Please come by B211 to sign up for this year’s Environmental Club, we have lots we want to accomplish this year, and we need your ideas and help…

All are welcome!

COME AND JOIN

Today!

Official meetings are on Tuesday afternoons from 245 to 345, or whenever we are done, if you can’t make Tuesdays, no worries come by any afternoon from Monday to Thursday, and help lend a hand on one or all of the various projects we have done in the past, and new ones you can help design and implement!!!!! 

The Environmental Club is dedicated to promoting the care and cleanliness of the earth within our school and within the community and world around us. We do this through education, and various projects in and around our school and our world’s natural resources.

PROMOTE, PROTECT, PRESERVE

 “A Closer Look – Golden Crowned Kinglet”
Oil on linen by Carol Guzman

(I thought this was a photo the first time I saw it…)

A TEMPORARY VISITOR… MS. GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLET!

LAST THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2010, THREE OF OUR FRESHMAN ENVIRONMENTAL CLUB MEMBERS CAME TO ME IN THE MORNING HOLDING THIS LITTLE BIRD.  THEY FOUND IT SITTING ON THE GROUND NEAR ONE OF OUR ENTRANCES.  SHE COULD NOT FLY. WE PUT HER IN A SMALL TANK WITH A VENTED LID, GAVE HER SOME WATER,  WHICH SHE DRANK, AND SLOWLY OVER THE COURSE OF THE MORNING, SHE BEGAN TO FLY AND HOVER WITHIN THE ENCLOSURE!

I’M GUESSING SHE FLEW INTO ONE OF OUR WINDOWS AND KNOCKED HERSELF FOR A LOOP. 

WE LOOKED HER UP, BECAUSE SHE WASN’T A COMMON SPARROW, AND I DIDN’T KNOW THE BIRD, AND THEN WE LEARNED IT WAS A SHE, BECAUSE FEMALES HAVE A YELLOW “MOHAWK”, AND MALES HAVE AN ORANGE ONE…

I RELEASED HER LATER THAT DAY BY OUR MARSH NEAR THE TEACHERS’ PARKING LOT, AND SHE FLEW OFF OVER THE BUILDING TOWARDS LYNN WOODS, A PERFECT HOME FOR HER KIND.

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OUR MEETINGS ARE ON TUESDAYS AFTER SCHOOL, BUT YOU CAN COME BY AND SEE IF THERE ARE THINGS WE NEED TO DO ANYTIME…

-BOTTLES NEED SORTING AND CLEANING, AND RECYCLE BARRELS NEED CLEANING.

-TURTLES ALWAYS NEED SOME FORM OF CLEANING OR FEEDING ATTENTION

-WE NEED TO HELP GET OUR PAPER RECYCLING PROGRAM UP AND FUNCTIONING AROUND THE BUILDING…

OUR ICECREAM FUND RAISER IS ON OCTOBER 21, 2010!

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WHY IS THIS THREATENED TURTLE SMILING?

(Blanding’s Turtle – Emydoidea blandingii)

Because our Environmental Club is currently planning on participating in a Blanding’s Turtle Head Start program in my classroom at LCHS, in conjunction with the New England Aquarium, and US Division of Fish and Wildlife…more details as this develops. 

Check out link for now…

http://www.neaq.org/education_and_activities/blogs_webcams_videos_and_more/blogs/sea_turtle_rescue_blog/labels/head%20start.html

Blanding’s Turtle Hatchling!

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The Marshes @ LCHS

MORE THAN JUST A BUNCH OF GRASS AND WEEDS…

  WE HAVE BEGUN A NEW ERA IN THE LIFE OF CLASSICAL’S TWO FRESHWATER MARSHES(SEE ABOVE PHOTO).

THESE MAN-MADE DRAINAGE AREAS HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN MOWED A COUPLE OF TIMES A YEAR, PREVENTING THE NATURAL PROCESSES THE ORGANISMS NEED TO THRIVE THERE.  WE ARE NOW LETTING THE TWO ABOVE AREAS BEGIN CYCLING NATURALLY WITH THE STEWARDSHIP OF OUR FACULTY AND STUDENTS AT LCHS.

WE WILL KEEP THEM CLEAR OF TRASH AND DEBRIS, AND KEEP THE DRAINS FROM CLOGGING EACH SPRING AND FALL.

