Colorado

Batting Bugs Naturally

2017, Milliken, Colorado, USA

Devyn Wood
Roosevelt High School, Milliken, Colorado

When Devyn was a child, she lived in Washington State where there were hundreds of bats living near her home. After moving to Colorado, she noticed there were few, if any, bats in the area of her new home.
Understanding the connection between bat populations, insect populations and insecticide use, she decided to build bat houses and install them around her watershed. The project requires (1) determining locations to install bat houses; (2) building bat houses; and (3) installing bat houses. As the season permits, tracking of bat species can also be undertaken to determine how many bats are in the area. Devyn will be using a bat-detection device to monitor the newly built bat homes for increase in population and species. These results will be available in the fall of 2017.

10 Years of Pollution

2017, Milliken, Colorado, USA

Kristopher Anaya, Thomas Blake, Dalton Yost Colorado student action project
Roosevelt High School, Milliken, Colorado

This proposal involved reducing the use of plastic bags by promoting the use of reusable bags and making the community more aware of recycling them as well. The decomposition process of plastic bags takes more than 10 years which adds an unnecessary volume to the landfills. The team ordered 2000 reusable bags to hand out to students and staff at Roosevelt High School and the community. In addition,
the team redesigned the plastic bag recycling box at our local grocery store to make the box stand out to plastic bags consumers. This project has increased the use of reusable Colorado student action project grocery bags in the community while decreasing plastic in the local landfill.

Biodegradable Lunch Waste Project

2017, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Mazlyn Freier LUNCH WASTE PROJECT student action Colorado
Greeley Central High School, Greeley, Colorado

Mazlyn Freier from Greeley Central High school identified her school’s problem of adding over 10,000 Styrofoam plates from the school lunch program to the local landfill every year. Mazlyn contacted the school district Nutrition Services to determine the convert her school to compostable sugarcane plates in the cafeteria. Mazlyn contacted local companies for samples of their compostable plates. Finally, she selected Eco Products, a local food service supplier from Boulder, Colorado, for the sugarcane plates for the school. 19 cases of plates were ordered and delivered to the school for use in the cafeteria. In addition, Mazlyn contacted a local composting service that agreed to pick up the colorado student action lunch waste project plate waste twice a week. The school has been using these plates since April of 2017, and plan on continuing this practice. Mazlyn has contacted the other schools in the district with the goal of implementing this program throughout Greeley.

Riperian Restoration

2016 Berthoud, Colorado, USA

Emily’s proposal was to repair a section of the damaged riparian zone (the river bank) of the Big Thompson River by planting grass seeds to promote a healthier river.
In 2013, one of the biggest floods in Colorado history occurred. This flood not only destroyed many homes and businesses, but also changed the course of the river and took out a multitude of trees, grasses, and shrubs in the riparian zone. Without this vegetation, an excess of sediment can run into the river, and a number of unwanted problems can result from this. For example, the depth of the river decreases which increases the temperature of the water. An increase in temperature can decrease the amount of fish and other macroinvertebrates that are able to live there, and therefore decreasing the amount of biodiversity in the river. Replenishing the vegetation will help to prevent future flood damage and maintain the health of the river. Emily’s solution for these problems was to gather volunteers and plant seeds and a variety of plants along a highly damaged stretch of the river bank.

Timeline and Budget:

Feb. 2016- End of March: Multiple correspondents/ conversations with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers in order to join forces in a project they had already begun.
March 2016: Hung flyers and spread word about the project in order to gather volunteers. Budget of $10.
April 2nd: Planted native grasses along a 1 mile stretch of the Lower North Fork of the Big Thompson. Total cost was $3,338. Caring for Our Watersheds contributed $800.

Of Gardens and Guys

2016 Greeley, Colorado, USA

J.C. Arco decided it would be a good idea to plant rain gardens in some of the public schools in the area to reduce water pollution and to help educate kids in caring for our watershed (killing two birds with one garden). The project plan is a local project, but with hope that it will encourage people to share what they’ve learned with others in the future. The targeted group is kids between grades 5-8, as they are still young enough that they are open to new ideas, easily influenced, but old enough that they can understand the reason for the project.

Timeline and Budget
In order to implement the project, J.C. called teachers at various local schools and scheduled meetings with them to explain his proposal. He met with Dos Rios Elementary School and planted the garden. Rain gardens are relatively inexpensive compared to some other projects averaging at about $100 per garden, depending on the types of seed and soil that is used.

No More Trash Talking

2016 Berthoud, Colorado, USA

This proposal focuses on the overall aesthetic and practical appeal of trash cans. In order to reduce the amount of trash around the school, the students decided to take large trash cans, modify them to make throwing trash away easier, and paint creative designs on them to make people want to throw their trash where it belongs.

