The Go Green Initiative Movement in Syracuse

List-serve edition #9

April 25, 2007

Organic Recycling – with

What’s in this edition:

     Naef Recycling, Solvay paperboard and OCRRA team up to offer free field trips for students to see recycling in action at local recycling centers.

     Free Earth Day video, courtesy of Naef Recycling – recycling in action, in the classroom!

     Vermicomposting advice from the expert – Brenda Lotito of Upstate Worm Farms

     The Value of organic composting with worms

     Highlighted school of the month – Henninger High School

     Interview with a Henninger High School student – Dillon Cook

EVENTS in the community:

     Accelerate 2007 Focus CNY

In Every issue:

     GGI Mission Statement

     Educational Tidbit – Vermicomposting – by Brenda Lotito

Solvay Paperboard & Naef Recycling offer FREE Earth day tours

Nearly 200 students saw recycling in action at local recycling centers

Earth day at Naef Recycling and Solvay Paperboard is marked by groups of school aged children touring the recycling facilities, with brightly colored vests and hard hats; viewing recycling in action. Syracuse's local dual stream recycling facility once again offered special Earth day tours of Naef Recycling, to promote recycling education and outreach into the community. Solvay paperboard also offered free Earth Day tours of the paper mill located west of Syracuse in Solvay.  Almost two hundred city school students toured Naef and Solvay Wed. April 18 and Thursday April 19. Tours are available year-round at Naef but the Earth day trips are particularly appealing as transportation costs were generously covered by the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (or OCRRA.) Thanks to OCRRA for sponsoring the buses and to Solvay and Naef for offering tours of their facilities!

Free Earth day video courtesy of Naef Recycling –

Recycling in action, in the classroom!

Naef Recycling, your partners in Greening, is offering FREE recycling videos to schools throughout the Syracuse City school district.  The video discusses the importance of proper separation of recyclables as well as the detriment and HUGE expense associated with improper recycling, specifically focusing on problems caused by glass mixing into paper fibers. This exciting and informational movie is appropriate for students of all grade levels. Again this one’s FREE for everyone! – Email me at greenupny@yahoo.com, for more information and to get your FREE copy for Earth day.

Upstate Worm Farms – your local source for worms and composting supplies

By Brenda Lotito; president of Upstate Worm Farms

Upstate Worm Farms provides products and services to the community, helping to manage food waste disposal. We believe that the nutrients contained within food wastes should go back into the earth rather than in a landfill. We serve as an education consultant to anyone who is interested in vermicomposting and will customize an easy vermicompost program. We want to help you to start giving back in order to save our Earth’s natural resources. One of our most important accomplishments is being a part of the local Go Green Initiative. With the GGI program we were able to institutionalize worm boxes in Grant Middle School, Huntington, and Clary Middle School. Training educators on the care of the box, trouble shooting techniques, box checks and talks with the children are some of the highlights of our school programs. Working in concert with the mission of the Go Green Initiative in area schools, UWF, Inc. provides endless opportunities for our children to learn ecological, scientific, and social lessons, including the esteem that is gained from caring for the bins; creating respect for all forms of life- even the smallest of microbes.  Through lecture and dynamic hands-on activities, our children are introduced and educated on the value of recycling and composting food waste with red worms, providing conservation of the environment by using Earth’s own creatures to return vital nutrients back to the soil without the use of harmful chemicals.

For more information on Vermicomposting or to purchase supplies please email Brenda Lotito at brendalotito@yahoo.com
 

Educational Tidbit: The benefits of vermicomposting –

by Brenda Lotito (President of Upstate Worm Farms)

There are over 3,000 types of worms living around the world today. We know that worms live in our natural lawns and gardens, but can they live in our homes, offices, or our classrooms?  Composting your organic food waste is a quick way to receive the benefit of saving money, time, and energy, not to mention the satisfaction of knowing you have decreased the amount of organics going into an already overburdened waste stream. As an educational tool, the process of vermicomposting can be applied to many subject areas. Resulting peat-like compost are called “worm castings” which are considered top quality compost- each capsule filled with the most nutrient richness you can get, naturally!  Vermicomposting can be fun and fruitful; here are some things you need to know before you start:

• Charles Darwin uncovered the dirt on worms while collecting data on his theories of natural selection.
• Red worms are veracious garbage eaters, eating half of their body weight a day.
• The earthworm we see outside after a spring rain is different from the red worm.
• Worms don’t have lungs, spines, eyes, or ears.
• Worms have 5 hearts and a big lip from their mouth that scoops up food scraps.
• Worms need moisture to breathe.
• Worms don’t sleep.

