CPS Green Council

Our first ever Eco-charrette!

2009-12-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

On November 17, 2009, College Prep teamed with Ratcliffe Architects to hold our first "Eco-charrette." An eco-charrette is intended to be intense meeting, generally lasting at last half a day or more (ours ran from 4-8 PM) in which all participants brainstorm about how to improve ecological sustainability. The group generates goals and then develops strategies for accomplishing those goals. Eco-charrettes, also called sustainable design or environmental design charrettes, are becoming a common element in the design of "green" buildings, and the Ratcliffe team helped us to co-opt the term to focus our path towards reducing our ecological footprint.

By the way, the term "charrette" is derived from the French word for cart. At the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in the 19th century, proctors would circulate with charrettes at the deadline hour, collecting the drawings of the student apprentices for delivery to the master artist for critique. Apprentices would jump onto the carts with their drawings, often still frantically making last-minute changes. Thus, the word conveys a sense of the intensive, concentrated effort.

At our eco-charrette, Kit Ratcliffe and Brian Feagans presented the assembled group of students, faculty, parents, and administrators, with the results of an extensive audit that the Ratcliffe firm did regarding College Prep's campus carbon footprint, waste production, and water usage. The results were startling, but gave us a great benchmark against which to measure our future progress.

November's event was only a first step, and there will be future eco-charrettes to help us focus our attention and energy. Let us know if you are interested in participating!

S.F. composting, recycling becomes law Wednesday!

2009-10-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

I saw this article in the Chronicle this morning, and I thought you all might find it interesting. One notable:

"The amount of material turned into "San Francisco gold," compost that cuts down on methane emissions from landfill, returns carbon to the soil and is prized by farmers and vintners for its rich nutrients, has grown in the past year from 400 tons a day to about 500, Reed said."

Green Summer Jobs for Youth

2009-03-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Rising Sun Energy Center in downtown Berkeley will soon be

interviewing and hiring young people for California Youth Energy
Services, their annual summer jobs program located in various Bay Area
sites. No prior experience is needed; successful applicants receive
paid training to be ''youth energy specialists.''

Details:
* 7-week summer job: June 22nd-August 7th
* Regular work schedule: Tuesday–Friday with (2) mandatory Saturdays,
10:30am – 6:00pm
* Starting pay: $9.00 /hour
* Job involves visiting houses in the community (by scheduled
appointment) and helping residents save energy by: doing a
comprehensive energy audit of the home; replacing incandescent light
bulbs for energy-efficient CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights);
installing clotheslines; and providing other information on how to
save energy. Youth work in pairs and visit 3-10 appointments per day
depending on location.

CYES is a popular program, so if you are interested, check it out within the next week. For qualification and application info, call 510/665-1501, ext. 14; or visit
www.risingsunenergy.org and follow the CYES link.

March 22 is World Water Day.

2009-03-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

In 1992, the United Nations designated March 22nd as World Water Day. They wanted to highlight and raise awareness about the global water and sanitation crisis affecting the planet.

One billion people on the planet don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation, specifically a toilet.

I found a website for a specific group called Charity:water who is working in the Central African Republic (the CAR) to provide fresh water. There is a good video posted on the website - I urge you to check it out. I spent 6 months living with Baka Pygmies (basically the same ethnic group as described on the webpage) and know that the details presented here are correct.

I hope you will take even a few seconds today to reflect on the notion that while we argue the merits of greening our laptops, up to 20% of the human beings living on this planet don't have access to fresh drinking water, a resource that even the poorest of us in this country take for granted.

We can't instantly change that situation, but we can at least appreciate what we have.

Learn a bit more about Obama's environmental team.

2009-03-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

This is cut and pasted from the APES blog, so you might be unfamiliar with some of the references, but I thought a more general audience might be interested in learning more about Obama's picks for major science/environmental posts.

There is a short article in today's NY Times about Jane Lubchenco, the new head of NOAA, a critical agency involved in the management of the oceans and atmosphere. I knew Jane when I started grad school at Oregon State....she is married to Bruce Menge, of the Menge-Sutherland model you read about in the paper on trophic cascades by Mary Power; she also worked with Mary on the optional paper I gave you on how to define a keystone species (she and Mary are good friends). Additionally, she did critical experiments on the role of disturbance in intertidal ecosystems. All of the professional and academic ecologists and environmental scientists that I know were extremely excited by her appointment to this important post, which once again shows that the Obama team are using a very educated, thoughtful, smart approach to filling these positions. The article linked above discusses Lubchenco's view regarding the idea of adding iron to the ocean to stimulate algal primary productivity - you might recall that there is a Bio case study on this topic, and it was the focus of Abby Halperin's APES project last year.

