|
The
Go Green Initiative
Movement in Syracuse
List-serve edition #10
June 1, 2007
Working together to enact
change
What’s
in this edition:
Quarterly progress
report due June 15th – submit your numbers,
as we celebrate our first full school year of tracking our
recycling rates with the GGI Syracuse schools
Nationalize your
principles of responsible consumption; this is
something we can all do- introducing cafeteria waste reduction *
introducing a NEW PROJECT for 2007-2008 school year
Highlighted School
of the Month: HW Smith,
making cents out of recycling.
NEW
Inspirational story of the Month; Beyond the classroom
- Tom Dillon of Henninger High School shares his experience in
implementing environmental education at work
The Bigger Better
Bottle Bill and NYPIRG:
how you can show your support
Educational Tidbit
of the month – ways you can go green everyday.
Syracuse’s own Van
Duyn Elementary on the >DEC Bottle< Bill
The GGI is a
Paradigm Shift – how you can help move things along.
In Every
issue:
Educational Tidbit of the month
Highlighted School of the month
NEW Inspirational Green Story of the Month
GGI Mission Statement
Quarterly Progress report due June 15th
Submit your quarterly
progress report by June 15th. This is the 3rd
quarterly reporting period of the 2006-2007 school year. To date
the Syracuse city schools
participating in the
GGI have saved over
2832 trees, 77,121.91 gallons of oil, 1,165,990.00
gallons of water and 682,937.00 kilowatt hours of
electricity. Tracking recyclables puts recycling in perspective
for green teams and helps us all to track the benefits of
environmental education.
Recycling is a gateway to environmental conscious. Keep up the
good work everyone. I look forward to converting this quarter’s
recycling data
to
resources saved!
* Note – I need to meet with all
Green teams before the end of the school
year – if you have not already
done so, please contact me as soon as possible.
What it means -
Nationalize your principles of responsible consumption;
this is something we can all do- introducing cafeteria waste
reduction
* This is a new project for the 2007-2008 school year –
collectively we can save landfill space, the
environment and the district over $30,000 / school year by using
paper bags rather than Styrofoam
for breakfast. Join us in Nationalizing your principles of
responsible consumption. Contact me to get
involved! The deadline is July 1st!
People always ask me what it means to nationalize your principles of responsible consumption. The other guidelines of the GGI
program are pretty straight forward, but this one always earns me a puzzled look. Nationalizing means that you are being a
environmentally conscious consume. For example, rather than buying a cheap plastic item that you know will break, buy something
that will last; buy recycled content paper to close the recycling loop; your options are limited only by your understanding of the
products you buy. The more research and time you put into understanding the origins of the items the more environmentally friendly
options you will discover. Just open your mind – and read your labels J
Currently a group of GGI-ers here in Syracuse have formed a committee to address the topic of waste reduction in the cafeteria. This group
is vying for usage of paper bags at breakfast time, rather than Styrofoam trays. This is a viable option for the majority of schools who
notoriously over package their goods – wrapping sandwiches in plastic and putting them on a Styrofoam tray, for instance. The cafeteria waste
reduction committee believes that there is no reason for putting the typical cafeteria breakfast on a Styrofoam tray. The typical cafeteria
breakfast consists of prepackaged cereal, boxed milk and boxed juice on a Styrofoam tray, a paper bag is an effective method to transport
this kind of a breakfast. Paper bags are more environmentally friendly than Styrofoam and can be recycled / reused. We have met with Cindy
Bonera and Ken Warner (heads of Food service) and they are very supportive. At Edward Smith School, the only school currently
implementing this proposed breakfast policy, clean paper bags are re-used for art projects. Styrofoam is also quite a bit more costly than a
paper bag. Paper bags cost about 1.7 cents as opposed to 3.5 cents for a Styrofoam tray. With over 22,000 students in the district, the
monetary and environmental savings are HUGE! Please show your support – and start using paper bags for your school breakfast. Email me
for more information / to get your school involved! greenupny@yahoo.com
Highlighted School of the Month
HW Smith: making cents of recycling
Students at HW Smith really understand recycling and it's benefits. At HW recycling isn't just good for the earth - they have discovered that it's
a great way to generate funds for projects. Currently HW Smith is actively engaged in sponsoring parts of the world that are being impacted by
natural disaster / impoverished areas. Principal Sharon Birnkrant and her students collect bottles and cans from the school and from parents
involved in their "P.I.R.K." (Parent Involvement = Responsible Kids) program. Cans are collected and recycled. According to Principal Sharon
Birnkrant “…the kids have brought in almost 10,000 empty bottles...much more, really, because many of the kids also bring in recyclable bottles
that don't have deposits, and we recycle those. So just imagine how many bottles have been dragged to school!” Deposit money is donated to
such worthy causes as reconstruction of New Orleans, Post Katrina; Tsunami relief in Thailand; and most recently, to purchase domesticated
animals for families in El Salvador. Principal Birnkrant believes that it is essential to make recycling and other environmentally friendly practice
relevant to the students. When students bring in the bottles and cans they know that they are not only saving resources but also making a
difference in the global community. This global context is especially pertinent as HW Smith has the highest refugee population of all of the SCSD
schools Environmental education is a big deal at HW. Students are reminded to "turn the lights off and let the math and reading juices flow," every
morning by Principal Sharon Birnkrant. HW Smith students also collect and track recyclable paper which is converted to resources saved.
