The Sustainability Drive was a group project done by 5 members to raise awareness about sustainable periods considering hygiene and the environment. We chose to do a group presentation on sustainable periods in front of Grade 7 girls because these girls are in a phase to enter menstruation hence, this concept is crucial for them to know and take steps accordingly. Along with the presentation, we also created an Instagram page called, “The Sustainability Drive” to extend our knowledge about sustainability on a larger scale through social media which is an effective platform to spread awareness instantly.
LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
We initiated this plan with a goal to raise awareness of an uncommon and fundamental concept. The topic of sustainable periods struck in our minds and with a bit of research about the intensity of the issue we were clear that it is a perfect combination to inculcate sustainability and open-mindedness about periods in our topic. We planned this CAS experience in such a way that the PPT was created in a sufficient time before our presentation day. We began our plan by dividing the information each member had to collect and put it creatively on PPT.
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Working collaboratively is advantageous when we have to do a task that involves sub-tasks to achieve the final result. In our group project, deciding the topic, researching the content, organizing the information, and creating the PPT would have been practically difficult had it not been a group project because it allowed us to divide roles and help each other to accomplish the final result. Collaboration actually made workloads easy to handle and gave exposure to new ideas coming from different group members. However, working collaboratively can sometimes be unfavorable due to reasons such as unequal contribution from group members which leads to unfairness. Similarly, constant procrastination from one or more group members can also affect the overall quality of the task. For example, we decided that every member will be assigned a day per week to create and post one creative poster on any sustainable topic on our Instagram page. This action was sufficiently carried out well, nonetheless, there were instances when some members would forget about the poster for a long time which ultimately impacted our plan and the outcome we aimed for.
LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
We initially thought to spread awareness only about periods but our focus was driven more towards sustainability, thus, we slightly altered our concept to “sustainable periods” as we realized this is a global concern arising from the disposal of thousands of sanitary pads every year, that contain plastic. Moreover, we learned in our research that there’s the disposal of millions of non-biodegradable sanitary pads every year in India itself, hence, it further pushed us to take action in response to this issue.
LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Our action of using or not using sustainable alternatives of periods impact our health and also have a long-term environmental effect on our planet. Our research on this topic led us to eye-opening numbers that somehow moved and convinced us to work on our actions. By doing the presentation, we were able to raise awareness on a pressing, global issue which is an ethical and impactful action taken towards the environment. Although raising awareness might seem an act of small-scale compared to the massive number of non-biodegradable pads generated every year, it is still a step to instill the reality and depth of such issues in young minds so that they can take measures from the beginning.
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