There are also links to an info and an interview with John Haldren, a Harvard scientist who is Obama's new Science Advisor - he will surely have a strong say in determining how the Obama administration approaches climate change and other environmental issues.

Less Pesticide Intensive Food

2009-03-11T12:11:00.001-07:00

Announcing a new update to an old favorite: it's the 5th edition of EWG's classic Shopper's Guide to Pesticides, now with the latest government data. This handy guide shows you the fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides, so you know which to always buy organic and which are pretty clean even when conventionally grown.

GET THE GUIDE

Find out what changed about bananas, carrots, and spinach (among others), and get a printable version of the wallet-sized guide.

SEE THE FULL LIST

See the list of all 47 fruits and vegetables we analyzed to find out where your favorites rank.

Green Schools Conference

2009-03-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

Green Vision Green Schools K-12 Conference

April 4, 2009, 8AM to 5PM, San José Fairmont Hotel

Sponsored by City of San José Environmental Services

The City of San José’s third annual environmental schools conference, Green Vision / Green Schools, will be held Saturday, April 4, 2009, from 8AM to 5PM at the San José Fairmont Hotel, 170 South Market Street, San José.

Teachers, parents, principals, students, counselors, and other community members from throughout the South Bay Area are invited to attend. We especially encourage school district superintendents, administrators, and school board members to participate.

The conference links the City’s Green Vision, a landmark fifteen year plan to create a green future for San José, with the greening of San José’s schools. The conference will showcase ways schools and school districts can save money while protecting natural resources and fostering the next generation of environmental stewards.

The conference this year is organized around four themes or tracks:

· Gold from Green: Green School Facilities Saving Energy, Water, Waste and School Budgets

– for school district superintendents, administrators, school board members

· Green Schools 101: Basic How tos for Beginners

(recycling, composting, gardens, funding…)

· Green Schools Beyond the Basics: Next Steps for Intermediate Green Schoolers

· Connecting Children with Nature: Environmental Education / Local Nature Field Trips

Keynote speakers include Stephen Bantillo, assistant director of the California Department of Conservation’s Beverage Recycling Program, and local environmental studies teaching legend Frank Schiavo.

To register or for further information, go to the conference website or email the San José Go Green Schools Program:

http://www.sjrecycles.org/gogreen/GoGreenSchoolConference.asp

sjgreenschools@sanjoseca.gov

MINUTES for Meeting #3

2009-02-26T21:12:00.000-08:00

Green Council Minutes
2/26/09

I. RECYCLING
a. Waste Management is the company we are going to use starting in March
i. They will come once a week and take everything
ii. 5 or 6 locations for the bins on campus, we have purchased a few containers
iii. bins for composting near Penelope’s kitchen
iv. single-source recycling (all in one dumpster)

II. FOOD DAY UTENSILS
a. Communal utensils
i. Plastic, pie tins
1. Families could donate pie tins
2. StuCo
ii. Cleaning up?
1. Faculty advisors connected to clubs could make sure it gets done

III. MORE INVOLVEMENT
a. Freshmen/Sophomore/Junior involvement
b. Zip code parties
c. Freshman foundations
d. Orientation/freshman retreat
e. Senior advisors

IV. SOLAR
a. Big push for sustainability
b. Solar panel costs are going down
i. Will cost $200,000 after rebates
c. Financing issues
d. Probably happening, but no guarantees
e. Investment pool
f. 60% of school’s energy would be from solar power

V. LEED CERTIFICATION
a. Platinum LEED certification is attainable, standard will be set high
b. CPS will shoot for platinum, but costs might prevent us
c. Environmentally Friendly Product Purchasing
i. Green Business Program Certification
ii. Green Products like dry erase markers, fluorescent lights
d. Just picked a general contractor

VI. TRANSPORTATION
a. Parking lot (will be expanded on the side with the wooden retaining wall)
b. Bicycle racks need to be covered
c. Bicycle ramp on Golden Gate in place of stairs (CPS Day?)

U-Tube about "Clean Coal"

2009-02-26T20:01:00.000-08:00

Here's an entertaining item I received --

When it comes to making cutting edge films like "Fargo," "No Country for Old Men," and "The Big Lebowski," Joel and Ethan Coen are the real deal.

