Waste

Operating on the belief that “children learn best through experience. If their schools are green, children will learn to live that way,” the Center for Environmental Education is an online resource for students and teachers at K-12 schools, bursting with information and how-to’s for greening their environments. Available on its Web site is “Blueprint for a Green School,” which gives suggestions for three levels of action in ten categories: curriculum, energy, environmental health, food, green building, maintenance, procurement, recycling and waste, transportation, and water. Students and teachers can also learn more about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change issues here.

In addition, there’s a searchable collection of reviewed environmental curricula, and a soon-to-come section on demonstration schools, with profiles of schools that are in the process of change.

“Blueprint for a Green School” was written in 1995 by Jayni Chase, the founder of the CEE. In 2008, it’s being updated and made accessible for download off the Internet. According to the CEE, it’s become “a vital link between the ‘in-the-trenches’ educators and the abundant environmental resources available.”

Terrell Carter started The Lopez Energy Efficiency Project, a Conscious Lifestyle venture, to address the environmental degradation caused by his school's paper waste. He had two goals:

1. To persuade his school to switch from non-recycled paper, to paper made from post-consumer waste (PCW).

2. To reduce the amount of paper that students and teachers on Lopez Island use.

Terrell has been successful on both fronts. His school's administration has made the change to 40% PCW-paper, and Terrell is still working to move to paper made from 100% PCW content.

Terrell also launched an awareness campaign that educates students and teachers about paper waste, with tips on how to be more eco-friendly. The attached flyers are part of his campaign.

Photo by Life is Art.

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Two members of the New York City Council have introduced a trailblazing bill, Intro. 104, the Electronics Collection, Recycling, and Reuse Act, which, if passed later this year, would be the first mandatory municipal electronics recycling law in the country. It would make manufacturers responsible for collection and disposal of products when no longer usable, instead of leaving this task to consumers, who often simply dump them in the trash.

The bill’s 43 council sponsors believe it would encourage manufacturers to adopt more environmentally friendly designs, since they would held liable if products are not disposed of properly. It would also reduce the more than 25,000 tons of discarded electronics New York City collects each year. These products comprise the fastest-growing part of the city’s waste stream, and can contain mercury, lead, cadmium, and other hazardous materials. When burned or deposited in landfills improperly, they leach into the soil and are released into the air.

Intro. 104 is supported by Consumers Union, and the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups, who are urging Mayor Michael Bloomberg to sign the legislation. If it is passed this year, companies would have a year to design collection plans, and the bill would take effect in 2009.

To learn more about the bill, visit
Intro. 104

To learn what you can do to support the bill, visit
NRDC's Action Campaign

The EPA estimates that Americans produced:

245.7 million tons of garbage in 2005, which is

20% more than in 1990, and

179% more than 1960, despite the fact that the population has only grown 60% since that time.

On average, American households produce 6 pounds of garbage per day.

More than half of this waste ends up in landfills.

To get the whole story, go to NPR's Sustainability Page.