National 2007 Go Green Earth Summit School Environmental Conference

On Saturday November 3, 2007, I attended the Go Green Earth Summit School Environmental Conference held at the Marriott Hotel. The main purpose of the conference:

Learn how schools can go green with:

• Recycling
• Composting and Worm Composting
• Green Buying
• Funding for Green Programs
• School Gardens
• Water, energy, and waste conservation
• Environmental Education
• Connecting Children with Nature

Learn about the Go Green Initiative for schools.

Thanks to the mayor vision of a greener San Jose, many pilot programs towards a green vision are able to take flight. One of the most hopeful programs that the City of San Jose is involved in is the Go Green Initiative. The conference was a success to help educate teachers, parents, students, and school faculty on ways that they can do around their classes or schools become more green.

I not only attended the session on Zero Waste for schools but was involved in creating the presentation. In the session, we set up clearstreams for attendees to view. There are four container: garbage, bottle and cans, paper, and compost. The first presenter, Leah Lowrie, focused on zero wasting schools. Her PowerPoint presentation was strait forward. She had examples of compostable food serviceware that schools can use. For the most part, her main goal was to explain the concept to to teachers, students, and parents.

The second presenter was Jerry Nelson. He is an intern for the City of San Jose and is involved in the Go Green Initiative. His presentation talked mainly on the pilot program that is occurring in a San Jose school. Fortunately, many family members at the school have been very receptive to greening the campus. Paper, being the number one waste generated at schools are generally not recycled. The program that Jerry is involved in brings out containers to schools and helps educated teachers, custodial staff, and students on how they can take part on their campus.

I believe that the conference was a success. Many teacher were very excited about the new information they learned. They learned skills on how to make recycling more interactive and how to get parents involved from home just by packing lunches that do not generate unrecyclable garbage. Teacher also took home worms for worm bins that will be used on school. Unfortunately, there were not enough attendees to truly learn about the programs being offered out there for them. Hopefully, next years conference will draw in a bigger crowd.

Tire Reef of Florida

In the 1970's, millions of tires were dumped in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida's Broward County to create an artificial reef. Many believed this was a great idea that would help the fish population. It seemed very promising in the beginning but would later turn for the worst. The history of the tire reef is a friendly reminder that the many creatures are affected by our actions even if they are not visible to the human population.

The tires were not only unsuccessful at creating a new habitat for fish, they destroyed neighboring coral reefs. Many of the tires were transported by storm to neighboring reefs, some traveling great distances. The biggest problem the local and federal government faced was the complete removal of the tires. At the time, it seemed like a cost effective way of discarding something that we did not use anymore. In the end, the joke is on us. Removal of the tires would cost more that discarding them the us. The damage is done to an environment that did not need any help. Efforts from Broward County Environmental Protection Department, Navy Salvage Divers from Norfolk, VA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program to conduct a pilot project to remove waste tires from a site. The effort to remove the tires have been successful in some areas. Some tires have also been successful for the corals but is only a small positive portion of the issue.

I find it very upsetting to think that politicians look at the ocean as a giant landfill. Who in their right mind would have come up with the idea of using old tires for a reef is incomprehensible to my eye. There were no testings done to see the longevity of the artificial reef whatsoever. From a person coming from an island, it disgusts me. Fortunately, there are efforts being done to remove the tires. It is a much longer process that demands a great amount of man power. I don't believe that the reef would ever be restored to its natural setting. Many reefs across the world are dying because of pollution from the human end. I believe that once the reef is gone actions would kick in but it would be too late for the millions of sea creatures who would have lost their homes because of human stupidity.