The aim is that having eye-catching trash cans in an obvious area will decrease the amount of litter around. Since litter can be washed into rivers and lakes, it creates many problems by polluting the water, and also potentially to harming marine animals as well. For example, the green-way through Colorado Springs was recently lined with trash after high water levels. Wildlife is directly affected by these types polluting plastics making their way into the animals’ habitat.

Timeline and Budget:

March 1, 2016- Received trash cans, trash bags, clamps, bolts, washers, locks, and nuts from Home Depot (Total= $754.17)
March 4, 2016- Started contest at school for students to paint the trash cans
March 13, 2016- Modified trash cans by cutting holes in the sides to make throwing trash away easier
March 29, 2016- Received paint from Larimer County Landfill’s Drop & Swap
April 22, 2016- Painted and decorated trash cans
April 29, 2016- Created infomercial video
May 2, 2016 – Modified trash cans by adding touch ups and clamps for the trash bags

Hazardous Households: Is Yours One?

2016 Greeley, Colorado, USA

This project focused on raising awareness around the community, and collection of household hazardous waste. This small scale collection took place through battery drives, and the establishment of long term battery collection to further spread awareness over the next several years.

Timeline and Budget

February 15 – April 29, 2016: Informative Posters in School ($57.13)
February 24, 2016: Parent Teacher Conferences,-Passed out flyers and had display board ($46.47)
February 29 – March 4, 2016: School Battery Drive ($44.85)
March 9, 2016: Pizza Party for Drive Winning Class ($29.48,)
March 9,2016: Pizza Donated by Domino’s Pizza ($0, Saved $60 in Pizza Party)
April 21, 2016: Interview with Cracker Barrel ($0)
April 23 – April 30, 2016: Local Battery Drive, paper bags donated by King Soopers ($0)
April 25 – May 1, 2016: Reached out to district schools ($0)

Electric Hand Dryers and Waste Management

2016 Greeley, Colorado, USA

Hundreds of rolls paper towels are wasted in schools all over Colorado – sitting in landfills when they are not recycled. Students at Northridge High school decided to do something about it. First, they compared the waste of paper towels without the option using of an electric hand dryer, and with the option of using an electric hand dryer for two weeks each. After comparison, the students found that adding the hand dryers reduced the use of paper towels by 3 rolls for the first 11 days; lowering the waste of paper towels by 20% in less than 2 weeks! Knowing that the school is used nearly 47 weeks per year, that’s 90 rolls of paper a year saved by only 2 hand dryers.

Timeline and Budget

March 10, 2016 Meeting with Mr. Hand; figuring out best ways to install electric hand dryers in restroom
March 15, 2016 Electric hand dryers ordered (2 for $410 each)
March 22, 2016 Electric hand dryers’ arrival at Poudre Learning Center
April 6, 2016 Electric Hand dryers installed at Northridge (estimation was $600)
April 2016 Start of collecting data
April 30, 2016 End of collecting data.
May 1, 2016 Analyze data and start of presentation and poster

Destination: Conservation

2016 Greeley, Colorado, USA

destination-conservation

Madeline, Reina, and Lindy took 3rd place in the Caring for Our Watersheds competition with their proposal Destination: Conservation. The goal of the project was to educate elementary students about their watershed and how to preserve water. The trio thought this was important for two main reasons. First, “The water we have now is the only water we have, and it is our responsibility to protect it.” and second, “youth is the key to our future of sustainability.”

This project was implemented by providing third and fourth grade students the knowledge necessary to create a water-wise world. For example, the students received water efficient faucet heads to help them conserve water in their own homes. These faucets will help families not only save water, but also money, especially helping low-income homes.

Timeline and Budget:

Arranged classroom visits and attendance at Greeley Water Festival ($0)
Made interactive games and a model of what a watershed is two weekends before. Candy was donated as in-kind contribution ($15)
Coordinated water conservation items and water efficient faucet heads with the City of Greeley ($0)
Ordered water bottles as a giveaway ($369)

Collecting Clothes For a Cause

2016 Greeley, Colorado, USA

This proposal involves is having a clothing drive for kids from kindergarten all the way up to seniors in high school. The reason behind this idea, is that when clothes are in a landfill, the dyes used to color the clothes can pollute the groundwater. On top of this, making clothes consumes numerous amounts of water and pollutes the air. Essentially the goal behind this project is to reduce the number of clothes in the landfill by collecting them and also reduce the amount of clothes being produced by donating them.

Timeline and Budget:

March 13th, 2016: Purchased Bins from Home Depot (16) $112
April 6th, 2016: Ordered flyers, handouts, and stickers from fastsigns $297
April 25th, 2016: Set up bins, flyers and sent out handouts. Collected clothes and donated them to charity