(WFRV) – Twenty-five young students around the Great Lakes region are making it their mission to mitigate plastic pollution through projects to address that issue right in their own communities.
Ryann Jibson is one of the 25 Marine Plastics Ambassadors through the non-profit organization EarthEcho International. The ‘Marine Plastics Ambassador Program’ is a newer project within EarthEcho that is funded by SC Johnson, making this cohort of students the first group leading the charge in eliminating marine debris in our waterways.
Sustainably Speaking: How Thanksgiving food waste costs millions and what you can do to help
For Jibson, this adventure began many years ago, as a matter of fact, all the way back in middle school at the age of thirteen, when Jibson’s teachers used the EarthEcho curriculum in the classroom in the small town of Whitehall, Michigan. EarthEcho has a longer-running program called the ‘Water Challenge Ambassador’, and at the time, Jibson was the youngest one in the group.
Now a student at the University of Michigan studying earth and environmental science and soon will be going on to pursue graduate school work, Jibson says the goal now is to connect middle schoolers with science, as at this age, they are curious, their personalities are being formed, and they are finding out what they are interested in.
“I go into these classrooms, I stake out in a classroom all day as the different science classes come in, and I do this activity with them that simulates a watershed,” explains Jibson. “I make sure I’m prompting them to think about what happens when it rains, how do you think you can stop this pollution, and the holes in your watershed simulate a storm drain.”
As part of these lessons, Jibson makes sure to emphasize key topics that relate to this issue, including point and non-point source pollution, what is going on within a watershed, and how land use impacts the system. At this age, Jibson hopes that the students are left curious about the environment and are thinking a bit more critically about plastic pollution.
Sustainably Speaking: Green Bay Conservation Corps continues revitalizing Red Smith Park
“It was important to me to touch on watersheds and how no matter where they are or what they do, it’s going to get back to the water,r and I’m lucky that I think marine debris is a real tangible issue for these kids.”
Jibson says that this project has been a fun experience and hopes that these students go out and demonstrate what they have learned as they are the next generation of students who will impact the environment.
