Final Personal Project Wrap Up

For my final personal project update, I wanted to first share some of the research I've compiled over the semester, as well as some recommendations I've made to Mr. Merchant, the teacher in charge of IHS's recycling program, and then wrap it up with the future steps they plan on taking.  Yay!

To accompany my little schpeal below, I made a Prezi (which you should totally check out; however, don't let the awesomeness of my presentation fool you, it was ridiculous and I totally will always be a Powerpoint kid).

So, to first give you an overview of the current recycling program at IHS:

• It's coordinated and collected by Mr. Merchant, an agricultural science teacher who also advises multiple clubs at school.
•  The high school recycles only paper products: white paper, notebook paper, newsprint, etc.
• Recycling is only at the high school.  There are two more schools (a K-2 and 3-6) but they do not do recycling of any kind.  Which sucks.

That's rightttt.

 
During the first part of the semester I mainly focused on gathering some research.  Though there wasn't a lot of literature on expanding an existing recycling program (most was how to start one in the first place), I found a couple really helpful documents (here, here, and here) that do talk about how to expand existing programs, and have helpful hints on how to go about doing that.  I also looked into types of recycle bins that are prevalent in schools (which you can look at here as well).

Or, they could make art projects out of bottles.  Like a house.

I also emailed schools around the district, asking about their recycling program, just to get some comparison to the type of program that exists at IHS.  I only heard back from two schools, and one school told me some pretty generic information (they only recycle at the high school, and only paper products, but they rely on their National Honor Society to collect).  However, the second school's recycling coordinator faxed me her copy of their application to become a Michigan Green School, which encourages environmental education, as well as a Green School certification program.  Her information gave me some great ideas about how to expand IHS's program, especially in the future by (hopefully) expanding to the other schools.  This school, Breckenridge, focuses on environmental education in each of its schools.  They encourage students in the elementary to help preserve animals by building bird habitats, they melt and re-use old crayons for elementary school kids, and participated in an energy audit at the middle school.  And these are just a few of the activities this school district engages in.  The Breckenridge school district provides an excellent model for IHS to follow.

You get a flag for $20!  And trust me, they're super excited about their flag.

So, finally, a couple of weeks ago, I provided some recommendations to Mr. Merchant:

• It may be a good idea (though with budgetary concerns I doubt this will happen) to have a full-time staff member be in charge of recycling.  This way the program could begin expanding to the other schools, and someone would be able to devote their full attention to it.  
• Another way in which the recycling program could encourage expansion is by letting the National Honor Society, or another student group, be in charge of collecting the recycling.  One problem Mr. Merchant mentioned was the fact that he did not have the time to go over to the other two schools and collect the recycling, so if a student group was in charge they would a) have more time to travel to the elementary schools and b) be able to split up the work in order to in a more efficient manner.
• Thirdly, I suggest expanding the recycling program to the other two elementary schools in the future.  This will not only promote environmental education, but it will also get children in the mindset that recycling is important early in the games (why yes, I am suggesting that we warp their minds at an early age).  I think if the recycling program were undertaken by a student group, it would be so much easier to expand into the other schools.
• I also suggested meeting with recycling coordinators in the other schools in order to share ideas and collaborate.  Collaboration is uberawesome.
• Finally, my last recommendation to Mr. Merchant was to consider encouraging IHS to become a Michigan Green School, because, again, not only does the MGS promote environmental education, but they also provide a lot of free education materials.  And it doesn't hurt to be able to say "Why yes, my school is a Michigan Green School."

I did receive word from Mr. Merchant a few days ago that they are planning to go ahead with the expansion of the IHS recycling program.  They are currently looking into which recycle bins to purchase, as well as where to place the bins in order to make it convenient for students as well as janitors.  So I was pretty excited to hear that.  Their goal is to get the bins implemented by the end of the upcoming semester.

They're doing a happy dance because they can't wait to recycle plastic bottles.

After having completed my personal project, I learned that it's a lot of work to try and coordinate and expand a program, even by a little bit.  I also learned what not to do when implementing a recycling program in a school (i.e. rely on a teacher - they have way too many other things going on, and it's kind of unfair for them).  Overall, I'm glad my project ended the way it did because I do feel like I made somewhat of an impact and changed a small piece of the world, which feels pretty empowering.  And hey, I learned how to make a Prezi, so that's pretty cool too.

