75 tons per day from the town of 20,000, and 30 tons from a neighboring town, which fills a layer of ten feet in one year. (Americans on the average produce 4.5 pounds of trash per person per day.) Each cell of trash in the landfill is carefully mapped, so that space is not wasted and future plans can be made for expansion. The pit is surrounded by a berm, and silt fence is used around the entire landfill to prevent erosion. Twelve operators rotate the use of 4 trucks to handle the trash. Both federal and state laws must be followed.

Everything that can be reused, fixed, or sold is sorted out of the trash before it goes to the pit, where all material is compacted and buried.

Brush is piled near a large tub grinder, which reduces one-inch sticks and brush to mulch. The children saw the steam and felt the heat from the large mulch pile waiting for gardeners to collect for ground cover and soil enhancement. Logs too large for the grinder are available to pick up as firewood. Off to the side, mulch is added to stable manure to make one kind of compost for pick up. A richer compost is made when the mulch and stable waste is added to sludge from the sewage plant. The white organism Actinomycetes could be seen in the compost; it is responsible for much of the breakdown that results in good compost.

Construction materials are put aside in one area for reuse diversion. Concrete is used for fill bridges in town and to build up the road into the pit at the landfill. Smaller blocks of concrete are collected by homeowners and stacked dry to make surprisingly attractive garden walls and terraces. Wooden pallets are separated out for pick up. Material that is not picked up for reuse eventually goes to the landfill in compliance with anti-vermin laws.

An oil pit lined with sand on plastic collects used car oil. Water that rains into the pit is pumped out and used for dust control. The oil is reprocessed for cars or used to make alternate fuels. Nearby is a shed where old batteries may be left to be recycled. Antifreeze may also be left in a new collection tub.

A large area houses all scrap metal coming into the dump. Aluminum, copper, and brass is sorted out and sold. Old cars are crushed with a bulldozer. Along with old cut-up metal dumpsters, they are used to cap loads of metal that go to El Paso to be sold for $800. About 4 loads go to El Paso every month to be sold and recycled for a profit of $1600 for Los Alamos.

Chicken wire has to be taken to the pit if it is not picked up for reuse. Most of the washing machines and dryers are picked up by local businessmen who repair them or use them for parts.

Tires are collected and sent to Socorro to be reused as alternate fuel. Bias ply tires can be used to make doormats, but radials contain steel so they are hard to recycle. They can't be used as additive for asphalt, as the material breaks down too fast. Some tires are picked up and used to build houses.

Large bins were set beside the road for collecting plastic, cardboard, newspaper, and better value office paper. Much of this material was collected curbside in the community to be sold by a recycling company.

After the tour, Mr. Valdez led our class into the pit, where we handed over our garbage from Session 7 and watched the operator run over it, along with a huge pile of trash. With huge knobbed wheels, the bulldozer ran over it three times to compact it all, a very impressive sight. Later dirt would be scraped over the trash cell. Mr. Valdez gave us a packet of information, showing the local breakdown of trash in the community.

DISCUSSION:

• What happens to brush? Is it chipped for mulch? Is compost made available for gardeners to pick up?
• What happens to tires, metal, glass, oil, car batteries, construction material, or concrete?
• What happens to fixable appliances?
• What happens to hazardous waste? Can your landfill handle it? Does your city have a special pick up for it? How often?
• How do Sweden, Gabon, China handle their waste? Study planned communities like communes in the former USSR and kibbutzim in Israel.
• How much total refuse is thrown into the oceans? By whom?
• How many fish are killed in rivers from toxic waste?
• How much is saved by recycling paper?

WRAP-UP:

Write a thank-you note to your landfill guide from the entire class.
Note that in poor countries, children are sent to dumps to get things to eat.

Session 20. One Person Can Make a Difference

OBJECTIVE: To look at the life of Rachel Carson and to discuss how one person persuaded a city to re-use its sewage water. This material may take two sessions.

THE SESSION ROOM: Tables and chair for discussion.