Collectively, to date, HW Smith Students have saved the following resources by recycling: 111 trees, 2,460 gallons of oil and over 11,000 gallons
of water. Great job HW Smith - Keep up the good work!
NEW Inspirational Story of the Month Environmental Consciousness goes beyond the classroom
Being environmentally friendly in the work place by Henninger High School’s Tom Dillon
I have had the privilege to have worked with Bernadette Demott’s ESF class, at Henninger High School this year. Henninger’s ESF class is implementing the Go Green
Initiative program and as a green team we meet monthly to discuss our greening options and to work out the kinks in the program. This is a very real group of students
who speak their mind about the environment, without reservation. Frankly, It’s refreshing to talk to them. These students are angry about the state of the environment
and the seeming disregard for environmental reform in national Government. But they don’t stop there – these students are not Armchair activists – they are proactive;
they are changing things for the better. Tom Dillon is a senior at Henninger, who especially inspired to enact change – The following is Tom Dillon’s account of
implementing a part of the GGI at his place of employment. This story made me feel so good; things are changing for the better folks. - Jennifer
“Basically they sent me out one day to pick up trash and sweep up cigarette butts in the parking lot, and I started thinking about some things I learned in
my ESF class and I took a good look at the parking lot and the lawns around the property and what not. All of the things I learned in class made me
realize just how dirty it really is. I went to my manager and told her I had a good idea to get a list of people who are willing to go and clean up the
property. So, we have these things called Alley Rallies where my manager gets all the waiters and waitresses together to talk about important things like
sales goals and what not, and at the end I basically told everyone about the ESF class and how I would like to see if anyone was willing to go and clean,
and I told them some facts like how it takes 200 years for a cigarette butt to biodegrade, and to my surprise quite a few people did sign up but when the
day came not everyone showed - But the rest of us cleaned up and it really made it look better, but now its just back to being dirty and I don't know
what to do. I would really like to try to make it a bigger thing, like a GGI in the workplace kind of thing, I definitely think that a lot of restaurants don't
do the right thing. Update; the entire ESF class is having its last meeting at Tom Dillon’s place of employment, and are going to clean up the
area once again.
The
Bigger Better Bottle Bill and how you can show your support
by Liz Hartman of NYPIRG (NY Public
Interest Research Group)
June 15th marks the 25th anniversary of the bottle bill, New York’s most effective environmental program. Since 1982, more than 90 billion bottles and
cans have been returned and recycled in New York because of the 5-cent refundable deposit on carbonated beverages such as soda pop. Have you ever
noticed that soda bottles have a 5-cent deposit, but water bottles don’t? When the bottle bill became a state law in 1982, the market for bottled water,
iced tea, and energy drinks was virtually nonexistent, so they weren’t included in the deposit law. However, the market has changed considerably in the
past 25 years, and now more than 2 billion non-carbonated beverage bottles and cans end up in the trash or polluting our rivers, beaches, and
neighborhoods each year.
We all share responsibility for keeping our communities clean and healthy, but state legislators also need to do their part. The Bigger Better Bottle Bill
updates the state’s redemption program to include bottled water and other non-carbonated beverages that were left out of the original law. The original
bottle bill also does not say what happens to unclaimed deposits. So what happens if you put your soda can in a curbside recycling bin instead of taking it
back to the store to redeem your nickel? Currently, the bottling companies keep all of those nickels. The Bigger Better Bottle Bill will also close this
loophole by putting unclaimed deposits in the state’s Environmental Protection Fund to support clean air, water, parks, and open space.
How you can help:
Tell your New York State Senator it’s time to update the Bottle Bill! This is a great way to get students involved and show them that they can make a
difference. Recycling is a concept that is already familiar to many children, and a number of youth groups even conduct bottle drives as fundraisers. For
a sample letter or more information on what you can do to help please email/call NYPIRG’s Liz Hartman, at 518-436-0876
ehartman@nypirg.org
www.nypirg.org
Educational Tidbit of the month:
What you can do to enact change in your
community
The Go Green Initiative tells us that
change is best enacted when people act – together in a united
way.
