Sustainability Task Force
RPCS has signed a pledge to be a “Climate Steward” with the Green Schools Alliance. We have pledged to establish our energy and carbon emissions baseline and then lower our emissions over a period of time. More information about the Green Schools Alliance and our commitment is available at http://www.greenschoolsalliance.org/takeaction/index.html .
As part of this pledge, we established a Sustainability Task Force to guide the development and implementation of a Comprehensive Action Plan to reduce our school’s carbon emissions. The task force serves as a guide by initiating actions and attempting to involve as many members of the RPCS community as possible. The task force is composed of volunteers representing an many sections of the community as possible including students, parents, faculty, administration, alumni, trustees, and office and maintenance personnel.
In 2008-2009, the Sustainability Task Force initiatives were:
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E-Ride Share – encouraging carpooling
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No Idling Campaign – encouraging people to idle less on campus
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Reducing Lunch-time Trash by Recycling More
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Encouraging Trash-free Lunches – when bringing your lunch to school use less packaging and produce less trash
In 2009-2010, the Sustainability Task Force initiatives include:
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Walk to School days once per month
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Reducing unnecessary printing
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Upcycled Notebooks made from paper printed and left on printers
Walk to School information:
Please check back in the Fall for more updated information.
No Idling Information:
Please join us in improving the quality of air that our students breathe by not idling on campus. Starting in early April, 5th Grade students will distribute bumper stickers and fact sheets to encourage and celebrate our efforts to reduce idling on campus.
Did you know…
Tailpipe exhaust from both gasoline- and diesel-burning vehicles contains the pollutants that produce ozone when combined with sunlight and heat. Ozone occurs mostly during the summer months. A warming planet means more hot days, and thus more ozone.
Breathing in ozone irritates and inflames your lungs, and repeated exposure can reduce lung function. There’s a lot of evidence that ozone makes asthma worse. Recently the Children’s Health Study in California found evidence that ozone causes asthma.
What makes idling especially bad for health is that drivers tend to idle in gathering places - by sidewalks, schools, playgrounds, homes, and offices. Breathing in pollution close to the source is more dangerous than farther away.
furthermore…
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Ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting your engine.
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Restarting a car many times has little impact on engine components such as the battery and the starter motor.
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Idling your vehicle with the air conditioning can increase emissions by 13%.
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Excessive idling can be hard on your engine.
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You will save gas by turning the engine off and restarting it again if you expect to idle for more than 30 seconds.
Sources:
Valentine, Leslie. Environmental Defense Fund: Asthma and Idling – A Bad Combination.
http://sustainablog.org/2008/05/07/environmental-defense-fund-asthma-and-idling-a-bad-combination/
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, http://www.deq.state.or.us/aq/advisories/quick.htm
Reducing the RPCS carbon Footprint
In the academic year, 2009-2010, the sustainability task force focused on reducing unnecessary printing and use of paper. Monthly counts of printouts not picked up from the printers around the school were completed and graphs were posted showing improvement by reduction in the numbers. In addition, the sustainability task force made upcycled notebooks from the paper that was printed on only one side. These were introduced to others around the school and a number of projects were carried out making similar notebooks.