2003: Recycling Unit

The “Law of Reciprocal Maintenance” states that every thing in life is either being used or using something else. Life is giving or receiving, eating or being eaten. When this is in balance, life is maintained and sustained. We can see this clearly in the plant world. Plants receive sunshine, nutrients and carbon dioxide. They give oxygen, food, medicine and shelter. This is true for every form of life. It is our responsibility to care for all of life, and then life will care for us. This fundamental law is the essence of life on this planet, and is at the core of Running River’s philosophy.

One of our goals at Running River was to have the children leave school at the end of the year with a thorough understanding of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” We thought a lot about how to accomplish this task. We wanted the children to experience, explore, and discover for themselves that everything comes from somewhere and goes to somewhere, and it does make a difference how we care for our belongings so that they will last, and the efforts we take to change our habits of buying and throwing things away. We hoped that their knew knowledge would go home with them and affect the way they lived, so we included the families in our curriculum.