În săptămâna 10-14 februarie 2014, elevii claselor a IV-a și a V-a au redactat scurte eseuri în limba engleză pentru concursul „2014 International Schools Essays Competition and Debate“. Provocarea copiilor a fost să răspundă la întrebarea „What does sustainable living mean to you?”
Iată cele 10 compuneri care au fost înscrise în competiție:
Had a chat with my planet
by Elena Nicule, class IV
Essay ID: 1100
drawing by Ema Mureșan
Our planet is not feeling very well. Why? Well, I asked her what the problem is. This is what she told me:
“Oh, all the people must help me! They must protect their environment if they don’t want to die! They travel by car too often. When it’s winter, why don’t they go by bus? And when they travel far away they always go by plane, even if they could go by train… Oh, no! In this very moment a man throws an empty pack of biscuits on the ground! Oh, poor me! Oh, my!”
“My dear planet, said I, there are all kinds of people here: there are kind people, bad people, simple people, smart people, people who look nice… but, you know, looks can be deceiving. Do you think all people are bad and hurt you?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I think.”
“Well, it’s not really so! Me, my friends and so many other people protect you. We don’t want you to feel hurt.”
“Really? Maybe there are people who look after me, but there are not enough of them. When people don’t treat me well, the trees get hurt, the flowers get hurt, the ground gets hurt, the water gets hurt.”
“Why is that?,” I asked.
“Because the plants, the ground and the water are all a piece of me. I am like a human being: when you hit a part of me, all of me feels hurt. And when you hurt me sooo much, I can die. And if I die, all the creatures will die. Everything dies. Because everything has a soul.”
“Now I understand better. Nobody thinks too much about these things. But I will tell them! I will them all: about our chat, about how you feel, about how you are one with the trees, the animals, the water… one with us! If we protect you, we protect ourselves and our future generations!”
So, my dear friends, our planet Earth is not feeling very well. But we can cheer her up if we stop throwing things on the ground or in the water, if we stop cutting trees or doing things that hurt her. Remember: our planet is a treasure which must be preserved for future generations. This is what sustainable living means and it is not so complicated after all, don’t you think so?
A sustainable life and a sustainable lifestyle
By Caterina Cherecheș, class IV
Essay ID: 1060
I think that a sustainable life can be achieved by convincing people around the world to have a sustainable lifestyle. A sustainable lifestyle can be reached by protecting the plants and the animals, trying to use less energy, trying to pollute less, and trying to recycle more.
Who is responsible for the polar bears drowning into the water because the snow and the ice melt? Who is responsible for the moles dying because the soil gets hotter and hotter? Who is responsible for cutting down entire forests? Who is responsible for throwing garbage into rivers, seas and oceans? Who is responsible for global warming? We are responsible for all these changes!!! The Earth can’t adapt to these changes. But we can adapt by: throwing garbage in the bin, cutting only the trees that we actually need, planting new trees, growing our own vegetables, recycling, using the sun and the wind as a source of energy. I do my best to heal the planet but even I can do more.
I think that we should all have a sustainable lifestyle. If we were able to invent cars that don’t pollute, then I think we will be able to invent a machine that extracts pollution from the air. If we succeed, then the planet will be a cleaner and happier place – and so will we.
Our planet needs us
By Miruna Koșa, class IV
Essay ID: 1099
drawing by Mircea Georoceanu
Animals, plants, people. These are parts of nature and we need to protect them, but sometimes we don’t do this. It just happens that after we wash our hands we don’t turn off the tap, or sometimes we leave the TV on even if we don’t watch it, or we throw garbage on the grass or in the water.
We are only children, but there are things that we can do every day to have a better world. Our planet is very important and we need to protect it, because we live on it and we are part of it, it’s our home! When we go by car to a nearby place, the planet cries. When we put the garbage on the grass, not in the bin, Nature is very sad. When the sun sees these things, he gets upset.
I think that you don’t want your children and your grandchildren to live in an ugly world, with no trees or animals, because animals are important to us and we couldn’t live on this planet without trees.
I don’t let the tap on after I wash my hands and I don’t go by car when I can get somewhere by bus. You can do these things too, and more. I also can do more things, such as recycling paper and plastic more often.
So, all things considered, when you want to go a nearby place by car, think twice. Before leaving home, check the water taps and appliances: are they on? Better not! It takes all of our effort together to save our children’s lives! In my opinion, this is what sustainable living means.
We can do it!
By Ana Câmpean, class IV
Essay ID: 1128
drawing by Ana Câmpean
To me, sustainable living means a life without poisoned water, without polluted air. We can keep the planet clean if we want it, but most people don’t care about future generations. They will have nothing but a destroyed planet. I’m sure that the people in the future will not be happy and they will say “Oh my! Look at our planet! It’s been destroyed by our parents and grandparents!” That’s why we need to take some action now.
We can do it! We can still fix the problem. There are many things that we can do to save our future. We can recycle, we can reduce water consumption if we turn off the tap while we brush our teeth. These are just two examples from the thousands of things that we can do to save our future.
