Hello, my name is Nish. I have two siblings. Their names are Hazel and Esperanza. Our names have very important meanings. You can read about the meaning of our names, here. We were all hatched at Montrose Beach in June 2020. One of our siblings did not survive.
Our parents’ names are Monty and Rose. We are a famous endangered Piping Plover bird family. Our parents are the first pair to successfully nest in Montrose Beach Chicago since 1955. They made big headlines in Chicago. You can read more about us here. You can also watch a documentary movie here to see how they survive.
During winter, we travel a long way. Last winter, I went to Florida with my mom. Hazel and Esperanza went to islands in Georgia. My dad went to Texas.
Our species typically don’t stay together all year-round, but we usually return to the same breeding site year after year. Will we go back to Chicago this spring? Maybe. Meanwhile, can you draw a picture of us? Here is a step-by-step how to draw a Piping Plover bird.
Happy New Year 2021 and welcome to our first issue of the Green Leaf Newsletter!
Here together we are going to have fun learning about different ways to become a “Green Khalifah” – a person who takes good care of self, family, friends, the environment and our precious planet. Our ailing earth needs us now to do our part in saving and helping it heals. This month let’s talk about RECYCLING and PLASTIC BAGS.
What is “recycling”?
Recycling is collecting certain items that would be thrown away in the trash and turning them into new items that can be used again.
Why is it important to recycle?
Recycling is important because it helps the planet we live on! When we recycle, we create less trash to keep everything in our environment clean and healthy.
How do I recycle?
STOP! Before you throw that thing away in the trash, ask yourself: Can this item be used again? Can it be recycled?
There are many items that we use on a day-to-day basis that can be recycled such as: water bottles, plastic containers, soda cans, newspapers, electronics, cardboard boxes, and much more! Often times if you have seen this symbol:
This item can be recycled!
Now, not everything can be recycled. Certain things have to be thrown away in the trash such as styrofoam, broken glass, straws, pizza boxes and more. Use the link below to learn more with Gus, at National Geographic Kids about what items can be recycled, composted or thrown away while playing the game Recycle Roundup to win all the points! Enjoy this game!!!
What about plastic bags?
Plastic bags are made out of plastic, so they should be recycled right?
Technically yes! Unfortunately, many places that process recycling materials advise against it because the plastic bag’s handles often damage the machines used to sort out and process recycling materials. As a result, millions of plastic bags are thrown away in the trash which often ends up harming humans and animals on land and in the oceans. Do you know that it takes about 500+ years for each plastic bag to photodegrade!!!
Fortunately, there are many different projects you can do at home to recycle your own plastic bags. Can you think of any creative ways to do this?
FYI at the Chicago Muslims Green Team, we have a cool project called, the PLARN Sleeping Mat: Conserve, Crochet, Care . The term “plarn” means plastic yarn. Volunteers in this project collect CLEAN recycled plastic bags and creatively crochet them into a sleeping mat. They then distribute the sleeping mats made to our neighbors who need them especially for folks who don’t have housing or beds. Each mat takes about 700 plastic bags to make. That means, we can save about 700 plastic bags from the landfills. The Plarn Project team aims to make about 100 plarn sleeping mats by April 2021 insha Allah. How many plastic bags do we need – guess??? YES! We can save approximately 70,000 plastic bags from the landfills. How cool is that – saving both our planet and helping our neighbors in need? Check out the project and volunteer if you can.
If you can’t find any plastic bags at home, there are certain local stores near you such as Target, Walmart, Jewel-Osco, Harris Teeter and many others that will have bins located inside to recycle those plastic bags for you. For your information, those bins will then be sent to specific recycling centers that have special equipment to properly recycle your plastic bags.
Here are 7 reasons why it is important to recycle your plastic bags:
As you can see recycling plastic bags is an incredibly important step in helping our environment and we all have to work together in any way that we can to help heal our planet! So, keep recycling!!!
This item can be recycled!