Saturday, May 5, 2018

Foodware - Trays Presentation

Please forward to Green Schools reps and PTA Council...

1) Ad Council/NRDC strawberry video:  A short PSA on food waste for students of all ages (and their parents) to learn about the impact of food waste and to practice sustainability in our community.  Please share and include in your newsletters, along with this blurb, which can be customized for your school: 

"An estimated 40% of all food produced in the U.S. is wasted, which has major environmental and economic implications.  The average American family of four spends over $1,500 per year on food that they don’t eat and discards 1000 lbs of food at home.  Wasting food wastes water, labor, fuel and money!  Through simple lifestyle changes, like making shopping lists, freezing food and using leftovers, and strategies in the school cafeteria, like composting and collection of leftover food, we can fight food waste. Watch this video clip - the Extreme Life and Times of Strawberry - and other PSAs with your child today to start a conversation about food waste!"


2)  USDA's Use of Share Tables in Child Nutrition Programs: Unopened, commercially pre-packaged items such as cereal packs, yogurt, crackers, and cheese sticks, whole pieces of fruit and unopened milk or dairy products can be collected at your school.  This practice is encouraged by the USDA’s Food & Nutrition Service guidelines for Child Nutrition Programs. Local and State health and food safety codes need to be followed.  There are several options for collected foods: 1) students can take any item at no additional cost; 2)  items can be served during another meal service, like after school programs 3) items can be offered to staff; or 4) items can be donated to a non-profit 501c3, like Food Rescue US.   
To learn more:
World Wildlife Fund's Four Ways to Fight School Food Waste: 
USDA's Use of Share Tables in Child Nutrition Programs:

3) Foam-Free School Lunch flyer (attached)

4) GPS Foodware Cost Analysis (attached)




Sent from my iPhone
Foam Tray flyer .pdf

Friday, April 13, 2018

Trayless Tuesdays Makes Significant Impact!



Partnering with PTAC Green Schools, the Food Service Department will be implementing Trayless Tuesdays beginning April 24, 2018.  What began as a successful student initiative in Parkway School a few years back, the program will now be rolled out district-wide.  Serving an average of 2700 meals a day, the district has a potential to reduce its use of polystyrene trays by 97,000 units.  Developing menus that are paper boat friendly for Tuesdays will allow students to dine knowing they are taking positive steps to help the environment.  

-- 
John Hopkins
Food Service Director

Friday, February 16, 2018

Green Schools Resources _ shared by Sue Quincy at CT DEEP

If your school is working on school gardens, health and wellness programs in the cafeteria, or nutrition perhaps these resources will help you along the way.
Remember if you are looking for support to develop curriculum and school use of grounds, gardens, health and nutrition for the classrooms we can provide teacher ready materials.  Contact me if you have any questions.

Saturday, March 4, 2018, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Teaching with A Garden
Project Food, Land and People Workshop
Kellogg Environmental Center, 500 Hawthorne Ave, Derby
Free to Green LEAF schools
Day focused on understand natural resources and science of food.  Using NGSS we will implement school gardens and schoolyards
For unit development in the classroom. 
Email interest to participate susan.quincy@ct.gov

75.00 stipend for participating educators.

You may want to know the following:

Get Out and Grow School Garden Grant & Sweepstakes
The Get Out and Grow School Garden Sweepstakes is open to School Administrators and Foodservice Directors of K-12 schools. Schools can win up to $15,000 cash towards a school garden and a visit from a Team USA Athlete. Who Should Apply: State accredited K-12 school located in the 50 United States and D.C. Deadline is March 11, 2018. Learn more and apply here.

