Great Meeting Today!

Was that experiment with the apple cool or what? We learned how little space we have on this planet to grow crops and raise cattle to feed our growing population. Just think--wherever those tennis balls goes when they roll down the storm drains, that's where the lawn chemicals, motor oil, and other pollutants go! And it all ends up in our soil.

Like Mrs. Bango's styrofoam cups at the bank story, it's our job to raise awareness!

We talked about some upcoming contests for artists in the group. Here are some links to check out:
- http://www.cleanaircampaign.org/Kids-Schools/2011-Young-Lungs-At-Work-Art-Competition/Elementary-School-Comic-Strip-Contest?j=25950994&e=cristin_zegers@yahoo.com&l=15413711_HTML&u=298824428&mid=15728&jb=0

This is a cool comic strip contest that can earn money for our school's science, environmental, or art programs!

- http://eeingeorgia.org/resource/about.aspx?s=87260.0.0.4863

There are cash and trip prizes awarded to top winners in this painting competition!


We also talked about some upcoming activities we can have some fun with:
- Saturday, April 16 from 11-1 we are scheduled to do some tree climbing in Sandy Springs. I am so excited for this! There is a cost for this trip and a parent should plan on attending. The charge is $20 per climber. I need to know as soon as possible who wants to and is available to attend this outing. Please look at your calendar and let me know if this is something you can commit to. Here's a link for more information:
http://www.treeclimbing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106&Itemid=100

- On Saturday, February 26 from 7-9 there is a night hike at Chattahoochee Nature Center. I'm not available to attend this but if a group of you want to get together with your families, I'm happy to organize it!

- Keep Cobb Beautiful is rallying Cobb residents to clean up our community on Saturday, March 5 from 8:30-12:00. I am available to do this at 8:30 but only for a short time. Again, if you want to gather your parents and siblings I can do the leg-work to sign us up for an area (like our school grounds and surrounding areas). Some supplies will be provided for this project.

I'm working on setting a date for us to walk to the East Cobb Park and start work on cleaning up the stream area and doing some planting to help with erosion. I'm also working on getting a Bee Keeper to come and give us a presentation after school one day. Honey bees are so important...we'll learn why!

Thanks for coming today! I enjoyed our discussions and hearing all of your ideas and input. Please email me at environmentaleducation@eastsideelementary.com if you have any questions or want to let me know what events you want to participate in.

GO GREEN!
~ Mrs. Zegers

This week's Recycle Friday volunteers

Thanks Chloe and Eric for your help with Recycle Friday today! It was much appreciated on this rainy day at East Side!! Good work~

Keep Georgia Beautiful Field Trip!

On Thursday, February 3rd Planet Patrol visited the Keep North Fulton Beautiful Recycling Center in Sandy Springs and saw first hand what happens to the glass, plastic, tin, aluminum, cardboard, and more in the first steps of the recycling process. What a blast! We sorted (and smashed!!) glass bottles, crushed and compacted boxes, and witnessed aluminum cans being shot out of a "can smasher."


We learned that the average American makes 5 pounds of trash every day, but the average Georgian makes 6 pounds of trash every day! Yikes!!

Here's how long it takes some common items to break down in the landfill (if we reuse or recycle them we don't have to worry about this!):
Orange peel: 2-1/2 weeks
Paper bag: 1 month
Wool sock: 1 year
Milk/OJ carton: 5 years
Plastic grocery bags: 10-20 years
Tin cans: 100 years
Glass bottles: 1 million years
Styrofoam: NEVER!!


(This is a sign made of different colored bottle caps. Ms. Debbie offered to help us make a cool sign like this for our new outdoor classroom! So fun!!)

And a big thanks to Ms. Freeze, Ms. Rockaway, and Ms. Bango for accompanying us and providing taxi service (what a ride!).