February 2024
Have a Heart for Trees this Valentine's Day...and help WCE!
Did you know that each year, over 48,000 trees are cut down to make paper for the 145 million cards exchanged on Valentine's Day? This February, the Green Team is disrupting the cycle with UPCYCLED valentines. Learn more here, or drop by our fundraiser!
The Green Team and WCE Gardens will be selling SEED PAPER HEARTS (wildflower or marigold): 30 for $10, or 3 for $1.
We are also selling TREAT HEARTS, which are upcycled pouches that contain candy. A special gift for a teacher, parent, or older sibling. Choose a large 5-treat heart for $5; a medium 3-treat heart for $3; and a small 1-treat heart for $1.
CASH OR VENMO (@Christina-Foust-1). All proceeds are split between Gardens and Green Team.
See you in February! Meet us at the east entrance, before and after school, Friday 2.2, Monday 2.5, Friday 2.9, and Monday 2.12.
Green Team Vegetarian / Vegan
Recipe of the Month
from MR. DOANE (PE teacher)
Green Team Events
Tuesday, February 13
3:15-4:20pm
Green Team Meeting, Mr. Binder's Room
Wednesday, February 28
3:15-4:20pm
Green Team Meeting, Mr. Binder's Room
Tuesday, March 12
3:15-4:20pm
Green Team Meeting, Mr. Binder's Room
Sunday, April 28
10am-2pm
"From the Creek to the Lake" Earth Day Clean Up
FUN Fact: Narrowleaf cottonwood trees can live to be 200-400 years old!
For more information on the narrowleaf cottonwood, visit the archive.
Photo by Christina Foust, Auraria campus
FUN FACT: Red tail hawks will scavenge for carrion, like vultures, and hunt prey like other hawks!
Recycling your glass is as easy as:
1-drinking or eating everything in it
2-asking yourself: Can I use this for something else? Maybe storing beads, as a drinking glass, or as a "gift jar" to deliver treats to my teacher? If yes, then re-use! If no, continue to #3...
3-give it a quick rinse, take off the lid (large metal lids can be recycled, but must be taken off)
4-put the jar/bottle (and the jar lid) in the recycling bin
Photo by Kier, Unsplash.com
Recycling Tip of the Month:
Don't Throw Cash in the Trash! GLASS
Last month, we started our series, "Don't throw Cash in the Trash," to talk about 3 things so easy and important to recycle that we should do it every single time. Let's talk glass!
Ask your parents or grandparents if they remembered a time when they could return a glass soda bottle to the store for a nickel or a dime. States like Iowa or Michigan paid YOU to recycle your cans and bottles. Back then, about 95% of glass bottles were recycled.
Glass is valuable because it's useful. It can be re-formed into bottles and jars without losing its quality when it gets recycled. One company in Canada found that one beer bottle could be re-used 15 times before it needed to be recycled. So the company has created a "closed loop" system, in which they ask people to return their empty bottles, and the company will wash them, then refill them with beer for people to buy again. By reusing the bottles, the company can save water and raw materials like sand that have to be located and transported to make new glass.
The EPA estimates that only 1/3 of glass containers get recycled, leaving more than 28 billion jars and bottles getting thrown into the landfill each year. We can do better than that! If you choose not to reuse, make sure that you recycle glass every time.