recycling?

hey dudes! Your friendly neighborhood blogger is here to post about one of our favorite ways to save the world: recycling!

After a club member mentioned a new recycling rule at a recent meeting, I tried to look it up for confirmation and further information so I could make it more public. It was mentioned that waxed containers, like most milk cartons, could now be recycled. This, of course, was excellent news, as these paper-based containers surely contribute to a large amount of waste. Also, any increase in "recyclability" is almost bound to be a good thing, right?

Well, I can't seem to find any information to back this up. I don't want to doubt its verity because it sounds awesome, but I'm also hesitant to tout a statement that I cannot back up. As of now, the city of San Diego accepts the following items:

 

Cool, right? I didn't know about aerosol cans! Anyway, this includes the summer 2011 allowance of the last two sections pictured. (By the way, this all comes straight from the city's website).

However, this is what it has for "no's":

As you can see, our waxed buddies are at the top of the list. The point of this post is this: if you can find any information on/proof of this new rule, please post it here or bring it up at a meeting. We'd love to hear about, and we'd be super thankful.

Happy recycling!

California: The Golden State's nature becoming as rare as it's name

I came across a very concerning issue today, CA's nature is losing almost all of its natural spawning ground. Here is an excerpt from the article by sign-on San Diego journalist Mike Lee:

"The studies show that common trees are fading from their current ranges, premium wine grape varieties are under siege [...]the hub of the state’s water system faces increasing risks[...]"

The new changes in CA's climate and weather(most of which is believed to be cause global warming) is said to be causing the local wildlife change as well.

"[...]Marine creatures are shifting locales[...]and — surprisingly — birds in the state are getting bigger as the weather warms.

Coming across this article makes me think that we should further expand our efforts to get a ban on water bottles, along with a bicycle movement, at San Diego High.

If you you would like to read more into this please visit http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/20/grapes-birds-trees-fish-respond-climate/

OCTOBER 21 MEETING and The Story of Bottled Water

WHAT'S UP

Important things brought up in today's meeting! Here we go:

• Continued the recycling initiative. Signs have been doled out to place on all the recycling bins we'll be responsible for. Also, it has been suggested that we place a large recycling bin out in the courtyard, with a bigger sign, to further encourage recycling.
• In terms of long-term goals, I suggested we do something to encourage ecologically-friendly forms of transportation in the school. Part of that initiative could include partnering with ASB to increase awareness throughout the entire campus.
• Bottles. Mr. Steussy brought up Tapped, a documentary about bottled water. Bottled water is bad, real real bad. I have not seen Tapped, but I have seen this great video called The Story of Bottled Water. It's real short, mostly animated, and very clearly lays its arguments out. Check it out by clicking through the picture below:

Mr. Steussy suggested pushing for awareness of the issue and perhaps even trying to ban bottled water from our school. Anyhow, this topic is certainly worthy of your time and research. The easiest thing you can do now is to stop purchasing bottled water and look for alternative means to fulfill your water needs. It'll save you money and be better for the environment—a win-win!

OCTOBER 14 MEETING

HELLO.

We had another meeting today. The recycling initiative is continuing: all the IS teachers have been notified of our plans, and Mr. Ankeney has suggested somehow expanding the recycling effort to Arts. I am not certain if that would involve current members taking out recycling from Arts classes or if it would involve getting Arts students involved in the effort and in our club. Either way, kudos to the members currently involved in making sure recyclables get recycled.

We have also begun an initiative for getting a bicycle rack in the 1100 building. So far we have simply contacted the school—this initiative is still in its early stages.

Also, T-Shirts! We planned to order some new T-Shirts for the club and to sell on Earth Day. They are all organic, I believe, and they have a great design, created by Benjamin Rehm from last year. I'd post the design but I do not have it on my computer, so here is a picture of a tree:

The actual design is of a tree and some roots that look like a bunch of bikes, so like, it's not that different from the picture. Ben's design is much cooler, though.

Those are the main points from the meeting today! If you have any questions, ideas, or if you just want to say hello, feel free to post a comment underneath this post.

On a completely different note, I'm currently idly listening to Björk's new album/expansive multimedia project, Biophilia. Seems appropriate, considering that the "biophilia hypothesis", as defined by Wikipedia, "suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems...In other words, our natural love for life helps sustain life". I suppose most of us here are biophiliacs in some way. Be kind to nature and have a great weekend!

hey dudes

Jimmy here. Excited for the new year and for starting up again at Save the World Fridays. Hope you are too. We're going to have a fun and productive year, informing people about environmental issues and trying to affect change in any way we can.

This year's first initiative, spearheaded by the fantastic Lauren Nelson, was the establishment of a task force in charge of ensuring that items placed in recycling bins throughout the school actually end up in the recycling dumpster. Lauren has made a sign-up list for students interested in volunteering to take out the recycling for any teacher with which they happen to have an IB Support class, TA Service Learning period, or any other sort of free period. Most teachers have already been accounted for, but if you want to sign up, ask Lauren and she will put you down. In any case, Lauren will soon post up the list in Mr. Steussy's room to serve as a reminder of who has which teacher.

We're doing this because our school's custodians have not been taking out the recycling (due to budgetary concerns) since last year. Lauren will be communicating with some school people who are responsible for making custodial decisions—I suppose they mentioned that the custodians were going to recycle this year, and so this communication will let us know what the situation on that is. Either way, we will be happy to help keep our school clean and efficient.

Happy saving!