Recently, Whitewater Middle School students in the US looked at 200 pounds (90.7kg) of food. Their classmates threw it away after a meal in the cafeteria.
They found the remains of pizzas. They saw untouched green salads and pieces of bread bitten only once.
It was, they said, both disgusting and educational.
“You don’t realize how much food waste you’re making till you see it,” said student Cody Gist.
To deal with this problem, Whitewater added environmental science as a school-wide program this year. Teachers are guiding their students through research on the ways food is linked to environment, poverty, and people’s health.
The school changed to compostable (可用作堆肥的) paper trays (托盘) as well. Working with Every Tray Counts, a US nonprofit group, the school hopes for a change from disposable (一次性的) trays to compostable paper trays.
This isn’t just an exercise at school. Whitewater is joining a network of schools, business and neighborhoods. They try to make composting as mainstream as recycling.
“The larger issue is protection of landfill space,” said Laurette Hall, an environmental management official. The area has enough space to last for maybe 25 more years, she said “That isn’t as much as it sounds in such a rapidly growing area.”
Principal Beth Thompson said students advise each other on new ways to deal with trash.
“Students understand why it matters so not one student refused to do extra work when throwing away their waste,” Thompson said.
Whitewater teachers make sure students know how their own eating habits are part of bigger problems. In environmental literature class, students read books such as Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.
Mollie Lyman works with several language arts classrooms. Their classes discuss such issues as how poor neighborhoods often have less access to healthy food.
Lyman says she wants students to ask some basic questions: “What do we eat? What do we waste?”
【小题1】Why did Whitewater Middle School students look at the food?| A．To see how food was connected with other problems. |
| B．To find out the calories of different kinds of food. |
| C．To check what foods were most popular among students. |
| D．To prepare students for the environmental science course. |
① Introducing a new course about the environment.
② Using compostable paper trays in the cafeteria.
③ Setting up a group called Every Tray Counts.
④ Joining others to make composting common.
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①②④ | D．①③④ |
| A．People don’t want to protect landfill space. |
| B．There won’t be enough landfill space in the future. |
| C．Students don’t know how to recycle trash. |
| D．Students don’t understand the waste problem. |
| A．To tell readers how important it is to save food. |
| B．To call on students to care about poor people. |
| C．To encourage schools to have environmental protection classes. |
| D．To share how a US school is making an effort for the environment. |
