GreenTown Attends St. Francis High School Earth Day Event
06 Apr 2011 |
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Students at the GreenTown Los Altos table with Mike Barnes
On April 5, 2011, Joe Eyre, GreenTown’s Water Stewardship Chair, and I staffed a table for GreenTown Los Altos at the annual St. Francis High School Earth Day Every Day event. This event, held on campus during lunch breaks, was organized by the St. Francis High School Environmental Club Moderator, member of the Science faculty, Roberta Chisam, as well as students of the Environmental Club. GreenTown Los Altos was joined by representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Agency, The Pacific Gyre Clean-Up Project, Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department, the Plug-In Car Initiative featuring a GM Volt, and Summer Winds Nursery featuring native plant species.
I offered students information about compostable containers that the GreenTown Co-op is offering to restaurants in Los Altos. These containers are environmentally-preferable to styrofoam take-out containers. Our compostable containers can be disposed in the compost stream and break down in 180 days leaving a non-toxic residue that supports plant growth, whereas biodegradable containers, made of some organic material and some petroleum-based material, must be disposed of in a landfill because the resulting residue is toxic and will not support plant growth.
St. Francis students at the Earth Day event
Joe Eyre offered information on our water conservation and stewardship effort. Both of us were able to talk about the upcoming events on the GreenTown Los Altos calendar, including an April 27 talk at the Los Altos Library on water-saving lawns and the Permanente Creek Cleanup on May 21. The creek cleanup event is particularly relevant for St. Francis students as Permanente Creek runs right behind the campus. It was an enjoyable afternoon and it was great to see the interest by the students in advancing their understanding of environmental issues.
By Mike Barnes
Chair, Business Co-Op Program
GreenTown Los Altos
