Meeting Recap & Requests February 26, 2010

Thank you everyone who attended today's meeting--it was such a success! We are so glad you've all decided to join Environmental Club and it's inspiring to see so many new faces and so much enthusiasm! You all make our club what it is and what it has the potential to be--you guys rock!

Quick links:
- Meeting agenda with notes from today's meeting (February 26, 2010)
- List of local Earth Week events
- DOT ideas/ Ways you can easily change the world document

Please email us which focus group you were in so we can update our list. Also, please send us a brief explanation/some notes of what your group discussed and brainstormed. We want to create a list of goals/ideas for each focus group.

If you couldn't attend today's meeting, please let us know which focus group you think you'd find most interesting:
- Solar panels/energy
- Food scrapping (our ACE grant that we're applying for would go toward food scrapping)
- Beautification/flowers/gardening at Amador
- Teacher/classroom encouragement of green habits

If you'd like, it'd be AWESOME if you guys researched environmental things that interest you between now and our next meeting on March 12. If you find interesting facts, stories or tips, write them down. We will save some time at our next meeting for people to share what they learned.

Rather than break into focus groups every meeting, we may have meetings where we focus on one thing. For example, maybe at our next meeting we'll have a club discussion on food scrapping or solar power. We will let you know ahead of time so you can do some research if you want so our discussion will have some facts, etc.

Around March 10, we'll send you a meeting agenda so you will know what we'll be doing at the meeting. You're always welcome to send us suggestions for meeting topics or any interesting facts/articles, etc. that you want us to pass along to the club.

Again, thank you everyone!
See you March 12 for sure and hopefully around school :)

Melissa
AVHS Environmental Club secretary

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Inspiring Nature Thought for the Day...

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
-- Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Ways YOU can easily change the world

By Melissa, AVHS Environmental Club secretary. February 26, 2010.

Energy
According to the EPA, 75% of the electricity used to power electronics is consumed when they are turned off. Have your class/family members take turns being a weekly “energy monitor,” making sure electronics are off and unplugged when not in use.

- Turn off the lights and television when you leave the room, and make sure the lights are off in your house during daylight hours.

- Shut down the computer at night and unplug it to avoid wasting energy and vampire energy-sucking electronic cords.

- Use your cell phone and computer less to reduce energy consumption and increase time spent with family, friends or outside.

- Try to go stove and oven-free for a day and eat foods like hummus and pita bread, salad, veggies with dip, or plan to reheat leftovers in the microwave (microwaves aren’t the best alternative, but they use less energy than an oven).

- Take BART to the City instead of driving.

- Purchase fewer new products. Try to buy used, or don’t buy at all. Every time we purchase something new that could have been avoided, we encourage the continued production of that item. Often we buy things without really needing them and this wastes energy that could have been conserved or used for a better purpose.

- Shop at places like Plato’s Closet, the Discovery Shop, and thrift stores. Often these places have more unique clothing, books and other products than you’d find at the mall.

- Ride your bike at least once a week to school.

Paper
- Print double-sided to avoid wasting paper.

- Buy recycled paper products and always recycle paper when you’ve used it to its capacity.

- Write smaller, use the whole page and find creative ways to reduce the amount of paper you use.

- Save paper that has only been printed on one side and reprint on the back for school worksheets and printed things that can be less formal (use clean paper for nice projects, of course).

- Stop using paper towels and paper napkins and instead, use dishtowels and cloth napkins.

- Reuse wrapping paper.

- Buy brown paper for wrapping—it can be used for any occasion and it’s recyclable (most wrapping paper isn’t).

- Buy used books (the library sells some books for $0.50 - $1.00; The Bookstore on Hopyard has a neat selection of used books). Or reuse by borrowing books from the library or from friends.

- Avoid post-it notes—use old scrap paper instead.

- Bring a reusable mug to the coffee shop or fast food restaurant. Try to buy a metal-based coffee mug instead of plastic, since plastic is never a good choice.