Now, they've got one more title on that impressive list.

"Air Freshener" is directed by the Coen brothers, and we're proud to say it's Reality's latest ad -- calling out the coal industry's ridiculous claims that coal is clean as only the Coen brothers can. Watch it now:

http://action.ThisIsReality.org/coenbrothers

A lot has happened since we launched the Reality Campaign to call out the coal industry for their dirty lies. The devastating coal ash spill in Tennessee last December was a painful reminder that using "clean" to describe coal doesn't make it true. And last week, the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to reconsider carbon dioxide regulation was a tremendous wake-up call to the coal industry.

Now is a crucial moment. Our message is working, and we've got to take this opportunity to turn up the heat. With help from folks like the Coen brothers, it's a little easier (and funnier). Will you help spread the word, too?

Watch how this Air Freshener "cleans," and join the Reality Campaign to help push the coal industry to come clean about dirty coal.

http://action.ThisIsReality.org/coenbrothers

It's time for the coal industry to make an immediate investment in new technology, to show real commitment to clean energy solutions. The ball is in their court.

Thanks,

Brian Hardwick
Reality Coalition

P.S. After you watch the video, check out the Reality blog, the newest addition to ThisIsReality.org

Cool Rooftops!

2009-02-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

In thinking about LEED certification, I remembered past class discussions in AP Environmental Science about the value, in terms of energy saved and increased albedo,of white rooftops. I heard a great interview on NPRs "Living on Earth" about this topic a few weeks ago, and was surprised to learn that California has had a requirement since 2005 that flat roofs be painted white, and starting next year, will require new buildings in the warmest parts of the state to have roofs painted either white, or with new "cool pigment" paints that reflect light. You can see the transcript of the discussion here. I also found a terrific summary of the entire issue; the pdf can be found here.

What is LEED Certification?

2009-02-26T09:53:00.001-08:00

I was recently told that CPS has decided to have all of our new construction built in accordance with the standards required for the highest level of LEED certification, platinum. Whether or not we pay the cost of actually becoming certified will be decided later, and is somewhat beside the point. If you would like to find out more about LEED certification and what aspiring towards platinum involves, go to the main LEED website.

MINUTES for Meeting #2

2009-01-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

New construction
• Recently did a green construction project at Prospect Sierra
• Want student input (unclear as to when/how this will occur)
o Mary suggested white roofing

Recycling
• Location? for new bins (EnvAc and EmChen have been working on this)
• New bins will be more clearly marked: compost, cans, plastic
• Currently no way to recycle film plastics & meat
• The Waste Management service quota gets filled quickly, Dave Clerici (CFO) looking for a new recycling company

Solar Panels
• Board Member Dave Carniglia said they were “seriously considering”
• Still hearing concerns about leaking and roofing: solar companies have dealt with this, not an issue
o This seems to be more of a smoke screen...
• Recap of the history:
o We were really close to signing off, concerns about someone else owning them
o Steve Holtzman had the idea for parents to form a corporation, would get tax benefits
• Shosh suggested we have sq. feet of solar panels available for sale to parents as a donation (good graduation present)
• Alumni donors would be good, Solar City managed by an alum
• Energy Advisory Group has been formed and is discussing things

We want to make some visible progress, hard if there are no direct links to people with power to make these decisions (no administrators were attending: Jonna, several parents and students).
• What about having a designated “green” administrator or board member whose job it would be to attend these meetings and focus on the environmental issues?

CARBON FOOTPRINT
• Total: 1,294, 000 lbs carbon dioxide (rounded #s)
o 151, 000 lbs from electricity
o 300,000 lbs from gas
o 544, 000 lbs from cars
o 17,000 lbs from buses
o 283, 000 lbs form waste (very rough figure)
• Notice how large a portion car usage is!

