Waste

Want to Green Clean Your School? Here's How

Susan — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:15:10 -0400

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. read more »

CL Social Innovator, Terrell Carter, Makes His School More Environmentally-friendly

Mike.Delponte — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:57:45 -0500

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.

Vampire Energy: Sucking the Life and $ Out of Your Home

Mike.Delponte — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:19:15 -0500

If you don't have a subscription to GOOD Magazine, here's yet another reason to get one: Vampire Energy. As usual, GOOD uses hipster-approved graphics to educate us on issues like energy use.

So before the sun comes up:

1. check out this cool visual
2. unplug a few things in your house
3. get a subscription to GOOD

You'll be happy you did.

Pioneering Recycling Plan May Turn Big Apple Greener

Susan — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:42:04 -0500

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. read more »

Americans are producing more garbage than ever!

Mike.Delponte — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:07:00 -0400

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.