ECO Warriors

Our Planet - Our Future


Click me to watch video!!


Click me to watch video!!


Click me to watch video!!


Click me to watch video!!


Click me to watch video!!

 

 

Become an Eco-Warrior!

Be a part of changing your world. Make small changes at home that lead to big changes in how you care for your planet. Learn more about how you can get involved. Read about the climate changes, Global warming, and pollution’s effect on our drink water, rivers, streams, oceans, land, plants, animals, and the human race.   

Becoming an Eco-Warrior is easy. Learn about what the Eco-Warriors are doing in your community. Then start by joining the crusade to save our home, our planet. You can learn by reading the information provided on these educational websites or if you Don't like to read? Then watch a film!  Here are some films we suggest. 

“Hawaii Messages in the Waves", http://www.messageinthewaves.com/  by BBC.

“The Story of Stuff” http://www.storyofstuff.com/ , Anne Leonard

“Kilowatt Ours” http://www.kilowattours.org/ , by Jeff Barrie 

Watch a movie with your family.  Make it a family night, add popcorn to your movie, and enjoy!

Global warming and "being Green"

Global warming and "being Green" have become items of great debate. Whether you believe that humans are causing global warming, or that the world is just going through a warming cycle, it is a proven fact that our options for dealing with the waste we create are falling short at best.

The first step is to choose to make a difference locally.

We are polluting and ultimately destroying our planet, our home. Getting involved in being part of the pollution solution is easier than you might think. The first step is to get familiar with the information. There is plenty of good reading out there that explains consumerism and the way we handle trash.

Here are some Eco warriors 101's

1. Plastic is not degradable. Once created it stays around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Most pollution is not intentional. We don't intend to send garbage into our streams, rivers, and oceans.

2. Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle.  What does this mean? It means to think about what you buy, what you use, what you discard, and how you discard it.

The little turtle that did not know any better

You place your waste into a trash can, bring it to the curb, and forget about it. Your trash contained a plastic bag that got blown out of the landfill and ended up in a stream. The stream dumps into a river, the river ends in the ocean. The plastic bag is eaten by a little sea turtle. The turtle dies because he starves, unable to eat or digest any food. The turtle’s body decades and the plastic debris are released to kill again.

It isn't the little turtle’s fault that he starved. He mistook the plastic bag for a jellyfish.  This really happens, and not to just one sea turtle, but to hundreds of sea animals.  For example, sea birds like the albatross, sea lions, seals, and entire coral reefs, are being killed by plastics.

What can you do?

One way to help stop this devastating cycle is to simply choose not to use plastic bags.

Do you think we can't live without plastic bags? Some towns in Australia have already stopped using plastic bags. They are doing fine. Here are links to how several towns succeeded in eliminating plastic bags in their communities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_6605000/6605435.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1717476.ece

You can buy plastics that are bio-degradable. The bio-degradable plastics are made from soy and corn. 

You can also write your government and request that bio-degradable plastics become mandatory and insist they support eco-friendly laws.

Recycle

When we started recycling the items on the list. We had so many items that we had to call the town to request a third recycling bin. We fill 3 bins a week and usually need to use some brown paper bags as extra collection bins. We have made recycling a family challenge.

Here are some simple changes my family made after watching the documentary "Hawaii message in the waves by BBC." This documentary was a very informative and entertaining look at the serious and harmful results of plastic trash on Hawaii's beaches and sea animals.

1. We no longer pack sandwiches in plastic baggies.

2. We use containers that can be washed and reused to pack our school lunches.

3. We never use plastic bags for groceries. We bring our own bags and/or we request paper-bags. We use the paper-bags to hold recyclables curbside.

4. We check all items we buy, and if they are recyclables, we recycle them curbside. If they are not recyclable we try to find a company that makes that product in a recyclable package for next time.

5. We buy local products, such as fruits, and veggies that are not packaged at all, and we do not use the plastic bag to hold them while we shop. We put all our veggies and fruits in the top bin of the shopping cart. This saves us throwing the small plastic bags away when we unpack the groceries at home.

