Iola High School FFA student Abigail Meiwes cut an apple into quarters and asked a group of fourth-graders to imagine it representing the Earth.
She asked them to guess how much of the apple represented the Earth’s landmass, and pulled out one quarter. She cut that quarter in half, then kept cutting.
Finally, she held up a tiny sliver.
“This represents the amount of land available to grow crops to feed the entire world,” she told the students.
On Friday morning, the fourth-graders visited the new Allen County Recycle Center, located behind Pete’s convenience store on U.S. 54, to learn about recycling in honor of Earth Day.
The event was sponsored by Allen County Farm Bureau, with the assistance of the Allen Community College collegiate team and IHS FFA students.
Debbie Bearden, Allen County Farm Bureau president, said the organization offers an annual event to students for Earth Day. Often, they visit a local farm.
This year, though, they wanted students to learn about recycling.
“We want them to know where their food comes from, and in order for land to produce food, it needs to be kept clean,” she said.
Fourth-graders are at just the right age to learn about recycling, Bearden said. They are old enough to understand the importance of protecting the Earth, but young enough to make their own choices and to be taught valuable habits that will last a lifetime.
“When they get a bottle of pop or water, they will need to decide what to do with it when it’s empty,” Bearden said. “Will they throw it on the ground or in the trash, or will they make an intentional choice to put it with other plastics in a place where it can be recycled?”
The group also learned about pollinators like bees, wasps and butterflies. Those populations are diminishing, but they are an essential part of the food process.