Farm to School 101 & Funding Opportunities webinar
February 28 // 5pm ET
USDA’s Office of Community Food Systems and the National Young Farmers Coalition invite you to attend “Farm to School 101 & Funding Opportunities.” This webinar will cover what USDA means by “farm to school”, the different ways to incorporate farm to school programs into your business plan, and how working with schools can impact and bring value to your operation.  Funding, including grant opportunities, will be covered.Register here

The Business of Farm to School
March 15 // 5pm ET
This webinar will cover the procurement (purchasing) rules that schools follow, describe questions and talking points to discuss when selling to and building relationships with schools, identify which products schools are looking for, and highlight the different Child Nutrition Programs (CNP’s) that provide these opportunities- hint- it’s not just school lunch! This webinar is coordinated by USDA Office of Community Food Systems and the National Young Farmers Coalition, and is geared towards farmers and producers selling to schools as a new market. Register here

Research & Resources 
1. New Study: Students Need Help Navigating Food Environments
A new study in the Journal of School Health, by Dr. Marissa Burgermaster and the Tisch Food Center team, provides further evidence that nutrition education needs to happen hand-in-hand with efforts to improve the food environments students encounter on a daily basis. Read more here

2. New Study: Making Nutrition Education Work in Schools
A study just out in the Journal of School Health, by Dr. Kathleen Porter and Tisch Food Center team members, sheds light on why and how New York City schools make external nutrition education programs part of their school’s every day culture. Findings from Dr. Porter and team give insight into the why-to and how-to of successfully adopting and sustaining nutrition education programs. Findings are based on analysis of interviews with school community members from 21 NYC schools that had one or more nutrition education programs. Read more here

3. Food Systems Leadership Network -  Community Food Systems Mentorship Program
The Wallace Center at Winrock International’s new Food Systems Leadership Network initiative includes a Community Food Systems Mentorship Program. This program seeks to provide emerging leaders with the opportunity to closely engage with more seasoned leaders as thought partners and coaches. The goal of this program is to create a space for experienced leaders to lend an ear to emerging leaders, and share their wisdom, knowledge, and expertise from years of practice in the good food movement. This Program will be offered twice annually, and will include 8 hours of one on one mentorship over a 3 month period for each mentee. The Spring application closes Feb. 15. Learn more here.  



Susan Quincy
Environmental Education Specialist
Coordinator Project Food, Land & People and Project WET
State Parks Public Outreach
Natural Resource and Recreation
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Kellogg Environmental Center, 500 Hawthorne Ave, Derby CT  06418P: 203-734-2513   susan.quincy@ct.gov

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Conserving, improving and protecting our natural resources and environment;
Ensuring a clean, affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy supply.



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Ct-green-leaf-list@ctgreenschools.org
http://ctgreenschools.org/mailman/listinfo/ct-green-leaf-list_ctgreenschools.orgResources

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

  1. BYOGreenwich https://byogreenwich.org/
  • BYOGreenwich Mission: BYOGreenwich's mission is to encourage the use of reusable checkout bags in our town for the benefit and welfare of our entire community.
  • If this fact helps: This initiative was voted for by Peter Tesei, John Toner and Drew Marzullo in July 2017. Also it was presented, informally, to Sandy Litvack in December 2017.
  • BYOGreenwich strives to be apolitical.  is encouraged by the blind support this initiative is receiving from our community residents, local businesses and non-profits to keep Greenwich clean and be leaders in environmental stewardship for our Town, our State and our Country.
  • We and our children all need clean water, clean air and clean land! https://byogreenwich.org/
  • Schedule of Events: I will speak with Michael Casey my Green Schools Co-Chair to see if we can Co-Sponsor the 1/25th event.
Thursday, February 1st: "Educate Yourself" - Google “Plastic Bag Pollution” and BYOGreenwichNewsroom. (Meg MK can be there on behalf of Green Schools & GEC)
Thursday, February 8th: Reusable Bag Drive at Town Hall, Drop Off a Bag/ Pick Up a Bag, 10-2pm
(—WE WOULD WELCOME ONE ADDITIONAL COMMUNITY SPONSOR—) - (Meg MK can be there on behalf of Green Schools & GEC)
Wednesday, February 14th: Celebrate LOVE by giving a reusable bag to your loved ones
(—ANY AND ALL IDEAS ARE WELCOMED—) (Meg MK will blog that on Green Schools; will share w/ GEC)
Saturday, February 24th: Greenwich Beach Clean Up with Greenwich Shellfish Commission, Surfrider Foundation and possibly Green & Clean & GRAB , location TBD (Green Schools & GEC)
Monday, March 12th: Potential RCBI Ordinance RTM Vote date, Central Middle School, 8pm
(—WE WOULD WELCOME ALL OF OUR COMMUNITY SPONSORS TO COME TO THIS MEETING AND READ A STATEMENT OF SUPPORT) (Meg MK can be there on behalf of Green Schools & GEC)

