North+Carolina

= Green Facts = By: Gage
 * Rainforests are being cut at a rate of 100 acres/minute
 * Recycling a single run of the New York Times Sunday paper would save 75,000 trees
 * A glass bottle will take 4,000 years to decompose
 * Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 styrofoam cups away each year
 * If every American recycled just one tenth of their newspapers, we could save about 25,000,000 trees a year
 * Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour -- all of those bottles kill at least 1,000,000 sea creatures a year
 * Every month we throw out enough glass to fill a skyscraper
 * An estimated 80,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are unwrapped each day, using enough aluminum to cover 50 acres of space
 * An aluminum can that is thrown away can be here 500 years from now!
 * About a third of an average dump is made up of packaging material

Cited from [|www.recycling-revolution.com]

= Going Green! = By: Mrs. Durrence's 2nd Period (Collaborative Writing Activity)

I t’s important to protect the environment, especially when there are so many different things, like air pollution, that can harm it. Air pollution is a problem all over the United States. Gases from cars are released into the air which causes air pollution. We should encourage parents to by electric cars.

Learning to reuse items is another way we can help the environment. Reusing paper while in school is one thing every student can do. Before throwing a piece of paper away, be sure to check and see if you can use the back. It is important to not be wasteful because we need to save trees. The trees produce oxygen to help us breathe.

As human beings we have to protect our environment. The Earth provides us with food and oxygen. So, its our job to keep the Earth clean. Everyone needs to do their part!

=Friends for Change = By: Natalie

One day I was watching the Disney Channel with my little sister and I found out about "Disney's Friends for Change." The next day I went to school and my teacher told me that we were writing the next Coast to Coast Chronicles edition about "Going Green." Friends for Change is about Disney stars coming together and saving the Earth and telling kids how they can help with it too. I learned that starts like Debbie Ryan, Mitchel Moose, Emily Osment, and Brenda Song are taking a part in it.

I learned some very interesting facts also. Taking shorter showers and making sure you only use washing machines/dishwashers with full loads in them, will hlep save water and energy. If 500,000 kids don't use 15 bags plastic bags for 1 month, they could prevent up to 7.5 million bags going to landfills! When Ireland started charging people 15 cents for every plastic bag they used at the store, it decreased the use of plastic bags by 95%. If 500,000 kids got together and planted a tree in their local area, those trees could absorb over a billion pounds of cabon monoxide throughout their lives!

Disney Channel stars also came together to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. They are working to rebuild homes and schools to help give back what was lost. You could be one to give back too! If you want to find out more facts or make a pledge, please visit [|Friends for Change]