Green Team
We believe Every Kid. Every Day. One Earth. At Carpenter, every day is Earth Day. We explore ways that empower students, teachers and parents to help the environment through waste reduction, recycling and reusing of resources.
You can participate at a distance in your own home, as well in school when classes resume.
Contact:
Mission:
- Educate – The Green Team will educate and encourage leadership in environmental stewardship by engaging children, parents, teachers, staff and the community as a whole in an effort to reduce our environmental impact.
- Transform – The Green Team will help students, parents, teachers, and staff to transform our school into a model of environmental sustainability by establishing and maintaining effective and permanent waste reduction, energy conservation and ecological preservation programs.
- Inspire – The Green Team will assure that Carpenter Community Charter is inclusive and together with the Studio City, community will forge a model for integrated sustainability that will be recognized for its combined efforts and achievements.
GREEN TEAM ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
1) Trash-free Tuesdays
Trash-free Tuesdays aim to encourage everyone to bring a snack and a lunch one day a week that results in zero waste. The goal of this exercise is to raise awareness of how much waste we produce and encourage families to make changes to the way they purchase and pack snacks and lunches, that will result in long-term changes to the overall amount of trash they produce.
Tips on how to reduce trash in your child’s lunchbox:
- Use washable, reusable containers for lunch boxes, food and drink instead of plastic wrap, Ziploc bags, drink cans or boxes.
- Pack a cloth napkin and durable plastic silverware instead of paper napkins and disposable silverware.
- Discourage use of bottled water and either pack water in a reusable thermos or water bottle and encourage your child to drink water from the fountain instead.
- Avoid buying heavily packaged food. For example, instead of buying yogurt in an individual serving cup, buy a larger container and put it in a reusable container for lunch.
- Learn what can be recycled or composted and encourage your child to engage in these practices on his/her own.
For tips on how to make trash-free lunches, check out http://www.wastefreelunches.org
2) Walking Wednesdays:
A large amount of carbon emissions come from vehicles so choosing to walk instead of drive is a great alternative. While a number of families walk to school on a daily basis, many others are just not in the habit. The intent of Walk to School Wednesdays is to help encourage families get in the habit of walking, biking or even carpooling once a month to help reduce carbon emissions. Do it every day or once a week if you can.
3) Recycling:
Carpenter recycles paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, glass bottles and aluminum cans.
http://www.treehugger.com/htgg/how-to-go-green-recycling.html#numbers
OTHER LINKS
Grades of Green is a national non-profit started by concerned parents in Manhattan Beach to inspire and empower students and the broader community to care for the environment. www.gradesofgreen.org.
Los Angeles Unified School District Sustainability Initiatives
http://www.laschools.org/new-site/sustainability/
Zero waste and recycling
http://www.zerowaste.lacity.org/info/resources.html
Media outlet providing green news on sustainability.
http://www.treehugger.com/
Websites for Children
http://www.kidsrgreen.org/