New Year, New Habits

Want to make 2019 the most eco-friendly one yet? Follow these tips and try any of these activities for this year! Get your friends to join you in one of these activities so you can all go green together!

Green Year’s Resolutions

– Bring your own bags and containers to stores and restaurants for shopping and leftovers. Also, don’t forget your bags and containers at home!

– Take the time to recycle at home and at work.

– Don’t litter. By buying less and using less, you can drastically reduced your impact and litter from using packaging material.

– Time your showers. Try to set a record, but don’t forget to clean behind your ears.

– Try to drive even less year this year! Plan some social events with a carpool, with a bike, or with public transportation. This is a great way for kids to learn about using public transportation, it’s a great way for you to stay healthy, and it’s a good way to get together with friends and try new things.

– Plant something! Not only are plants therapeutic, but you can eat things like your own green onions and root vegetables.

– Don’t flush things that aren’t toilet paper or waste down the toilet. Clogging from these kind of materials can create infrastructural damage that reduces a city’s ability to dump water safely back into the environment.

– Try going vegetarian for a day or for a week. Many people around the world eat vegetarian dishes to celebrate an event! Try learning vegetarian recipes from people around the world!

The entire Grades of Green staff wishes you a happy new year! Let’s make this the greenest year yet!

SF Grades of Green Team Meets with Politicians

The City of San Francisco recently introduced legislation to ban straws within the city. Although introduced, the bill is still under a 30 day review for public commentary. To support the legislation and to commemorate World Environment Day, the Grades of Green Team at Presidio Hill School met with Standing Mayor Mark Farrell and Supervisor Katy Tang, who co-wrote the legislation, regarding the bill. Their team had much to discuss with the Standing Mayor and Supervisor- notably, their disdain for single-use plastic utensils. Luckily, both Standing Mayor and Supervisor agreed with the students and supported their fierce passion in engaging the community in education about straws.

Why the hate on straws?

Straws and other single-use plastics have made headlines in recent years due to their harmful effects on animals both near and far. These animals are vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems which in turn maintains healthy beaches, food sources, and economies. The Grades of Green Team at Presidio Hill School learned about the unnecessary waste and damage created by this form of pollution and took action to reduce the effects of straws. The students signed petitions to share with politicians, set up meetings with the City on environmentally focused days, and created posters and flyers to educate the public.

Quotes from Team Members

Pedestrians passing by praised the students for fighting for what they believed in at a young age. The student activists shared their thoughts on the experience and had a blast discussing plastic bans with City Council members.

“We went to City Hall because we wanted to outlaw straws because they get stuck in animals’ body parts and then they can die. When humans eat animals, we get the straws in our bodies, too.”

-Taiga

“I really liked doing our rally around the block because it was fun to go around and show people what we wanted to say.”

– Lily

“It was fun and I was nervous because I’d never done it before. Now I feel happy and proud that I spoke to a politician.”

– Simone

Join Grades of Green!

Want to join an awesome network of schools fighting for the environment? Register with Grades of Green HERE!