The purpose of the BCS Green Committee is to coordinate and support the efforts of the BCS community to increase awareness and understanding of environmental interrelationships and promote responsible environmental stewardship practices.
Members of the committee include teachers, parents, administrators and members of the wider BPS community.
See the Green Committee Wiki (main page) for more details and up to date information about all of the green activities at BCS.
Green Committee Meeting Minutes
The committee meets once every month to discuss progress with current projects and to determine new ways that BCS can promote responsible environmental stewardship practices. Meeting times vary to try to accommodate everybody's schedules. If you are interested in joining the Green Committee please email Pauline Roberts to receive information about meeting times.
The Joseph/Roberts (“Joberts”) fifth graders are entering the Siemens We Can Change the World challenge this year. For their project, they are trying to reduce the amount of trash we generate at BCS, focusing particularly on the cafeteria. They would like to initiate “Trash Free Fridays” at BCS and they are asking for your help. Each Friday they will be collecting data after lunch about the amount of trash we generate in the cafeteria. They would like the students to think about packing a Trash free lunch and have put together the following tips:
Use a lunch box or reusable sack.
Pack a cloth napkin and reusable utensils.
Put food in reusable food and drink containers.
If you must use a disposable plastic bag, wash it out and keep reusing it.
Purchase your snacks in bulk size and repack into individual reusable containers.
Pack fresh fruit since it doesn't require any additional packaging.
Disposable lunches can create between 4–8 ounces of garbage every day. That can add up to as much as 100 pounds per year! With your help, the Joberts kids believe that we truly can become agents of change!! If you buy lunch, please buy only what you believe you can eat and try not to have any waste!!
The purpose of the Student Green Council is to provide leadership opportunities and to give the students a voice in how we move forward as a Michigan Green School. We want them to know that they are agents of change and to gain a sense of responsibility for the actions and decisions we make as a school.
Every student will have the opportunity to be a member of the green council.
A Windspire wind turbine has been installed providing us with a wonderful opportunity to make a statement about our commitment to protect the Earth .
The Windspire wind turbine generates power when wind blows against its vertical airfoils causing them to spin. One of the distinguishing features of the Windspire vertical wind turbine is that it was engineered as a complete system. It includes more than a rotor that turns in the wind and a generator to generate power. It also includes an integrated inverter, the complete pole and structure, and a wireless monitoring system
It will be used to enhance and promote curriculum, in particular 5th and 6th grade science curriculum regarding renewable/non renewable energy sources, and Engineering Technology curriculum regarding the generation of electricity.
Students, staff and parents are very excited about the potential the turbine has to help the whole community consider the potential of wind energy. We hope to get the students, teachers and parents talking and thinking about future clean energy technologies, thereby promoting a more responsible attitude towards the environment.
A Green Committee Wiki Space has been created for students, teachers and parents. Everything from hyperlinks to lesson plans and videos can be shared on this wiki, with each member of the BCS community pitching in his or her own contribution.
We aim to create a space that students can use to help with the curriculum and as a space for them to share their knowledge. We hope teachers can share online resources, lesson plans and ideas to enrich their curriculum. We want parents to contribute in ways that are useful and meaningful to them. For example How can we recycle at home? What can we recycle at home? How can we extend and support the curriculum at home?
BCS became a 2008-2009 Michigan Green School. In March of 2010 BCS achieved Evergreen status, the highest status in the state!!
The dedication of BCS parent, Betsy Ewrin, and 5-6 Teacher, Pauline Roberts, along with the Green Committee at BCS, has made this award possible. We are making our carbon footprint smaller and educating our students at the same time!!
The state of Michigan now has an official Michigan Green School Law which encourages all public and private schools to participate in easy to administer energy saving and environmental activities in a suggested 20 point plan. Any school that achieves 10 of these points in an academic year will receive an official Michigan Green School Designation. Covington has achieved Michigan Green school status for the last two years through:
Recycling paper, plastic, batteries, cell phones and eye glasses
Curriculum projects involving the students in performing energy audits at home and at school
Curriculum projects that promotes the health of a Great Lakes Watershed
Curriculum projects about alternative energies
Observing Earth day in April
Maintaining updated ecology materials in the media center
This year, with the help of all members of our community we hope to achieve Emerald or Evergreen status. New initiatives we are working on this year include:
BCS is involved in the Rouge Education Project (REP) which is a multidisciplinary, school-based initiative to raise young people's awareness of pollution in the Rouge River and encourage them to take action to restore and protect the river. The project ’ s focus is the study of the Rouge River , its history, current issues, how to monitor its health, how to restore it, and how to become its steward. As a water quality monitoring and watershed education project, the REP engages students ’ interest, concern and commitment through real-world education.
In both spring and Fall 220 students are taken to our designated River Rouge site in Linden Park At the site, students investigate the health of the river. They monitor for up to nine chemical parametersl parameters, participate in a physical assessment of the river, and survey benthic macroinvertebrates (aquatic organisms) living in the river. From their results they calculate a numerical value that indicates the relative health of the river section surveyed.
The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge gives students the opportunity, tools and inspiration to become agents of change. Beginning September 2009 through March, 2010, one hundred and twenty BCS students will be participating in the Siemens Challenge. They will be learning how to create sustainable, reproducible environmental improvements in their classroom or school, and local community.
BCS teaches the students that as citizens and future stewards of our planet, they are in a unique position to become active agents of environmental change. As part of the challenge process we examine climate change; polluted air, water and soil; endangered species; shrinking coastlines; and a rapidly increasing population to learn about the many issues that threaten our global environment.
The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge offers students the opportunity to make a sustainable change, matched to science, math, and reading/language arts concepts and skills students are required to learn. It also allows them share their ideas and success with classes everywhere by posting them on the Challenge web site.
This year projects include Trash Free Fridays, Energy Auditing and a variety of projects designed to educate the local community about environmental issues.
Every Tuesday our school announcements are dedicated to special environmental news. The children report on special news and events both within the school and local community. Eco-heroes are honored as people in our school community who are agents of change. Movies and music of the day have environmental themes and the anchors also share interesting facts and easy changes we can make in our daily lives to become more environmentally friendly.
