School Lunch in Japan - Its Not Just About Eating! CafCu Media 2015-04-19 | Watch the trailer of Microplastic Madness: youtu.be/s0jIH1fUqZUPLEASE DONATE today for a #plasticfree future! paypal.com/paypalme/CafeteriaCultureGet inspired to see how Japanese students operate their lunch period! You can see why "lunch period" is placed as a learning period in Japanese schools. Directed, edited and filmed by Atsuko Satake Quirk, Cafeteria Culture's media director. Visit www.cafeteriaculture.org to see how we bring in this Japanese style student-led operation into US school cafeterias on sorting their waste!
Plastic Free Lunch Day USA - join the action on Nov 8, 2023! CafCu Media 2023-02-28 | Join schools across the US and the world on Wednesday, November 8th for Plastic Free Lunch Day, started by 5th grade students from PS 15 in NYC! **Find free resources: www.plasticfreelunch.orgMillions of public school students across the US will participate in this November day of climate action right in their school cafeterias!Is your school and school district on board?Be inspired by public school districts from coast to coast, including New York City, San Diego, Dallas, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, DeKalb County Georgia and more, who all took action for the first Plastic Free Lunch Day USA on Nov. 2nd, 2022. Share this video short with your students and school-wide community to bring everyone on board. Then use our free resources to get ready. It’s easy! We show you how: www.plasticfreelunch.orgOnce again, Cafeteria Culture is teaming up with the Urban School Food Alliance - representing 18 of the nation’s largest school districts – for this special April edition of Plastic Free Lunch Day USA! Why? Because one day of plastic-free action leads to another! **Get ready for the next national Plastic Free Lunch Day on November 8th, 2023! ** NYC public schools now have MONTHLY Plastic Free Lunch Days Together, we eliminate billions of single-use plastic items from school cafeterias across the US. Let's do it!------Started by students!Plastic Free Lunch Day was started by 56 fifth grade students from Cafeteria Culture's environmental education program at PS 15 Brooklyn, as documented in our award winning movie, "Microplastic Madness." Watch the trailer: www.microplasticmadness.orgAll K-12 schools that plan to lead a plastic-free action in October or November, 2023 can host a free screening! The movie shows how the first Plastic Free Lunch Day was started by 11 year olds, who collected local data, debated issues, led neighborhood outreach, then shared their own local data and stories with key decision makers. **Sign up for a free screening; cafeteriaculture.org/host-a-screening.html-----Why #plasticfreelunch day? The world is awash in toxic and polluting single-use plastics made from hazardous chemicals and climate-damaging fossil fuels that are contaminating our ecosystems, our communities and our bodies. The US creates more plastic waste than any other nation and it never goes away. It degrades into tiny microplastics and then nanoplastics. Scientists have found microplastics in the deepest parts of the ocean, and in our soil, food, water and air, and in our bodies.US Schools serve 7.35 billion meals annually. These meals are packed with non-biodegradable single-use plastics (SUPs) that make a significant contribution to the US plastic waste stream and the staggering global plastic pollution problem. Most of these SUPs end up in a landfill, incinerator, or the environment. Plastic Free Lunch Day (PFLD) USA provides an opportunity for students to learn about plastic pollution and for students and school food staff to take meaningful plastic-reduction action. #plasticfree #plasticfreejuly #plasticpollution #plasticfreelunch #zerowaste #youthaction #breakfreefromplastic #breakfreefromplastic #climateaction #climatechange #climateeducation #schoolfood #stem #youth4climate
How much plastic is in your school lunch? Desktop Lunch Survey (PS 188M) CafCu Media 2021-12-19 | Are you tired of seeing so much single-use plastic packaging served with your school lunch? Be inspired by PS 188 students to reduce single-use plastics at your school!Then get ready for Plastic Free Lunch at your school: http://www.plasticfreelunch.orgIf 3 pieces of plastic are reduced per school day from all US public school lunches, we could reduce 98 million pieces of plastic used per day across the US! Let's do it! Teachers, get access to our free DESKTOP LUNCH SURVEY unit and other MICROPLASTIC MADNESS TOOLKIT lessons: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/microplastic-madness-toolkit.htmlABOUTAfter learning about the impact of plastic pollution - from extraction to manufacture to disposal - students at our partner school, PS 188 The Island School in NYC, wanted to know what they could do to reduce the amount of plastic they were using every day in school.Equipped with pencils, paper, camcorders, and great ideas, our students documented their lunches. They surveyed the packaging by quantified and cataloging every plastic item served with their meal. Then they brainstormed, listed alternatives to single-use plastic packaging, and shared their suggestions and data with the School Food manager... and she listened!With their own data, suggestions, and personal stories, our students persuaded their School Food manager to eliminate 3 single-use plastic packaging items per lunch, amounting to a reduction of more than 30,000 plastic items for the remaining 20 days in the school year! Then they calculated how much less plastic would be used if all New York City schools did the same.Students learned that by collecting their own data and supporting their data with personal stories and good math, they could influence #plasticfree change in their own school! Now they are ready to reduce plastic packaging outside of school too!Thank you to students, teachers and school food staff at PS 188 The Island School in New York City. A very special thank you to Councilwoman Carlina Rivera and the New York City Council for generously supporting our environmental education pilot programs.**Video created by Daniel Ramos, CafCu Media AssistantLearn more and be inspired by student data + action: www.cafeteriaculture.org
MICROPLASTIC MADNESS - Q&A with Directors, Jan 30, 2021 CafCu Media 2021-01-30 | **For Earth Day, MICROPLASTIC MADNESS will be streaming for free, here on CafCu Media, April 22-25 (midnight (PT)! - youtu.be/e-sfmgFe29EScreened in 45 countries, sparking global youth action.Be inspired to take action on plastic pollution in your school and community. Then, join us for Plastic Free Lunch Day in May 2022!Thanks to all who joined us on Saturday, Jan. 30, for the movie livestream and Q&A with the directors. More MICROPLASTIC MADNESS livestreams and Q+A's are coming soon! -- Microplastics have been found everywhere on the planet, including the peaks of Mt. Everest, the Arctic and inside wildlife, seafood, drinking waters, and human placenta! We are literally eating and breathing microplastics. The plastic pollution crisis needs your attention and action.MICROPLASTIC MADNESS is an award winning, feature documentary with an uplifting youth "Take Action" message. seen by 20,000 viewers in 37 countries! The 56 fifth grade NYC students who are featured in the movie,, will surely inspire you to take urgently needed action. Schools and organization across the world are hosting screenings and Q&A's.Sign up to host your own MICROPLASTIC MADNESS screening: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/host-a-screening.html ***Help us to reach youth everywhere. Together, we can grow a youth-led movement to stop plastic pollution!PLEASE DONATE today! paypal.com/paypalme/CafeteriaCulture - Teachers: Remote Learning Resources/Games (http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/remote-learning-resources.html);More at www.microplasticmadness.orgMICROPLASTIC MADNESS is the story of 56 fifth graders from Brooklyn, New York City - living on the frontline of the climate crisis - whose actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories. With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists who are engaged in the most cutting edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming, yet charming narrative, conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms. These eleven year olds dive deep into the root causes of plastic pollution. Taking on the roles of citizen scientists and community advocates, they collect local data, lead community outreach, and use their own local data to inform policy by testifying and rallying at City Hall. Then they turned their focus back to school, taking action in their cafeteria to eliminate all single-use plastic!MICROPLASTIC MADNESS is a Cafeteria Culture production.- Directed and Produced by Atsuko Quirk and Debby Lee Cohen- Featuring P.S. 15, Red Hook, Brooklyn 5th graders - And experts: Dr. Chelsea M. Rochman, Judith Enck, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, and Racheal Z. Miller.----"MICROPLASTIC MADNESS is the most informative, entertaining and hopeful film I have ever seen on the significant problem of plastic pollution. I highly recommend that students and non students alike watch it, And if you work in the environmental protection field, I predict you will want to watch it more than once. Microplastic Madness is instant inspiration." -- Judith Enck, former U.S. EPA Regional Administrator and founder of Beyond PlasticsATSUKO QUIRK & DEBBY LEE COHEN, have created a film about young people with big ideas and superior educational acumens about science and the environment... documenting the roots of environmental activism in a new generation. It is a 360 view of environmental protection and justice. Packed with information — delivered by kids in 5th grade— who are enthusiastic converts to environmental protection and education and improved policy. - RAW SCIENCE FILM FESTIVALLearn more: www.microplasticmadness.org
