Green Team Leaders enjoyed a presentation from the Izaak Walton League on Save Our Streams. Team leaders learned about the importance of chemical testing, macroinvertebrate monitoring, and the upcoming winter salt watch.

A big thank you to Heather and Grace for coming from Des Moines to our Green Team Leader meeting and sharing those opportunities for our students. 

All are welcome to join our monthly Green Team Leader meetings! You do not have to have a team to come and enjoy guest speakers, find out about community organizations, or see what our teams are up to!

We are looking for committee members who want to work on the annual revision of the Sustainability Plan. Staff, local business leaders, and community members are encouraged to join us for the second revision of our District's Sustainability Plan. Please email Green Team Coordinator, Kristine Sorensen if you are interested. We will be accepting up to 12-16 members on this committee. 

CRCSD students and staff play an important role in reducing our energy and water usage, waste consumption and carbon footprint.

Energy Star Scores compare buildings similar to ours with others nationwide. So what can your school and staff do to increase your Energy Star Score? There is a list of simple ways to decrease energy usage at your school on our website; click on the Report Card button below. 

For additional information or questions you can contact our Energy Project Supervisor, Tammy Carter.

Trick or Trash

Viola Gibson, Garfield, The ELSC, Harrison, Pierce, Grant Wood, Cedar River Academy at Taylor, and Erskine are all participating in Trick or Trash this year.

They are collecting candy wrappers from the big Halloween trick-o-treat runs. These wrappers will be sent to Rubicon, a company that focuses on sustainable waste options.

The candy wrappers are made into doggy bags for animal shelters, the aluminium wrappers are properly recycled, and any food waste that is left behind is composted.

Upcycling with a twist of fashion

Fourth graders at Cedar River Academy learned how to recycle and upcycle. They reused items from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to create a dress for the Recycle Gala Trashion Show.

While they didn't receive first place, they used the design process and teamwork to see a time-intensive project through to completion.

Great job CRA students! 

Students from Harding Middle School helped volunteers unload a semi full of 1,610 trees on October 14. The trees were part of the Planting Forward Program through Monarch Research for employees to take home. The adult volunteers and the students were able to unload and categorize all the trees by species in about 90 minutes!

A special thank you to all the volunteers who took the time to help unload the semi and distribute the trees later that evening. Through the cold, the wind, and sometimes rain, they kept up positive spirits and got the job done! 

Viola Gibson Elementary has lowered its waste usage this year! That is a huge accomplishment for one of our larger elementary schools.

The school will have fewer garbage dumpster pickups each week because they have successfully reduced the amount of trash they are accumulating.

By increasing their recycling habits and becoming more conscious of what is necessary and what is not necessary to throw away, they have set an excellent example for other schools. 

The Green Teams at Johnson and Pierce Elementary each conducted a waste audit as part of the October Challenge. Their brave team leaders sifted through one garbage bag randomly selected from their school. While green team students helped assist in sorting the rubbish from the sidelines. The teams discovered that most garbage collected contained food waste and items needing to be recycled. 

Both schools will receive a $250 award from our generous sustainability sponsors, who assist in teaching students to create better habits by diverting waste from our landfills. 

Green teams participate in challenges each month that are unique and allow for the opportunity to teach students about environmental best practices. Teams that participate earn funding for projects and activities thanks to our generous local business sponsors.

November's Challenge revolves around tracking your carbon footprint. If this is something your Green Team is interested in participating in please contact Green Team Coordinator, Kristine Sorensen. She can direct you on how to do this with your Green team and/or provide you with the needed educational materials.

Each participating team will receive $150, thanks to our sponsors!

Events happening near you

Click on the links below to find out how you can get in touch with nature or learn something new about sustainability and the environment.

Indian Creek Nature Center

Nov 13 - Bird Banding

Iowa Environmental Council

Nov 2 - Salt Watch Kickoff

Iowa City, The Iowa Children's Museum

Nov 5 - Jack Splat