Water
- Turn the water off when brushing your teeth and lathering your hands when washing them.

- Take shorter showers. Turn the water off while shampooing, etc.

- Instead of buying plastic water in a container from the store, invest in a water filter (Brita makes some great ones) that you can just pour cold tap water into. It filters out the bad stuff and leaves the water tasting great.

- Just drink tap water—a lot of the time it’s the same water you’re drinking from the bottle. Plus, plastic can leach into the bottles :(

Plastic
- Plastic doesn’t break down easily and it can cause many health problems. It’s also made from petroleum, which has causes pollution and other health problems. Plus, it’s a nonrenewable resource.

- Pledge to never again use plastic water bottles. Buy a reusable metal water bottle and never look back!

- Avoid food that comes in plastic. Often, the plastic can leach into the food.

- Avoid plastic baggies. Use Tupperware or glass jars (Anchor Hocking has great choices) instead.

- Say no to straws. If everyone used them as sparingly as possible, we’d save a lot of plastic from ending up in a landfill.

- Use old silverware instead of plastic utensils. Some companies make reusable wooden utensils that you can bring with you places.

- Any product (other than paper, for example)that is only used once should be a sign to any environmentally-conscious person…think about what the purpose of the product is and make a decision about using it or not based on how important using it is. There are almost always alternatives if the thing is truly necessary. People survived for thousands of years without plastic utensils or straws. Being able to see this—the concept of what is necessary versus what just makes my life easier (it takes planning to remember to bring your own utensils, so using a plastic one is easier, for example) is something that we all must think about if we really want to make a difference. Being aware is the FIRST step to changing your habits. Be always thinking about the impact of what you are doing.

- This may sound trivial, but it is something to think about: using a wooden pencil is a better choice than mechanical. In my opinion, plastic is never a better choice. Ever. Therefore, wooden pencils are a better choice.


Some more things to think about from EcologyCenter.org:
“Of all the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, 36% are emitted from industrial sources and product manufacture, 28% from commercial and passenger transportation, 18% from commercial business, and 18% from residential sources.5 Significant greenhouse gas reduction requires a reassessment of many of our everyday activities.”

“Be a critical consumer. Cut down on CO2 by selecting locally produced whole foods, thereby reducing energy for processing, transport, and refrigeration. Purchase products that are manufactured without large energy inputs. For example, buy recycled — it requires much less energy to make a product using recycled materials than using new, raw materials. Picking used goods keeps materials from going to the landfill and eliminates energy for new manufacture. Avoid products with excess packaging, which is wasted energy. Livestock is a major source of methane and requires lots of energy to produce — consider your meat intake. Buy less stuff.”

There are so many other ways to make a difference. Got some ideas? Post them here or on our Facebook group.

Meeting Agenda with Notes February 26, 2010

Amador Valley High School
Environmental Club Meeting Agenda
February 26, 2010 12:35 PM – 1:06 PM
Mrs. Turner-Bull’s room E5

1. Welcome and Introductions: Name, grade, why joined the club, one activity you do outside of school.

2. Discussion of litter-free lunch challenge (2/12/10 – 2/26/10)
- Alternatives to plastic baggies: Tupperware, glass jars, sandwich holder
- Eating more wholesome, non-packaged foods; soup
- Cloth napkins
- Silverware instead of plastic (Even “biodegradable” corn starch plastic is still bad for the environment and though it disintegrates, it technically just becomes smaller pieces and isn’t something beneficial to the soil.)
- Reusable water bottle, coffee mug; juice in a reusable bottle instead of boxed

3. Pleasanton Unified School District Environmental Awareness Committee meeting
- March 24 at 4:30 PM in Bernal Room at PUSD District Offices 4665 Bernal Avenue
- Amador student presentation about Environmental Club’s projects, successes

4. 40th Earth Day/Week Celebrations (week of April 19 – 23; Earth Day is April 22nd)
- Lunchtime activities with help of Leadership Commission
o Book swap
o Lights out for an hour during class (see Earth Hour)
o Bring your water bottle day, reusable lunchbox day, green shirt day, hand out green stickers
o Recycled arts & crafts (Monica will brainstorm ideas for this.)
o Reusable water bottle raffle
- See list of Earth Week activities.