MICROPLASTIC MADNESS - Youth Comments from Around the World CafCu Media 2020-12-29 | "Microplastic Madness" has been screened in 45 countries and across the US, sparking global youth action!Be inspired to take action to stop plastic pollution in your school and community and get ready for the next Plastic Free Lunch Day! www.plasticfreelunch.orgCafeteria Culture's MICROPLASTIC MADNESS movie, educational resources, and Impact Campaign are inspiring young audiences across the globe by sharing a powerful and positive “take-action” message from Brooklyn 5th graders from our very own program. We participated in hundreds of post-screening Q+A’s in countries including Guatemala, Qatar, India, New Zealand, Japan, and Russia. We now know that the MICROPLASTIC MADNESS story and resources resonate with culturally diverse audiences across the globe.Check out the trailer: youtu.be/s0jIH1fUqZU- AND PLEASE DONATE today for more #plasticfree, climate education and action for underserved youth of color (paypal.com/paypalme/Cafet... - Teachers, sign up to host a screening. Use our free Companion Guides and Toolkit of lesson plan and activities!Learn more: www.microplasticmadness.orgABOUT:MICROPLASTIC MADNESS is the story of 56 fifth graders from Brooklyn, New York City - living on the frontline of the climate crisis - whose actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories. With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists who are engaged in the most cutting edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming, yet charming narrative, conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms. These eleven year olds dive deep into the root causes of plastic pollution. Taking on the roles of citizen scientists and community advocates, they collect local data, lead community outreach, and use their own local data to inform policy by testifying and rallying at City Hall. Then they turned their focus back to school, taking action in their cafeteria to eliminate all single-use plastic!
MICROPLASTIC MADNESS - Official Trailer CafCu Media 2020-12-27 | Watch MICROPLASTIC MADNESS - the uplifting, real-life story of New York City fifth graders who take action to stop plastic pollution and win victories! Get inspired to for Plastic Free Lunch Day USA on November 8th, 2023!Screened in 45 countries and 30 US states!** Get ready Plastic Free Lunch Day, Free screenings for all K-12 public schools who commit to a #plasticfree action in October or November 2023. Sign up for a free movie screening: https://forms.gle/jpV2c47uNW1L6jRp8See how 5th grade students from PS 15 Brooklyn who started the very first Plastic Free Lunch Day (PFLD), as documented in Microplastic Madness. Their advocacy and actions led to a NYC-wide PFLD and now a groundbreaking plastic-free day to take place across the entire US!Learn more: www.plasticfreelunch.org be inspired to take plastic free action in your cafeteria!Teachers, sign up to host a screening. Use our free Companion Guides and Toolkit of lesson plan and activities! www.microplasticmadness.orgTogether, we can eliminate single-use plastics in school cafeterias across the US! Help us to reach youth and school communities across the world by sharing this award winning movie.- AND PLEASE DONATE today for more #plasticfree, climate education and action for underserved youth of color (paypal.com/paypalme/Cafet... - HOST your own virtual screening (http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/host-...- - See all of our FREE Educational Resources and Games (http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/educational-resources---overview.html)--- Get ready for Plastic Free Lunch at your school: http://www.plasticfreelunch.orgABOUT:Watch for free on YouTube, July 13 - 16: bit.ly/MicroplasticMadThen take action!MICROPLASTIC MADNESS is the story of 56 fifth graders from Brooklyn, New York City - living on the frontline of the climate crisis - whose actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories. With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists who are engaged in the most cutting edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming, yet charming narrative, conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms. These eleven year olds dive deep into the root causes of plastic pollution. Taking on the roles of citizen scientists and community advocates, they collect local data, lead community outreach, and use their own local data to inform policy by testifying and rallying at City Hall. Then they turned their focus back to school, taking action in their cafeteria to eliminate all single-use plastic!MICROPLASTIC MADNESS is a Cafeteria Culture production.- Directed and Produced by Atsuko Quirk and Debby Lee Cohen- Featuring P.S. 15, Red Hook, Brooklyn 5th graders - And experts: Dr. Chelsea M. Rochman, Judith Enck, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, and Racheal Z. Miller.------"MICROPLASTIC MADNESS is the most informative, entertaining and hopeful film I have ever seen on the significant problem of plastic pollution. I highly recommend that students and non students alike watch it, And if you work in the environmental protection field, I predict you will want to watch it more than once. Microplastic Madness is instant inspiration." -- Judith Enck, former U.S. EPA Regional Administrator and founder of Beyond Plastics"ATSUKO QUIRK & DEBBY LEE COHEN, have created a film about young people with big ideas and superior educational acumens about science and the environment... documenting the roots of environmental activism in a new generation. It is a 360 view of environmental protection and justice. Packed with information — delivered by kids in 5th grade— who are enthusiastic converts to environmental protection and education and improved policy." - RAW SCIENCE FILM FESTIVALLearn more: www.microplasticmadness.org#plasticpollution #plasticfree #plasticfreelunch #plasticfreejuly #breakfreefromplastic #youth #youth4climate #youthempowerment #climatechange #climateaction #stem #schoolfood #climateeducation
Rebeca Sabnam - CafCu Youth Advocate speaks at Climate Strike NYC 9/20/19 CafCu Media 2019-09-26 | Rebeca Sabnam, 16 year-old New York City high school junior and Cafeteria Culture Youth Advocate, delivered a powerful speech about the intersection of the Climate Crisis and Human Rights at the Youth Climate Strike NYC on 9/20/19, attended by 250,000 people.Rebeca spoke about the intersection of the climate emergency, racial injustice and poverty and how Bangladeshi women are extremely vulnerable to post- displacement trafficking, magnified by the Climate Crisis.Rebeca was born in NYC, and spent her early childhood in Bangladesh, a frontline community of the climate crisis. She’s marched around Lower East Side, NYC with trash puppets, rallied at City Hall to give speeches, and helped to get styrofoam banned in public schools citywide. Rebeca’s advocacy work followed into middle school for the plastic bag ban. She is now working towards making her school zero waste while also shedding light on the vulnerabilities Bangladesh faces. Speech Excerpt:"So let’s give Bengali women the most basic human rights: protection from trafficking, the right to freedom, and the right to live. We want Bengali women - as well as the Rohingya people living in Bangladeshi refugee camps - to know that youth around the world are striking for their lives and security! "Human greed is fueling our oceans with the power to wipe Bangladesh off the map. "We’re almost out of time!"
