Troop 597 Earns Bronze Award with Go Green Project

Shelby, Emily, Lindsey, Callie and Abigayle, fifth graders at Chelsea Intermediate School and members of Girl Scout Troop 597, recently earned the Girl Scout Bronze Award for their project Go Green with Girl Power. The girls helped other troops earn their Forever Green patch as they led their service unit weekend by teaching other Girl Scout troops how to recycle. All of the activities took place outside without electricity. They played a recycling game and water bottle tag, and they made crafts using recycled materials.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Junior (fourth and fifth grades) can earn. This award recognizes that a Girl Scout Junior has gained the leadership and planning skills required to follow through with a project that makes a positive difference in her community.

Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama Reduces Negative Environmental Impact

The Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama (GSNCA) reports the year-long campaign in 2012 to reduce plastic waste and save energy a success. Girl Scouts, and the communities within the 36 counties served by GSNCA, had the following environmental and financial impact:
 

• 443,811 kWh of energy saved
• 832,730 pounds of CO2 eliminated
• 46,949 pounds of waste eliminated
• $39,374 saved on home energy bills 

In an effort to track the Forever Green projects’ effectiveness, those participating in the council’s call to action in late 2011 could input the amount of water bottles they reused, reusable bags used, cans recycled and the amount of energy-saving light bulbs used.

 

The total impact of CO2 eliminated translates into roughly the equivalent of 74 cars being removed from the road. 

 

“We’re pleased that we started many people down the Forever Green path,” said Trish Coghlan, chief executive officer for GSNCA. “We hope that our project paves the way for Girl Scouts, as well as our communities, to be Forever Green as we launch the second century of Girl Scouting.”

 

About Girl Scouts Forever Green

In 2012, Girl Scouts celebrated its 100th anniversary. To mark this milestone and to honor founder Juliette Gordon Low, who loved nature and the outdoors, Girl Scouts of all ages, volunteers and alumnae are engaging in Girl Scouts Forever Green. This nationwide, take-action project offers a meaningful leadership experience that makes a positive impact on the environment. Visit

girlscoutsnca.org/forevergreen for more information.

Troop 287 Earns Bronze Award with Forever Green Project

Troop 287 members Jessie, Molly, Abbi, Gillian, Shelby, Alyssa, Isabelle, Abby and Emily from Thompson Intermediate School; Hannah from Calera Intermediate School; Jerica and Madison, both homeschooled, recently earned the Girl Scout Bronze Award. The girls helped a younger troop earn its Forever Green patch by going to Meadow View Elementary School weekly and teaching the girls how to live “green.” The girls also made recycle bins for the students.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Junior can earn. This award recognizes that a Girl Scout Junior has gained the leadership and planning skills required to follow through with a project that makes a positive difference in her community.

Forever Green Exhibit Opens at BMA

Looking Into Our Promise by Troop 790;
Pictured: Whitney & Natalie

The Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama’s Forever Green Exhibit opened at the Birmingham Museum of Art on Sunday, May 20. The exhibition highlights “green” artwork and coincides with the Girl Scouts’ 100th anniversary celebrations.

The Girl Scouts in the 36 counties covered by North-Central Alabama worked to create “green” artworks using recycled materials. They creatively used both man-made and natural materials to construct images of their world. 

Featured artists are Sophia of Alabaster; Heather of Madison; Nancy of Hoover; Kendal of Hazel Green; Vivian of Huntsville; Hanna of Trussville; Caroline, Cecily, Charlotte, Jamie, Giana, Caroline, Claire, Cayla, Reed all of Vestavia Hills; Gabby of Birmingham; and Anna-Li, Hayden, Whitney, Alexandria, Caroline, Tate, Ella, Lilly, Chloe, Paige, Natalie, Elizabeth and Annie all of Homewood.

The exhibit will run in the Education Gallery through July 31 and is free to the public. 

Untitled by Jamie

City of Birmingham Recycles Day, October 26 at Linn Park

The City of Birmingham Recycles Day Committee will host an event to allow citizens to recycle their Electronic Waste (including televisions) and Yellow Pages, taking place Wednesday October 26 from 6 a.m.–2 p.m. at Linn Park.

