Hello San Tan Families!
Welcome to San Tan Learning Center’s Environmental Awareness Committee! We are very excited to share with you what we have been busy working on, and invite you to be a part of our committee. Our mission is to bring environmental awareness to our school and families, and apply what we learn both at school and at home in our daily lives. We hope you will join us at the next committee meeting; we would love to hear new ideas and see new faces! It is everyone’s responsibility to take care of our Earth, at San Tan Learning Center we plan to do our part!
Committee Co-Chairs: Karla Copeland & Sara Vaughan
Next Committee Meeting: Check back very soon!
NOVEMBER NEWS:
- Carpooling - We would like to announce that we now have a carpooling program which will be run and organized by STLC parents! There has been increased interest in creating carpools, and although the school will not be involved in the program in any way, there is a simple way to coordinate with other STLC families. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to stlccarpooling@hotmail.comand provide your name, address, and phone number. Please keep in mind that this will be a parent run program and neither the school or the parents who are helping organize this effort are liable or responsible in any way.
OCTOBER NEWS:
- Earth Day is April 22, 2012 - San Tan Learning Center will be celebrating our beautiful Earth and preparing for Earth Day 2012 by making the 22nd of each month STLC’s Earth Awareness Day! This day might fall on a weekend but you can still do your part! You and your child can celebrate by wearing green and making Earth-friendly choices. Encourage your kids to turn off the lights or electronics when leaving a room (energy conservation), turn off the water while brushing their teeth (water conservation), and recycle when possible! You could even plant a tree or a small garden! Remember, even small actions can make a huge difference!
- Air Quality Flag Program - We would like to share some very good and healthy news – starting this month, and in conjunction with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), STLC will be participating in the Air Quality Flag Program. This is a program that uses green, yellow, orange or red flags, based on the EPA’s Air Quality Index, to notify the public of air quality conditions. It creates public awareness of outdoor air quality conditions so that people can modify daily activities to reduce exposure to pollutants. Air quality greatly affects how we live and breathe. Children especially are at greater risk because their lungs are still developing and they breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults. Chronic exposure to even moderate levels of pollutants may lead to decreased lung function. Therefore, reducing exposure to outdoor air pollutants is a simple and effective way to protect children. The AQI tells us how polluted the air is and what associated health effects might be a concern. The flags represent either ozone levels or particulate matter pollution levels. If a warning is issued for both ozone and particulate matter on any given day, the school will fly the flag that protects the greater one, thus providing maximum awareness and protection.
FLAG COLORS:
GREEN: Means the air quality is good and it is not necessary to make changes to your outdoor activities.
YELLOW: Means the air quality is acceptable, but there might be some health concerns for a small number of people.
ORANGE: Means pollution levels may be unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as people with lung disease.
RED: Means the air quality is unhealthy, everybody may begin to feel some health effects, and members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. Outdoor activity should be limited for all children, and sensitive individuals should stay indoors.
For more information, please visit ADEQ’s Office of Children’s Environmental Health website: http://www.azdeq.gov/ceh/index.html
- Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe Program: Please save your old athletic shoes for donation! - We are very excited to announce that STLC will be participating in Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe drive! The program involves collecting worn-out athletic shoes for recycling, and transforming them into Nike Grind, a material used in creating athletic and playground surfaces as well as other Nike products. Regardless of how your athletic shoes were processed, the end result is the same. Each shoe is recycled into three high-quality materials: Rubber, Foam, and Fiber. These materials are taken from the shoe’s outsole, midsole, or the fabric upper, and are used to make track surfaces, interlocking gym flooring tiles, playground surfaces, outdoor basketball and tennis courts, cushioning pads for indoor synthetic courts and wood courts, as well as new Nike products. We ask all families to start saving athletic shoes for donation! Information on shoe drop-off location at the school will be coming soon!For more information on the program, please visit the company website: http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/where-it-goes/sports-surfaces.
- Alternatives to Disposables - Many people have already made the switch from plastic disposable water bottles to re-usable BPA-free bottles, but if you haven’t already, please do so! Not only is it better for the environment, it is also better for your health! We would like to encourage everyone to also consider switching to re-useable bags or wraps for lunches and snacks. There are many alternatives which not only produce less waste but also save you money over time. There are many types of reusable options, all of which keep food fresh, are free of toxins, wipe down easily after each use, and come in a variety of fun designs and colors! You can find almost anything you could need at www.reuseit.com.
Thank you for your support in helping protect our children’s health and our planet!