Our Neighborhood: a Better, Cleaner Life - by 6th graders CafCu Media 2018-04-27 | This video was created by two 6th graders, Nyssa & Macanve, who share a moving and inspirational viewpoint about their neighborhood and litter.Our neighborhood - "It's beautiful. it's nice, it has great people. The only bad thing in our community is the trash. The trash is making us humiliated.""Our expectation is to have good, clean streets, to have a better, cleaner life.""And if you don't stop it now, nature and habitats get ruined."Watch "Our Neighborhood: a Better, Cleaner Life - by 6th graders" and see what Nyssa and Macanve have been doing in their community, Alphabet City in Manhattan's Lower East Side, to address to educate neighbors. "What about your neighborhood? Take the first step. Inspire others!"Thank you to our project partners, the Lower Eastside Girls Club, PS/MS 34 Franklin D. Roosevelt in Manhattan, NYC Departments of Education and Environmental Protection. "Our Neighborhood: a Better, Cleaner Life - by 6th graders" was created as part of Cafeteria Culture's Community Arts+Media for Trash Free Waters program, which was generously funded by a NY/NJ Aquatic Prevention 2016 Grant awarded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC). Additional support was provided by Patagonia, the Fund for the City of New York, and individual donors - like you! Learn more about the program here: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/community-arts--media-for-trash-free-waters.html
Got reusable bags? Youth kickstart BYO bag movement in Flatbush CafCu Media 2017-12-29 | Students from Cafeteria Culture’s COMMUNITY ARTS+MEDIA FOR TRASH FREE WATERS program are taking the lead in their East Flatbush, Brooklyn neighborhood to reduce single-use plastic litter at the source! These 7th grade students from MS246 Walt Whitman, first learned how our local plastic street litter can become deadly, toxic and polluting litter in our oceans due to our combined sewer overflow systems. Next, they collected litter and litter data - on specific blocks near the school and then at Jamaica Bay - giving students the opportunity to actually witness the connection between street and beach litter. Interviewing neighbors came next, providing students with a local perspective on just how much litter bothers everyone!With their data and local knowledge, students designed a local campaign for reducing litter upstream, before it enters our local waterways, focusing on plastic bag use on the very same blocks where they conducted their surveys. Students handed out free reusable bags to the passersby, explained why it is important to reduce plastic litter and asked recipients to pledge to carry their new bags with them and to say "no" to single-use elastic bags. Next, they designed beautiful and poignant banners and hung them outdoors on the school fence to educate passersby. After the campaign, students collected street litter data once again on the same blocks. The data showed that their efforts had reduced plastic bag litter by 50%!Join the campaign! Bring reusable bags today and everyday!"It’s a little thing that we’re doing but it’s going to help the community a whole lot.” (Cyian, grade 7, MS 246)"I actually made a difference today, even though it’s a small difference” Nahum, grade 7, MS246)80% of ocean plastic comes from land., And plastic is now found everywhere, even in the Arctic and in over 600 species of marine wildlife (Ocean Conservancy), from the tiniest plankton eating plastic to the gigantic whales.Since 1975, plastic production has increased by 620% and is expected to double in 10 years. Recent studies estimate that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic—by weight—than fish in the ocean.When it rains as lithe as 1/10 of an inch in New York City, the sewer system's capacity gets overwhelmed. Plastic street litter along with raw sewage from our toilets and sinks, can flow directly into our local waterways and then into our oceans, endangering marine wildlife.Plastic marine litter is a local and global plight, adding to a multitude of climate stressors that threaten marine wildlife, the health of our oceans and public health. Microplastics, tiny bits of plastic, are now found everywhere in our oceans and in our food web. Watch this video. Be inspired and say NO to single use plastics and find out what makes Cafeteria Culture's environmental education programs truly unique. Then give the gift of creative environmental education to more underserved New York City youth! Make your donation here: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/donat...Cafeteria Culture's Community Arts+Media for Trash Free Waters program was generously funded by a NY/NJ Aquatic Prevention 2016 Grant awarded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC). Additional support was provided by: Paagonia,Fund for the City of New York, and individual donors like you! Project partners were: NYC Department of Education Schools - PS/MS 34 Franklin D Roosevelt - Alphabet City, Manhattan - PS 15 The Patrick F. Daly Magnet School of the Arts, Red Hook, Brooklyn - MS 246 Walt Whitman, East Flatbush, Brooklyn and the 3 respective neighboring communities. - New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Education - Brooklyn College, Earth and Environmental Sciences Brooklyn and CUNY Graduate CenterSpecial thanks to:- Ms. Elena Wilson, ELA Teacher, and - Mr. Trevon Adams, Science teacher, and- Our amazing partner students at MS 246 Walt Whitman!- Ms. Teresa Cunningham, NYC Department of Sanitation, Brooklyn Community Engagement- Mr. Dan Meharg, Education Specialist/Park Ranger, Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service- Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Gateway National Park Recreation Area- Dr. Brett Branco, Professor Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center.- Ms. Lisa Scheppke, restoration Project Coordinator, American Littoral Society- Ms. Carmen Martinez, NYC Community Board 9, Brooklyn- Brooklyn Public Library, East Flatbush Branch- Teyito Deli, Matthew and family- Focus CameraThis video is directed and edited by Atsuko Satake Quirk, Cafeteria Culture, Media Director
Kids Exercise Democracy! 5th graders testify at City Hall on plastic litter and wastewater CafCu Media 2017-12-22 | 5th graders from PS15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn went to City Hall to testify on the urgency of NYC to improve the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) system so we keep dangerous plastic street litter from entering our oceans.These students have been learning how street litter becomes dangerous marine pollution. When it rains as little as 1/10 of an inch in an hour, the city's sewer system's capacity gets overwhelmed, then the street litter that gets into the sewer pipes goes directly out to our waterways."In just one street litter survey in only ONE BLOCK in our neighborhood, we found 233 pieces of litter that will never biodegrade."“We performed plays to teach our neighbors and gave away reusable bags that we made from t-shirts.”“We made charts and graphs from our litter data to ask the Department of Sanitation for recycling bins on the street.” The students suggest that the city make the spaces between bars on storm drains smaller in order to catch more litter. "And why not paint a message right on the drain (catch basin) or the curb? We would love to have permission to make storm drain art in our neighborhood in Red Hook!Why can’t we? Cities all over the US have done this.""We also know that good data drives policy. We hope that our numbers and our experience teaches you what it taught us: that we need to do something about the Combined Sewer Overflow now!"“I hope DEP is listening,” said Council Member Richards.Learn more about Cafeteria Culture's Plastic Free Waters curriculum at: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/plastic-free-waters.htmlThank you to Patagonia, LUSH Handmade Cosmetics and Focus Camera for generously supporting this urgently needed environmental education in NYC public schools.Thank you New York City Council for welcoming these young citizen scientists and advocates.Help us to bring more innovative environmental education that merges citizen science and civic action with media and arts!Please donate here: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/donate.html
Dear Humans - a Letter from Marine Creatures; video by 4th graders! CafCu Media 2017-12-05 | "Dear humans, my name is Shatter the Shark and I have something to say to you, humans"Fourth grade students from Red Hook, Brooklyn imagined what it would be like to be a marine creature, living in waters filled with human-caused toxic and polluting, plastic marine litter. Writing poignant letters from the eyes of these endangered creatures, students become the “voices” of marine creatures. Their letters are addressed to us, ”dear humans.”These young environmental leaders want to be sure that we, the “dear humans,” are aware of the dire consequences resulting from our daily consumption of single-use plastics.More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year and 80% of this plastic debris comes from land-based sources.“Dear humans, I’m a grouper. Guess what? I almost died yesterday because of the trash you guys throw on the streets.”“Even though you guys don’t see it, we see it every day.”“Those microplastic things are everywhere in the ocean. All my friends are eating it, even my plankton friends.”“You humans might not think that it hurts you, but it does. And it hurts us.”“Can you humans simply use less plastic?”“Dear humans, say “NO” to single-use plastics!”As part of Cafeteria Culture’s school program, Community Arts+Media for Trash Free Waters, 4th grade students from PS15 in Red Hook Brooklyn have been collecting street and beach litter data and studying how human-caused plastic litter make it way into our ocean and endangers marine wildlife. They have been testing different methods of getting their important message out to local and global communities. From conducting litter surveys, to leading reusable bag giveaways to designing awareness banners that are hung on the streets of their neighborhood, these 4th graders are making a difference.Dear humans, protect our oceans.Dear humans, you are the cause of this marine plastic litter plight and only YOU can stop it!Visit cafeteriaculture.org to learn more about marine pollution, Trash Free Waters, and to take action! --“Dear Humans” was created by students from Ms. Donahue and Ms. Barzyz’s 4th grade class at PS 15 Patrick F. Daly in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York City in partnership with the amazing PS15 teachers and staff.This video was made as a part of Cafeteria Culture’s Community Arts+Media for Trash Free Waters school program, which was made possible by a New York/New Jersey Aquatic Trash Prevention Program 2016 grant - awarded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 and New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC).Additional support for this program came from Patagonia, Fund for the City of New York, and generous individual donors.Special thanks to: New York City Department of Education; New York City Department of Environmental Protection; and Gateway National Park Recreation Area, National Park Service.And special thanks to Focus Camera: youtube.com/watch?v=3KFAb0grJGc&feature=youtu.be, youtube.com/watch?v=AidECgn1sM0&feature=youtu.be