When we save our planet, it’s our own future that we save, not only that of future generations.
Can we do it? Yes, we can! It’s only little things that we need to do.
Our planet is worth it
By Laura Centea, class IV
Essay ID: 1126
Sustainable living is when you do things thinking about the future generations. Our planet is worth being helped, so that our children and grandchildren will also enjoy living in this beautiful place.
There are many things that my family and I do every day to help preserve the planet. I never watch TV on Monday and I normally don’t watch TV very much. This saves some energy. In my family, we have separate bins for paper and for food waste.
But I know we can do even more things, like washing the dishes by hand instead of using the washing machine, recycling plastic bottles too and being cleaner.
What can you do for a more sustainable living?
Simple things can save us
By Rareș Cuc, class IV
Essay ID: 1130
I think sustainable living is an action intended to save our planet. I think it’s organised by lots of great scientists and this action teaches people to look after the planet we live on.
It’s only simple things that we need to do, but their impact will be great. In my family, we already do lots of things to save the planet: we recycle plastic bottles and paper and we reuse as many things as we can, like carrier bags. We don’t waste water, we clean the rubbish and we don’t waste electricity. Every year, my family and I take part in the action “Let’s do it, Romania!”, when we meet with friends and go out in the countryside to collect all the litter that people leave behind. We put it in big plastic bags, then my parents take them to the landfill. It sounds like a simple thing, but simple things can save our planet.
What is around me
By Petra Csillag, class V
Essay ID: 1154
I looked out the window one day and what did I see? Lots of cars and buses and planes. But, what does sustainable living mean?
To me, it means that we should try and understand that our planet is not infinite. Its resources are limited and we should try and use them more sensibly, so that future generations will enjoy living on this planet, too.
To me, it means that we should travel by car less often and use the bicycle, or even walk, more often. It is healthier for us, as well as for the planet.
To me, it means that we should recycle more. Many people already have separate bins in their homes to collect paper and plastic separately. But I know we can do more, it is still not enough.
A lot of people don’t realize what we are doing to this planet, but it’s the only one we’ve got! In the future, when people wake up and think how beautiful life used to be in the past, it might be too late.
We could do more, right NOW. We can plant more trees and we can use one car to bring two or three children to school instead of three cars. We can eat less meat and more vegetables that we can grow by ourselves. We can use solar panels to heat our homes.
If we think more about what our actions do to the planet, we will start caring more about it and the story is more likely to end with “…and they lived happily ever after”.
Sad planet, needs love
By Mara Armașu, class V
Essay ID: 1155
Can you see how sad our planet is? I think she’s trying to show us that she needs a huge change. She wants to be happy again and we can help her.
When you throw garbage on the ground, think about our planet, about her happiness. When you travel by plane, think about the planet, take the train if you can. When you see a big factory, breathing out mountains of smog, think about the planet and make a decision about what things you really need to buy. Maybe if we only buy the things that we really need, factories will not have to produce so many useless things.
This planet is the place where our children will live. Many people know this, and they understand what our actions are doing to the planet, but still they don’t think too much before they throw garbage on the ground or use the car instead of walking.
Imagine that our planet could talk. If you listen hard, you will hear her: “I’m very sad because people don’t think it’s important to protect me. I don’t understand why. I take care of them, why don’t they take care of me?”
Let us think about our mothers. Because our planet is like a mother to us. And she needs our love.
Help the planet
By Mihai Buligă, class IV
Essay ID: 1156
Our planet is good, but its resources are limited. The water is limited, the wood is limited, coal and oil are limited. We know this. But why do we keep living like this? I think we are lazy, or too careless. Here is one example out of thousands: when we brush our teeth, we turn the tap on and we leave the water running, on and on, and on.
It’s not difficult to make the right decisions. There are lots of things that we can do. For example, I took part in a project called “Let’s do it, Romania!” It’s a national project, when people in all the cities go out and pick the litter from the forests and the plains. My family and I joined some friends and we cleaned the garbage from the forest near our city. I’m happy because we did something good for our planet, but you know what? We also had some great fun doing it.
So, let’s do it! I know we can.
Sustainable living
By Ștefania Cherecheș, class IV
Essay ID: 1157
From the mountains the water comes down in rivers where the fish live. Some people pollute the water and the fish are intoxicated and some of them die. The people who need their houses to be warm, cut trees to make fire. In the beginning, people cut only one tree a year but now there are machines which cut millions of trees a year.
Even if we are happy, that doesn’t mean that the Earth is happy and in a few years’ time we’re not going to be happy either because the animals won’t have what to eat and if the animals don’t have what to eat, we are going to die because we won’t have what to eat and drink.
My family and I live sustainably. We want to have our own garden and grow our own food to cook.
I think that rich people should help the world and make ecological factories.
Did you ever question yourself who caused all these things? And why?
Think about these aspects and start making sustainable choices: reuse, recycle, make your own things as much as you can, instead of buying them.
And remember, you are not doing this for yourself, you are doing this for the whole world.