References:
Stevens, Loenard A. 1971. The Town That Launders Its Water. New York: Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan Inc.
Goldsmith, E., P. Bonyand, H. Hildeguard, P. McCully. 1990. Imperiled Planet: Restoring Our Endangered Ecosystems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Goldsmith, E., and N. Holdyard, Editors. 1988. Earth Report: The Essential Guide to Global Ecological Issues. New York: Price Stern Sloan, Inc.
Carson, Rachel. 1962 (rpt. 2002, Mariner Books). Silent Spring; 1941, 1952. Under the Sea Wind; 1950. The Sea Around Us; 1955. The Edge of the Sea.
Sterling, Philip. 1970. Sea and Earth: The Life of Rachel Carson. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Goldberg, Jake. 1992. Rachel Carson. Chelsea Juniors/ Chelsea House Publications.

ACTIVITY: Discuss how one can make a difference in your own life.

• Clothes: What material is best, ecologically? Cotton is made from a plant. Polyester is made from nonrenewable petroleum (oil). It takes energy to make the fibers, which will not rot when they are no longer useable. In one year a cotton t-shirt will decompose in the ground. Polyester will not.
• Shoes: Mercury is used in shoes that light up. Some are made of leather, other soles are made of rubber or plastic, some from recyclable material.
• Recreation: Name some non-polluting sports and games. (Windsailing, ball games, horses, hiking, cross country skiing)
• Name polluting recreation. (Race cars, ski lifts, motor boats, water skiing, hiking if you drive a long ways to do it, ballooning, plane travel.)
  

INFORMATION TO SHARE:

Tell the story of Rachel Carson:

Rachel Carson was born May 27, 1907 in Springdale, PA, and grew up on a farm. When she was 10 and 11 years old, she had stories published in St. Nicholas Magazine. She was not well, so she studied at home, dreaming of the ocean. She entered Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College) on a scholarship and started as an English major, but then changed to Biology. In 1928 she graduated from college and saw the ocean for the first time at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. She started a Master’s Degree at John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore, but when her father died she took a job at the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries in Washington, D. C. Her orphaned nieces Marian and Marjorie joined the household, so Rachel wrote magazine articles to earn money.

In 1941 Under the Sea Wind was published, but sales were poor during World War II. She wrote on how to eat fish and started another book after the war, published as The Sea Around Us in 1950. This book made her famous, and Under the Sea Wind was re-issued in 1952. Both books were on the bestseller lists. She resigned from the Fish and Wildlife Service, received three honorary degrees, and published The Edge of the Sea in 1955. While caring for her aging mother, she adopted 5-year-old Roger, her niece Marjorie’s son.

Carson planned to write about the earth, but a friend wrote to tell her of seven birds found dead in her yard after aerial spraying. She set to work on Silent Spring and had a cancer operation just before it was published in 1962. The pesticide industry argued fiercely against her, declaring that the whole economy would collapse without pesticides and that insects would inherit the Earth. When the American Medical Association attacked her, magazine articles were cancelled. Eric Severeid interviewed her on April 4, 1963, she was soft-spoken but convincing. She had trouble getting information from companies making DDT, but the public eventually was convinced and took her side. Laws were ultimately passed to help protect people and wildlife from DDT.

Rachel Carson died on April 14, 1964 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Now it is up to us to carry on her work.

Discuss the book The Town That Launders Its Water.

Santee, California, found that their aquifer was dropping. A dam built upstream caused their wells to run dry. Farms were sold for housing, but the sewage increased. The adjoining town decided not to join in building a sewage plant because it would take 40 years to pay for it.

Someone in Santee decided to use old gravel pits to purify the sewage water. They arranged to run it through a series of pools with plants to purify the water. The last one was made into a recreation lake with picnic tables, grass, birds and a fence to make it attractive. The water was tested and that area was eventually used as a park.

Later Santee made another pool that was even purer. It was used as a swimming pool, which has to have water pure enough to drink.

This project is a good example of how one person can make a difference.

DISCUSSION: What happens to the water after it goes to the sewage plant through your city sewer pipes?

WRAP-UP: Why do people object to recycled water, when it is tested to be sure it’s pure?