Do You Really Need a Straw? CafCu Media 2017-11-18 | Americans use 500 million plastics straws per day, which is enough to circle the world 2 1/2 times. Take Action here: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/nostraw.htmlCafeteria Culture high school intern, Georgeanne, decided to take on just one NYC block with a simple first step. She asked store owners and managers to place a small "Do you really need a straw?" sign on the counter.Way too many of these plastic straws end up in our oceans as litter, threatening marine wildlife, degrading into tiny toxic microplastics, and then returning to us via our seafood and table salt! YUK!Students from Cafeteria Culture's school programs have been conducting street and beach litter surveys for the past 3 years. They find straw litter all over NYC - straws that easily wash from storm drains directly into our waterways on rainy days.Plastic straws are consistently one of the top 10 items found during beach clean-ups, yet are probably the easiest single-use plastic item to eliminate from your life.For #nostrawnovember, ask your local juice bars, coffee joints, and restaurants to join the No Straw Campaign.It is such an easy first step for businesses to take to show customers that they care about the health of our oceans.Ready to start your own campaign? Find the downloadable sign, template letter, and more resources here:http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/nostraw.html. Be inspired to refuse ALL single-use plastics!Say "no" to plastic straws during November and all year long to protect the health of our oceans, marine wildlife, and our seafood!Special thanks to Focus Camera:youtube.com/watch?v=3KFAb0grJGc&feature=youtu.beyoutube.com/watch?v=AidECgn1sM0&feature=youtu.be
#SaveOurOcean - Your Litter is Killing Marine Life CafCu Media 2017-06-22 | Do you know what litter does to marine life? Seventh graders from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City made this short video to explain how our plastic street litter ends up in our rivers, bays and, oceans and eventually into the stomachs of fish, birds and other marine wildlife.These students conducted a beach litter survey and clean-up ay Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY. They surveyed to find out exactly what types and how much litter was on this urban National Park beach.Ranger Dan Meharg explains how so much litter ends up on the Jamaica Bay beaches. Street litter travels through sewer pipes and ends on the beach and in the ocean. Even if you are miles away, in some other part of New York City, and you drop your litter onto the street, it may likely end up coming out of an outfall pipe somewhere into a river or the bay."If we are going to have a nicer place for people, birds, animals, and fish, we all need to work together to drop less things on our streets," says Ranger Dan.Among the litter items that students from MS 246 Walt Whitman collected and surveyed on the beach were plastic bottles, plastic food wrapping and plastic carryout bags. After sorting all the litter, one can easily get a visual idea of just how much of this plastic litter is leaking into our waters on a regular basis. Beach clean-ups help, but they are not the solution to stop the leakage of plastics into our oceans. We all need to reduce the amounts of single-use plastics that we use, from plastic carryout bags, straws, cups, lids, styrofoam food containers, and plastic forks and spoons, and more. Start by refusing to take a plastic straw and bringing your bag! #BYObag #skipthestraw"#SaveOurOcean - Your Litter is Killing Marine Life" was edited by 7th grade student, Shakim Carr, with camera work from class 702 at MS246 Walt Whitman Middle School in Brooklyn, NYC.#AAOplasticfreeTake action to protect our precious marine wildlife, our fish and other seafood that are being poisoned by the estimated trillions of tiny bits of plastic litter in oceans across the globe. Contact Governor Cuomo and let him know that do not approve of the state legislature blocking our local NYC law to reduce plastic bag use. Find more info here: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/nyc-bag-bill.htmlAnd call your NYC City Councilmember to see if she/he has signed on the NYC Council bill, Intro 1596, a bill to ban styrofoam (aka polystyrene) to go containers from NYC. Find more information here: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/nyc-plastic-foam-ban.htmlGood data informs policy and that is exactly what students in Cafeteria Culture's environmental STEaM programs are learning with first-hand experience! Learn more and DONATE to support more innovative Environmental Education and media programs for urban youth of color - www.cafeteriaculture.org.Thank you US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC), Fund for the City of New York, Jack Johnson's Charity, and individual donors for supporting Cafeteria Culture's Community Arts+Media for Trash Free Waters Program.Thank you to the students, teachers and staff of MS246 Walt Whitman Middle School, NYC Department of Education and to our friends at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Gateway National Recreation Area.
TRAILER - Kids in Tokyo & NYC Share a Message About Marine Litter CafCu Media 2017-06-01 | TRAILERA message from kids in Tokyo and New York City about marine litter -Fourth grade students from a school in Tokyo and a school in New York City worked simultaneously on reducing local plastic litter that contributes to plastic marine pollution in our oceans across the globe. Students in both schools first studied all about plastic litter issues, then conducted efforts in their respective local communities to reduce street litter. They spoke via video chat to share their experiences and ideas to make a difference!WATCH THE FULL MOVIE:↓youtu.be/Ta70uqmiKDc
Kids in Tokyo & NYC Share a Message About Marine Litter CafCu Media 2017-06-01 | Fourth grade students from a school in Tokyo and a school in New York City worked simultaneously on reducing local plastic litter that contributes to plastic marine pollution in our oceans across the globe. Students in both schools first studied all about plastic litter issues, then conducted efforts in their respective local communities to reduce street litter. They spoke via video chat to share their experiences and ideas! These fourth graders, living on opposite sides of the globe, found out that both of their cities have similar problems with plastic litter and that by sharing ideas, they can act locally to make a global impact. Hirai Elementary School in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo is located near Arakawa River, which is the students’ favorite place to visit. The local community also has strong ties to this river. But the river bed is covered with plastic bottles, plastic foam, and many other types of plastic litter.The Hirai Elementary School 4th graders learned how street litter can be carried into the river, ending up as marine litter and killing animals. Assisted by the environmental organization, Arakawa Clean-Aid, the Hirai Elementary School students conducted a litter clean-up and survey along the Arakawa River bed. They were shocked to find so much plastic litter, but excited to have the opportunity to take action to reduce the amounts of litter. The students also collected microplastics - tiny bits of plastics that are entering our food web at alarming rates. Students from PS 15 Patrick F. Daly Elementary School in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York City worked with Cafeteria Culture, an environmental education and advocacy organization, learning how street litter flows into the NYC waterways, threatening the health of the ocean, marine wildlife, and our seafood web. Students conducted a street litter survey and clean-up to find out exactly how much and what types of litter are found on their neighborhood streets. They visited a nearby beach, located on the Valentino Pier at the mouth of NYC’s East River, to collect microplastics. They took the microplastics back to school and examined them closely under microscopes. PS 15 students also participated in in a Socratic discussion on the pros and cons of charging a 5-cent fee on plastic shopping bags. They made reusable cloth bags from donated t-shirts and gave away the bags to neighbors, sharing messages and hopes to reduce plastic litter in their Red Hook neighborhood. Watch this video and be inspired by these passionate 4th graders in Tokyo and NYC. Then take action to reduce plastic marine pollution in your own community. Credits:Produced by Tokyo Metropolitan GovernmentDirected and Edited by Atsuko Satake Quirk, Media Director at CafeteriaCulture.org.Special thanks to the 4th grade students, teachers and administrators at Hirai Elementary School in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo and PS 15 Patrick F Daly Elementary School in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York City.
