We started our mission with Project Global Cooling in March this year of 2008. We set ourself a goal of raising awareness in our school community and our main focus was organizing a concert that would help to achieve that aim. We did this; you can watch a recording of our concert here. On the day, we raised $900 through donations and now we’re starting the next phase, deciding what to do with our money. Some of the ideas we’ve had have been, to purchase energy efficient light globes, window and door seals to retain heat in the classrooms, solar panels and water tanks. We would love some input from other enthusiasts to help us make this decision! To do this, we are tagging Bill Farren, Clay Burrel, Dennis Harter and Kim Cofino (Georgie, one of our members, knows you, Kim, you taught her at MIS).
We also would love to extend the reach of this project and see other school get involved. For this reason, we are tagging; Dean Groom, Jo Mcleay, Sue Tapp, Vicki Davis, Julie Lindsay, Warrick Wynn, Elizabeth Helfant, Carolyn Foote, Liz B Davis and Lisa Durff. It would be great if you could get involved in Project Global Cooling and we would love to talk to some students about the cause.
Help us save the future!
Great job girls. Let’s see where this takes us. Hopefully we’ll be able to connect with more schools and have the ability to spread the message further. I’m very proud of your efforts.
Mrs.Luca.
Good jopb on this project. Found it last year late and started playing catch up. In my house I have changed to compact flourescent bulbs and this weekend I just put up solar screens on my house to try to keep the AC from running so much. It has truly made a difference. Keep up the good work. BTW I am in Dallas, TX., where it gets to over 100 degrees F on a regular basis during the summer.
Great first post. Nice to know I’ve been tagged – I hope it’s painless. Our school has an environmental project launching this week in 9th grade. http://greenup2145.ning.com – I wonder if there are some common links between the two – maybe you can help each other out. Good luck, l8ter. DG
What is it you want me to do?
Thanks to everyone who’s commented! Just to clarify, we’d love the people we tagged to try and get their school involved in the project in some way, even if it’s just thinking about how you can decrease carbon emission in your school. It would also be great if we could have some kind of communication between students about the project, to share ideas and motivate each other, maybe even get some kind of collab project going.
First of all. Well done! Not only did you pull off the PGC concert, but you raised money for a great cause! Keep that wonderful enthusiasm going.
My suggestion on how to use that money: Well, I’m a huge fan of efficiency. It’s actually much cheaper to save energy than it is to produce the equivalent amount. (You might want to Google “negawatts” to learn more.) So, anything you do at your school (or home, or…) to improve energy and material efficiency, will be worthwhile. A good place to start would be to change from incandescent bulbs to CFLs, as you mention in your post. If you play your cards right, you might get your school to allow PGCA to keep part of the savings from the bulbs (15% of savings?). You can then use that money to further PGCA’s goals. After all, it’s your investment in purchasing the bulbs that will be saving the school money on energy (about 80%, for CFLs); will be saving the school money on maintenance (CFLs last about 13X longer than normal bulbs so need less labor replacing them); and save money on the cost of purchasing bulbs (since they last 13X longer, they are usually cheaper to buy).
You might also want to spend some of the $$ to buy a few copies of David Orr’s wonderful book Earth In Mind. These should be shared with staff at your school. (Students can read it too!)
Cheers, Bill Farren
You are all amazing! I will work together with a few other teachers here at ISB to see if we can get something going – it would be great to have an opportunity to connect our students, even if it’s just something as simple as brainstorming what to do with donated money
How would you feel about connecting with elementary students?
Hi to Georgie! I totally remember you – can’t believe you’re in high school already! Time flies!
I think we can find ways to get involved. I have subscribed to your blog and will think on ways to support.
This is great -girls , we have support out there. Time to get moving on it!!