Think Before You Idle .... by Margie McNally

This week our attention turns to another local student environmental initiative to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 5th grade students at Brickett Elementary School in Lynn, Massachusetts participated in Disney's Planet Challenge "Think Before You Idle" competition and were awarded over 250 other schools a surprise trip to Disney and $10k for their school after their efforts to prevent prolonged vehicle idling in front of their school and in the city of Lynn. Their work included going before state legislation to propose passing a bill for a maximum three minute idling period in the city. Students got community involved and made a difference for sure.... Bravo! See the full story here...

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/03/16/lynn-5th-graders-earn-surprise-trip-to-disney-world/

Ambassadors learn about Sustainable Design by Margie McNally

Being an environmental design professional, this was one of my favorite Green Schools events...

On Saturday, March 3rd Ambassadors representing Wilmington High School and The Bridge School in Lexington met at the brand new Boston Society of Architects offices and gallery in Boston to learn about sustainable design. Polly Carpenter from Learning By Design in Massachusetts presented to the students the principles of sustainable design including the use of renewable resources like bamboo.Of course sustainable design is that and so much more...It's about preserving natural resources like energy, water, land and trees and about giving back to the earth so that future generations will not run out..it's about doing no harm and creating healthful and healing environments for all.

We all had the chance to participate in a thought provoking design activity by creating a weather proof shelter out of one single piece of paper. Students and adults had to become resourceful with few tools being allowed in the process...It produced some interesting results as one can imagine. Attendees toured the gallery as well.

Learning By Design in Massachusetts is a K-12 architecture and design education program. They will be part of an event July 9-20 at The Museum Institute for Teaching Science for elementary and middle school educators exploring how science inspires engineering...you can visit the website at www.mits.org