Plastic bags are being phased out; Wal-Mart
is selling organic produce; cars are never advertised without a
“miles per gallon” claim - domestic goddess Martha Stewart has
gone green – Things are happening! There are so many things that
we can all do to lessen our negative environmental impact, from
composting, to recycling, to biking more and driving less, to
conserving resources by lessening our consumption; it’s easy to
by environmentally friendly! The following are several, of
literally thousand of options. For a list of 101 things you can
do to get started, going green, visit MarthaStewart.com
Take the bus (or train)
Turn off the lights when you leave the room
Eat more veggies (and buy local)
Use Green cleaners (which DO NOT contain chlorine)
Vote for change
Buy recycled toilet paper
Go Carbon Neutral
Find new uses for old things
Buy organic, free trade coffee
Seal up your house
Use clean energy (for just a few cents more a
day, you can purchase renewable clean energy through National
grid)
Plant a garden
Don’t use paper towels or napkins (or plates)
Spend more time outdoors
Think big picture
Start composting
Stop idling your car; better yet carpool
Syracuse’s own Van Duyn Elementary on the >DEC Bottle< Bill
Van Duyn Elementary School Joins Campaign
Focused on the Need to Recycle All Bottles
New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today announced the
kick-off of the “25 days for 25 years” school bottle drive to
mark the upcoming 25
ADVANCE \u 3th
ADVANCE \d 3 anniversary of the Bottle Bill. During the
campaign, DEC will partner with nearly 20 host schools across
the state to celebrate the remarkable success of the Bottle Bill
and focus students on the importance of recycling in creating a
cleaner environment. “By every measure, the Bottle Bill has
been an unprecedented success”, said Commissioner Grannis. “
The law has transformed the way New Yorkers approach
litter prevention and recycling and has created a cleaner,
healthier environment. During the ‘25 days for 25 years’
campaign, students across New York will learn about the power of
recycling and howlearn about
we can all make the Bottle Bill even stronger.” Since the
Bottle Bill was passed in 1982, roadside litter has been reduced
by more than 70 percent and more than 90 billion deposit
containers have been redeemed resulting in; 4,250,000 tons of
glass recycled, 850,000 tons of plastics recycled, and more than
1 million tons of aluminum recycled. Students from schools from
across the state participating in DEC’s “25 days for 25 years”
Bottle Bill anniversary commemoration will learn about the many
benefits of recycling. During the campaign, students will track
their recycling progress, placing special emphasis on recycling
water bottles and other non-carbonated bottles that are not
covered under the current Bottle Bill. They will also learn
about how their efforts can impact global warming, the foremost
environmental challenge facing our state and our planet. For
schools looking for information on how to increase awareness of
the benefits of recycling in your community, contact DEC’s
Bureau of Solid Waste, Reduction and Recycling at 518-402-8705.
The GGI
is a Paradigm Shift: the media is a valuable
resource
Recently, we have all been witness to a
remarkable insurgence of Global Warming news and data within the
media. Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” made the global warming
a mainstream, real and pressing matter. Of course Al Gore
doesn’t deserve all of the credit for bringing the Global
Warming issue into the limelight; concerned, responsible
citizens have been aware of global warming for years – some for
decades – and have been doing all they can to lessen their
negative environmental impact. But Al Gore had something
that the average citizen doesn’t have…lots of money… and
Al had something on his side that the average citizen does have
access to – the media.
The huge success of “An Inconvenient Truth” Al Gore can be
attributed to marketing, the media, and Al’s fan base that voted
for him in the 2000 election. This movie made Global Warming a
real, pressing issue to millions of people. The media is a
powerful tool – and, as Al Gore has proven, if you don’t utilize
it you are missing a huge portion of the population. That said –
our goal for the up-coming 2007-2008 school year is to have
EVERY GGI school, in Syracuse and across NYS, submit at least 2
articles about their GGI program to their local newspaper / for
publication in their local school newsletter. We need to reach
out beyond the Green team – beyond the schools and into the
community. We need a paradigm shift – and we CAN DO IT. The
Syracuse city schools are looking for positive promotion; good
things are happening, let’s tell people what we are doing and
change their way of thinking about the environment in the
process! – Knowledge is empowerment; there is no limit to what
we can do! For assistance in drawing positive attention to your
school’s GGI program, contact me (Jennifer Spoor) at greenupny@yahoo.com.
GGI
Mission Statement:
The Go Green Initiative is a
simple, comprehensive program designed to create a culture of
environmental responsibility on school campuses across the
nation. Founded in 2002, the Go Green Initiative unites
parents, students, teachers and school administrators in an
effort to make real and lasting changes in their campus
communities that will protect children and the environment for
years to come.
Visit
www.gogreeninitiative.org for printable planning guides,
program information and testimonials.
You are receiving this email message
because you have expressed interest in the Go Green Initiative's
progression throughout Syracuse. If you would like to be removed
from the list please email greenupny@yahoo.com, and write
"remove from GGI list-serve” in the subject header.
Thank
you all for your participation! And as always, if you have any
questions/ comments/ meeting minutes/ ideas/ feedback of any
sort please don’t hesitate to call GGI coordinator Jennifer
Spoor at 315-558-0155 or email me at
greenupny@yahoo.com
Keep
truckin’
Until
next time – Happy GREEN-ing
Sincerely
Your partner in Greening
Jennifer Spoor
|
