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Students make effort to go green, recycle
Published Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Most of us could learn a thing or two about recycling from students here in Shelby County. From Thompson Middle School to Greystone Elementary, students in our county are going green.
Like most successful projects, the school-driven recycling programs in Shelby County each started with someone having a good idea and a passion to see it through.
Choosing to begin the expansion of local recycling efforts in our schools is a stroke of genius; the kids have the energy and enthusiasm to make the effort a success and can perhaps inspire their parents to be more earth-friendly.
The kids in Greystone Elementary School’s Green Team, which started earlier this year thanks to the interest of a parent and the team’s recycling coordinator, fifth-grade teacher Wayne Roberson, has already collected some 10,000 plastic bottles. Those bottles were destined for a landfill and now can be reused to make anything from clothing to car parts. The students also recycle newspapers, cardboard boxes and the like.
The school also recently won an Alabama Excellence in Recycling Award, which includes a $1,000 grant, from the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation.
Just last month, the U.S. Green Building Council presented Hilltop Montessori School in Mt Laurel with a LEED certification plaque culminating years of work, construction and preparation to build a school that is friendly to both students and the environment.
Thompson High sophomores Rachel McMullen, Rebekah Pilgreen and Shannon Turek have spearheaded the Going Green movement at several schools in Alabaster. Their Going Green movement, which began at Thompson High School, has now spread to Thompson Middle School with plans to get started at three other Alabaster schools.
Recycling on a city or countywide scale costs money. Finding the money, even in tight financial times such as these, can be done; building the awareness for recycling in the county may be a far greater challenge.
Let us hope the example being set by the children of Shelby County can inspire the rest of us to make a difference in the environment as well.
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Comments
Posted by beyondgreen (anonymous) on September 27, 2008 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We need to act as a nation to utilize every resource available to us to loosen the grip our dependence on foriegn oil has on us. Our economy is in a sorry state of affairs directly related to the high cost of fuel which affects everything from loss of jobs to a record loss of homes not to mention the rise in cost of all consumer goods. We have become so dependant on foreign oil that we have neglected to fully utilize such natural sources of energy such wind power & solar power. Along with modern technology such as plug in cars, hybrid cars, v2g technology ,and regenerative braking technology. We still seem to be floundering as a nation as to devising the best plan utilize all that is available to us and lift ourselves out of this mess we are in. We need to take our closest look at which candidates put our economy and energy crisis at the forefront of their agenda.For the sake of our future and future generations we need to act and act now. The Manhattan Project of 2009 by Jeff Wilson pretty much says it all...
www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
Posted by Thinking (anonymous) on October 2, 2008 at 10:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We have the answer, Nuclear Energy! It was part of the old Manhattan Project. We do not need a new one. We just need to actually use the nuclear technology we already have.
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