Our Pledge for the Polar Bears

Dec 29, 2008

Happy holidays to everyone, and wishes for a wonderful 2009.  And here's hoping for a greener 2009 and more help for the polar bears.

As we come to the end of this year, we look back at all that has happened.  Polar bears were listed on the Endangered Species list, and we have seen a lot more in the news about climate change than ever before.  We are hopeful that people are finally starting to open their eyes.

We also look back on Project Polar Bear, and feel grateful to have been a part of it.  We tried our best, and are proud to announce that our total amount of CO2 saved for the next year is 15,636,300 pounds. 

We are also proud to tell you that we are not finished.  There are many large groups that are planning to make a pledge, including our local energy provider, Louisville Gas and Electric, and the Archdiocese of Louisville.  We will be keeping our website up and running, and hope to get many more pledges. 

The Year of the Polar Bear might be over, but we're not finished.  We have a lot more planned in 2009 to educate everyone on the plight of the bears, and to get them to take action. 

So please follow our project as it continues on our website.  Please join us, and make your own pledge.

Thank you to Polar Bears International for this wonderful project and opportunity.  As always, you are all that we aspire to be. 

Sincerely,

Emily Goldstein and Brandie Farkas

Changing Our Community

Dec 21, 2008

As we get close to the end of the project - but not our journey - we have accomplished something wonderful.  First we changed policy in our school.  Now we have changed policy in our city government, the City of Louisville, Kentucky.  We worked with the head of the city's green initiative to get a pledge from our city.  They have pledged to turn down the thermostats 4 degrees in the winter, and up 4 degrees in the summer in all city buildings.  They also pledged to replace 1,000 incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. This pledge totals 3,260,000 lbs. CO2 saved!

We calculated the carbon emission savings like this:

According to the EPA, the average office building emits 17.5 pounds of CO2 per square foot.  Air-conditioning and heating make up 45% of this, so 17.5 X .45 = 7.88 lbs. CO2.  According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, lowering/raising the thermostat decreases this by 20%.  7.88 X .20 = 1.58 lbs. CO2 saved.  The Director of Facilities for the City of Louisville said that the city houses 2 million square feet.  So 1.58 X 2,000,000 = 3,160,000 lbs. CO2 saved.  Add to this the 100,000 lbs. CO2 saved from the new lightbulbs (100 lbs. CO2 saved per lightbulb, 1000 X 100 = 100,000 lbs.), and the total comes to 3,260,000 lbs.

We feel very grateful to live in a community that is willing to help us with our mission.  We want to thank our school system, the Jefferson County School System, and our great community, the City of Louisville, for making these huge pledges. They will make a huge difference in carbon dioxide emissions, and help us save the polar bears.

Big News!

Dec 13, 2008

This week marked a milestone for us.  After many negotiations, we finally were successful in getting a group pledge from Jefferson County Public Schools, our local school system.  They have pledged to turn off all computers, printers, and monitors each night (except for Thursdays when they will get their updates). This is a large group, with over 40,000 computers in use.  Each computer being turned off will save 200 pounds of CO2 per year, so their pledge is for 8 million pounds saved!  We worked closely with Superintendant Berman and the Director of Facilities of the school system to get this pledge, and we are very proud of JCPS for their commitment.   In addition to our pledge, they are planning many other changes in procedure which will save millions of pounds of CO2.  They have already purchased biodegradable cornstarch-based trays and utensils to be used in our lunchrooms. 

Yesterday we received other good news - our local transit authority, TARC, has made a huge pledge of approximately 2 million pounds.  They are planning to form an internal "Green Team," and will be making big changes in their energy use.  They have pledged to put all computers on sleep mode when not in use, turn all computers off at night, turn off the lights at night, and check the air pressure in the tires of their buses on a weekly basis.  They also are implementing a new way to vent their storage facility which will save a lot of CO2 emissions.  They have asked us to give a talk to their employees on polar bears and climate change, which we are planning in 2009.

We have many other groups that we are working with to make a pledge.  We will report on those soon.