5. Additional events/activities:
- Alviso Adobe “Tools from the Ancient World” March 27 2PM to 3PM
- Earth Hour March 27, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM turn the lights off! (http://www.blogger.com/www.earthhour.org/)
- These Come From Trees: Guerilla Paper Waste Elimination Project (thesecomefromtrees.blogspot.com) for bathroom paper dispensers and science classrooms.
- Future purchase of driers instead of paper towels possibility

6. Check your energy meters!!

7. Choosing your DOT (Do One Thing).
- Feasibility, relation to your life, ease, impact.
- If you want, visit http://billionactsofgreen.net/ to post your DOT to the Billion Acts of Green website. Earth Day Network is hoping to get one billion people to post one thing they will do for the planet. Spread the word about your green thing and read what others have posted.
- Post your DOT on our Facebook page or group to share your idea.

8. Break into focus groups: Please email us which group you were in so we can take note of it. Thanks!
- Solar – Emil, Nisha, Nicole, Grant, Natalie
- Food scraps - Kirsha
- Teacher/class encouragement – Taylor, Erin, Jerelyn
- Recycling – Ryan, Monica
- Beautification/flowers – Joyce, Emily, Sahar
o Brainstorm ideas & write them down
o Determine what goals are for next two weeks.

9. ACE lesson plan: Try to brainstorm ideas for our next meeting’s discussion.

10. Next week’s bulletin green tip #6: Try to reduce your paper usage by writing smaller, using the full sheet of paper for notes, printing on both sides of papers, reusing old papers and thinking of creative ways to use less paper on a daily basis!

11. Blog discussion, time permitting. Talk to Melissa for more info.

Cool links:
- Earth Day Network Footprint Calculator: What areas of your life need to be “greened”? http://earthday.net/footprint2/index.html

- TreeHugger.com has a wealth of tips and stories.

- SierraClub.org has great ways to send letters to legislature encouraging our representatives to support our environment. They also have tips and even a green social networking site called Climatecrossroads: http://climatecrossroads.sierraclub.org/

- National Geographic has a lot of tips, science, articles and pictures relating to the environment: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/

- EnvironmentCalifornia.org is specific to our California land and has ways to take action, as well as keep you updated on environmental issues in California.

- Our club's secretary, Melissa's Green Gal blog has some tips and shows how easy it can be to be green--and vegan! greenbeangal.blogspot.com

- The Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op blog has stories and tips about how to live greener and save some green while you're at it: simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com

- Reduce Footprints blog has a weekly challenge called Change the World Wednesday: reducefootprints.blogspot.com

- MeatlessMonday.com gives some great reasons to reduce your meat consumption for the planet. They have a ton of meat-free recipes, too!

- GreenLivingTips.com has a whole database of tips.

- Alliance for Climate Education has some great tips and stories: ACESpace.org

- Be the Change Cyclists is a local commuter cycling group that tracks member miles by bike. If you ride your bike to school or on errands, talk to Melissa about joining (her dad founded the group). Visit the blog at bethechangecyclists.blogspot.com

- The Ecology Center has an extensive list of facts and tips http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/

- No Impact Man & his Project A guy went a whole year trying to reduce his impact as much as possible. He has a blog, a movie and a book about it. Check him out here: noimpactman.typepad.com and here: noimpactproject.org

Press Release for "Flow" Movie Showing

Amador Valley High School’s Environmental Club, which focuses on raising awareness about conservation and the environment, will be showing the award-winning film Flow about the world water crisis. The film takes a look at fresh water privatization and the many issues surrounding it, including human rights violations, pollution and politics. The movie also talks about practical solutions to the growing problem of a decreasing fresh water supply and ways in which technology may play a role in reversing this global issue. The film has won many awards, including Best Documentary at the United Nations Association Film Festival and Jury Prize at the 2008 Mumbai International Film Festival.