VARIOUS SPECIES HAVE BEEN COLLECTED AND IDENTIFIED, AND ARE ALREADY USING THESE SITES TO FEED AND BREED.

HERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE VARIOUS RESIDENTS WE HAVE SITED OVER THE YEARS IN THESE TWO MARSHES…REALLY.  YOU CAN TOO, IT JUST TAKES REGULAR OBSERVATION, EVEN AS YOU JUST WALK BY ON THE WAY IN AND OUT OF THE BUILDING.

 (…AND YES, THERE ARE SNAKES AND SPIDERS OUT THERE… )

 

 -PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES-

STUDENT AND FACULTY PHOTOS COMING SOON, FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME ANY YOU TAKE YOURSELF…

Helping Planet Earth by Recycling

By:  Melanie Adamopoulos

Have you ever thought about how many people there are in this world, let alone in our own community, who use various materials throughout the day?  Well, every day, people of all ages waste materials that can become valuable resources, but people don’t even realize that several products we use on a regular basis such as bottles, cans, newspaper, and even glass, can have such a great and positive impact if they are recycled.  This unawareness of society on how important it is to put recycling into effect is very common due to the fact that today’s world consists of many materials and products that are necessary for the average family.  We all use a number of products, whether it be beverage containers, office paper, electronic equipment, batteries, etc., that can be recycled in order to conserve energy and reduce pollution and greenhouse gases that are entering and destroying our planet Earth’s atmosphere.  Fortunately though, we can take some steps everyday that will help get rid of these toxic gases.  For example, there are tons of people in this modern-day world who own office equipment and electronics.  Although these electronics and equipment are usually very helpful to the user, they can waste a lot of energy and money.  Even if a person puts their computer on idle or on stand-by, energy is still being used.  A good way to facilitate this problem is that if you know you’re not going to be using your computer for some time, you “can activate the power management features on your computer and monitor as well as unplug the cords to the equipment”.  By doing just this, you would be saving great amounts of energy each day, let alone each year.  Another great and simple way to help the planet is to simply re-use a product or make the item with less material.  The more you do this, the less material is wasted.  In fact, the less materials that are wasted, the more money for communities, businesses, schools and individual people.  Not only would you be helping the environment, you’d also be “feeding” your wallet.

Some interesting facts are:

-An estimated 80,000,000 Hershey’s kisses are wrapped each day, using enough aluminum foil to cover over  50 acres of space – that’s almost 40 football fields!  All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.

-A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose – and even longer if it’s in landfill.

-Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours – or the equivalent of a half gallon of gasoline.

-Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that could have been composted.

As you can see, there are tons of benefits to recycling, not only for planet Earth, but for people, schools, businesses, and much more.  A person may think that they are just one human being and that they can’t possibly make a difference.  This is not true.  If everyone got into that way of thinking, there would be no change.  The more people who get involved, the better a difference it will make.  Every positive contribution helps, and it is never too late to start making change.  So, let us all work together and save planet Earth.  Reduce… Re-use… Recycle!

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Recycling Technology = Art

The new thing now is going green. We recycle plastic, paper and glass but how about lead or mercury or arsenic, cadmium, selenium, hexavalent chromium?  You don’t see a recycle bin for those do you? All those items sound harmful and deadly right? Well you probably interact with these items on a daily basis.  These are all things found in technology you use.  What do you do once they are old?  You get new upgraded, shiny new tech.  But what happens to all this old tech?  You throw it away right?  Wrong. It’s harmful to the environment.  Every year, 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste is generated worldwide.   All of this e-waste  can be recycled in more ways than one way.  You can recycle them by going to those special drop offs at city hall or recycling centers.  But if that’s too much work, Why not turn it into art? Lucio Galvin, Caitlin Mannion and Zachary Culp, have decided to turn old tech into art.   These students are part of the computer club, art club and the environmental club.  They started a new project to make a crab out of old tech. They need more parts though so why not help them and the environment? Bring in old cell phones, computers, CDs  etc. to either Mr. Winchester in room B211 or Mr. Brass in room B307.  You will feel better that you’re  saving the planet and also helping create new art.

We will try to create new projects as best we can.

-Zachary Culp

Class of 2012

Facts are from : http://www.griffith.edu.au/engineering-information-technology/e-waste-research-group/facts-figures

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