Adding to our Numbers

Dec 06, 2008

We have been extremely busy this past two weeks.  We now have six company pledges:

1.  The Louisville Zoo - 213,400 pounds
2.  Audubon Physical Therapy - 20,000 pounds

3.  Feeders Supply - 14,000 pounds

4.  Falls of the Ohio State Park - 35,500 pounds

5.  Spencer's Gifts - 1,600 pounds

6. Luckett & Farley Architectural Firm - 135,200 pounds

But this is just the beginning; we have many company pledges that we are working on.  Our local energy provider, Louisville Gas & Electric, is going to make a pledge, but might not get it finalized until after the New Year.  We have been working on this for a long time, but corporate America works slowly!

This week was one of the most important weeks of our project.  After months of trying to get an appointment, we finally were able to see the superintendant of our school system, Dr. Sheldon Berman.  We met him at the school board headquarters, and spent half an hour talking to him about the Jefferson County School System making a group pledge.  He set us up with the Director of Facilities for the school system, who we will be talking to on Monday. We are very excited about the outcome of this meeting.  We'll let you know how it goes.

Emily and Brandie with Dr. Berman

After meeting with Dr. Berman, Emily filmed a half-hour television show on polar bears and what young people can do to help them.  This program will be shown on the KET stations and their affiliate, the CW.  When the program is aired, they will flash our website address on the screen for people to be able to make a pledge.  If we can get a clip of this program online, we will post it.  We were excited about this chance to get the word out about our pledge.

We'll have a lot to tell you about in our next blog!

Our Publications

Nov 18, 2008

Here are some images of some of the publications we've been featured in about our project:

Trunkline (the Louisville Zoo's newsletter)

Kentucky Geological Society newsletter

PBI's newsletter

These are quizzes that we wrote for our website that PBI turned into teacher handouts.

Polar Bear Quiz

Climate Change Quiz

Emily featured as the Louisville Zoo's "Backyard Action Hero"

The Kentuckiana Girl Scouts Newsletter

Expanding the Pledge

Nov 16, 2008

     We have exciting news! We have decided to expand our pledge to companies here in the Louisville area.  After evaluating the pledges we have available for individuals - which have reached 1,132,200 pounds as of Nov. 14th - we decided that we needed to reach out to companies, also.  We looked at the possible pledges, and chose some different ones for companies to select from, as some of the individual pledges are not applicable for companies.  The pledges we will be using for companies are:

1.  Program company computers to go on sleep mode when not in use - saves 200 pounds of CO2 per computer per year, and $7.00 on their electric bill.

2.  Check tires on company vehicles once per month and keep inflated to manufacturer's specifications.  Saves 300 pounds of CO2 per vehicle per year, and 3% on their fuel bill.

3.  Replace 75-watt incandescent lightbulbs with fluorescent bulbs.  Saves 100 pounds of CO2 per lightbulb per year, and $10 per year on their electric bill.

4.  Company vehicles to go no faster than 55 mph.  Saves 1,000 pounds of CO2 per vehicle per year, and 10% on their fuel bill.

Note:  Sources used for calculating these numbers are the EPA, EnergyStar.gov, the Dept. of Energy, and the Nature Conservancy.

     We just finished developing this form this week, and have already gotten two companies to commit to pledges of 34,000 pounds of CO2.  We have a list of companies that we are going to be talking to in the next month. 

     Our next speaking commitment is this Monday to two Girl Scout groups.  We also tallied up how many people we have spoken to about climate change and the polar bears - it is over 1,200 people!

    And speaking of polar bears, below is a picture of the beginning of the Louisville Zoo's new polar bear exhibit, Glacier Run.  While we were at a meeting with our team leader, Marcelle, we went to look at how the exhibit is progressing.  It's going to be awesome!

We'll keep you updated on our progress.  Pledge for the Polar Bears is going strong!

We've reached a milestone!

Nov 03, 2008

Our pledges have now reached one million pounds of CO2 saved!  And we are even busier than before getting the word out about our website.

