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Environmental Sustainability Committee » Green5

Green5

What is Green5?

The Green5 campaign was initially piloted at Linwood E. Howe Elementary School in 2012, and later adopted by the whole District. This campaign was aimed to raise awareness about the environment and sustainability among the students, teachers, staff and parents.

 Green5

The ESC called this project Green5 (that is Green to the 5th power).

There are 5 points for raising awareness in this campaign:

1) REDUCE: By opening blinds to let in the sun or closing doors to conserve heat, we can REDUCE our energy consumption.

2) REUSE: whatever you can. By using refillable water bottles we can eliminate up to 360,000 single-use bottles in our school district alone.

3) RECYCLE: By RECYCLING and composting, we conserve our natural resources

4) RIDE: Bike, walk, skate and scoot to school more - RIDE more, drive less - help reduce traffic and green- house gases and get healthier too.

5) RETHINK: what you do, buy and why. Stay connected with nature and our community.

School assemblies address recycling and conservation and the actions that individuals can take to make a difference. Posters are hung around the schools with the Green5 message on them. Students can receive prizes and incentives, such as reusable water bottles, spirit-wear t-shirts and Green5 buttons for their participation in the program.

This campaign aims to increase awareness about recycling, reducing energy consumption and reusing materials on-site. The goal is to educate all participants and as a by-product save the school district money and, in addition, reduce the amount of district produced trash that is going to the landfill.

 

Green tips when you are in school:

  1. Let the Sunshine In!

Open the blinds and use the sun, not electricity, to light up your classroom. Using sunlight creates a greener and healthier classroom.

  • Most windows in the district are positioned so that direct sun does not come in, just daylight. Often, the blinds are closed and the lights are on instead.
  • Students with natural daylight in their classrooms perform 20%-25% better on reading and math test.
  • By opening the blinds and letting the sun come in you can reduce energy consumption by 25%-50%
  • Sunlight is FREE!
  • Most schools spend more on energy than on books and supplies and the cost of energy is second only to salaries.
  1. Unplug it!

Generate community, not waste, by sharing appliances and unplugging them when not in use.

  • Share with your neighbors; use one coffee pot, microwave or minifridge per grade, floor or hallway.
  • The coffee pot and microwave, computer and TV in your classroom are using power even when they are not in use.
  • These Energy Vampires can steal up to 10% of energy costs when not in use.
  • Mini-fridges can cost $12 -$29 per month in energy - that’s $108-$261 dollars over 9 months for just one mini-fridge!
  • If all 600 of the staff in the district had a mini-fridge that could cost over $64,800 per year in energy costs
  • Put the appliances, computers and TV’s on a surge strip, so they can all be turned off when not in use.
  1. Too Hot? Too Cold? Just Right!

Keep doors and windows closed when using heat or air conditioning and layer clothes up or down to stay warm or cool

  • If the heat is on shut the door.
  • Open the blinds and let the sun help heat the room.
  • If the air conditioning is on shut the door.
  • Turn on a fan.
  • If you are too cold you can put a sweater on or a long sleeved shirt; if you are too hot wear shorts.
  • By lowering the heat or increasing the temperature of the air conditioning just 2° you save up to 6% of heating related CO2 emissions!
  • Using fans can help circulate the air and make it feel 5°cooler.
  • Each 2-degree drop for an eight-hour period reduces the fuel bill about 2%
  1. B.Y.O.B.!

Bring Your Own Bottle: Use refillable water bottles instead of single-use plastic bottles. Refillable bottles are much gentler on the environment and your wallet.

  • Over 360,000 disposable plastic bottles are used in the Culver City Unified School District every year!
  • It takes 3 times as much water to produce a plastic bottle than the water it holds!
  • It takes 3 oz. of crude oil to make a plastic bottle and 1/3 of the bottle’s weight in oil to ship it.
  • Tap water is FREE!
  • If you drink 8 glasses of water a day at 8oz. per glass and your bottled water costs 5¢ an ounce. How much does your bottled water habit cost – Per day? ($3.20) Per week? ($22.40) Per Month? ( $96.00) Per Year? ($ $1152.00)
  • The water quality of bottled water is LESS regulated than tap water
  1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

-Reduce your consumption - Reduce your waste!

-Reuse whatever you can - Be creative and repurpose your items!

-Recycle whatever possible - Educate yourself on what you can and cannot recycle!

  • In the United States we make over 250 million tons of trash a day! That is equal to 4.5 pounds per person, per day!
  • Recycle your way to using at least 25% less trash.
  • Each day the United States throws away enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks.
  • Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.