The movie will be shown in Amador Valley High School’s multipurpose room on Wednesday, April 21 from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. Admission is free and snacks will be for sale.

The club can be contacted at avhsenvironmental@yahoo.com.

More information: "Flow" Film Showing post (1/29/10)

ACE assembly encourages AVHS students to join Environmental Club

On Thursday, many of our school's science classes attended an assembly from the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), an awesome organization whose goal is to raise awareness about global warming and empower young people to do something about it and to change their lifestyle, one thing at a time.


ACE website
ACE on Facebook
ACE blog
The presentation was creative, informative and encouraged a lot of students enough for them to sign up to join our club! It's very exciting. Our next meeting on February 26 will probably be our biggest meeting yet, so be prepared for the meeting to be super-charged with enthusiasm about saving our planet.

We'll probably each choose our DOT (Do One Thing), as ACE encouraged us to. Everyone will choose one thing they want to change and they'll do that over the course of the following two weeks (kinda like our green tips and challenges, only everyone will have their own personal DOT).

We may film a bulletin commercial with everyone who comes to the meeting. The sheer volume of people may be a great way to encourage others to join, so we may go film a short commercial on the field. Everyone could stand behind one speaker and then at the end we could all shout some awesome phrase to encourage people to join.

By that point, I should have a comprehensive list of Earthweek events in the community and Leadership will have met with our club's officers and Mrs. Turner. We'll go over the events we discussed at our last meeting for our new members and I'll probably make an agenda like last time so people can follow along.

Don't forget to be thinking about ways to reduce the amount of litter in your lunch. We will have a discussion about that at our next meeting, as well.

See you all February 26 in E5 at lunch!

Melissa

Bulletin Green Tip #5: Litter-free lunches

Let's talk trash!

We have already discussed reducing lunch waste this year (see the tip here). Our focus then was lunch bags and reducing our waste impact by bringing a reusable lunch box or bag.

For the next two weeks, though, we're going to try to reduce waste in all aspects of our lunch. Try to reduce your waste one step at a time. It'd be great if one day during the next two weeks you went completely litter-free. Write down your most common disposable items and think of ways to reduce your use of them. Also write down any challenges you face or successes you have while trying to go litter-free at lunchtime so we can have a discussion about it at our next meeting on Friday, February 26.

Some things/tips to think about:
1. Plastic baggies are a big issue in waste-generation from lunches. Some great alternatives are reusable containers like Tupperware or glass jars (glass is a better option since it doesn't leach toxins into your food as plastic does; just make sure it's durable glass!). Anchor Hocking has some AWESOME alternatives to plastic baggies. I use their one cup size Kitchen Storage with BPA Free Lid container for trail mix, hummus dip and dry cereal. They make containers in a variety of sizes, so you can use the larger ones for salad, chips, sliced veggies, etc. If you can't purchase some Tupperware/glass jars, then the second best option is to reuse the baggies. For greasy foods, like chips, it's difficult to wash and reuse them, but for foods like crackers, cookies and some sandwiches that don't leave huge messes inside the bag, you can rinse the bags and hang them to dry. Avoid reusing them more than a few times because plastic breaks down over time and will leach into your foods the more you reuse it. Reusing them once or twice won't hurt you, though (well, it won't hurt you any more than using the bag the first time).

2. Use cloth napkins in your lunch. This is an easy one! Most households have at least one set of cloth napkins. If you don't have any, you can often find them second-hand, or invest in a set for your family. They're a great alternative for everyday use, at home and at school.

3. Reduce your reliance on packaged foods. Not only do they generate more waste, packaged foods are most often processed and unhealthy compared to non-packaged foods like vegetables and fruits. There are some healthy packaged foods, like certain granola/fruit & nut bars, but for the most part it's always better to eat real food. Shop the perimeter of the market for the healthiest, least-packaged foods.