For more information on Vermicomposting or to purchase supplies please email Brenda Lotito at brendalotito@yahoo.com

Highlighted School: Henninger High School

A Heroic effort at Henninger High

Henninger High School has joined the Go Green Initiative program and committed to improve their school’s

recycling program by increasing student and staff education, involvement and participation. Bernadette Demott’s 

SUNY ESF (College of Environmental Science and Forestry) class stepped up to make the change. Mrs. 

Demott says, “This has to do with the future of the students and they need to be a part of the solution.  Right 

now, we are in the making people aware stage.  There are differences between recycling at home and recycling 

at school...and we are hoping to make the teachers aware of those differences... This is not an easy task with 

such as large contingency and there will always be the nay-sayers but the more we educate people, the more 

compliance we will have.” Mrs. Demott plans to continue implementing the GGI program with her ESF students 

year after year.  After meeting with Henninger High School principal David Cecile and Head Custodian Adam 

Shostack as well briefly with the school staff at a staff meeting – it is clear that Henninger High School is 

beginning to make a huge turn around. Happy Greening Henninger – keep up the good work!

Interview with Henninger High School’s own Dillon Cook:

Dillon talks about recycling – and his views about the environment

My name is Dillon Cook. I’m 16 and attend classes at Henninger High School. After high school I plan to take a mechanics course (to couple with the auto body certificate I almost have) then go off to Ohio Technical College for diesel mechanics, auto restoration and most importantly alternative fueling.

Why did you choose to get involved with the Go Green Initiative program?

Because Miss Spoor came into our classroom one day, and as being one of the founders of a past environmentalist club in my home school (codename: “Planeteers”) I knew how badly Mrs. Nigro (long time teacher and Environmental advocate at Henninger) needed some help and I think our ESF class enrolling in the Go Green Initiative can bring nothing but good.

Why do you think recycling is important – especially in schools?

I think recycling is extremely important not only in our schools but in our homes and all of America. We eat and excrete far too much to not have a strong system for recycling. I believe there must be laws in corporations such as the auto body industry to implement and further recycling. Also there need to be more laws that mandate public recycling education, whereby teaching everyone how to properly recycle and most important the importance of recycling.

Do you think that peers take environmental issues like Global Warming seriously?  Please explain ...

I think the level of awareness in such issues has definitely risen since "an inconvenient truth" has come out. I definitely believe this to be one of the most important pieces of education on this subject. I’ve noticed my peers' (some who already had and some who previously had no) interest in this subject has risen immensely. It is awesome because now more than ever we need as much education and support from the masses if we are to make a change. I can feel it like the calm before the storm, as these weather conditions increase and become more deadly there will (and must) be an outcry for change; God willing.

Thanks Dillon! If you would like to be interviewed for the next GGI listserve, or submit an article give me a call (315-558-0155) or send me an email (greenupny@yahoo.com)

FOCUS Accelerate 2007

Forging our community’s united strength

The Accelerate 2007 conference, scheduled for Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at the Oncenter in Syracuse, is a collaborative effort between five Central New York organizations with expertise in manufacturing, technology and social entrepreneurship to present a full day of guest lectures, exhibitions and demonstrations, including a panel discussion about “Natural Capitalism,” featuring Go Green’s own Mark Naef, president of Naef Recycling. The presenting sponsors are the CASE Center at Syracuse University, CNY Technology Development Organization (TDO), F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse, Manufacturers Association (MACNY), and Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems.

Highlights include:

1. Toyota Mobile Hybrid Experience
2. Keynote Speakers – Dan Reicher, director of climate change and energy initiative
3. Janine Benyus: co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild, author of Biomimicry
4. Also participate in a number of workshops with topics ranging from Solar Power, Biofuels, Going off the Grid, Energy for the Future, Natural Capitalism, Marketing in Web 2.0 world, Technology trends… and more!

     College Students, faculty, administrators: contact Cindy Nieman: cnieman@syracusecoe.org

     High school students, faculty, administrators: contact Greg Michel: greg@earthandwind.net

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.

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