
By Aleena Sarikaya, 13
CAGIS Teen Ambassador
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection since the year 1970. It includes 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.
Earth Day is a reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, to encourage us to take action toward a healthier and more sustainable future. Earth Day is not only to increase awareness of environmental problems but also a time for us to come together to help the Earth by raising litter awareness, planting trees, or anything else that would help the planet!
How can I be part of this day?
Earth Day is the day to contribute to the well-being of the Earth by doing helpful actions like reducing the amount of air, water, or land pollution. You might want to participate in other activities both at home and at school which include planting a tree, cleaning up litter in your community, composting, replacing your light bulbs, creating posters with Earth Day messages, supporting environmental organizations and so much more!
“Plastic Free Mission” Game
I created the Plastic Free Mission game in Scratch, a coding language for creating visual stories and animations. The game involves a character whose goal is to clean up all single-use plastic to reduce pollution in each environment.
How to play:
There are three levels in total. Move the player with arrow keys and shoot plastic with the space key. When the player touches single-use plastic, the player loses one life. When zero lives are left, the player can restart the game.
When the player touches a heart, it will receive another life, but only if a life has already been lost. Touch leaves to receive eco coins. See how many you can collect! To go to the next level, follow the arrows or find the flag.
When all three levels are completed successfully, the player will receive a Plastic Free Hero Badge as a congratulations. Happy Earth Day, everyone!


Play my game HERE.
About the Author
Aleena is a CAGIS Teen Ambassador and an advocate for sustainability. In addition to creating the “Plastic Free Mission,” Aleena won the CAGIS Synapse Award for STEM Innovation in 2022 for her Plastic Pollution Quiz App.