• We made a presentation to the Environmental Education Committee of the Partnership for a Green City. From that a notice was sent out to all science teachers and environmental contacts in the Jefferson County School System. 
• We also made a presentation to the Climate Change Sub-Committee of that organization. 
• We wrote an article that will be published in the Global Connections newsletter for the school system
• Our website was spotlighted in the Louisville Zoo's quarterly newsletter, and on their website
• An article was written about us in the Girl Scout's quarterly newsletter
• We attended an environmental youth summit sponsored by the Jefferson County School System and Operation Brightside, and told 200+ teens about our project
• We will be featured in a publication called Kids Choice News talking about Project Polar Bear
• We have been asked if our website could be listed on other environmental websites

We have many other plans in the works.  We are hoping to reach large organizations to talk about our project, and will keep you posted on our progress. 

We are also excited to report that the Louisville Zoo has begun construction on their upcoming new exhibit that is based on Churchill, Canada.  It is called Glacier Run, and it will feature polar bears, sea lions, seals, and other Arctic wildlife.  It is going to be amazing!

Until our next blog, stay green!

On Our Way to A Million Pounds

Oct 11, 2008

We're thrilled to say that we now have 700,000 pounds of CO2 saved on our website.  It has only been up for six weeks!  We have pledges from 20 states and even from other countries.  We're looking forward to a 1,000,000 pounds.....

In our continuing quest to get more pledges and spread the word about climate change, we have been busy giving talks around the area.  We gave a presentation to 200 girl scouts at the annual fall camp.  Their theme this year was "going green" so we were the main speakers.  We also presented to a local Climate Change committee that is developing a plan to get Louisville greener.  Next Tuesday we will have a booth at the Jefferson County School System Eco Summit, where 250 students will be able to hear about our project.  We also have many other irons in the fire.....

Did you know that one ton of CO2 fills up a football stadium?  We are so happy thinking that we will save 350 stadiums worth of CO2 emissions in the next year.  And that's just so far.  We have a lot more pledges to come.

We Powered Down in a Big Way!

Sep 21, 2008

Our news for the week is that the rest of Hurricane Ike rushed through here last Sunday and the wind knocked out most of Louisville's power.  We finally got our power back on - but just look at all of the CO2 saved for the week!  I guess it is true - no matter how bad something is, something good comes out of it.

The bad news is that we didn't get many pledges during the blackout.  The good news is that as of tomorrow's update we'll be up to around 375,000 pounds saved!  And the site has only been up for 3 weeks.

Last Saturday was Backyard Action Heroes Day at the Louisville Zoo.  We got a lot of pledges that day, and handed out the booklets with the page that has the link to our website and asks people to make a pledge.  The Zoo will be distributing 300,000 of these booklets to elementary schools across our area.  Also, we will be giving a talk on polar bears to 200 girlscouts at the yearly camp next Saturday.

We still have many, many people to tell about our website and pledge.  We have lots of work to do!

Our Website is Live!

Sep 01, 2008

The day has finally arrived!  Our website is up and running.  You can access our "Pledge for the Polar Bears" website at:
     www.louisvillezoo.org/projectpolarbear

We will be officially unveiling it at a special event at the zoo on Saturday, Sept. 13th.  At the "Backyard Action Heroes" day we will have a booth set up telling people about our goals of reducing CO2 emissions and urging them to take the pledge.  In the meantime, we are talking to the Kentuckiana Boy Scouts about putting the website in their newsletter and spreading the word to all of the scout troops.  We are also sending out the site address to everyone we know so that we can use networking to get lots of pledges.

We are also going to make a presentation in a few weeks to the Partnership for a Green City about our pledge.  We're hoping that this group of avid environmentalists will help us spread the word, too.

Please look at our website, and make your pledge!  The bears are counting on us all.

300,000 Pounds and Counting

Aug 11, 2008

We have been very busy since our last blog.  We have set up a table every week at the Louisville Zoo - sometimes twice - and have already gotten pledges for 300,000 pounds of CO2 emissions to be reduced.  And this is just a small amount compared to what we'll get when our website gets up and running.  Yay!  Emily continues to give talks to the eco-campers at the zoo about the plight of the polar bears and our upcoming website.  The kids ask lots of questions, so many that the time always runs over!  It's amazing how interested and knowledgeable they already are. 