We Are Citizen Scientists! - students collect local litter data for plastic-free action CafCu Media 2017-05-29 | Students from Cafeteria Culture’s COMMUNITY ARTS+MEDIA FOR TRASH FREE WATERS program are taking the lead in their Red Hook, Brooklyn neighborhood to reduce single-use plastic litter at the source! They are collecting both litter and litter data, then using their data to educate neighbors and to inform government and policy makers. PS15 Patrick F Daly School students are learning critical skills needed to advocate for informed, data-driven policy.By identifying the amounts and types of litter collected in their school neighborhood, as well as at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (Gateway National Park), these young citizen scientists are contributing to citywide scientific research. They compare their 2 sets of litter data to make the connection between or local street litter and deadly plastic marine litter. Plastic marine litter is a local and global plight, adding to a multitude of Climate Stressors that threaten marine wildlife, the health of our oceans and public health - via microplastics, tiny bits of plastics that entering our food web at alarming rates. EIGHT MILLION TONS OF PLASTICS LEAK INTO THE OCEAN ANNUALLY, which is equivalent to one truckload of trash being dumped in our oceans per minute. Recent studies estimate that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic—by weight—than fish in the ocean. Plastic marine pollution is not just a problem in some remote Pacific island. New York City generates endless amounts of single-use plastic litter. On rainy days, litter flows from neighborhood streets, though our sewers, and out to our rivers bays and oceans.#RefusePlastic and #SaveACritterWatch this video. Find out what makes Cafeteria Culture's environmental education programs truly unique. Then give the gift of creative environmental education to more underserved New York City youth! Make your donation here: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/donate.htmlCafeteria Culture's Community Arts+Media for Trash Free Waters program has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, Fund for the City of New York, and individual donors like you! Our project partners are: NYC Department of Education Schools - PS/MS 34 Franklin D Roosevelt - Alphabet City, Manhattan - PS 15 The Patrick F. Daly Magnet School of the Arts, Red Hook, Brooklyn - MS 246 Walt Whitman, East Flatbush, Brooklyn and the 3 respective neighboring communities. - New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Education - Brooklyn College, Earth and Environmental Sciences Brooklyn and CUNY Graduate CenterSpecial thanks to:- Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Gateway National Park recreation Area- NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA)
What Teachers Say About Cafeteria Cultures Creative Environmental Education CafCu Media 2016-12-29 | Cafeteria Culture, a nonprofit environmental education and advocacy organization, is teaching creative storytelling through the visual arts, performing arts, and video production that is merged with citizen science and civic engagement. Our programs are giving underserved New York City youth a voice on urgent environmental issues.Hear what two New York City teachers have to say about their experiences of working with Cafeteria Culture.Taught in partnership with classroom teachers, our environmental education programs empower students with the skills of collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, and participatory democracy. Students then engage local, national, and international audiences with their creative and informed youth-made messaging and videos.Students who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change are empowered through our programs to debate, ask questions, and to tell their own stories about garbage, plastic marine pollution, food waste, and environmental justice, participating in the design of effective solutions to these critical environmental issues of our times.Students actively engage in Civic Participation and Environmental Activism within their communities and going a unique urban youth POV to current citywide issues.To learn more, please visit www;cafeteria culture.org (and watch: “5th Grade Change-Makers Take Action on Bag Bill” youtu.be/wnL_X8NwgyQ)
LITTER MONSTERS - Youth made stop motion animation! #plasticpollutes CafCu Media 2016-11-23 | LITTER MONSTERS are everywhere but you can take immediate action to keep plastic street litter out of our oceans, out of marine wildlife, and out of our seafood! TAKE ACTION: Pick Up Litter and Refuse Single Use Plastics! #PlasticPollutes #SaveACritterCafeteria Culture co-created this stop motion animation/live action video with PS/MS 34M 5th graders to show how seemingly harmless street litter gets into our waterways, threatening our oceans, marine wildlife and our seafood chain.Did you know, that when it rains in New York City and over 700 other municipalities in the US, the large amounts of water cause combined sewer systems to overflow, allowing street litter and raw sewage to flow directly out to our local waterways and eventually making its way to the ocean? Litter Monsters shows just how this happen - in a fun way - and inspires behavior change.Globally, one truck load of garbage is dumped into our oceans every minute!So what can YOU do locally to keep your plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic straws and all plastic litter out of our waterways? It’s not that hard. The 5th graders who created this video have a simple solution: Refuse Single Use Plastics and help to save our oceans!New York City is working to change this scenario by constructing giant holding tanks, bioswales, and rain gardens to help absorb rainwater and divert the large amounts of water flowing into the sewer systems.To learn more about New York City’s sewer systems, wastewater treatment, stormwater management, water quality and stewardship opportunities, please visit the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s website at www.nyc.gov/dep or emaileducationoffice@dep.nyc.gov.LITTER MONSTERS was created by 5th grade students from PS/MS 34 M, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a NYC public school located in Alphabet City, Manhattan, New York, located in the shadows of the Consolidated Edison power plant. LITTER MONSTERS animation and live action creation was part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education program, YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS (2016), which was generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional funding for this pilot school program and video production from Underwriters Laboratories Innovative Education Award (ULIEA 2015), NY City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, and The Fund for the City of New York.Cafeteria Culture is working creatively to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: CafCu Media! Learn more and help us to continue this important work by donating at www.cafeteriaculture.org.
