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Fredericksburg Academy ramps up environmental initiatives, hosts other schools in conference to kick off Green Cup Challenge Date published: 1/15/2010
By RUSTY DENNEN Saving energy, recycling and environmental awareness are not just academic exercises for students and faculty at Fredericksburg Academy. Signs on paper-towel dispensers note that reducing waste saves trees. Plastic, glass, aluminum cans and paper products are collected and recycled. One parent donated funds for an innovative solar lighting system for a classroom. Today, Fredericksburg Academy is holding a kick-off conference for the Green Cup Challenge. Organized by Green Schools Alliance, the national challenge helps schools cut energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Students come up with practical solutions that classmates and the school can use, and monitor electricity use. The challenge runs from Jan. 25-Feb. 22. The idea: "So the whole school is aware that you turn off those computers, that the heat should be on 65 degrees, to hopefully create lifelong habits," said school Finance Director Debra Lee-Rizzi, who helped organize the event. About 30 students from five other private schools in the Chesapeake Bay region--Virginia Episcopal School, St. Stephen's-St. Agnes School, Christchurch School, North Cross School and Oldfields School--are coming to Fredericksburg Academy for the kickoff. Students will delve into sessions such as "A Community Approach to Greening" and participate in an energy-conservation idea exchange. Richard Swindell, director of business operations at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, will discuss green building. "My personal belief is that it's really important to teach children and ourselves the importance of conserving resources and using them wisely," Lee-Rizzi said. The school last year started a green team "to examine what we were doing, and it blossomed from there," she said. Eight students in grades nine through 12 are part of it. "They're really passionate about being green and want to change the way we think here. During our first meeting, we went around the school looking at what we needed to recycle," said Lee-Rizzi. Recycling containers now sit in the lunchroom, faculty lounges and common areas. Even juice boxes used in the lower grades are recycled. Fourth-graders are heading up recycling efforts as part of their community service focus this year. Discarded paper goes into a container out back for recycling; parents are encouraged to bring paper from home. "Once it's full, they take it away and give us a little money," Lee-Rizzi said. That's used to fund other green projects. Dara Dawson, a middle-school science teacher, got a grant from Target for an upcoming field trip to the National Building Museum in Washington. Fredericksburg Academy has also begun a junior master gardener program. A representative of the Association for Climate Education will be at the school on Jan. 27 for a climate-change assembly. "We want to make a huge difference," Lee-Rizzi said, "and we want to share that with other schools. You start small and you build on that." fredericksburgacademy.org greencupchallenge.netRusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Date published: 1/15/2010
People are people.
PS I too work in a notoriously cold building. I wear an extra sweater.
I said 65 not 85 degrees. Guderian if you read the comments Monkey referred to me enjoying a 130 degree fire in my Mansion and he insinuated it was a bad thing. Nothing is wrong with white people. The only thing wrong with white, black, brown or red people is that we have to refer to people by color and not just as people.
The winter on the east coast does not explain the temp of the entire planet. are you serious?
Just sick and tired of hearing about green this and green that? I am so tired of hearing about how the decisions I should be making on how I live my life are being made by politicians on some farce cooked up by a bunch of scientists who will not share their data with anyone who questions it. We are having the coldest winter in a long time this year (I am a native of 34 years). Is the data really that conclusive? Not what I have seen.
your building cannot heat properly then. The mansion comment was more related to the big fireplace comment and had nothing to do with you whateversover. It had to do with people who enter buildings, regardless of the temp outside, and think that 85 degrees is acceptable and that everyone would want to be that warm.
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