Friday, December 15, 2017

The Town of Greenwich wants to help you reduce the amount of energy used in your home. We are offering Greenwich residents up to five LED light bulbs free of charge and an opportunity to learn about and sign up for Home Energy Solutions so you can save and be more comfortable all year round. Bring up to five incandescent light bulbs, in any working order, plus proof of Greenwich residence, and receive an equal number of long-lasting, energy-saving LED light bulbs at no cost.*

Saturday, December 16th, 9am-12pm at Greenwich Town Hall

Residents will also have the opportunity to sign up for the Home Energy Solutions (HES) Program and meet the vendors offering this service in our town. 

*While supplies last. LED bulbs at swap are equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb only. Additional energy-saving lighting products will be available for purchase at a discounted rate, including holiday lights.


Sarah Nahabedian, Conservation Resource Manager 1
Town of Greenwich
101 Field Point Road
Greenwich, CT 06830
203-622-6461 office

__._,_.___

Posted by: "Savageau, Denise" <Denise.Savageau@greenwichct.org>

Friday, December 8, 2017

DECEMBER Tips of the Month - Happy Holidays!

GREEN SCHOOLS shares with you an article:
https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/eco-friendly-holiday-tips

1. Make Your Own Wrapping Paper or Go Without

Most mass-produced wrapping paper you find in stores is not recyclable because of the shiny coatings, foils and colors, and therefore ends up in landfills. And sadly, most wrapping paper and ribbon is produced in Asian sweatshops!
What a shame so much water, oil and trees are wasted every year solely to produce something that exists only to be torn off and thrown away!
Instead, here’s a great chance to get creative! Wrap presents with old maps, the comics section of a newspaper, or children’s artwork. Or use a scarf, attractive dish towel, bandana, or some other useful cloth item that is a gift in and of itself.
You could even go without wrapping your gifts altogether. A Small Footprint Family Facebook fan recently told me that at her home, she hides all the unwrapped presents around the house, and holds a scavenger hunt for the kids to find them.
What a fun, clever, low-waste idea!

LED Christmas Lights2. Buy Energy-Saving LED Holiday Lights

Thanks to technology, you can now decorate your house with LED lights that use 90 percent less energy than conventional holiday lights, and can save your family up to $50 on your energy bills during the holiday season! As an added bonus, LEDs release little heat, and they last about 200,000 hours. In the unlikely event that one does burn out, the rest of the lights keep on glowing. Whew!
According to one U.S. Department of Energy study, if everyone replaced their conventional holiday light strings with LEDs, at least two billion kilowatt-hours of electricity could be saved in a month. The savings would be enough to power 200,000 homes for a year!
LED lights are available online and at many major retailers.
Almost all holiday lights contain a tiny amount of lead between the wires and the plastic that covers the wires, so keep them away from children and wash your hands after installing them.
They are a bit pricier, but for the ultimate green holiday lighting, you can find lead-free, LED holiday lights here.

3. Add Organic & Local Foods to Your Holiday Feast

Support local family farmers who grow sustainable meat and produce. Not only does local, organic food taste better, but you’ll also be doing your part for your community and the planet too.

4. Get a Pesticide-Free Tree

Demand is on the rise for Christmas trees that are not covered in chemicals. Some growers use 40 different pesticides, as well as chemical colorants. The good news is that there are now a number of tree-farms that sell pesticide-free trees, so ask your local Christmas tree seller, or search for an organic tree farm near you.
An even more eco-friendly option is to get a plantable tree that you can put in the ground in your yard or a nearby park when you are done.