Ideas:

- Carpooling
• Send vans to a few locations to pick people up
• Replace vans with at least biodiesel
• Zip code party
• Problems with timing for BART shuttles at the end of the day (people with 7th free or with sports until 6 pm)
• Incentives for carpooling, charging for parking?
• Also problems in the morning, usually there are twice as many people waiting than can fit in the van, need another driver! Fighting for seats!
• Zip cars?
• After school carpooling: we should make a catalogue of people who have to stay late for sports, dance, music, etc. & what time they leave & where they live
• List of students and their zip codes in the packets sent out at the beginning of the year

- Non-car transportation
• Better bike parking needed, we have an unused rack that needs to be bolted down somewhere
• BART/Chia
• sacrifice ~7 mins for BART, can do work/sleep unlike if you are driving
• If everyone who could take BART did, we would remove 770,000 lbs of carbon dioxide (not sure about sources for that number)

• Chia’s idea: everyone for whom the journey to BART is shorter than the journey to school should take BART!
• everyone who lived outside the radius from Rockridge to the next station on either side would take BART = half the school (right now only ~50 students take BART)
• transportation costs would be lower because you can get a student card from Faith Chia (50% discount)
• leniency on the tardy policy to account for delays, etc
• some parents worried about kids taking BART

- Waste
• “Non-waste” lunches?
o Not really viable
• HRS-CPS waste competition
o They would pwn.
o Maybe competition between classes?

Getting the word out
• CPS DAY/Forum
• Periscope, posters
• “Webinar”?

ACTION
• Talk to StuLife about a forum for CPS Day
• Publicize info
o 50% off BART cards for students
o figure out a better late policy
• Make questionnaire about who would be interested in testing out the shuttle idea (alternative to BART)
• Talk about budget to buy incentives (iTunes cards?)

Green Council Minutes #1: "Think Broadly, Act Comprehensively"

2008-11-18T23:01:00.000-08:00

Green Council Meeting Minutes

I. Overview:
1. The blog
2. Green Schools Initiative Project. Jonna found this through the Head-Royce website (we love them!). The 4 pillars.
3. how to create the political will, culture of support
4. Dave Clerici is the new CFO. One of his top priorities is a comprehensive approach to sustainability.
5. we have a great opportunity right now to make changes since we are doing construction, will enable peripheral changes in other areas
a. building project, Ratcliff Architecture specifically Kit Ratcliff
6. certification, various options
7. other ways to reduce carbon footprint besides just solar panels, lots of room for improvement
8. students need somewhere to go in the administration to affect change, someone who will be receptive and who has the power to do things

II. PILLARS
1. getting rid of toxins (pesticides, cleaning products)
2. resource sustainability (where we need to focus)
a. increasing out efficiency
b. alternative energy sources
c. recycling
d. green building construction
3. green, healthy space (food, gardens)
4. education
- cross over between columns, holistic approach
- Steve’s grid:
~current status
~potential improvements
~cost
~savings

III. Certification
a. LEED certification is not a specific goal because of the associated costs - we'd rather use that money for other purposes, but open to the possibility.
b. Shosh Blachman knows about green business certification. You can get an audit for energy use, water, paper, etc. Checklist. Can involve APES class or other students.
c. is audit expensive? No. cost=labor time of getting the audit.
d. PG&E and Sodexo audits have already been conducted. They were not specifically focused on green things, but they identified areas where we can improve.
e. a checklist is online, can help us come up with priorities, figure out what we need to do.
f. Brian Figgins (sp?) is working on the building plans. He is interested in this.

IV. Smaller Solutions.
1. dry erase markers!
a. Annie’s millionth project. Refillable, organic, non-toxic, not expensive! Lisie/Linh are in charge of this.
2. Scrips program for school supplies. Binders, backpacks, notebooks, etc. Could purchase them via CPS website. Discount if we buy in bulk, could be a fundraiser
3. Compost: we want to get a better bin/get connected with the city of Oakland in terms of actually doing to compost. Will this mean exporting our compost system to off site?
a. Paper towel composting. Nick Browne! We need to organize it better/help him out.
4. Recommendations from the PG&E audit from 2 years ago.
a. We have motion sensor lights in most classrooms
b. We want to have better light bulbs in the gym. Steve doesn’t like this b/c it’s a pain to install them and they have to rent a cherry picker. The gym’s energy bill is over $17,000. Numbers: we use 300 KWhrs/yr and release 200,000 lbs of CO2!
c. water use: we have some low-flow toilets. Something about a brick inside the tank
5. cisterns
a. watch out b/c of construction, we don’t want to install them in places where there will be building
b. how about small movable buckets?
c. Our campus is well-situated for this.
6. Recycling.
a. Tran wants visibility and awareness! he wants beautiful bins that show we care. Dave came prepared with some pictures of said beautiful bins.
b. Dr. Cohen’s daughter made them when she went here, which was great, but maybe we are ready to move to the next level?
c. Complaints about the current system:
i. In the words of John: they’re hella ghetto.
ii. It’s hard to tell what bin is what, sometimes the lids aren’t on the right bins.
iii. The paper ones are gone
d. the scam of the paper system!
i. No systemic support for little blue bin classroom recycling. Why?
1. The big dumpster that we use for paper is already full from the larger green paper cans (some of which have now disappeared?)
2. Janitors don’t have time/aren’t paid to collect paper from the classrooms
e. MMLab. Room for efficiency? Yeah.
f. Dave has been approached by Civic Corps. They want to do our recycling for a fee
g. Something about Tori Lawrence, the Secretary of the Board of Trustees. She should be involved?
h. Recycling E-Waste. we did that last year, can occur once or twice/yr. Hopefully the company we use isn’t evil like this one that was exposéd on 60 Minutes (shout out to investigative journalism!)
i. Alameda County Association Computer Recycling (reuse over recycle)
ii. Cellphones, we were scammed! We need to find a better place to donate our used cellphones to.

