As a communications intern for the Green Schools Alliance, I have been helping society take its pioneer steps toward a greener planet. Whether it’s a small thing like tweeting about a sustainable breakthrough, sharing a setback in the “Green Revolution,” as I like to call this movement, or posting about my Sc3 cohort’s educational video for youth (“Ecosize Me!”), I hope to raise awareness about the shift in society’s mindset that must happen in the very near future. A few times, renowned environmentalists have shared my comments, to my surprise and joy. (The fan girl inside me is still squealing about Mark Ruffalo’s tweet about our “Ecosize Me!” video…) The dedication and fervor these people share truly inspires me to do the best I can to help our bleeding planet. I encourage everyone reading this post to share something green-related or contribute to the movement today; you really never know how many people you could inspire or educate.
I have several plans for my school and community, this upcoming year. Firstly, I am developing a project to educate the youth of my city (Madison, Wisconsin); in my opinion, youth education is key to furthering changes in society. In the next couple of months, I’ll be talking to school officials at local elementary and middle schools to organize groups of kids to form environmental clubs at their schools. I, along with other members of my school’s Green Club, will visit an elementary or middle school every month or so, give the students tips about projects they can take on, and encourage them to spread awareness at their schools.
Madison elementary students join the People.Power.Planet initiative
I also want to further the energy conservation efforts at my school. Last year, during an event we called “Green Week” and as a part of the People.Power.Planet initiative, we managed to reduce our school’s energy consumption by over 10 percent (and this was during a period of Wisconsin winter storms). Our club doesn’t receive any funding, so we have to fundraise the money necessary to green the infrastructure of our old, energy-inefficient school. If anyone has any information about fundraising successfully (planning the event, target audience, etc.) or grant donors, please feel free to share! Comment below or email us at mwhgreenclub@gmail.com.
Finally, we also want to keep up the recycling drives that our club hosts. At our recycling center that we set up last year, we accept cell phones, shoes, and batteries, and at our electronic-recycling drives, we recycle computers, monitors, printers, and ink cartridges. This not only serves as a source of income for our club, but also provides a place to recycle these devices in our community.
You can visit our blog at madisonwestgreenclub.wordpress.com to stay updated on our club’s activities. And, if you have anything you’d like to share (current events, other schools’ efforts, your successes), please share them with us! Let’s stay connected as we save our planet together.
Green Schools Alliance:
Email: greenschoolsalliance@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenSchoolsAlliance
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreenSchoolsAll
Website: http://greenschoolsalliance.org
Madison West Green Club:
Blog: http://madisonwestgreenclub.wordpress.com
Email: mwhgreenclub@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amy_hua
Amy
West High School ’13
Cohort 7 – The Ecosizers
SSAP: Energy Conservation, K-12 Education, and Promotion of Activism
Amy- thanks for all of these ideas! I really like your idea about setting up enviro clubs in elementary and middle schools and hosting recycling drives. I was wondering what you do with the items you collect from these drives because I would love to do this with my club! Thanks!
No problem! If you have any questions about how we set up the drives or want to share how your club activities are going, just send me a message.