Climate Change Study

more about “Climate Change Study“, posted with vodpod

Earth Day 2009

Testimonies were given by various faculty, administrators, and students at this weeks Earth Day Assembly (click on “value of place” page above). First time WA Environmental Hall of Fame Inductees George Delaney, Don Irving, and Elizabeth Bowles (click on WA Hall of Fame page) were recognized and will be honored by the Environmental Club by planting three different native tree species on campus. Immediate actions steps were also covered by Environmental Club members:

1. Sign the Green Cup Pledge To commit to simple daily action steps that can make a difference (click on page above)

2. Ride the (soon to be named by vote) Bike for community services hours in Mr Segesdy’s room during extra help, and other periods by schedule.
-enter your suggested name for the bike by clicking into renewable energy posts.

3. Join the campus dialog on food and welfare (click on agriculture posts)

4. Stay tuned for announcements about the 2009 WA E-Waste Collection Program. For now you may want to start figuring out what you need to recycle and how you can get it to school.

Food and Welfare

This post was created to facilitate campus dialogue regarding where and how our food is grown/raised/produced and the related benefits and costs to workers, animals, environments, indivudal consumers, and local and collective communities be it a school, town, region, nation or the world. The initial impetus came from a student’s acute concern over animal cruelty. Though this thread need not be limited to animals, it may be a good place to start given the power of the video sent out to the community.

Vermiculture Pilot Program

In beds of newspaper scrap and some starter soil (w/ sand for worm’s digestive system and to introduce decomposing microorganisms) food “waste” become worm food, which in turn becomes nutrient rich plant fertilizer. Above are photos of one of two vermiculture bins being used for the pilot program. Worms are fed nearly all food scraps except for animal products and they seem to like melons the most. The starter bin with newspaper will be converted within a few months to rich organic worm compost. The photo on the left depicts a processing tray in its last stages.

Green Cup 2009 Results

The formal 4-week long 2009 Green Cup Challenge proved to be challenging for WA; there was a slight increase in electricity consumption (2%) compared to the baseline calculated from the 2007-2008 winter. This increase is misleading as last years baseline was lower than previous years due to the influence of WA’s 10% energy drop for the 2008 GCC.

There were many concrete benefits to this years GCC. 150 participating schools from across the country experienced collective carbon dioxide reductions of over 2.4 million pounds. This ever-increasing network of schools continue to colloborate on all things sustainable. Here on campus 77 people from Worcester Academy signed the Green Cup Pledge (see above page), which calls on people to practice GCC habits 365 days a year.

Below is a letter written to the school from the Environmental Club co-president, Ryan Barry:

Hey everyone,

The results are in for the final week of the Green Cup Challenge.
In the final week of the GCC, we achieved our goal of reducing energy use from our baseline, reducing by 1%. Great job, and thank you for making this happen. Please remember that although the Green Cup Challenge is over, our school is dedicated to becoming more environmentally sustainable, and we should continue to reduce energy use when possible. The Environmental Club looks at the GCC as a year round event, and we encourage the school to do this as well.
We have signed a Green Schools Climate Commitment, in which we pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2020, and we need everyone to help out to work towards this goal. Also remember that conserving energy and using alternative forms of energy reduces pollution, and improves the quality of our air, water, as well as our health.
So far, 70 people have signed the GCC pledge. Thank you to those who have already signed. Our first goal is to reach 100 pledges, and our next goal is to get everyone in the WA community to sign it. Please sign the pledge if you have not done so already.

http://sustainablewa.wordpress.com/green-cup-pledge/

Thank you,

Ryan Barry
Co-President of the Environmental Club

Green Cleaning

WA has taken a step closer to making our indoor campus environment healthier  by introducing two Green Seal Certified cleaning products, Green Earth 11 (peroxide cleaner) and Green Earth 19 (glass cleaner),  for use by the custodial staff. The Betco Fast Draw dispensing device enables increased efficiency by automating the mixing of cleaning solutions, which in turn minimizes the dangers for the staff of being exposed to concentrated solutions.

Carpooling

In an effort to mitigate its carbon footprint (WA has signed the Green Schools Climate Commitment – GSCC , pledging to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020), carpooling has become formalized at WA. Two weekday carpooling spots were added in the Gym Parking Lot for seniors. Only cars with 3 or more students can be parked in these spots up until 10 minutes before the start of the school day, after which anyone can use the spots. In the Kingsley Parking Lot, faculty have one carpooling spot which requires two or more passengers and follows the same time limits as the Gym lot. This past fall, the WA Environmental Club drafted a proposal to the Headmaster requesting that the school begin a carpooling system.

WA Composting

This year Worcester Academy began composting its food waste from the dining hall at the neighboring Charlie Buffone Garden, which is run by community members and Oak Hill CDC. Environmental Club members have been managing the composting program as one part of the new “O Waste” program at WA, which when applied to the dining hall challenges people to take only what they will eat, avoid choosing items that can not be composted, and compost napkins and food scraps that can not be eaten.

Winter time means slow going for compost, but after middle school students and members of the 9th grade Environmental Science class helped “winterize” the garden. For more info click on Charlie Buffone Garden. Last year composting took place at the East Campus Garden while this year the focus shifted to expanding the school’s connections local agricultural networks.

Protecting the Blackstone River

This cool, brisk Saturday morning WA students worked with the city to raise awareness within the neighborhood about pollution of our local waterway. Students stenciled catch basins and dropped off fliers and information sheets to households. Rain run-off from the upper level of campus and west flows into the Blackstone River  (45 mile long river that is fed by headwaters throughout the Worcester area and that flows to Narraganset) and to the east into the Broad Meadow Brook, which in turn feeds the Blackstone further to the south.

Capable of destruction of fish and wildlife, loss of aesthetic value, and of threats to public health through food, water supplies, and recreation, run-off water pollutants include pet waste, oil and other vehicle fluids, lawn fertilizer, pesticides, hazardous wastes, and physical objects such as yard debris and litter.

For more information on Worcester’s Storm Water Management Program call 508-799-1480, go to dpw, and/or go to the EPA site for sewer line risk information ssoenweb.pdf

8th Graders Participate in Community Harvest

Last spring as seventh graders, members of the class of 2013, planted seed at the Brigham Hill Community Farm in Grafton, MA. On Friday September 12th, they returned to harvest the crops as part of a Community Harvest Project. Harvest produce is donated to the Worcester County Food Bank, which serves 50,000 people throughout Worcester county. For more information click: communityharvest.shtml