Us (Brandie, Emily) at our booth at the Louisville Zoo.

A writer is doing an article for Aquila Magazine in England about polar bears, and it will feature our project.  It will even have a link to our upcoming website!  He came to watch the last talk we gave and took lots of pictures.

The webiste is close to completion, and will be done in 3 weeks.  Then our work will really begin - our big event is coming!  We'll be featured at the Louisville Zoo's Backyard Action Heroes event on September 13th, telling everyone about our project and trying to get pledges.  We are also plotting our strategy for getting large companies in the area to make group pledges for reductions in CO2 emissions.  We're ready for a challenge!  Here we come, Louisville!

Getting the Word Out

Jul 30, 2008

Things have been going well with our pledge.  We have been really busy trying to engineer how we will spread the word about our new website and our pledge.  We have contacted several large organizations, including:

1.  The Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana - they will be putting an article about our site in their newsletter and on their website, urging scouts to take the pledge.

2. Operation Brightside - they will be doing an article on our site and the pledge.

3.  Partnership for a Green City - which is a group of pro-environmentalists from the city's largest employers, including the City of Louisville, the University of Louisville, and the Jefferson County Public School System.  We will be discussing our project with them in August and will see if there is a way to let these three large groups know about the website and the pledge.

We set up another booth at the Louisville Zoo today and got more pledges - even though it rained the whole time!  We will continue to put up our booth at the zoo, and once we get our website up and running in September, we will enter the pledges we already have. 

We will also continue to contact other groups to see if they will help us spread the word about the pledge.

September 1st is D-Day!  We are so excited!

Ursa and Mari

Jul 19, 2008

We have been busy here in Louisville getting ready for our pledge campaign.  The website will officially be up and running on Sept. 1st, so we are gearing up for a lot of hard work once it is ready. 

Emily gave another talk to an eco-camp at the Louisville Zoo about climate change and the pledge.  We both will be setting up a table at the zoo starting next week to get the pledge started, and we will be entering the pledges we get on paper onto the website once it is up.  and, of course, all paper used is 100% recycled! 

To make our booth more noticeable and interesting, we built an 8-foot polar bear and her cub. We had an unpleasant time getting the 8 foot by 4 foot piece of foam core poster board home - we strapped it on top of a Toyota and drove home going 20 mph!  After sketching the mom and baby bears, we cut them out, and sprayed a fixative on them making them waterproof.  Then we had to get them to the zoo! 

Their names are officially Ursa and Mari - after their Latin names, Ursus maritimus.

We hope to have saved a lot of carbon emissions by our next blog! 

Making Progress

Jul 08, 2008

Greetings from Louisville!  We are hot and heavy into our plans.  We have been working on our project from two angles:  getting the numbers ready for our pledge, and writing our website where people will make the pledge.

Here are the choices people will have to choose from when they make their pledge:

1.  Turn down the thermostat 2 degrees when heating your house, and turn up the thermostat 2 degrees when cooling your house.  This saves 100 pounds of carbon emissions per week.

2.  Switch off computer and electronics when not in use.  This saves 400 pounds of carbon emissions per year.

3.  Replace 5 of your most used 75-watt incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs.  This will save 500 pounds of carbon emissions per year.

4.  Wash two loads of laundry per week in cold water instead of hot water.  This saves 600 pounds of carbon emissions per year.

5.  Reduce your driving speed to 55 miles per hour on the highway.  This will save 1,000 pounds of carbon emissions per year.

We worked with the EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency), the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and the Energy Information Administration on getting the CO2 emission numbers together. While we found these numbers on their websites and from other sources, we felt it was important for us to undertand how the numbers were arrived at, and to be able to do the calculations ourselves. 

Per the Dept. of Energy, the average amount of CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour is 1.34 pounds.  To find the carbon emissions saved by each of these actions we multiplied the average kilowatt hours by 1.34.  The Energy Information Administration, the EPA, and our local energy provider had info on the average amounts of kilowatt hours used for each activity. 

