Green eNews April 2015: Green Ribbon Award, Walk/Ride Days & More
Published on Apr 29, 2015 12:07

Green eNews
  April 29, 2015
Plant

Dear Schools & Community, 

We hope you are having a wonderful spring! We have some exciting news to share with you regarding our environmental sustainability initiative. We are honored to have won the 2015 Green Ribbon Schools District Sustainability Award from the U.S. Department of Education! In addition, we are launching our annual Go Green Challenge among the schools this week. Elementary and Upper School teachers, please look in your mailboxes for additional information and worksheets.

More information below. Thanks for all you do to keep our schools sustainable!

–Kristen

Go Green

Go Green Challenge
Teachers, look for this year’s Go Green Challenge and Energy Pledge Cards in your mailbox this week! We look forward to seeing what your classroom is doing to “be green.” New this year: rewards for participating!
Learn more >>

Green Ribbon

CPS Wins "2015 Green Ribbon Schools District Sustainability Award" from US Department of Education
On Earth Day, April 22, 2015, Managing Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Christy Goldfuss joined U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to recognize Cambridge Public School District (CPSD) as one of 14 school districts nationwide to be recognized with a 2015 Green Ribbon Schools District Sustainability Award. Read more >>

Casella recycling

Cambridge Kids See Where Their Recycling Goes
On Wednesday, April 22, 10 Cambridge kids, along with six parents, visited Casella Recycling in Charlestown. There, they got to see what happens to the cans, bottles, paper, and cardboard after the recycling truck unloads. They learned about – and saw in action – the rotating discs, magnets, beams of light, and eddy currents that are part of the process to separate the different materials. They also now better understand why it’s important to put only materials on the “YES” list in the recycling bin. For example, plastic bags get caught on the machinery, causing costly delays and repairs. See for yourself what it’s like at Casella Recycling by watching the video found here.

Fresh Pond

Fresh Pond Day
Do you or your students & families want to spend time in nature, locally? Fresh Pond Day is May 30 at Fresh Pond Reservation, 250 Fresh Pond Parkway. The event is a City sponsored celebration of water, wildlife, and sustainability to connect residents with watershed, urban wild, and local community resources. Includes music, wildlife demos, tours, and a parade. Organizations interested in participating in the event should contact Kirsten Lundquist at 617.349.6489 or register here.

donate

Donate Furniture to Homeless
Moving this spring and can’t take it all? Plan ahead and get free pick up with the Coalition for the Homeless. They have extra pickup days in Cambridge at the end of May and early June! Items must be clean and usable. Someone’s gonna love your stuff. Complete the online form for your good-condition furniture donations. They take kitchen tables & chairs, couches & sofa chairs, ottomans, hutches, end tables, coffee tables, bed frames, dressers, bookshelves, cabinets, rugs, lamps, dishes, pots & pans, and blankets & linens. Your gently-used donations help low-income and formerly homeless families furnish their apartments at no cost to them. View 2015 pickup dates and other options >>

Safe Routes Graphic

Walk/Ride Days
Walk/Ride Days take place on the last Friday of the month!  Remember to mark your calendar in advance and plan to walk, ride a bike, take the bus, roll in on a skateboard – just ditch the car and get to work sustainably!  

As you know, the City of Cambridge is part of the 2015 Walk/Ride Day Corporate Challenge, help us win the challenge! Log in your commute to contribute to the city-wide effort! Lots of prizes to be won!

Donate

TIP OF THE MONTH
Donate old classroom items to a local charity. Why? Because your donation will be re-used instead of thrown away.

CLIMATE EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY
Urban & Suburban Carbon Farming to Reverse Global Warming
Sunday, May 3
9AM - 5PM
Harvard Science Center
1 Oxford St., Cambridge

Come spend the day with scientists, educators, students, gardeners, homeowners, community organizers, climate activists, and civic leaders. Learn how ecosystem restoration helps to reverse global warming and how urban and suburban dwellers can help. Learn more >>

Safe Routes Logo

REMINDER: SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL SURVEY 

It's not too late to share your ideas and experiences with walking and biking to your child's school. 
Take the Survey >>

RECYCLE, RECYCLE, I LOVE TO RECYCLE!
Thanks to everyone who makes recycling part of their daily routine. You are making a difference! When we recycle and compost, we protect nature and animals, curb climate change, and save the City money. Check out how much your school has been recycling here.

FRIENDS OF ALEWIFE RESERVATION WALKS
Want to schedule a nature walk for your class or students? Friends of Alewife Reservation is a stewarding and educational non-profit for the Alewife Reservation in northwest Cambridge and for the surrounding city natural resources of marshes and wetlands abutting Belmont and Arlington. Free wildlife and history educational tours, clean ups, and conservation initiatives for the silver maple forest. Take a "Virtual" Tour
of the Reservation >>


IS YOUR SCHOOL NEAR THE RECYCLING CENTER? TAKE A TOUR!

Bring your students to see the Recycling Drop-off Center at the Department of Public Works (147 Hampshire Street) and learn more about recycling, reducing, reusing, and composting in Cambridge. Email us to schedule a tour. 

INVITE MERYL FROM DPW TO YOUR CLASSROOM
Recycling Program Manager Meryl Brott would be pleased to come to your classroom to help your students learn more about recycling, reducing, reusing, and composting –and how they are helping protect nature and animals through these actions. To schedule a visit, email us

OPT OUT OF
UNWANTED MAIL

Do you get unwanted mail from retailers, credit card companies, or cable/phone companies? You can opt out of mailings from more than 4,000 companies with Catalog Choice and help reduce waste. For example, you can stop getting weekly circulars from Global Direct, they will honor opt-out requests, so add them to "your choices." Just register for FREE online to create an account to start cleaning out your mailbox. To date, over 3,700 Cambridge residents have signed up and opted out of nearly 25,000 different unwanted mailings!

Baldwin

Kristen von Hoffmann
Sustainability Manager
Email Kristen

Cambridge Green Schools Initiative

 

 

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