IS Garden

Last Friday we held our meeting at the IS Garden up by the bungalows and had a great time cleaning it up. For those of you who don't know, the IS Garden has a bench and tree in memory of Jim Rudolph, and the garden also holds the ashes of Jon Strebler's father. It was a shame to find it in such disrepair. Anyway, here are some pictures from the cleanup:

Alan attacking the pile of brush we gathered in front of Mrs. James' car. We love you, Mrs. James!

Alan carrying the brush along. He was just rockin' it that day. Also, I don't know why the picture turned out weird like that. I think it adds character.

People cleanin' up.

Mr. Steussy brought us some snacks from Henry's. They were tasty.

Some signs we found on the ground and gathered up. It was pretty sad. We couldn't match them up to their corresponding plants, because we didn't really know what the plants were. I think someone's going to help us out with that, I forgot exactly who.

Kamala and Jiem hard at work, rummaging through the little orange tree in the middle of the garden.

Yeah, you pick up that trash.

So thus concludes our experience in the IS Garden. Even with the cleanup required, it was a very nice place to hold a meeting. It also brought up the usefulness that a school compost pile could provide. We should look in to that. In any case, I hope we can continue to fix the garden and give it the attention it deserves.

Are fireworks bad for the environment?

Although firework shows are infrequent, we do see an effect on the environment. They spray out a toxic concoction of chemicals that do not break down. Instead they find themselves in lakes, rivers, and bays. Because of this we see mercury in fish, and back in the 70's fireworks played a roll in the thinning of the bald eagle eggs. We also see an effect on human health too, although its hard to prove. For more information please visit: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/are-fireworks-bad-for-the-environment

Plans for the Club

Hi everyone,
This is Rebecca and today's meeting focused on what we want to do this year, so to keep everyone in the loop here's what's going on with Save the World Fridays:

1. We'll be working in the IS garden (meeting there next Friday, actually). If you haven't been there in a while, be sure to stop by and check it out because there's some interesting behind it...

Things you might not know about the IS garden:
a) There's a bench and tree in memory of Jim Rudolph, a much loved math teacher who died December 5, 2006
b) Mr. Strebler's dad's ashes are there

2. We're going to be promoting bike riding and carpooling a lot more this year and we're hoping to either start a carpool network or, if the district has one, to use that.

3. We are encouraging students to empty the recycling bins (over by where the old bungalows used to be) of their classes, especially if you are TA-ing for a class.

4. We are planning on doing clean-ups (at beaches, rivers, etc.) during the year. Let me know if you are interested in that or show up at the meetings!

5. A new t-shirt design is in the making, if you have any ideas please let us know! We'll let you know when they're ready so you can buy one and (as always) they will be printed on organic material.

Many thanks to Clare Moran and Mr. Steussy who brought in baked goods today for the meeting! Also, kudos to Geoff and Ben who rode their bikes in today!

Be sure to come to our meeting next Friday on the 15th in the IS GARDEN!

The 2010-2011 year is here(:

This year we have many new additions including a new blog writer! Our positions for this year are as follows: 
President- Emmy Phillips (second term)
Vice president- Rebecca Chhay
Secretary- Nataliya Kotlova 
Treasurer- Sienna Crespin 
Blog writers- Emmy, Rebecca, and Brenda Marques 

We are currently working on our goals for this year, and are open to ideas! Also, if anyone knows someone who can print our t-shirts for a reasonable low price in San Diego, please let us know, we need a new vendor. Can't wait for the year ahead(:

STWF

We're very exited for this year's Save the World on Friday's group. We had our first meeting last Friday and I was pretty amazed at the amount of people that decided to join us. Remember, STWF is about you making a difference on Fridays by riding your bike, taking the city bus, carpool or anything to help our environment, we really appreciated.