How to Assemble SORT2SAVE Cafeteria Signs (SORT2SAVE Kit) CafCu Media 2016-07-05 | Here's a fun and easy way to make the SORT2SAVE signs for your cafeteria Sorting Station. Take the complication out of attaching signage to school cafeteria bins at the height that's right!We suggest that you get your students involved to help with the process. This helps them to take ownership and long term responsibility of the SORT2SAVE Cafeteria Ranger program!"How to Assemble SORT2SAVE Signs" is STEP 6 in the SORT2save Kit - Cafeteria Ranger Program.The SORT2SAVE KIT – phase 1 is a free online, multimedia resource providing elementary schools with all the materials needed to successfully implement a student-led Cafeteria Ranger Program. Students take on leadership roles in the cafeteria, overseeing all sorting, recycling and composting after meals, saving resources and working towards a zero waste, healthy future to benefit communities locally and globally.Start the Cafeteria Ranger program at your school today!Learn how to with 8 steps here: www.sort2save.org
Sorting Station Set-up Samples! (SORT2save Kit) CafCu Media 2016-07-05 | Learn how to arrange your school cafeteria recycling, compost, and trash bins for best results. Then work towards achieving a zero waste school cafeteria! This video shows examples of bin set-ups for different types of NYC public school cafeteria layouts.The "Sorting Station Set-up Samples" video is STEP 8 of Cafeteria Culture's SORT2save KIT – phase 1 - for elementary schools.Launch your CAFETERIA RANGER PROGRAM. See the SORT2save KIT here: www.sort2save.orgThe SORT2save KIT – phase 1 is a free online, multimedia resource providing elementary schools with all the materials needed to successfully implement a student-led Cafeteria Ranger Program. Students take on leadership roles in the cafeteria, overseeing all sorting, recycling and composting after meals, saving resources and working towards a zero waste, healthy future to benefit communities locally and globally.Via a rotating system, all students have the opportunity to be Cafeteria Ranger. At the end of each lunch period, student Rangers oversee all recycling and sorting of food scraps and packaging – a hands-on service-learning opportunity. Students practice communication, leadership, and recycling/sorting skills as a daily ritual, while ensuring that all procured “green” items, recyclables, compostables and food scraps remain as resources.Start the Cafeteria Ranger program at tour school! Learn more here: www.sort2save.org
Cafeteria Ranger CrashCourse (SORT2SAVE Kit) CafCu Media 2016-07-05 | The Cafeteria Ranger CrashCourse is here! STEP 1: watch and learn the basics for starting a Cafeteria Ranger Program at your school and SORT2SAVE today!-----The SORT2save KIT – phase 1 is a free online, multimedia resource providing elementary schools with all the materials needed to successfully implement a student-led Cafeteria Ranger Program. Students take on leadership roles in the cafeteria, overseeing all sorting, recycling and composting after meals, saving resources and working towards a zero waste, healthy future to benefit communities locally and globally.Via a rotating system, all students have the opportunity to be Cafeteria Ranger. At the end of each lunch period, student Rangers oversee all recycling and sorting of food scraps and packaging – a hands-on service-learning opportunity. Students practice communication, leadership, and recycling/sorting skills as a daily ritual, while ensuring that all procured “green” items, recyclables, compostables and food scraps remain as resources.The SORT2save KIT includes peer-to-peer “how-to” training videos, original child-friendly downloadable signs, badges and graphics, and operational forms. Interdisciplinary lesson plans and a middle school component are coming next!Learn more at: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/sort2save-kit.html
Keep It Wavy, Keep It Clean! #cleanstreetscleanbeaches CafCu Media 2016-07-05 | Plastic bags, plastic bottles, and plastic caps! On rainy days, plastic street litter gets washed down the sewer, into local waterways then onto our beaches. These student filmmakers want you to understand how local street litter becomes a huge global marine litter problem, making our parks and beaches ugly and hurting marine wildlife.This illuminating documentary is #6 in Cafeteria Culture's YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS series - created by 8th grade students in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. A message from the 8th grade filmmakers:Jamaica Bay Beach, located in Queens, NY, is a national park that has a litter problem. Plastics and other types of litter are getting on the beach, which is confusing the animals that live there because they do not know what is and is not food. On a trip to Jamaica Bay to conduct a beach litter survey and a cleanup. We collected many types of garbage, from plastic bags to bottles to polystyrene cups…you name it! With your help, we can conserve our beaches and save animals’ lives by making sure we dispose our trash correctly and reduce the amount of plastic we use. Please help us keep our streets and beaches clean for a safer and better future environment! #cleanstreetscleanbeaches #saveourbeaches"Keep it Wavy, Keep it Clean” illuminates the vital role that citizen science, litter surveying and beach clean-ups play in terms of reducing the ever increasing amounts of plastic litter entering our local waterways and oceans. Using data collected from beach ad street litter surveys, we can educate our communities, as well as our elected officials on the specific types of litter that are most prevalent so we can drive policy change forward.From a Eunomia, UK, 2016 report:- Over 80% of marine plastic pollution comes from land-based sources.- 94% of the plastic that enters the ocean ends up on the sea floor.- Barely 1% of plastics are found floating on or the near the ocean surface and by contrast, the amount estimated to be on beaches is 5 times greater."Keep it Wavy, Keep it Clean” was created by 8th grade students at MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn (NYC Department of Education, District 17). The curriculum is part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, YOUTH ARTS + MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS School Program (2016), which has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional support via our UL Innovative Education Award (2015), The Fund for the City of New York, and private donors.Cafeteria Culture is creatively working to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Learn more at http://www.cafeteriaculture.orgPlease SHARE this video and SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel: CafCu Media! Learn more , and help us to teach more environmental youth media arts + media program by donating at: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/donate.html
The Story of Aliana and Joe - plastic in fish? CafCu Media 2016-06-30 | Did you know that there is a one-in-four chance that the fish you eat contains plastic? This docudrama is #5 in Cafeteria Culture's YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS series - created by 8th grade students in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. These students are very concerned about the impacts of plastic marine litter on the lives of fish and how that in turn may affect our food chain in the future.A message from the 8th grade filmmakers:If you continue to litter, that’ll be your dinner. We got the opportunity to show how litter does not only affect the environment but it also affects our food chain. Studies show that 25 percent of our fish have plastic in them. Most of the plastic that was found in them were plastic fragments, microbeads, synthetic fabrics, etc. This can lead to liver toxicity in fish. It may not affect us much now but it’s possible that it can in the future. This is a dramatic reenactment of this story with an original script and lyrics. #endlittertosavecritters"The Story of Aliana and Joe” - plastic in fish?" was created by 8th grade students at MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn (NYC Department of Education, District 17). The curriculum is part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, YOUTH ARTS + MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS School Program (2016), which has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional support via our UL Innovative Education Award (2015), The Fund for the City of New York, and private donors.Cafeteria Culture is working to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Please share this video and subscribe to our YouTube channel: CafCu Media! Learn more , and help us to continue this important work by donating at: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org
The Flaws of Straws - #RefusePlasticStraws CafCu Media 2016-06-25 | Did you know that In the US we use 500 million straws a day, enough plastic polluting straw waste to wrap around the earth 2.5 times? Get inspired by this youth-made video and take action to save marine wildlife one step at a time! #RefusePlasticStraws"The Flaws of Straws #RefusePlasticStraws," a vlog video, is #4 in Cafeteria Culture's YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS series, created by 8th grade students in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. There are 5.25 TRILLION pieces of plastic debris in the ocean and 80% of that debris originates on land. Plastic pollution is not just ugly, it hurts tourism, costs money to clean up (when possible to do so), harms or kills marine wildlife, and is now a part of our food chain! Humans are solely responsible for all this plastic marine litter and humans can take a first step towards reducing the destructive amounts of plastic entering our waterways by simply saying NO to plastic straws! #RefusePlasticStraws #SaveACritter #TrashFreeWaters #plasticpollutes"The Flaws of Straws - #RefusePlasticStraws” was created by 8th grade students at MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn (NYC Department of Education, District 17). The curriculum is part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, YOUTH ARTS + MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS School Program (2016), which has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional support via our UL Innovative Education Award (2015), The Fund for the City of New York, and private donors.Cafeteria Culture is creatively working to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Learn more at http://www.cafeteriaculture.orgPlease share this video and subscribe to our YouTube channel: CafCu Media! Learn more , and help us to teach more environmental youth media arts + media program by donating at:http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/donate.htmlTAKE THE LAST PLASTIC STRAW CHALLENGE!http://thelastplasticstraw.orgThis is an invitation to all bars and restaurants, to be part of the movement to eliminate plastic pollution from the source. By simply stating on menus “Straws available upon request”, bars and restaurants can be part of the solution.Here’s How:Provide a straw only when requested by a customerProvide either biodegradable or reusable strawsOr get rid of straws completely