To find the amount of carbon emissions saved by driving 55 mph on the highway, we performed the following calculations:

Per the EPA, the average gas mileage per vehicle is 19.7 mpg.  The average miles driven is 11,856 per year.  we divided 11,856 by 19.7 to get the average number of gallons of gas used, which is 601.8. Per the Dept. of Energy, drving 55 mph saves 20% on gas mileage.  20% of 19.7 is 3.94, which gives you an improved gas mileage of 23.6 mpg.  This would save approximately 100 gallons of gas per year.  Per the Dept. of Energy, 50% of miles driven are driven on the highway. Per the Energy Information Administration, each gallon used emits 19.564 pounds of carbon emissions.  So - 50 gallons times 19.564 is 978.2, and we approximated this number to 1,000 pounds of carbon saved when driving 55 mph instead of 75 mph.

We have also been writing our website.  Pages on our site will include:

- The main page
- The actual pledge where people pledge to reduce carbon emissions
- What is climate change?
- Learn more about polar bears
- A polar bear quiz
- A quiz on climate change
- What else can I do to help stop climate change?
- Misconceptions about climate change
- Links to more information
- A picture gallery
- A link to the Ice Age Video
- A link to Emily's blogs from the 2007 Teen Leadership camp in Churchill

We will be editing and adding to the website in the next week or two.  Our plan is to have the website up and running by September 1st, when we will start getting pledges.

Until our next blog, big bear hugs and kisses!

Emily and Brandie

Another Update

Jun 19, 2008

Yesterday we had a meeting with our advisor, Marcelle Gianelloni, Education Curator at the Louisville Zoo.  Also at the meeting were Robert Kemnitz, Graphics Specialist/Webmaster, and Doug McCoy, Assistant Education Curator of the zoo.  We were given the seal of approval on our pledge options, and we discussed the details of our upcoming "Pledge for the Polar Bears" website.  It's going to be great!

After the meeting, I (Emily) gave a talk about my trip to Churchill and climate change to the Eco-camps at the zoo.  I told the campers about our upcoming pledge and that they should look for their "Backyard Action Heroes" booklet that will be delivered to them at school in September.  Brandie took this picture of me while I was giving my talk.

Working on the Numbers

Jun 08, 2008

This has been a very mind-boggling week for us. We have been hot and heavy into finding the numbers we need to do our project. Groups that we have been talking to include the Environmental Protection Agency, Conservation International, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Energy Information Administration. We talked to countless people, and finally have the formulas we need to calculate the CO2 emissions that will be saved by our project. It's a good thing we make A's in math!

We also wrote the letter that will be sent out to 300,000 kids in the Louisville Zoo's Backyard Action Heroes booklet, and we started doing research for creating our webpage.  Our goal is to have the webpage planned out by the end of June.

We are motivated and encouraged by the recent adoption of polar bears on the threatened species list. The details in this action might not be ideal, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

Big bear hugs from Kentucky!

Pledge For the Polar Bears Introduction

Jun 03, 2008

Greetings from Kentucky!

We want to introduce ourselves. We are Emily Goldstein, a senior from Atherton High School, and Brandie Farkas, a senior from Ballard High School. We are both volunteers at the Louisville Zoo, and are both on the Youth Board there. We are excited to be launching our project to help save the environment - Pledge For the Polar Bears.

We've been busy since we entered our project. We had a planning session in the ideal place - in front of the Polar Bear exhibit at the Louisville Zoo! Aquila (the bear) helped us make our plans. We are working with the Louisville Zoo in getting the word out about our pledge. We have been in contact with several organizations to help us calculate CO2 emissions, and we are working on our form that people will use to make their pledge.

To help you understand why we are so passionate about stopping climate change, watch this video taken by Emily in Churchill at the 2007 PBI Leadership Camp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsSBjHhY8Vc

Team Pledge for the Polar Bears is excited to be a part of this amazing project, and we look forward to making a difference in our community - and ultimately, the world.