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Researchers discovered that one species of caterpillar has the ability to digest one of the toughest plastics to break down. This caterpillar is the Wax Moth. The Wax Moth caterpillar lives in beehives and feeds on honey and wax. The caterpillar’s ability to break down plastic was discovered by Paolo Bombelli and Christopher Howe at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Federica Bertocchini at the University of Cantabria in Spain. This was discovered when the researchers began to notice holes appearing in the bags containing the aforementioned caterpillars. Under further investigation, they found that the caterpillars could degrade 92 milligrams of the plastic in around 12 hours. The caterpillar’s ability to digest polypropylene would be beneficial to us as polypropylene is the main type of plastic found in waste. It takes 20 to 30 years for polypropylene to decompose, and even the smallest piece of plastic could cause havoc on an environment. Statistics have shown that over 1 million animals die each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. Could The Wax Moth caterpillar be the solution? Researchers have found that you would need billions of caterpillars eating constantly all year-round to deal with this problem. These caterpillars could also have a massive negative impact on bee colonies as the mass breeding of the honey eating insects could devastate bee habitats. Read more about this fascinating discovery here https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/25/plastic-eating-bugs-wax-moth-caterpillars-bee

Over many decades, our environment has changed in relation to the human way of life. Many actions have been made which negatively affected our surroundings, where in that time, we did not view the state of our environment as important. In doing so, it has inevitably placed the struggle and damage onto the shoulders of the younger generations. As the people for tomorrow, we have visions and differences in what sustainability means of each of us. With our thriving passion, we are taking action in hopes to reestablish a sustainable home. Sustainability is preserving our planet for future generations through recycling, upcycling, and reusing. Sustainability means to look after nature, as nature’s looked after us. Cynthia Zhang, year 9 To me, sustainability means using our resources efficiently without affecting the needs of future generations. This is important because we are very fortunate to live in such a comfortable style and be able to meet all of our needs and wants. However, sometimes we use things inefficiently - such as taking really long showers. We are compromising other people’s futures for our luxuries and that is not okay. Kristin is a very sustainable place. An example of this being the many actions being taken around the school such as installing solar panels and working groups such as Roots and Shoots doing a power audit to promote energy efficiency. Small actions like these will make a difference. Although itself is not a big act, it is a step to living in a sustainable manner. Sehaj Sapra, year 9 To me, sustainability is an idealistic world where we can utilise and reuse resources on our planet. It means creating somewhere which is going to last and thrive, both for people and nature. In the future, I envision a planet we have turned around, where we’ve found solutions to global problems. To me, sustainability means life. Sasha Jamison, year 9 Written By Angela Li

You would think that women and men have equal pay now right? I mean don’t women have the same rights as men, isn’t any woman just as equal as any man but the facts say otherwise. Women everywhere around the world are being treated unfairly and it is a major issue. Only 20% of the population are actually aware of this, whereas the other 80% think the fight for equality is over. Now you probably want proof. Well first of all women everywhere in the world are only getting paid 77% of what a man earns for the same amount of work. A human right is being breached here “equal work for equal pay.” 50 % of the world's population's human rights are being breached and only 20 % are aware of it. But then this amount keeps decreasing all depending on their race, culture and where they come from. So for an African American woman, this amount would be 65% and in some countries up to 80% less for the same amount of work!! Because a woman earns less money but lives longer a clear issue presents itself; the longer a woman is on earth the more money she will need in order to survive. So this makes a woman a lot more likely to live or die in poverty or both. The average superannuation for a woman after she has retired is 138,150 NZ dollars compared to 292,500 for men. That is 154,350 NZ dollars more than a woman. There is a need for justice, women and children are going into poverty and even dying of hunger because women all around the world are not getting paid what they deserve. But every problem has a solution. Iceland is the first country to introduce a law that makes sure that women and men have equal pay. So it is possible but it is not happening in our country or anywhere else in the world. As well as that there are still six countries that haven't ratified the CEDAW ( The convention on the elimination of all discrimination against women) Changes are not happening fast enough research states that the gender pay gap will be eliminated in 100 years!! Most of us will not be living when that happens. I do not want to live my life knowing that I'm getting paid only 77% of what a man would earn for the same amount of work and I know many others won't either. I hope that after reading this you are now aware that women and men are not yet equal. The fight for gender equality began by women fighting for the vote but that fight has not yet come to an end. By Isla Gilby

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KRISTIN WEBSITE KRISTIN PORTAL Kristin School Sustainability Council KRISTIN SCHOOL Kristin Community Learn More Local Community Learn More International Community Learn More Article Highlights suscdrv Nov 11, 2020 1 min Could Catapillars be the solution to the plastic waste problem? 12 Write a comment 3 suscdrv Nov 3, 2020 2 min Defining Sustainability 13 Write a comment 4 suscdrv Nov 1, 2020 2 min Equal Pay 12 Write a comment 4 suscdrv Oct 24, 2020 1 min Celebratory Sustainability Hangi 22 Write a comment 8 suscdrv Oct 22, 2020 2 min iHeart Initiative 17 Write a comment 9 suscdrv Sep 15, 2020 2 min Keeping your house warm during the winter - By Chris Furlong 7 Write a comment 5 WANT TO LEARN MORE OR WORK WITH US ON AN INITIATIVE? YOU CAN REACH OUT TO US FOR ANY REASON! 360 Albany Highway Auckland ​ ​ suscdrv@kristin.school.nz CONNECT WITH US

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