East Flatbush Litter - #SaveACritter CafCu Media 2016-06-24 | Did you know that 80% of marine debris originates on land? Plastic street litter is not just ugly, it often ends up in our rivers, bays and oceans, harming and killing marine wildlife.Watch this music video, #3 in Cafeteria Culture's YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS series, created by 8th grade students in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and find out.A message from these youth filmmakers:Do you know the consequences of throwing your trash in the street? When you throw your trash on the streets and it rains, litter can go through the storm drains, into pipes and directly into waterways, where it ends up being eaten by sea life, such as fish!This music video is about a girl who couldn’t find a garbage or recycling bin, so a group of friends help her find one and teach her how to recycle the right way. If you’re tired of walking several blocks to find these bins to throw away your trash, ask for more trash and recylcing bins from your local government. This can save creatures that live in the water. #SaveACritter #TrashFreeWaters #plasticpollutes"East Flatbush Litter - #SaveACritter” was produced by 8th grade students at MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn (NYC Department of Education, District 17). The curriculum is part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, YOUTH ARTS + MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS School Program (2016), which has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional support via our UL Innovative Education Award (2015), The Fund for the City of New York, and private donors.Cafeteria Culture is working to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Please share this video and subscribe to our YouTube channel: CafCu Media! Learn more , and help us to continue this important work by donating at: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org
The Dark Beauty of the Beads - #beadfree CafCu Media 2016-06-17 | Have you read the labels of your skin and body scrubs and toothpaste lately? If they contain polypropylene or polyethylene, you are are sending hundreds of plastic microbeads down the drain, which are polluting our oceans and hurting marine wildlife. Watch and learn more."The Dark Beauty of the Beads - #beadfree" is video #2 in Cafeteria Culture's YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS series - created by 8th grade students in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Students studied the macro problems caused by microbeads in our body care products and waterways. They decided to take action by finding an alternative to buying skin care products that are causing havoc to our oceans, threatening marine life, and contaminating our sea food chain. Watch the video and see their great idea!A message from these youth filmmakers:These days, just about everyone is worried about their appearance and body. This leads to huge spending on skin care products, many that contain a harmful plastic material called microbeads. Microbeads are tiny plastic particles in skin care products and tooth paste. When you use products containing microbeads, they go down the drain, go out to the waterways, and end up in our oceans. Then fish and other aquatic species ingest those beads. Even though there is now a federal ban on microbeads, recently signed by President Obama, it does not go fully into effect until 2018, and in some places, not until 2019! There are many, many products containing microbeads still out there in the market. In "The Dark Beauty of the Beads," we came up with some solutions that you can try, which are healthier for animals, your skin, and your budget! #beadfree #TrashFreeWaters #SaveACritter #plasticpollution"The Dark beauty of the Beads” was produced by 8th grade students from MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn (NYC Department of Education, District 17). The curriculum is part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, YOUTH ARTS + MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS School Program (2016), which has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional support via our UL Innovative Education Award (2015) and The Fund for the City of New York.A very special thank you to Anna Cummins, Executive Director, 5 Gyres, who generously shared images with our students and who is doing amazing work to reduce plastic pollution in our oceans!TAKE ACTION! Learn more about the problem with microbeads and what you can do here: http://www.5gyres.org/takeaction?mc_cid=0d653ab19c&mc_eid=c0c910fefbCafeteria Culture is working to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: CafCu Media! Learn more and help us to continue this important work by donating at: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org
Journey of Plastic Litter - Do You Know Where Your Cap Goes? CafCu Media 2016-06-09 | Video #1- YOUTH MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS series, by 8th grade students in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New YorkWhen it rains, the litter on many NYC neighborhood streets goes into our sewer system then, out to our local waterways and beyond. This short stop motion animation and live action video visualizes just what happens to a cap, when you drop into the gutter. To protect our aging infrastructure and sewer pipes, on rainy days, that cap may totally bypass the waste water treatment plant, traveling instead through our sewer pipes to an outfall pipe, spilling into Jamaica Bay, the East River, or some other local waterway and eventually making its way to the ocean. The animation illustrates the cap breaking into small pieces, which are eaten by fish, and those polluting plastic bits return back to us in our seafood dinner! So what SHOULD you do to keep your plastic bottle caps and litter out of our waterways? It’s not that hard. The 8th graders who created this video have a simple solution! Watch and find out.The “Journey of Plastic Litter” was produced by 8th grade students from MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The curriculum is a part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, YOUTH ARTS + MEDIA for TRASH FREE WATERS School Program (2016), which has been generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, Sustainable Materials Management Section, CASD. Cafeteria Culture is most appreciative of additional support via our UL Innovative Education Award (2015) and The Fund for the City of New York.Special thanks to Teyito Deli on Snyder Ave. between Veronica Place and Rogers Ave. for allowing students to videotape in their deli and for supporting the reduction of plastic bag use.Cafeteria Culture is working to achieve zero waste schools and climate smart communities through education, arts, media, and action. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: CafCu Media! Learn more and help us to continue this important work by donating at www.cafeteriaculture.org.
A message from 8th grade filmmakers in Brooklyn about plastic litter - #SaveACritter CafCu Media 2016-04-11 | A Trash Free Waters campaign, "Pick Up Litter, Save A Critter" (#SaveACritter) -This video short was co-created with 8th grade students from MS 246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The curriculum is part of Cafeteria Culture's "Youth ARTS+MEDIA for Trash Free Waters" school program, generously funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2. Share the video and share the campaign, "Pick Up Litter, Save A Critter" (#SaveACritter)!Post photos and videos of your actions - picking up and reducing plastic litter to save precious critters! These 8th grade students are learning all about plastic pollution and how NYC street litter enters our local waterways then, our oceans, adding to our massive global plight of plastic marine pollution. Students are making short documentaries on various topics related to plastic pollution, including plastic impacts on marine wildlife, plastic in our food chain, student-led litter surveys and beach clean-ups, street litter in East Flatbush, Green Infrastructure, and more. Students are identifying the issues and constructing their own stories and styles of telling their stories. They are debating, researching, collecting data as citizen scientists, and conducting interviews with environmental experts, scientists, and neighbors. Student-made documentaries are coming soon! Subscribe to CafCu Media and be the first to see them.Go to www.CafeteriaCulture.org to learn more about our Environmental Education and STEAM pre-K- 12 school programs.
Plastic Bag Lake in NYC - No Single Use Plastic Bags! CafCu Media 2015-12-06 | New York City Council voted YES on the #BYObag bill after 2 years of debate. The law is due to go into effect on Feb. 15, 2017.But now, NY State legislators are trying to block our local environmental bag law.Protect our oceans, marine wildlife, our seafood dinner, and our democratic process! Ask your NYS Assembly Member to give the NYC bag bill a chance!Take action here:http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/nyc-bag-bill.htmlNow more than ever it's time to protect our local environmental laws and #EndPlasticPollution!- New Yorkers use and discard 10 billion single-use carryout bags per year!-NYC spends $12.5 MILLION a year just to send 91,000 tons of thrown away plastic bags to landfills and incinerators every year.- About 80% of plastics found in the oceans comes from land based sources. -- - Plastic bag litter breaks down into tiny pieces called microplastics, which act like sponges in the ocean and absorb toxic chemicals, such as PCB's and flame retardants. So, when a fish eats a tiny piece of plastic, it is eating those chemicals too.- The scientific community is racing to understand how growing amounts of microplastics in our oceans are effecting organisms "as well as the risk posed to human health though consumption of contaminated food." (UNEP frontiers Report 2016)- New research shows that fish are eating the plastic that we are dumping into the oceans. See this study showing how "fish are exposed to a mixture of polyethylene [what plastic bags are made of] with chemical pollutants sorbed from the marine environment, bioaccumulate these chemical pollutants and suffer liver toxicity and pathology"-Plastic bags are made from the polymer, POLYETHYLENE (PE), which when in the oceans, "HAS THE HIGHEST CAPACITY OF TOXIFICATION AMONG ALL PLASTICS" (see the research of Professor Hideshige Takada, Ph.D, which was presented at the United Nations, 2016, http://bit.ly/2jwPQoY-Marine plastic pollution has impacted at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species and 43% of all marine mammal species. The impacts include fatalities (death) as a result of ingestion (eating), starvation, suffocation, infection, drowning, and entanglement.- Every minute, the equivalent of one truck load of garbage is dumped into the oceans worldwide. If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two garbage track loads per minute by 2030 and four truck loads per minute by 2050. (The Guardian on Ellen MacArthur report)- EVEN THE PLASTIC BAGS YOU "THROW AWAY" ARE A PROBLEM!In Manhattan, many of the POLLUTING PLASTIC BAGS we throw "away" are burned in an incinerator, just across the river in NJ. The rest of the city's thrown "away" bags are exported in carbon spewing trucks to out-of-state landfills - in somebody else's backyard - to stay forever.
