How will your Local Section participate in Earth Day in 2012?

[AWestheim]

Use this discussion thread as a forum to connect with your fellow coordinators. We are very interested to hear your ideas for activities. Remember, the theme for 2012 is "Rethinking Recycling—It's Easy to Be Green!" We encourage you to ask questions and interact.

[DonivanPorterfie]

Aviva,

For the Central New Mexico Local Section I’m hoping to expand the outreach we did last year at a public community event sponsored by the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (www.pajaritoeec.org) in Los Alamos, NM.  Last year we used a kit of items provided by NatureWorks to show the variety of products that their Ingeo biopolymer is used in.  For this year I hope to expand the examples to include not only NatureWorks Ingeo but also Metabolix Mirel PHA biopolymer (used in Papermate Earth Write pens and pencils - www.papermate.com/Pages/biodegradeable.aspx) and DuPont Sorona biopolymer (www2.dupont.com/Sorona_Consumer/en_US/index.html).

Last year we also handed out the coasters from ACS made from recycled denim and soda bottles. 

Some of the several hundred attendees expressed surprise to see the "American Chemical Society" represented at an event focused on the environment.  Now that several different polymer producers have brought biopolymers to the market it is up to the consumer to make the choice that truly counts - buying the products made with those biopolymers.

I would suggest for other ACS promotional items made from plastic that there be consideration to using a biopolymer in their production.

Mr. Donivan Porterfield

2012 Past-Chair and Councilor

ACS Central New Mexico Local Section

[AWestheim]

Hi Donivan,

Thanks for the input and suggestion of considering NatureWorks and PaperMate as green-savvy manufacturers. Next month, we'll be stocking up on CCED coasters (made from recycled PET) in the ACS store. You may be pleased to learn that ACS will also be featuring a new product, an eco-friendly memo pad/pen set, so look out for that in 2012.

[JulannMiller]

The San Diego section will participate for the 5th year in EarthFair, an Earthday event in Balboa Park. http://www.earthdayweb.org/  This organization has 400 exhibitors &70,000 attendeees displaying all topics related to Earthday.  We have a booth in the Children's area to educate the general public on how chemistry is related to their interest in the environment.  Volunteers will create an paper recycling activity using extra pocket program guides from the Spring 2012 National meeting in San Diego.  A recycled paper basket and paper beads will be shown to the children and supplies to let them create them.  Our community has Green Field Paper company, they have given us seed paper strips from their recycling paper process.  We will demonstrate paper making and display a poster on the cycle of paper. 

Resources we find on reuse, upcyling and recycling. www.funsci.com - the life cycle of paper

For ideas look into www.epa.gov, Earth 911 and planet pals. 

[BryanBalazs]

The California Local Section will continue our yearly partnership with other community groups for a combined celebration of Earth Day and John Muir's Birthday on April 21, 2012 on the grounds of the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, CA.  This celebration will engage hundreds of families, kids, and adults, at our section’s canopy location.  The hands-on demonstrations and activities will be consistent with the ACS Earth Day theme of “Rethinking Recycling — It’s Easy to Be Green!”  We will illustrate to the public ways in which they can be environmentally conscious by using renewable materials, and how this relates to chemistry and the roles chemists play.

[ruthwoodall]

The Nashville Section will supply the volunteers to handle the recycling portion of the Nashville Earth Day Festivalscheduled for  April 21st, 2012 at Centennial Park in Nashville, from 11am until 7pm.  Our volunteers will be called "Rubbish Wranglers"  They will be identified by T-Shirts and will man 8 recycling and compostiong stations in 2 hour shift.  Information will be given about what kinds of materials to recylce and the benefits of recycling.  The festival expects to have more than 10,000 visitors. The Nashville Section serves on the plannning committe for this festival.  We have been meeting for months to plan this event. For more information go to www.nashvilleearthday.org

[Alexmadonik]

Bryan, thanks for posting this event, which has been a great outreach opportunity for the California Section over the past several years.  This year's CCED edition of Celebrating Chemistry includes a plastic recycling activity (authored by San Joaquin Section Councilor Missy Golden) that is quite similar to the activity we've presented at numerous Family Science Nights since 1998.  Let's see what aspects can travel to the ACS canopy at the John Muir Birthday Celebration.

[Previous Community Member]

Would you please share this on the Chemistry Ambassadors' Facebook page?  www.facebook.com/chemistryambassadors

[Previous Community Member]

Would you please share this on the Chemistry Ambassadors' Facebook page?  www.facebook.com/chemistryambassadors

[Previous Community Member]

Would you please share this on the Chemistry Ambassadors' Facebook page?  www.facebook.com/chemistryambassadors