4. Make soup and bring it in a thermos. Soup is a perfect lunchtime meal during the winter. It would be ideal to make your own (click here for a great soup recipe I've made twice), since then you have control over what goes into it, and you reduce the amount of resources wasted when you buy it canned (can, paper label, plastic lining). Plus, it generally tastes better and makes you feel accomplished (maybe that's be me, but it's worth trying it!).

5. Buy a sandwich holder. I have a plastic one, which is not ideal. They make metal ones, so if you're going to buy one, invest in metal. Plastic is in so many things, it's always better to opt for non-plastic whenever you have the option. It can also hold chips, pretzels, pita bread, homemade granola bars (okay I've never tried making homemade granola and putting it in a sandwich holder, but try it and I'll bet it'd work!), etc.

6. Bring reusable utensils or actual silverware (not your parent's fine silver, though!).

7. Bring reusable water bottles and coffee mugs. Fill a coffee mug with apple juice instead of bringing a disposable apple juice box.

8. BE CREATIVE. That's the key to reducing your waste consumption. Think about what it is you are actually throwing away each day and brainstorm ways to reduce that.

For some more information, visit this blog post I wrote in October on alternatives to wasteful lunchtime objects.

Happy Reducing!

Valentine's Day recycled-card-making

At our most recent Environmental Club meeting on Friday, February 12, we made recycled Valentine's Day cards using reusable materials. Here are some pictures of us making them:

For some Valentine's Day card material ideas, see our previous posts on the subject: Part 1 & Part 2. Hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day!

Bulletin Green Tip #4: Create recycled Valentine's Day cards Part 2

Here are some more ideas and information to add to Bulletin Green Tip #4: Create recycled Valentine's Day cards.

Patricia, one of our club's co-presidents has some additional card ideas:

"I just folded a piece of scratch paper in half then glued it together--really simple. I chose to use music notes for the background (because my dad had extra music that he was just going to toss out), but you can use just about anything--a catchy magazine pictures, stickers, postcards, etc. Use the old school newspapers to cut out words from. On the most recent issue, the page with the review of "Lovely Bones" says "hope" once and "love" twice."



For this Friday's meeting, please bring some reused materials for making valentines.

This can include:
- scratch paper
- construction paper
- scissors
- glue/tape
- magazines
- newspapers
- stickers you have around your house (don't buy new ones since we're trying to reuse)
- old movie tickets, receipts, or anything you think might be interesting to reuse as a valentine
- markers, colored pencils, stencils
- postcards
- old binder paper that has writing on one side
- old greetings cards...sometimes you can rip off the front cover and use the back of the front cover to write
- used tissue paper, wrapping paper, ribbons
- tattered and unreadable books
- old photographs
- old notebook covers
- drawings you or your siblings or family have made

See Part 1 of this tip for more ideas.

If you have more ideas, please send them to us at avhsenvironmental@yahoo.com or post your own post about them!

Melissa
Environmental Club secretary

HELP! Garden Project Needs Your Helping Hands - Let's Get Muddy!

A message from Science Specialist Mikki Conley at Mohr Elementary School:

Our top soil has arrived and we need some help getting it from the parking lot to the garden areas. If you can help out we will be working from 9:30 - 12:00 (12:30 if needed) on this coming Saturday, Feb 6th. Please bring a shovel, rake and a wheel barrow if you have one (we only have 2). Some volunteers have offered fertilizer which would be great to have on Sat. as well. If anyone has a small rototiller we could fire that up as well and get as much done as possible.
I am also looking for an expert on a drip irrigation system. It is currently in place but many pieces of the line are broken or missing. If you have special knowledge of this type of system and can help we would love to hear from you.....Thanks to those that offered more help on our last work day. I hope many of you can make it this coming Sat. Sorry for the last minute notice but we had to make sure the soil was in fact being delivered this week.

We hope to see you on Saturday!