“Alissa, why do we recycle?” Amber asked her friend Alissa one morning. 

    “Hmm, I’m not sure. I just know it seems very important” replied Alissa.

“Mom, why do we recycle?” asked Amber. 

    “That’s a good question. Firstly, we recycle so fewer objects would end up in landfills. Some of the materials in the objects could be reused in the future”. 

    “But why should we reuse them?” asked Alissa. 

    “Well, that’s kind of complicated. To answer that, we have to go way back.”

“Long ago, people started to transform the countryside into cities, in what became known as the industrial revolution.” 

    “People had to get raw materials such as fossil fuels to power the factories and make many products.”

“What are fossil fuels?” inquired Amber. 

    “I think fossil fuels are materials formed from the remains of animals and plants long ago,” said Alissa.

    “That’s right,” said Amber’s mom. “Some examples of fossil fuels include oil and gas.”

“The products made people’s lives better,” she continued. “But, little did people know the effects that industrialization had on the planet.”

    “Years later, scientists discovered that Earth’s resources aren’t limitless. Fossil fuels are decreasing in supply.” 

    “Also, those resources are harmful to the environment. When fossil fuels are burned, they release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases trap heat and warm the Earth.”