As part of my CAS service, I grew bean plants at home for 2 months. Plants release oxygen and growing plants can help with clean air. They also cancel out a city’s noise and act as stores of carbon. So, by growing plants, it is a service as it gives humans and animals a more peaceful and clean place to live in and is helpful to our growing cities. I took care of the plant where I watered them every day.
LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
With my busy schedule; school, assignments, and homework, I would have never thought of growing plants and taking the added responsibility of them. It was difficult to take out time to water and take care of them every day keeping or not keeping them under sunlight at different intervals of the day and sometimes because of my busy schedule, I used to forget to do it. I planned to water them after coming from school but used to be so tired that I forgot sometimes. Because of CAS, it gave me an opportunity. to grow plants and take care of them which made me responsible and patient. I also didn’t have much prior knowledge on plantation, so this really helped me learn the basics.
LO 3- Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
Plants had to be sown at the correct distance to allow for adequate resources like sunlight, water, and nutrients. I had to plan this service keeping in mind the time it takes for bean plant to grow and time left for CAS submission. I also kept a record of the germination rate, plant height and leaf length to know their growth rate. This plan helped me to see my plants grow exponentially after around 6 days.
LO6- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
UNSDG Goal number 13 is Climate Action. Right now humans are burning carbon at a high rate which is contributing to climate change and warming of the planet. Plants take up carbon and store it in their cells. Hence, by growing plants, we are fighting climate change and taking action against it.
LO7- Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
As I mentioned earlier, I sometimes forgot to or was too tired and exhausted to water the plants. One time this happened for a long duration of time and led to my plants almost dying. This made me realize the result of my action and how it could have led the plants to die and my action toward clean air would have been incomplete.
Overall, planting bean plants was a fun experience and it felt good to call the plants something I grew. Taking care of them and seeing them grow made me feel like I had done something good for the environment.
