USA

One Paint Can at a Time

2017, Milliken, Colorado, USA

Erin Engels and Keana Morris
Roosevelt High School, Milliken, Colorado

Throughout Weld County, leftover cans of paint are often tossed into the trash and sent to the landfill. Erin and Keana developed a plan to collect this unused paint. They worked with GreenSheen Paint Company (greensheenpaint.com) and organized a paint recycling day in their home town of Milliken. The students advertised at every school in their district and throughout the community. Although the weather did not cooperate, they collected over 1300 pounds of paint, stain and finishes. The water-based paint is remixed to create 16 new colors and the non-paint items were sent to the hazardous waste disposal site

Bee a Positive Change

2017, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Brooklyn Johnson Bee positive change implementation student action colorado
Northridge High School, Greeley, Colorado

Brooklyn designed a pollinator garden at the Greeley Xeric Garden. She planted 10 pollinator specific plants that bloom at different times of year to attract local bees. In line with providing for native bees, she also created and placed bee baths and bee boxes in the garden. This created a source of freshwater and shelter for solitary bees in Colorado. Brooklyn planted
about 200 square feet of garden with bee-friendly flowers and did not use any insecticides or pesticides. Brooklyn considered multiple locations for this garden where bees would be able to live without detrimental human interference and had frequent visitation so that the garden would get Colorado student action project implemented attention and serve as an educational tool for the community.

In order to provide bees with a year-round food source, she placed plants that bloom at different points throughout the year, ensuring that there will be a continual source of nutrition for pollinators. In the spring, flowers like crocus, hyacinth, borage, calendula, and wild lilac will bloom. In the summer, bees enjoy bee balm, cosmos, Echinacea, snapdragons foxglove, and hosta. Zinnias, sedum, asters, witch hazel, and goldenrod
are late bloomers provide nectar in the fall. All of the flowers that were selected were known to attract bees and provide plentiful, easy to access nectar.

An information sign with a QR code was placed so visitors can educate themselves about the garden.

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.

Jacob’s Big Project

2017, Cinncinnati, Ohio, USA
Jacob
Jacob’s big project is a coloring book for kids developed and designed by Molly Mariani, Abi Barret and Ashley Moher. The coloring book has several interactive pages that gets students of all ages involved in the conservation message. Along with the book, Ashley, Molly and Abi designed several worksheets for different age children. The one for younger students has pictures and the kids describe whether it’s helpful or harmful. The worksheets for older kids include a vocabulary sheet.

The team knew from the start that they wanted to do a project that involved younger students. They didn’t just want to design a book, so they thought if they made it more interactive, they could get younger students to understand their role in protecting the environment. Designing a coloring book that the younger students could color on was one way the girls could get the students more involved. They also made a change to their original plan by adding the interactive worksheets so that they could measure the students understanding of the problems and test their knowledge. The addition really boosted their project because it allowed them to measure their success through the kid’s ability to complete the activity worksheets.
Jacob
To implement their project, Ashley, Molly and Abi visited local schools, which included a preschool and an elementary school. For the preschoolers, they read the book aloud to them then the preschoolers completed the “helpful or harmful” activity. For the elementary school visit, the kids read along with the story and colored the book. After the book was finished, they completed the vocab sheet to apply their knowledge.

Reducing Water Use with Faucet Aerators

2016, Sacramento, California, USA

Faucet Aerators student implementation project California winner photo Brian Shan was proud to place first in the 2015 Caring for our Watersheds contest for his proposal to install aerators on faucets in his school. Faucet aerators deliver a mixture of water and air, limiting how much water is released while maintaining pressure and reducing splashing. The aerators, relatively inexpensive and easy to install, help conserve water and reduce energy use and costs.

Brian met with his school principal and facilities director to obtain permission to make this easy upgrade that would have the potential to reduce water use from hand washing by 40%. After obtaining approval he purchased aerators and installed them in 18 sinks located in bathrooms on his school’s campus. Knowing that this relatively simple project can save a lot of water, Brian plans on extending his project to other schools in his district.

Water Conservation….easy as 1, 2, 3 (or at least installing the aerators!)

COMPREHENSIVE E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
E-Waste Management image
In response to the growing issue of e-waste, Sam Haward from Wyoming High School decided to create a solution that extends the lifetime of old electronics while also ensuring that the entire device will be recycled once it’s lifespan has ended. The plan would first be implemented on a small scale through the Wyoming’s science department, first creating a small array of devices running the BOINC program, an app that connects these devices to supercomputers across the globe. By doing this, various supercomputers running data like Oxford University’s Global Climate Change Model can save energy and time by using client devices rather than generating number in one place.

Sam would donate the devices that cannot support BOINC to the HopeLine program, which supports victims of domestic violence. The arrays of BOINC devices could potentially be made completely self-sufficient over time by utilizing solar power, and interest generated by the small scale arrays can influence students across the county to donate their used electronics rather than leaving them to gather dust or throwing them away. In this way, these devices will find a new life, aiding scientific research, conserving and protecting the environment, while also freeing up space around the house too!

IT TAKES CHILDREN TO MOTIVATE A VILLAGE

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Motivate a village
Jaye Johnson and Madeleine Johnson of Wyoming High School proposed to create a picture book that tells a story based in caring for the local Mill Creek. In this story, a personified Mill Creek leads children through the habits they can incorporate into their daily life that will rejuvenate the habitats, services, and beauty the creek provides. It will be written and illustrated by Wyoming students to inspire a sense of self-esteem in the community while also creating a space for conversation and action in the school.

By catering to children with this book, they may be inspired to play outside or create changes as they grow up in their environment. This book will pioneer a love of learning about and maintenance of the Mill Creek Watershed. The passion and wonder of children fosters good habits and a genuine appreciation of the world, motivates the adults in their lives, and shapes their actions in their futures in adulthood.

IMPROVING THE MILL CREEK WATERSHED BY LAWN FERTILIZATION EDUCATION

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Lawn Fertilization Education
Over the past several years, the Mill Creek Watershed Council created the program called Healthy Lawns, Healthy Waters to help educate residents in Cincinnati about the impacts of over fertilization of lawns in the area. Gabriela Okhuysen and Nora Davis from Wyoming High School want to broaden the horizons of participation in this program. The girls want to enhance training aids, enlist volunteers, and overall engage with educating their local community. After conducting soil tests of their own lawns, they discovered that there were at double the optimum levels of phosphorus and magnesium. It was clear to Gabriela and Nora that if residents knew of the resources available to them, they would be able to help improve their watershed.

For their project, they group proposed to hold a community meeting to demonstrate the soil sample process and invite local experts to explain the harmful effects of over fertilization. They would encourage high school volunteers to support soil sampling efforts and follow up with residents as their test results come in. By asking local volunteers and enlisting support from the Mill Creek Council and the Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District, they expect residents would be more willing and determined to obtain the results and change their fertilization regimens.

Gabriela and Nora believe that starting with local residents and changing their fertilization lawn habits will lead to a cleaner and healthier community and watershed. They aim to inspire their community by showing how minor adjustments can make a huge impact on their local environment.