V. Construction ideas
1. Heating/cooling systems in the new buildings. Annie’s geothermal heat pumps! Jonna says lets write a letter to Ratcliff! Annie has done research on getting this form of heating. It will cost $7,000 (not including drilling), but it will save a lot over time. Compare that with $4,000 for non-alternative heating.
2. Some have a prejudice/idea that green construction=$$$. Not necessarily true.
3. Opportunities for APES students to learn about things! Yes!
4. SOLAR PANELS.
a. Would we have to replace the roof first?
i. Gym is 20 years old, roof is also 20 years old.
ii. This was exhaustively discussed during the studies done last year about solar panels. Jonna said that they found that the cost of removing the panels to replace the roof, and then reinstalling the panels is actually a small fraction of the cost. (5%)
iii. When I talked to Dean, he was concerned with this, wants to replace the roof before we install the panels. According to him, cost of taking off and putting back on = 10%.
b. The auditorium:
i. Dean told me that there would probably not be construction on the auditorium, instead a new performing arts are would be where the language bldgs are
ii. People mentioned that Dean had expressed concern with vandalism/burglary of panels for the auditorium roof because it is more accessible
c. Competition with other fundraisers
i. But! Panels save the school money, less money the school has to raise.
d. Investment benefits are weakening:
i. State tax rebates in decline bc more people are going solar so the rebates are split btwn more people.
ii. But the rebates were intending to support the production of the panels, the cost of purchasing them is getting lower
e. Jonna quotes Dan Kammen: it is the moral responsibility to install them if you can afford to. Socially the right thing to do, good for you.
f. In 1 year, we would get a return of $21,000+ in our electricity bill
g. Two options:
i. Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
ii. donations
h. Energy Advisory Group: started by Murray? Dave is in charge of it. Will have the first meeting in the next few weeks. It is intended to bring together people who are interested, expert, high-powered. There will be an investment portfolio put together...
i. Something other than Solar? Is there something more cost-effective? Not that we have seen so far, but we aren’t against other options if they are better. Dave thinks there might be more bang for our buck in other aspects. Steve says think broadly, act comprehensively.
j. Important to have a visible change soon.

Where to Begin.....

2008-11-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the CPS Green Council. We are a group of students, parents, faculty, administrators, and other members of the community who share an interest and concern in making the actions and activities of our campus as consistent with a goal of environmental sustainability as possible. This is a big job, and our first step will need to be coming to a consensus regarding priorities. How should we be thinking about this?

Well, there are many options. For starters, according to the Green Schools Initiative Project....

The Four Pillars of a Green School are:

I. Strive to be Toxics Free
No pesticides, mold, heavy metals
Green building and cleaning supplies

II. Use Resources Sustainably
Energy efficiency and alternative energies
Green building design
Environmentally sound school supplies
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

III. Create a Green, Healthy Space
Green schoolyard and gardens
Rethink school lunch
No junk food, fast food, soda
Farm to school organic produce

IV. Teach, Learn, Engage
Environmental Education
Involve students in greening the school

From this point of view, we are doing well with respect to Pillar I, and making progress on Pillar IV. I think Pillar III might be a lost cause....thoughts? The place where I think we can and must make lots of progress is Pillar II. We have many opportunities in this category, but it's going to take hard work and creativity to take advantage of them.

Another way to focus our energies is to look specifically at our carbon footprint. One tool for doing so is a calculator designed for schools found at this site.

Please share your thoughts about what our priorities should be, and any resources you know of or stumble upon. If you would like be added as an author on this blog please let me know!