By Inquiry Charter Healthy Owl Times reporters | Ms. Angela Cutrone said it is important for people to reduce the amount of plastic they use.

“If we don’t protect our environment, we won’t have a future,” said Ms. Angela, the operations and enrollment manager at Inquiry Charter School.

Healthy Owl Times reporters recently researched some of the problems that plastics cause. They learned from the National Geographic website for kids “over 700 species of marine animals have been reported to have eaten or been entangled in plastic.” The website also projects that the amount of plastic going into oceans is going to triple in the next 25 years.

With that information in mind, the reporters asked Ms. Angela for ideas about how students can reduce their own plastic use.

She said one plastic item that students can live without is the single-use plastic water bottle. “Stop buying new ones each day and try a metal one,” she advised.

Don’t throw trash and plastic on the ground, she urged. Make sure it gets into a recycling bin.

For her part, Ms. Angela said she uses fewer single-use items like plastic grocery bags and water bottles. Small changes can make an impact on the health of the planet, experts say.

Illustration by Chinwe, eighth grade, Catholic Partnership Schools.