Inuvik (Apr 29/05) - You can never start to ponder life's difficult - and increasingly important - questions at too early an age.

Why does the water smell, you may ask. Or, where have all the birds gone? Why is the lake without fish?

These were just some of the toughies that preschoolers in town were being asked last week.

Why shouldn't you use styrofoam?

"Because you have to take care of the Earth. The planet gets sick when you use styrofoam," said Nicole Verbonac, 4.

She and her classmates spent the week learning about recycling and the environment to coincide with Earth Day on April 22.

"We learned all about the three Rs," said teacher Patti Male.

"Reduce, reuse and recycle," the junior force of planet protectors chimed in.

Male started teaching her youngsters about how to improve the conditions on our home planet in 1997, she explained, and the program has only grown since that time.

"They're aware of it already because I'm always talking about recycling," said Male, who regularly asks questions like: why should you walk to work? or is it good to leave your bedroom light on?

"You have to turn it off when you're not at home or it's wasted," four-year-old Garrett Schultz answered immediately.

Along with learning the three Rs, the children spent the day as nouveau-garbage sorters or on the land.

With a recycling centre built right into their classroom, products sold at the recently opened Preschool Store were sorted and placed in the appropriate containers.

"I liked that part, the sorting out stuff," said Schultz, who pointed out that when paper gets wet it gets mushy and will disappear eventually, so its better to use than plastic.

Others got their hands wet pulling garbage out of Little One Lake to make room for the fish.

"They all die if there's garbage," said Gerald Kors.

"It makes the Earth sick."