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What
We Do Adds Up (Grade Levels: 4 - 6)
Earth Day Concepts: Overview
| What We
Do Adds Up
Recycling
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| Fish Pond
| Answers |
Career Connections
| More Math Concepts
 Many
people believe that reasonable or small changes in their actions have
no real impact. This is not the case! If we all make little contributions,
the impact over time can be HUGE! Just check it out!
Did
you know that on the average each of us throws away
about 4.4 pounds of trash every day? This does not mean
that we each throw away 4.4 pounds each day, but if
we even out what is thrown away across everyone, it
would turn out that each of us would contribute 4.4
pounds of garbage.
1.
On average, how much garbage does each person throw
away in a week?
2.
On average, how long does it take for each person to
throw away 100 pounds of garbage?
3.
On average, how much garbage will a person throw away
this year?
4.
At this rate, would a person your age have contributed
a ton of garbage? On average, how long does it take
for each person to throw away a ton, or 2000 pounds
of garbage?
5.
About how long would it take for a person to create
4 tons or 8,000 pounds of garbage?
6.
So far in your lifetime, about how much garbage have
you contributed?
The U.S. Census
Bureau can provide estimates
of our national, state, and county Populations.
7.
Using these population data, estimate how much garbage
the people in your county throw away during the month
of March? Estimate how much they will throw away during
this year?
8.
Estimate how much garbage the people in your state will
throw away during this year?
9.
Estimate how much garbage the people in the U.S. will
throw away during this year?
10.
Landfills in the U.S. have charged between $10 and $100
per ton to dump trash. If it costs $20 per ton of garbage
and none of the trash is recycled, estimate how much
money will be spent on throwing away trash this year?
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