Earth Hour March 27

Tentative Agenda for March 12, 2010 Meeting

This is a tentative agenda; items may change/be added, but here's a general idea of the plan for Friday's meeting (March 12).

Amador Valley High School
Environmental Club Meeting Agenda
March 12, 2010 12:35 PM – 1:06 PM
Mrs. Turner's room, E5
1. Welcome and Introductions: New members & focus group sign ups.

2. Discussion of paper conservation (2/26/10 – 3/12/10)
- Notes:

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
- Volunteers:

4. 40th Earth Day/Week Celebrations (week of April 19 – 23; Earth Day is April 22nd)
- Reminder to look at Earth Week calendar on blog and in email.
- Club Events:

Saturday, April 17
Livermore Earth Day Celebration. YES / NO
8:30 AM – 11:30 AM (Volunteer community clean up)
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Earth Day Celebration)
Free to the public. Location: Robertson Park, 3200 Robertson Park Road, Livermore. The goal of this volunteer community clean up, non-profit event is to recognize, celebrate and promote the region’s unique beauty and to educate the public regarding how to conserve, preserve and protect our local and global resources.

OR

Earth Day at Forest Home Farms YES / NO
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM at Forest Home Farms, 19953 San Ramon Valley Blvd., between the Bollinger and Alcosta exits off the 680 freeway. San Ramon, CA
Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day while helping to spruce up Forest Home Farms Historic Park for spring! There'll be projects in the vegetable garden, the wildlife garden and around the farm. Bring your own gloves and garden tools. Refreshments will be provided. This is a FREE, volunteer event perfect for scout groups and service clubs.

Wednesday, April 21
AVHS Environmental Club presents Flow
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.
Location: AVHS multipurpose room
Time: 7 – 9 PM. Free admission; popcorn, cookies and water will be sold.

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! (www.earthhour.org/)
- School black out April 22 (Alex Pickert)
- National Agriculture Day March 20: Fact Sheet & Video



6. These Come From Trees: Guerilla Paper Waste Elimination Project: thesecomefromtrees.blogspot.com


7. Did anyone check energy meter?

8. Share DOTs (Do One Thing).
- billionactsofgreen.net
- Post your DOT on our Facebook page or group to share your idea.

9. Food scrapping discussion – ACE grant application.

10. Brief discussion of focus group ideas.

11. ACE lesson plan.

12. Next week’s bulletin green tip #7: _______________

13. Interested bloggers? Check out Taylor's new green blog at taylorconfessions.blogspot.com

Welcome to Reality, Biggest Noob Ever.

Alrighty, so, truth be told, I have never really cared much about issues concerning the environment. Environmental awareness is something people can easily avoid since its not so noticeable in our hectic, 100 miles-per-hour lives. Granted, I have been informed, I just never took it upon myself to do anything about it. I felt like it was too big a problem, so if I couldn't fix the whole thing, why try at all, right? Wrong. Finally, after hearing my good friend Melissa talk about being environmental friendly for three years, I have started to actually listen.

Since I'm starting from scratch on this whole sustainable living thing, I might as well fess up to all the stuff I would never admit to environmentalists:
-I grab a new plastic water bottle from the fridge every day
-I enjoy my showers for way too long
-I use a new piece of binder paper when I don't like how I wrote my name
-I am an unaware driver when it comes to saving gas
-I drive to school when its a ten minute walk from my house
...I could go on an on, but essentially: I'm an environmental noob.

The thing is, I look at people who truly live environmental friendly/sustainable lives, and I feel like it would be too overwhelming to try to do the same. I like taking long showers, its easier to just grab a water bottle and go, and vegging out in front of the television and computer screen is my choice activity...So where do I find the balance?

I think I should start slow. Change one or two things until they are habit, and then add something else. Making each change a habit will make it so much easier to stick with it.

Things I have already started to do:
-take smaller notes utilizing the whole page
-print things on the front and back of a paper
-joined my schools environmental club
-unplug unused items from outlets
-turn off a light in my house if no one is in the room

On this blog I will confess my struggles and successes with trying to be environmental friendly in everyday life. Taking it slow will take away the pressure to change everything right at this exact moment. Hopefully, someone will take this journey with me after they read this.
Remember, green is good.

adios. Taylor

This was originally posted on Confessions of an Environmental Noob on February 27, 2010.

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.

Bulletin Green Tip #2: Turn off those holiday lights!

From sundown until the time you go to sleep, your LED (hopefully!) holiday lights (inside and out) can and should be gleaming all of their holiday spirit for the world. But once your head hits the pillow, those lights should be off. Leaving them on all night wastes a lot of energy, and no one is going to see them at midnight, one, two, three o'clock in the morning! So turn them off before bed and don't turn them back on until sundown the next day. It seems like this would be an obvious way to conserve, but it's always good to be reminded.

(This tip can also be found at Green Gal's blog.)