'Are you 'going green?'' - an insightful comment from the 'older generation'.

This was emailed to me the other day - it is quite thought-provoking:

ARE YOU "GOING GREEN?"

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing'
back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in our day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles to the store.  The store sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized, and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.

So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable, besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks.  This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.  Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown bag but we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building.  We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right.  We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind.  We dried clothes on a line -- not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room.  And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of  Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.  When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.  Back then we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn.  We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.  We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."  We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

Have you heard of 'Loyal' yet? Fairtrade is not just about coffee and bananas!

Visit Loyal - you will be inspired:

loyal.org.nz

Loyal is a New Zealand charitable trust that sources beautiful handmade products from poor and developing nations. 

The products are created from upcycled/recycled/natural resources and are ethical and fairtrade. That means fair payment and working conditions, and no child labour.

But there's more. Here's the really different part: 

You buy the products and keep the profit in the form of 'Loyal dollars'. Then you can redeem your 'Loyal dollars' to buy a program gift for a local or overseas charity.

Like-minded friends can create a group to support their choice of charity.

Recycling, reusing -  and supporting other communities

 - you can't get much more 'enviro' than that!

loyal.org.nz

by Mrs Barker - a Loyal fan  

The great Greenhithe School Waste Audit

In Term 3 Miss Dryland and a team of keen wastechecking children completed a waste audit on a day's worth of rubbish from our school. The last audit was six years ago, so it was time to look at it again. 

Keen volunteers

The waste audit team with Miss Dryland

Sorting the rubbish into different types

The staffroom rubbish bin contained lots of compostable items.

Some of the items rescued from landfill

Plastic had been thrown into the paper bins!

The wastechecking team presented their findings at assembly, with photos of all the rubbish that our school could produce in only one day.

There were a few surprising results:

We seem to use a LOT of foods that come in small plastic packets.

We throw compostable items like food, and tissues, into the paper recycling bins! Ugh!

We also manage to put a lot of food into the rubbish, rather than EATING it or taking it home.

This information will help us decide what to do next about reducing our waste. For example, we are looking at adding recycling bins for plastics, rather than sending them to the landfill.

Many thanks to Miss Dryland and the waste audit team for all their hard work - and their skills at statistics and data collection.

Our school vision - by the Green Team Planners

Greenhithe School's Green Team Planners 

have been working 

on the school vision for future eco-projects.

They have created a display to show the most popular options voted for by the school.

Come in and have a look

 - the display is near the entry to the staffroom.

The key ideas are:

- Murals to show school values and creativity

- Posts or poles that signpost areas of our school

- Fruit trees

- Waste reduction through composting,

bin checking and litter patrols

- Gardens for flowers and vegetables 

- Seating around the school

brought to you by Emilie, Charlie, Angie, Eden (pictured) and Sophie and Rory.

Emilie and Angie

Charlie and Eden.
Can you see the seed above the word 'fruit trees' ?
It's a photo of a sunflower seed, grown at Greenhithe.

Greenhithe Middle School children go out for a litter free picnic

As part of our focus on 'Our community',
the Middle School children learned about how other children around New Zealand have looked after their neighbourhoods.

They then came up with the idea of
walking to Wainoni Park,
collecting litter on the way,
and having a litter-free picnic.

The children wrote letters to their parents
to invite them and ask for their help.

They even created tear-off reply slips for their parents to complete if they were able to come.

It was surprising how much litter was on the side of the road on the way there!

However, we thought the park looked quite clean.

Not a food packet in sight - we aimed to make our lunchboxes packaging-free

That pile of white bags in the front contains all the rubbish the children collected on the way to the park.

Sunflower seeds galore harvested by the Green Team

     

We have just harvested the biggest sunflowers from our garden. They were fertilised with a handful of worm compost and watered and cared for by Barrie and the children, with help from Mrs Barker. The children say:

'We think it is amazing how one seed can turn into thousands of seeds!'

They would like you to know that sunflowers are good for your health, and they can be used to make oil, 

or be added to your muesli, or fed to your guinea pig or your parrot, or your chickens.

We noticed the special pattern in each flower.

What's growing at Greenhithe? Summer garden growth

Thanks to the good quality soil in the garden beds, 

and a relatively cool and rainy summer break, 

the newest gardens in our school have survived well. 

Now that the 2014 year has started, the Green Team children will be deciding what to plant in the gaps

...and doing their usual watering, weeding, maintenance, and planning of other projects.

Many thanks to Barrie for staking the sunflowers and keeping an eye on things while the school was quiet.