6. Read labels at the store and buy items that are recyclable. Items that support our growth and survival.

Keep track of how much you recycle at home using your curbside recycling or a drop off program. Take photos and e-mail them to us. You can also snail mail them to 398 Palisado Ave, Windsor, CT 06095 c/o J.E. Mejias.  You may see your photos on our website in the near future!

Next steps

Now that you are armed with some new knowledge, you may feel compelled to learn more.  Make recycling and saving our planet a family goal.  It won’t be long before you start to see positive changes.

"We are not tree huggers. We are air breathers. We are Eco-Warriors." We are compelled to show our strengths and defend what is ours. We have the right and a duty to defend our environment and our planet. We have a calling to learn and teach a gentle and sustainable way of life for the generations that will follow us. We are the Green Eco Warriors.

If you are anything like us, you probably like or even love animals. You will probably want to preserve our planet’s natural beauty.  You want our rainforests, glaciers, and coral reefs to thrive.  

Let’s take back our fields, our parks our rivers, and oceans. Lets become ECO-WARRIORS!

ECO Facts

Recycling just one aluminum coke bottle saves enough energy to run a television for 3 hours.
Recycling just 3 feet of newspaper you save a rain forest tree.


Upcoming Events

March 2008
ECO-Warriors Recycling competition, kicks off at Sage Park Middle School
Become a part of changing your world. Make small changes in how you care for your planet. Learn more about how you can get involved. Read about the climate changes, Global warming, and pollution’s effect on our drink water, rivers, streams, and oceans.

Start at Sage Park School, by recycling during lunch. You can win a prize for your team by recycling the most items at school. Bring the fun home by talking to your family about recycling.

Click here to view the latest press release: Sage Park Middle School Recycling Kick Off.

Want to start a recycling program at your school? Use our program proposal as a template: Recycling Program Plan.


Recycling FACTS:

child and recycling bin

#1 Reason to Recycle

You will be protecting your health and protecting your environment.

· Recycling reduces the amount of waste to incinerate or landfill.

· Recycling reduces air and water pollution.

· Recycling conserves precious natural resources – since less raw materials need to be extracted and processed.

· Recycling saves energy – in 1996 the energy savings from recycling in the U.S. equaled the energy used by 4 million households!

· Recycling makes us more sustainable because we are borrowing less materials and energy from our children’s future.

 

What Are We Recycling at Sage Park School Windsor, CT?

  • Glass food containers
  • Metal food containers
  • Beverage containers that are plastics with a chasing arrows with a number 1 in the center or chasing arrows with a number 2 in the center

For example:

  1. Fizzed cans
  2. Milk containers
  3. Plastic juice containers marked with a chasing arrows with a number 1 in the center or chasing arrows with a number 2 in the center
  4. Aluminum cans

What can I recycle at home?

You can recycle: old magazines, mini-juice cartons, milk jugs and discarded mail, phone books, pots and pans, cardboard, glass and metal food and beverage containers and plastics with a chasing arrows with a number 1 in the center or chasing arrows with a number 2 in the center.

See additional list below!

 


Recyclable Materials for Windsor Connecticut Curbside Collection

Mixed Paper

ACCEPTABLE ITEMS

UNACCEPTABLE ITEMS

Newspapers

Plastic bags

Cardboard (please flatten boxes  and tie larger bundles)

Wax paper

Brown bags

Tissue paper

Magazines

Trash items

All grades of office paper

Food debris

Phone directories

 

Junk mail

 

File folders

 

Chip Board products (cereal boxes - remove bags)

 

Catalogs

 

Color inserts

 

School paper

 

Books (hardcover / soft cover)

 

Envelopes (with or without cellophane windows)

 

Bottles, Cans, Plastics

ACCEPTABLE ITEMS

UNACCEPTABLE ITEMS

Clear, brown or green bottles

Ceramic items - cups, plates, dishes

Tin cans

Pyrex ware

Aluminum cans

Plastic bottles - #3 through #7

Aluminum foil - rinsed only, please

Plastic toys, plastic bags

Plastic bottles - #1 & #2 only

Trash items

Aseptic containers (milk or juice)

Un-rinsed containers

Please rinse all items

 

Lids and caps are OK

 

 

Pots and Pans

ACCEPTABLE ITEMS

Metal Pots

Metal Pans


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