Accepted Items for Recycles Day:
Yellow Pages, Personal Computers, Televisions, Monitors, LCD TVs, Flat Screen Monitors, VCRs, Radios, Stereos, DVD players, Microwaves, Power Supplies, Rechargeable Batteries, Vacuums, Banking Equipment, Telephones, Pagers, Networking Equipment, Laptops, Keyboards, Mice, Power Cables, Non-Hazardous Medical Equipment, Printers, Copy Machines, Servers, Hubs, Ink Cartridges, Toner Cartridges, Remotes, Modems, Projectors, Cameras

Unaccepted Items for Recycles Day:
Refrigerators, Washers, Clothes Dryers, Dish Washers, Mercury Containing Devices (Thermometers, Fire Alarms), Hazardous Chemicals/Materials, Light Bulbs, Florescent Bulbs, Bio Waste

A drive-thru for recycling e-waste, Yellow Pages telephone books and cellular telephones will be available.

Linn Park is located at 710 20th Street North in Downtown Birmingham.

Do you know of opportunities like this happening in your community? Let us know, and we'll post the information here! 

Republished from www.mygreenbirmingham.com/my-city.

Help Girl Scouts Reduce Plastic Waste

The Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama (GSNCA) will launch its year-long campaign to Reduce Plastic Waste on October 1. This campaign is in conjunction with the Girl Scouts of the USA’s (GSUSA) Forever Green Take Action Project.

GSNCA invites the community to participate in the project by reducing the number of single-use water bottles and replacing them with reusable water bottles. You may register, track and share your monthly impact by logging on to www.girlscoutsnca.org/forevergreen.

Break the bottled water habit: Facts

• Every second of every day in the United States, 1,000 people buy a plastic bottle of water, and every second of every day, 1,000 more throw one of those bottles away. That adds up to more than 30 billion bottles and tens of billions of dollars a year.
• Plastic bottles are produced from fossil fuels, typically natural gas and petroleum. More than 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to just bottle water.
• Most plastic bottles are not recycled, and plastic bottles and caps often end up in the ocean.
• Cleaning up plastic trash is expensive for our communities, but reusable bottles save money and protect our planet and our health.
• If half a million Girl Scouts each recycled five plastic containers, they could save enough energy to power a compact fluorescent light bulb for 6,849 years.

You can also help reduce plastic waste by replacing plastic bags with reusable bags.

Bag the plastic bag habit: Facts

• It is estimated that Americans go through about 100 billion plastic bags a year, or 360 bags per year per every man, woman, and child in the country.
• If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the Earth's equator 776 times!
• Every reusable bag used takes the place of 600 single-use plastic bags.
• Once used, plastic bags may last for up to 1,000 years; every single piece of plastic ever manufactured is still on the planet: in use, in landfills, as wind-blown litter on land, or as toxic contaminants in water like global river systems and oceans.
• Paper bags are not a good alternative to single-use plastic bags. Stores typically pay more for paper bags than plastic, anywhere from 5 to 23 cents per bag; these costs are then embedded in food prices, which are eventually passed on to consumers.
• Plastic pollution is found floating in all the world's oceans, everywhere from the polar region to the equator. It can take hundreds of years or more to break down, and some types never truly biodegrade at sea.
• An estimated 100,000 marine mammals and as many as 1 million sea birds die every year after ingesting or being tangled in plastic litter. At least 267 different species are known to have suffered from entanglement or ingestion of plastic marine debris.
• In the environment, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller particles that attract toxic chemicals. These particles are ingested by wildlife on land and in the ocean, and can contaminate our food chain.
• Plastic affects human health: Harmful chemicals leached by plastics are already present in the bloodstream and tissues of nearly all of us, including newborns.

Erecycling & Shredding Event

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 9 A.M. to 1 P.M.

WHERE: Exchange Field at Wald Park in Vestavia

The City of Vestavia is holding a erecycling & shredding day on Saturday, September 17, at Wald Park. See the list below for items they are accepting.

Computers, monitors, desktop CPUs, LCD display laptops, notebook computers, CD & DVD players, scanners, printers, fax machines, adding machines, cell phones, corded phones, cordless phones, answering machines, pagers, pocket PCs, digital cameras, routers, remotes, PDAs, stereos, discmans, walkmans, VCRs, radios, tape players, keyboards, cables, mice, game hardware, modems, external drives, small kitchen appliances, including can openers and blenders, large white goods, including refrigerators, dishwashers, stoves, washers, dryers and microwaves.

Call 205.978.0100 or 205.823.5011 for more information.