Sustainable Event Numero Tres!

For my last Sustainable Event of the semester, I decided to attend an event thrown by the Sustainable Development Association (SDA) last Monday that dealt with some cool sustainable internships from this past summer.  Though I already completed my SPEA internship, I was really interested to hear what other people had to say.  And, oh yea, one of the presenters was my awesome friend and one of our classmates, Jen B.

For those of you who don't know, Jennifer was in AFRICA all summer, which makes me insanely jealous.

Yea... She got to look at this while I was stuck in Michigan.  Jealous?  Yes, I am.

Specifically, her internship was located in South Sudan and she worked for East Africa Ventures, focusing on micro-finance.  Basically, she was in charge of a lot of groundwork for this new company.  Her position largely centered on tasks such as market research, client base, as well as how to improve on the sustainability of the office.  One of the goals was to make the business more financially sustainable after around three years so locals can take control.  I know from talking to her that this really plays into the type of work she wants to do when we graduate and (*hopefully*) get big kid jobs.

The presentations also included Katrina Folsom, who worked at the Office of Sustainability on campus, Ben Inskeep, who worked with the Nature Conservancy, and Craig Aubuchon, who worked with the American Water Works Association.

Personal Project Update

Since my last update, I've mainly been compiling research to pass on to Mr. Merchant, the teacher in charge of recycling at Ithaca High School.

I also heard back from two schools in the area that have recycling programs.  One interesting note is that each school has an appointed recycling coordinator who is not a teacher, but some other member of staff, so they have less responsibilities and more time to devote to recycling.  I think this would be hugely beneficial for my high school, because not only does Mr. Merchant teach and oversee recycling, but he's also the advisor for a few popular school organizations.

Anyway, in the first school, St. Louis High School, the recycling is coordinated and picked up by the National Honor Society.  They recycle various types of paper, cardboard, and plastic bottles.  The coordinator did mention that recycling is only in the high school.  The second school system, Breckenridge, gave me a plethora of information, including their application to Michigan Green Schools, a sustainable school certification program.  They do a lot of activities, including recycling, in order to become certified by this program.  

I think my last step in this project is going to be compiling all the research I've done over the semester and come up with a set of recommendations for Ithaca High School's current recycling program that largely focuses on how to improve it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mapping The Way Toward Sustainable Cities

I'll be honest - when I read the readings for the week, I had absolutely no idea what I'd blog about.  And I'm usually pretty good at coming up with an interesting (to me, at least) topic to share my perspective on.  Economic development (really, anything economic) is so far outside of my scope of knowledge, it's scary.  Don't even ask me how I survived v517.

Yea, that was me in v517. 

But as I perused Roseland for a second time, I read about Green Maps, which are environmentally themed maps that promote sustainable areas within a city (like recycling centers, green businesses, community gardens, etc.), and voila!  I decided to blog about it, taking the chance that you guys know as little about it as I initially did.

The general purpose of Green Maps is to serve as an all-encompassing sustainable guide for both city dwellers and tourists.  Not only does it encourage eco-tourism, but Green Maps also fosters economic development within the community by highlighting businesses and places that are sustainable.  By having a unique set of Green Icons, the Green Map system makes each map easy to explore while getting rid of language barriers, as well as provides an easy visual of green development (while highlighting resource inequalities).

These are a few examples of the 170 icons Green Maps currently uses. 

As Roseland stated, Green Maps began in New York City in 1992, but since then has expanded at an incredible rate.  Now, Green Map hubs exist in many different countries around the world, including China, most of Europe, Japan, and Latin America, and there are also regional hubs within the United States.

Each leaf represents a city that has a Green Map...  And this program is less than 20 years old! 

Also, an interesting tidbid that I found on this section on the Green Maps site:  in 2001, the Harmony School Education Center in Bloomington completed a draft green map for the city.  It's not listed on the website anywhere, and I couldn't find any other information about it, but there is a draft of a Bloomington Green Map somewhere out there!

Sustainable Event 2: The Name of the Game is LEED.

Today, I attended a presentation on the LEED certification process, as well as the US Green Building Council, by two LEED experts from Bloomington.  Before this project, I did have some knowledge of the basic concept of LEED, but this presentation went into detail about the levels and structure of LEED, as well as the benefits of the certification program.   

