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Team Information & Blog
The GREEN TEENS
Adult Advisor
Deborah Shimkus
Team Members
Jacob Shimkus (age:15)
Sierra Swiegert (age:15)
Emily Carlson (age:16)
Project Outline
LAKE OSWEGO GREEN TEENS
Our focus is to reduce our community’s emissions through a variety of product and habit changes. The goal of our project is to encompass all aspects of our community: homes, schools, and businesses. Our Project Category is Do It Better, Make It Better, with the Don’t Be Idle Campaign at the center. The Bright Idea (a great Power Down project) provides an innovative “green” funding source for the main project, as well as reducing CO2. Our Business and Community efforts are an additional plus.
HOMES
“A Bright Idea” – Power plants are listed as the #1 source of greenhouse gases. This means that every time you turn on a light, you are making a power plant make more electricity for you, and release more greenhouse gases. In fact, everything we do that uses electricity is indirectly contributing to the release of CO2. Therefore we have come up with our Bright Idea project. We will be going around our community providing people with 3 simple products and services to reduce their house’s energy use. First – compact fluorescent light bulbs (the “Bright” part), Second – hot water heater blankets to reduce heating energy, Third – under-house insulators to reduce winter heating costs. Additionally we will provide people with the option to have us install these items, along with a pamphlet of information on what more they can do. All products will be provided at cost, with services and donations going to help fund the Don’t Be Idle Campaign.
SCHOOLS
“Don’t Be Idle” – Cars are cited as the next largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Although we cannot drive yet, and cannot tell people what kind of car to drive, we can help them make better decisions when they’re driving. At each of the eleven primary and middle schools around our town, parents are waiting to pick up their kids each day. While they wait, most parents leave their cars running, giving off a pound of CO2 per car every minute. Our second project involves posting signs at the schools that mark “Idle Free Zones”. This along with announcements on the district-wide website and information in the weekly news bulletins, will lead to a heightened awareness of the impacts of simply idling your car. We will work with local media for additional education and awareness opportunities.
BUSINESSES
“Hybrid Only” – By placing parking signs in local businesses we will be supporting the use of these “green” cars. The more businesses we get to post these signs the greater impact they will have. Although not directly measurable, if we can record an increase in the use of these special parking places, we will be able to know that this project has made a difference.
COMMUNITY
“Movie Night” – Showing a special movie, An Inconvenient Meltdown to a public audience. This movie presents the hard facts of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth along with some lighthearted cartoon clips from Ice Age 2 the Meltdown.. This would be part of our education project for the community and gets people of all ages interested and onboard with the need to change.
August 20th
Aug 20, 2008
On Tuesday, August 19th we met with Donna Atherton and Steve Sherrel from the Lake Oswego School District. Our meeting was regarding the "Don't Be Idle" campaign and the district's involvement. We as a team learned a great deal from them as to the legal processes of our district. Steve (Jacob and Emily's old Jr. High principal) is taking Donna's place in the district while she is on leave. They told us that such a project as we are putting together has to be approved by the School board. We have now created a formal proposal to be presented to the school board on October 4th. We are also planning to get this same proposal to a meeting of Principals in early September. This is a very new experience for all of us and we are excited to get the ball rolling.
We were also recently contacted by Bill Bradbury’s (secretary of State for the state of Oregon) office regarding our “Inconvenient Meltdown” Earth Event. We have pinpointed the date for this event to be Saturday October 18th at Whole Life Center in Lake Oswego. Currently we are working with members of the center as well as Bill’s office to create a great event that will make a big impact on our community.
News Article
Aug 20, 2008
This should have gone up a few weeks ago after our interview... but here it is. Our meeting with Wendy Owen (the Oregonian) was a great success. We discussed the ideas of the "Don't Be Idle" campaign as well as the team and the other projects we have been planning. The article came out in the Oregonian on Thursday, July 31st. Below is a link to the online version of the article.
Article - July 31st - Oregonian
July 21st
Jul 21, 2008
Things have been moving rapidly on all three of our projects.
On Friday the 18th we were contacted by Wendy Owen of the Oregonian. She arranged to meet with us today (Monday the 21st) regarding our "Don't Be Idle" campaign. We had not provided the media with any information regarding any of our projects, and were delighted to find out that our superintendent, Dr. Korach, had told Ms. Owen about our project based on information we had given him earlier in the summer. The interview went very well and we were told that an article will be coming out in the Thursday Oregonian.
We have also been working hard preparing for our other projects. We have been working diligently on the computer to find out information about idling cars that we can provide to the public. We discovered that idling the average car more than 10 seconds is actually more harmful than just shutting it off. We also found out that an average car releases between 1.5 to 2 lbs of CO2 every 20 minutes it idles. This and other information has been put on a fact-sheet that we are providing to community members. We also found time to make a sample sign which we have been showing to people we meet with, including Ms. Owen.
We have also met with the principals of the two junior high schools and have gained their support. Both of them suggested and supported the idea of involving the Assistant Student Body (ASB) or leadership groups. We have sent out feelers for what could be done in this area.
Regarding our "Bright Idea" project, we have been in contact with local businesses regarding potential donations and partnerships. Our hope is to receive a large donation of Compact fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL bulbs), hot-water-heater wraps, and under-house insulators (you know... those little plugs you put in the vents under your house that nobody really knows what they're called). We are currently doing research to find the specific impact each of these items will make.
Furthermore we have been making headway on our "Earth Event" or movie night. We have secured three potential dates at Whole Life Center - a local church willing to sponsor the event. At this time the congregation is showing incredible support for the event, so we will have a little help. We are looking at putting on a "sustainable" dinner - as local and organic as possible to cut emissions from food transport and processing. After the dinner we will be showing a custom made movie about global warming, and the holding a small discussion / presentation about what people can do to help. We are very excited about all the activity and are looking forward to the coming months.
"No Idle Zone" sign - click here
First Blog Entry
Jun 24, 2008
Over the past weeks, the Green Teens have met three times and accomplished a great amount. Aside from fleshing out our current plans, we have also begun research to put our plans into action. This means internet searches, scouring past projects for useful information, and drafting emails to school officials. We have found several companies that we are considering to supply signs for our “Don’t be Idle” project and have found different, more efficient products to sell in our “Bright Idea” project. The ideas include steel water bottles (to reduce plastic waste) and low flow faucet connections (to reduce water waste). We also are considering organizing a light bulb drop off sight, so that each energy efficient light bulb is properly disposed of. Encompassed within this search is the hunt for a sponsor. Our team is currently contacting several leads on local green shops who would like to support us.