Arts+Action School Program! CafCu Media 2015-11-30 | The ARTS+ACTION Zero Waste Cafeteria program is E-STEM curriculum, empowering K-12 students to be sustainability leaders in the cafeteria, the school, the neighboring community and beyond!ARTS+ACTION has 2 components: - The Cafeteria Ranger Program (starts in the classroom, then moves to the cafeteria), and- Make Change Messaging (interdisciplinary curriculum)The program provides urgently needed school cafeteria waste reduction education, including food scrap composting and food packaging recycling, and sorting. This version is designed for grades K-8 and is based on our previous success. The primary program goal is to increase school cafeteria solid waste diversion rates up to 80% and to eliminate bin contamination via the following methods:- Empowering student to be Cafeteria Rangers or Monitors; - Teaching students both the how and why of garbage reduction; and - Leading students in the creation of entertaining messaging “campaigns” (such as designing giant puppets or animated shorts) to engage students and staff on the topic of garbage.
SORT2SAVE Cheer! - zero waste cafeteria is almost here! CafCu Media 2015-10-02 | The SORT2SAVE Cheer! is here! Create a culture of zero waste in your cafeteria and make change fun! Share with friends, teachers, and everyone.The "SORT2save cheer!" is a fun and easy way to teach students and staff how to correctly sort food scraps and packaging for a zero waste, healthy future. Go to www.sort2save.org and start a Cafeteria Ranger program at your school today in 8 steps!Next up in the SORT2save series:"CAFETERIA RANGER CRASHCOURSE!"The SORT2SAVE KIT is fun guide for starting a student-led Cafeteria Ranger Program in 8 steps, complete with downloadable templates, graphics (badges and signs) and guides. Interested in a "SORT2SAVE cheer!" tailored for your school district? Contact us at info@cafeteriaculture.org.This video illustrates recycling, composting, and sorting procedure particular to NYC schools. If you live somewhere else, please check with your local government to learn how to sort in your school.
Flatbush Beauty - Video Journalism Project @MS246 in NYC CafCu Media 2015-05-04 | Created by 8th grade students in Brooklyn, this video short is about litter and beautification of the East Flatbush neighborhood. The project was part of Cafeteria Culture's "ARTS+MEDIA Cafeteria Waste Reduction" School Program at MS 246 Walt Whitman (2014), generously funded by the US EPA, Environmental Protection Agency Region 2.
Diesel + Air Quality - Video Journalism - MS 246 in Brooklyn, NYC CafCu Media 2015-05-04 | NYC has serious air quality issues caused by too much garbage and too many garbage trucks. A video documentary produced by class 804 at MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush. The curriculum was a part of Cafeteria Culture's "ARTS+MEDIA Cafeteria Waste Reduction" school program(2014), funded by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2.
Beach Report 804 - Video Journalism - MS 246 in NYC CafCu Media 2015-05-04 | This short documentary on plastic marine litter problem was created by 8th graders at MS246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The curriculum was a part of Cafeteria Culture's "ARTS+MEDIA Cafeteria Waste Reduction" school program (2014), generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2.
5th Grade Change-Makers Take Action on NYC Bag Bill - #BYObag #trashfreewaters CafCu Media 2015-04-17 | In 2015, as part of Cafeteria Culture's ARTS+MEDIA for Climate Action program, 5th grade students from PS 34 Manhattan took action on NYC’s plastic bag plight! Students became experts on the complexities of the proposed carry-out bag fee bill. They debated both sides of the issues and partook in a roundtable discussion with their NYC Council member, who had not yet signed onto the bill. They repurposed donated tee shirts into one-of-a-kind reusable bags and gave them away to their neighbors! Then, students built large pole puppets made from plastic bags, took them to a City Hall plastic rally and spoke with great confidence and passion to the press, standing along side of NYC elected officials.In April 2016, Cafeteria Culture brought more students from four other partner schools to City Hall to share their opinions about the bag fee legislation with the press and officials. On May 5, 2016, the NYC Council voted 28- 20 in favor of a 5 cents fee on single-use paper and plastic carryout bags (Intro 209A)! The fee goes into effect on October 1, 2016.New Yorkers have been using 9 billion disposable bags each year, costing the city $12.5 million to export 91,000 tons of bags to landfills and incinerators, negatively impacting communities all along the way. Cafeteria Culture is empowering students with leadership, arts and storytelling skills and cameras - teaching students to think critically about real world environmental problems and to instigate their own Trash Free Waters messaging for their communities and for the entire world! Students are debating, asking questions, and telling their own powerful stories about how street litter becomes toxic marine pollution.Video Credits: Produced, directed and edited "in-house" by Atsuko Quirk, Cafeteria Culture Media Director and Program Co-Director; Camera Crew: Quirk in partnership with PS34 5th grade students!
Talking Waste Transfer - Video Journalism - MS 246 in Brooklyn, NYC CafCu Media 2015-03-12 | The problem with NYC's Waste Transfer Stations - a video short produced by class 804 at MS 246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The curriculum was a part of Cafeteria Culture's "ARTS+MEDIA Cafeteria Waste Reduction" school program (2014), generously funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2.
SORT2SAVE KIT Overview - ZERO WASTE SCHOOL CAFETERIAS in NYC CafCu Media 2014-10-29 | Cafeteria Culture's SORT2SAVE KIT is an online multimedia toolkit, providing schools with all the resources needed to successfully implement a student-run Cafeteria Ranger (or monitor) program in a fun way! Students take the lead, overseeing all sorting of cafeteria recyclables, organics and garbage. Cafeteria garbage is dramatically reduced along with bin contamination. The program teaches students the "why" before the" how" and engages the entire school community on zero waste culture, environmental justice issues and climate change. TOOLKIT components include peer-to-peer “how-to” training videos, “edu-taining” music videos, engaging downloadable graphics, operational forms, and interdisciplinary lesson plans. Learn more at www.sort2save.org
No Styro Puppets - Brooklyn Food Conference CafCu Media 2014-04-21 | The Cafeteria Culture team took the giant No-Styro Puppet monsters to the Brooklyn Food Conference at Brooklyn Tech High School.These data puppets helped people to envision what toxic and polluting styrofoam garbage looks like when amassed. While there, they rubbed elbows with then, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
No Styrofoam Tray Puppet Monsters - Earth Day, NYC CafCu Media 2014-04-21 | As part of our "Alternative Messaging" Campaign, the Cafeteria Culture team took giant No-Styro puppets to the streets of NYC for Earth Day, rallying support to eliminate the 860,000 toxic and polluting styrene foam trays used per day NYC schools and to ban styrene foam from our lives!
Rangers to the Rescue! Cafeteria Ranger Trailer (SORT2SAVE KIT) CafCu Media 2014-04-21 | Inspire your students with this Cafeteria Ranger program trailer - made just for them!Cafeteria Culture's SORT2SAVE KIT with "edutaining" media and tools is for elementary schools everywhere. The KIT includes everything your school needs to implement a long-lasting, student-run, cafeteria waste reduction program in 8 steps. Middle school segment coming soon!Learn more at www.sort2save.orgBecome a zero waste angel by giving to Cafeteria Culture! Partner with us in creating more 'edutaining" zero waste videos and tools FREE FOR ALL schools everywhere! DONATE HERE: http://www.cafeteriaculture.org/donate
