Green Team

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:

1. Use washable, reusable containers for lunch boxes, food and drink instead of plastic wrap, Ziploc bags, drink cans or boxes.
2. Pack a cloth napkin and durable plastic silverware instead of paper napkins and disposable silverware.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Each month there will be a different theme to make it fun for everyone, such as “Wear Green Day”, “Crazy Hat Day”, “Twins Day”, “Backwards Day” and “Crazy Socks Day”. Students can send in their suggestions to the Student Council to consider.

Families can meet up with other walkers at four different locations around the neighborhood:

1. Maxwellton and Laurel Terrace (The Silver Triangle neighborhood)
2. Beck and Aqua Vista (The Colfax Meadows neighborhood)
3. The Citibank at Ventura and Laurel Canyon (The neighborhood near CBS)
4. The bridge at Laurelgrove and Valleyheart (The Grove neighborhood)

To find a safe route near you, visit http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/index.cfm or for more information on walking to school, visit http://www.cawalktoschool.com/

3) Recycling

Carpenter recycles paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, glass bottles aluminum cans and small item electronic waste (e-waste). In addition to having regular recycling bins, we also have bins for CRV recycling (California Redemption Value) which means that if we recycle plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans, we receive a portion of the rebate when we redeem them. CRV bins are specially marked with "$" signs and are located by the Laurel Canyon gate, Cafe West and the lunch tables. The money generated from our participation in CRV recycling goes to the PTA to help support our school.

Carpenter is also part of Cartridges for Kids (CFK), a free recycle and rebate program that collects small electronic items that are broken, obsolete or worn out such as cell phones, camera, DVD and printer cartridges. The collection area can be found outside the media lab in the main building.

For information on recycling, visit LA Bureau of Sanitation
http://www.lacitysan.org/solid_resources/recycling/curbside/what_is_recyclable.htm

And

http://www.treehugger.com/htgg/how-to-go-green-recycling.html#numbers

4) Earth Day Fair

The Green Team organizes and hosts a yearly fair around the time of International Earth Day, which takes place on April 22 every year. The event consists of numerous activities and informational booths intended to celebrate and educate about the environment. Please think of ways you can contribute and bring your suggestion to the Green Team

For more information on International Earth Day, visit http://www.earthday.org/

5) Energy Conservation

The Green Team is working with Los Angeles Unified School District and enrolled in the School Conservation Program (SCP) that allows schools to share in a portion of the utility bill savings from their on-site conservation efforts reducing electricity and water use. Dollars saved will be shared between the school site and the Districts general fund with the ultimate aim to reduce expenditure toward energy use and reduce our carbon footprint producing fewer CO2 emissions.

SUSTAINABILITY

The Green Team have created a Sustainability Resolution outlining our mission and goals for Carpenter for the long term. To find out more about this guiding document or provide your feedback, check out our [Sustainability Resolution].

GREEN SQUAD

We are looking to form a Green Squad to advance our environmental stewardship and assist parent volunteers reduce lunchtime and schoolyard trash levels. These students will also support the greening of school events on campus by helping to encourage recycling.

In addition, Carpenter has implemented:

• Composting of greens and a school garden that produces fruit and vegetables.
• E-waste recycling program, Cartridges for Kids (CFK).
• No-idle zones
• Reusable earthquake kits.
• Hiking Club
• Increased use of digital distribution uses less paper for school newsletters and other information.

GREEN TIPS

If you are interested in any of the above or have green tips, please email Simon Millar at simon@planetrumble.org

Tip of the Month

Reduce your junk mail, catalogues, and save some trees!
Visit http://www.dmachoice.org and sign up to manage your mail (works great for junk email too!)

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.

Growing Great is another non-profit that uses school-based gardens and nutrition education to empower children and adults with the knowledge to make healthier food choices is critical to improving our health and environment. www.growinggreat.org.

Energy Education can be found at www.energyeducation.com.

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

A consumer’s advice to green living
http://www.thedailygreen.com/

Media outlet providing green news on sustainability.
http://www.treehugger.com/

Websites for Children
http://www.kidsrgreen.org/

http://www.ollierecycles.com/planet/

GAMES

The Lorax Saves the Trees
http://www.seussville.com/games/lorax/

Recycle Roundup
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/actiongames/recycle-roundup/