12 Eco Friendly Holiday Tips5. Recycle Your Christmas Tree

Each year, 10 million Christmas trees end up in the landfill. While your tree won’t fit in the recycling bin with your newspapers and bottles, you can recycle your tree: many cities offer programs to turn your tree to mulch or wood chips. Some cities even use your old trees to do important environmental projects like streambank stabilization.
Visit the National Christmas Tree Association or do a web search to find a “Christmas tree recycling program” near you.

6. Recycle Your Old Cellphone or Tablet

Getting a new cell phone or tablet for Christmas? Not sure what to do with the old one? Now, you can drop off that old phone at any Staples store, as part of the Sierra Club cell phone recycling program or possibly sell it to one of the many buyback programs online.
Each year, 130 million cell phones are thrown out, weighing approximately 65,000 tons. Recycling your old phone prevents hazardous elements like mercury, cadmium and lead from ending up in our landfills.

7. Offset Your Holiday Travel

If you or your loved ones are traveling more than 100 miles this holiday season, try to reduce air travel whenever possible, and consider offsetting the fossil fuel pollution generated by your trip, no matter how you travel. These companies can help you get trees planted to reduce your impact.
  • Terrapass – Provides carbon offsets for flying, driving, etc.
  • CarbonFund – Provides a variety of carbon offset projects to choose from.
  • Carbonify.com – Tree planting for offsetting carbon emissions

8. Donate Your Time or Money to an Environmental Cause

Get into the holiday spirit by volunteering! There are countless ways to help improve your community—and the planet—from cleaning up a local river to helping inner city kids experience the outdoors for the first time. Organizations and charities all over the country need your time and/or your money to make a difference, so you can have a great impact for a small amount of effort.

9. Make Handcrafts & DIY Gifts

There are so many ways to reduce your consumption impact when giving holiday gifts. DIY gifts like homemade ornaments, crafty picture frames with photos of loved ones in them, homemade vanilla extract, or handmade beauty products can be as much fun to make and give as to receive.
There are tons of ideas on Pinterest, and you are really only limited by your imagination.

10. Give Experiential Gifts

My favorite gift to give is the gift of an experience. By giving gifts that can be experienced, you can minimize wrapping and shopping, and still win points with the receiver. Anything that allows your loved one to spend quality time experiencing something fun, new or interesting will make a gift sure to be remembered for years to come.
Some ideas include: tickets to a ball game, play or concert, a trip somewhere interesting, a zoo or museum membership, lessons of some type, a drive in the country, or even a homemade dinner.

11. Purchase Eco-Friendly & Locally Made Gifts

SaveSmall Footprint Family61Small Footprint FamilyBest of Small Footprint Family
Finally, if you choose to purchase retail gifts, try to select products that come in minimal packaging, are made from sustainable materials, and can be easily recycled. You could also choose gifts that help people live more sustainably, like a compost bin, a reusable water bottle, or a Wonderbagelectricity-free slow cooker.

12. Stuff Stockings With Yummy, Natural Treats

Stocking stuffers tend to be small, plastic trinkets that end up broken, lost or in the garbage by the end of January. Instead, fill your stockings with yummy, healthy treats like dried fruit, nuts, clementines and even homemade holiday cookies.
How are you being green this holiday season?

We Wish You a Peaceful Holiday and an Abundant New Year!

—The Small Footprint Family
This article was excerpted from my book Sustainability Starts at Home – How to Save Money While Saving the Planet. For more money-saving, planet-friendly tips, pick up a copy today!
During the holiday season Americans toss out a million extra tons of garbage each week and spend over $50 on inefficient holiday lights. Click to learn 12 eco-friendly holiday tips to have a greener, more affordable celebration.

    • Thanks for your comment, Kirsten! For those who live in the right climate for it, getting a living tree to plant after the holidays is a fabulous idea!!
      Happy Holidays,
      Dawn @ Small Footprint Family