ShmoopTube

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[Dino and Coop singing]

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If students were in charge of running the school, things would probably be a bit different... [Kids walking off the schoolbus]

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For example…math class would probably be replaced with recess class! [Empty class room]

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…Which is just more recess.

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Yeah, yeah, we know…"ideas like that are why students will never run schools!" blahblahblah…

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Okay, so maybe you can't make all-day recess a thing, but that doesn't mean there aren't [Kids falls off a swing]

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some positive changes you as students can make to your school and community...

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Especially when it comes to the environment. [Kid has a black eye]

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And because we like brainstorming really good ideas––seriously, someone should jump

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on that recess class thing––here are a few to get you started...

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What if you convinced someone... and it could be anyone, from your school principal, to [Kid walking down the street]

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the mayor, or to local shop owners... to switch their light bulbs to more energy efficient ones?

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It's an easy sell since it reduces their bills, and it helps the environment. [Shop owner looks happy and boy has his thumbs up]

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Or what if you convinced your community to put a recycling bin next to every single public

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garbage can in your town?

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There are tons of people who throw bottles or cans in the trash simply because there

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aren't any recycling bins around. [People recycling]

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This way, if they keep doing it, you have every right to follow them around and boo

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them until they go back and fix their mistake! [Kid following a man]

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You could also talk to local stores about giving customers who use cloth bags instead

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of plastic bags a small discount.

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Nothing motivates people like money! [Woman with dollar signs in her eyes]

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Or you could organize a fundraiser to help the community buy solar panels for traffic

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lights around town.

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You even could organize a “ride your bike to work or school” day.

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Or a community “blackout” where every home turned off their lights for ten minutes

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each month to save a bit of electricity. [Street of houses goes dark]

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Plus, think of how nice the star gazing would be with no lights!

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Or an entire day where everyone agrees to turn off their TVs and get outside instead! [Man switches his TV off and jumps out the window]

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Just make sure not to include turning off their computers in any of those ideas…we

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wouldn't want anyone to go without Shmoop… [Guy sat at his computer]

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Anyway, these are just a few ideas of things you could do to help your community become [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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even more eco-friendly.

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But we're sure you can come up with some even better ones that would work specifically for [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

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your community.

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But be sure they're actually realistic…

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Sure, asking everyone to work together to power the town using giant five-hundred

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person bicycle generator sounds like a good idea, but it's not exactly realistic.

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That sweat smell would get bad, and fast. [Field full of people on bikes]

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