Video about wasted electricity

Both Sides Now….

Mr. Reilly’s class is a triple-threat – using both sides of their papers AND recycling!

1050 lbs and Counting!

Thanks to community service kids, our chef & kitchen staff, and parent volunteers, like Helen Chang (above), we have been able to haul 1050 lbs of compost to the Union Square Green Markets site, hosted by the Lower East Side Ecology Center!

Penguins Need Sweaters Too!

 “It’s practically impossible to look at a penguin and feel angry.” Maybe you heard the story on the Weather Channel, or on the news (see ABC story here).  Due to an oil spill off the coast of New Zealand, endangered penguins need an unusual kind of help.  Penguin Sweaters!

Why would penguin sweaters help wildlife during an oil spill?  This is truly a case of “cute comes to the rescue.”  The yarn store SKEINZ sent internet instructions out to the world, hoping that knitters could create sweaters for small penguins who could suffer damaging affect from ingesting oil while preening.  Knitters answered the call, and a sea of sweaters were mailed to NZ.  Here is my contribution – on its way to the Kiwis!

More Details;

“On Oct. 5, a cargo ship ran aground in New Zealand, pouring 350 tons of oil into the ocean. The accident has been regarded as the country’s worst environmental disaster in decades.  More than 1,000 sea birds have already died as a result of the spill, including birds from the country’s native blue penguin population.  Oil can be extremely harmful to penguins, whose feathers are very different from other birds. They have very dense and tiny feathers of different lengths that stick onto them like Velcro, creating a waterproof pseudo-wetsuit.”

Red is Green

The Red is Green Committee at Little Red Schoolhouse/Elizabeth Irwin High School is hosting a downtown school environmental meeting to discuss the eradication of plastic bags. Parents and teachers are welcome! Please join the group on  Wednesday November 9th at 7pm.

Community Service Day 2011

What a beautiful day for community service at East River Park! Parent coordinators & the Lower East Side Ecology Center lead us through a gardening work-out, where kids and parents planted bulbs, cleared weeds, and prepared a gorgeous corner of the park for Spring.  Kids from early childhood, lower school, and upper school, dug holes, counted bulbs, and had fun in the sun.

Traveling in the city on a Saturday afternoon can feel like a burdensome trek, but on this Saturday, all the stress of the city washed away as soon as I saw the park project underway, and the kids enjoying some time working in the dirt.  I am so grateful that our community has been working on this project with the Lower East Side Ecology Center, a connection that has brought a plethora of resources and ideas into our school and community.  The devoted parents who put this day together twice a year are modest about the project, but it is truly extraordinary.  If you haven’t been able to attend the Community Service Day – make a point to show up this spring.  It is refreshing, and a satisfying way to connect to our urban environment.

Green Baby!

Even when they are busy on maternity leave, teachers at GCS keep up their sustainable practices!  Check out baby Gabe and his groovy mom, Ms. Freireich!  She has two great tips for Green Moms; don’t leave the water running when washing bottles and dishes, and walk wherever possible rather than taking transportation to save energy!  Thanks for this Teacher Feature!!

Compost Program Expanding

Thanks to parent volunteers, we are now bringing the Monday fruit peels and cores to the Union Square Green Market! Adding to our 11 bins within the GCS campus, we are collecting food wastes and helping curb greenhouse emissions. How? Food that isn’t composted makes up a large portion of our landfills. When food rots, and is not decomposed into soil by worms or other organisms, it emits methane, a much more potent trapper of heat than CO2. Beyond helping gardens and farms, compost helps reduce global climate change agents.

Thank you to all of our parent composters, as well as our Early Childhood lunch community service kids, and our Green Team kids in Upper School.

Freecycling at GCS goes Online!

GCS  now has it’s freecycling program online!  Just like our free and fabulous costume swap, this is a way for you to give away usable items, and get “new to you” items, by simply posting your things online.  The rules are simple, items must be given away for free.  If you’d like an item,  you should pick it up yourself or arrange a mutually convenient exchange.  That’s it!  Post things you’d like, as well as things you’d like to give away!  Good luck and exchange away!  You must be logged into the parent portal to use the site;

GCS Freecycle Page

Check out the wider NYC stuff exchange here;

NYC Stuff Exchange

Costume Swap 2011!

Lots of fun was had at our Costume Swap today!  Keeping costumes out of landfills, and making new costumes out of old ones is the name of the green game.  Dream costumes were found today! Knights, bears, star wars fighters, and pharaohs all walked out of room 111.  Join us until 10/6 for more fun!