Here's what the awesome LEED plaque looks like.

The overall goal of LEED is to promote sustainable building and development practices through a rating system.  The thought behind the LEED certification program is to change the building industry.  They incorporate a 5-spoke approach that includes site planning, water management, energy, material use, and indoor environmental quality.  LEED really takes a holistic approach to green building; instead of just focusing on energy efficiency, they attempt to really encompass green design elements in every aspect of the buildings.

The LEED certification program encompasses the complete lifecycle of buildings, including homes, neighborhood development, commercial interiors, the core and shells of buildings, new construction, as well as schools, retail, and healthcare buildings.  Another interesting fact about LEED is the fact that they have an entire component dedicated to the operation and maintenance of existing buildings.  The program is really open to all types of buildings. 

The LEED certification incorporates all types of buildings.

The LEED certification program is also unique in the fact that it takes a performance-based approach.  You can’t be considered certified at any level until you actually (and most of the time, literally) put your money where your mouth is.  A drawback of many similar programs is the fact that they just provide the business with a checklist, with no proof, so they tend to be pretty lax.  After you apply for LEED certification, you have to spend time tracking your progress and proving that you are achieving the goals you’ve set; once you’ve done that, then you can become certified.  To drive home the point of just how rigorous the program is, there have been roughly 27,000 applications for LEED certification at all levels since the program’s inception, yet only around 5,700 have actually been certified.  That statistic might lead some people to believe the program is too hard, but I disagree.  It’s important for buildings to really commit to the idea of sustainability and the LEED program really demonstrates that.  I think the LEED program provides an excellent model for what my group is trying to do for our group project, the Green Business Certification Program.

The four levels of LEED certification: Certified, Silver, Gold, Platinum.  

Obviously, there are huge benefits to becoming LEED certified.  LEED certified buildings are more attractive to buyers (especially if it’s a corporate space) because there are huge health benefits (especially since the inside of buildings tend to be more polluted than the outside), but they are also cost effective.  One statistic the presenters quoted regarding rental rates stated that the average LEED certified building cost $11.33/sq. ft over non-LEED certified areas. 

The Empire State Building is LEED Gold Certified, and certain areas within the  building are LEED Platinum Certified.

And LEED isn’t just for builders, engineers, or architects.  There are over 30,000 individuals that are members of LEED.  They have a program, the Green Associate program, which I’m currently looking into, that you can become a member of, and it ensures that you have a basic understanding of green building and the LEED process.  It’s a great thing to have on a resume, and only requires the completion of one course (which can be either online or in person), and the passing of a test.

You can become a LEED Green Associate by taking a  simple course (either online or in person) and passing a test. 

Before I attended this presentation, I had a general interest in the LEED certification process, but this presentation drove home the point that LEED certification is hugely beneficial to society, on the road to a sustainable future, LEED may be the way to go. 

Sustainable Event Number One!

For my first sustainable event, I attended a sustainable pumpkin carving part at Jen B.'s apartment.  We held it last Sunday, and it was the perfect way to incorporate sustainability into my favorite holiday, Halloween.

Woo Pumpkin Carving!

After we cleaned out the pumpkins (arguably my favorite part), we separated the seeds from the guts.

Who knew that three pumpkins could produce that much gunk?

We took advantage of the fact that Jen B. is now composting, and composted the guts.  Then, Jen B. ended up roasting the pumpkin seeds, so nothing from the pumpkins ended up being waste.

This was a really fun study break, and it was a great way to encourage sustainability.  We had some other friends there who weren't very familiar with composting, so it was a fun opportunity to educate them on how composting works, and how we can reduce waste through composting.

Personal Project Update Again

So a few nights ago, a light bulb went off in my head regarding my personal project.  I've been doing research on how to expand recycle programs, and what types of bins work best for schools, etc. But there are many schools similar to my old high school in the area, and it might be beneficial to get some idea as to what their recycling programs entail.  So today I began emailing four surrounding school districts to get more information about their programs.  I've already heard from one school with the coordinator's contact information, and plan to get in touch with her shortly. 

I think getting the perspectives of other schools in the area will be incredibly beneficial to compare to Ithaca's program, as well as to get ideas on how to expand it.  I'll provide another update shortly once I get some more information!