HOW GREEN OUR VALLEY
Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:37By Wendy Shimada
Elizabeth Wing's Multi-age class at Carnation Elementary School is ready to reduce, reuse, recycle, after joining King County's Green Schools Program.
This was big. Huge. A much bigger story than I had anticipated.
I was working on a community recycling story and had planned to merely include a brief paragraph about local schools’ green efforts. As I started to gather information, one thing became rapidly apparent. This brief paragraph had become a story all on its own.
The schools in our school district have been making great efforts for some time and many of our school staff members are recipients of King County Earth Heroes in our Schools Awards, which honor individuals for their outstanding work and contributions helping to protect the environment.
It started with a conversation with Marsha Staley, the Fundraising Chair for Stillwater PTSA, who told me about the elementary school’s efforts. Their recycling project turned into a school fundraiser.
Stillwater students have been depositing their empty juice pouches into a cafeteria recycling bin since April 2008. With the help of the custodian, who keeps a watchful eye out for juice pouches that don’t make it to the recycle bin as he checks for wayward cafeteria cutlery, 5000 pouches have been collected thus far. The pouches are rinsed, trimmed and mailed to Terracycle, a company that make goods out of garbage. Each juice pouch is worth two cents, so it takes lots of pouches to raise funds. But more importantly, Stillwater School’s efforts result in thousands of juice packs being reused instead of being dumped in a landfill. Staley does most of the messy work herself but says the program has been wonderful in turning “trash into cash”, which is then used for purchases such as lunch room lottery prizes for prompt, well behaved kids.
A call to Tolt Middle School was even more interesting. The pilot middle school in King County’s Green School Program when it began in 2003, Tolt Middle School is a leader in green efforts, though this past year’s construction has created a brief sabbatical for the school’s Recycle Club. Custodian Selim Uzuner has been responsible for managing the school’s green efforts over the years, resulting in two King County Earth Heroes at School Awards.
Stillwater Elementary School students Kate Vergillo and Tatum Nold participate in the school
As a result, the school reduced its garbage volume by more than 15 tons, saving $3000 in garbage collection fees in the process. It was this school’s green team effort that resulted in changing the entire school district’s policy on idling school buses. On top of students recycling their beverage containers, the school adapted many other changes such as non-toxic cleaning supplies, compact fluorescent lights and automatic light timers.
“Even now, though, it is still hard to make people pay attention and be aware of the choices we have when we throw things away,” said Uzuner, who is already planning new green strategies for the next school year.
Another Tolt Middle school teacher, Cathy Buck, was a recipient of the 2002 Earth Hero at School award for her science teachings focused on the environment. Her class has been maintaining the school’s native plant garden and planted 700 native trees near the Snoqualmie River to help restore salmon habitat.
Inspired by Selim Uzuner’s efforts, Carnation Elementary School teacher Elizabeth Wing decided it was time for her school to join the Green School Program. Her 3rd and 4th year multi-age class is still working on choosing the perfect name for its “green team”, (with Green Goobers and Green Machine in the forefront), but they are well prepared for the onset of the school’s new recycling program otherwise.
The students explained their game plan to me to “turn up the green” at Carnation Elementary, from labeling their new recycle bins to sharing their wealth of information with other students and faculty about what can and can’t be recycled. Bins will be added throughout the school, especially the cafeteria, where much more can now be recycled.
When asked why making their school green was so important, almost every student’s hand shot up and they all obviously understood its importance. Answers ranged from “To make less garbage in our town…in our school…pollute less…save the oceans” to the more surprising, (for 3rd and 4th graders): “We’ll keep having to make new landfills as they keep getting full and we’ll run out of space”. It was clear these kids are future Earth Heroes.
The third local participant in the King County Green School program is Eagle Rock Multi-age School, another school on the cutting edge of teaching about sustainability. Deborah Edwards, K/1 teacher, is a 2008 Earth Heroes at School Award winner. Her environmental science emphasis includes compost bins, a vermicompost (worm) bin, a school garden and a reduce/recycle program, plus an Earthkeepers club. Edwards is excited about her students’ deepening awareness of not just the mechanicals of recycling itself but the whole cycle of garbology.
“I think we’re slowly making a difference,” she stated, adding that much emphasis has been placed on the alternatives to recycling- reducing, reusing and rethinking.
Duvall’s Cherry Valley Elementary School has had a recycling program for years, for mixed paper, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles. Cherry Valley’s custodian, Trish Hamilton received the King County Earth Heroes at School Award back in 2003 with her organization of a “Recycling Brigade” of 5th and 6th graders back in 2001. The school also has a native garden.
The only school in the district that does not have any recycling programs or clubs (with the exception of a cardboard/paper bin) is Cedarcrest High School, but five out of six schools definitely shows that Snoqualmie Valley is preparing tomorrow’s leaders for a Green awakening.
