U.S. Schools Tackle Global Warming in National Day of Action
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 04.17.08
With over 22,000 students at 28 schools across 13 states and the even the Island of Curacao participating, the first national day of action in schools to stop global warming by actually cutting carbon emissions is under way.
They’re calling it “The Great Copy Machine Epidemic of 2008”, shutting down their school photocopy machines and going copyless for the day.
Of course there's nothing like a bit of fun to help educate minds everywhere, and so it seems that the machine pictured above just may have been hit with a case of "Tree-biting Rabies" as part of the event. And apparently there are diagnoses coming in from schools in far places of "Treeberculosis", "Bird Flu", "Treeakillocious", and a host of other maladies as well.
Because as part of the challenge they’re working to solve the mystery of what’s causing the very strange, apparently contagious disease that’s making school copiers chew up trees at such an amazing rate; contributing to global warming through deforestation and the tremendous amount of energy used to make paper.
To accomplish the task they’re asked to “diagnose” their disease by dressing up the school copy machine with the symptoms their machine is experiencing, and placing it under quarantine for the day.
And while no one is quite certain just yet who will solve the crisis, the simple truth is that with schools large and small, public and private, and at every grade level participating, there is certain to be a copy crisis team out there who will crack the case.
Of course, the greatest achievement of the day’s events will be the growing sense of awareness in schools that each student and every teacher can make a difference in simple ways like considering their use of photocopies. But they’ll also be saving approximately 3,784 pounds of CO2, leaving 16 trees standing in the forest, preventing 12,685 gallons of water from being wasted, and keeping over 1,500 pounds of solid waste out of landfills.
All without considering the energy required to actually run the machines for the day. And had every school in America took part in the day’s events they’d pull off the feat of saving over 38,000 trees and 9,000,000 pounds of CO2.
Who knows if The Great Copy Machine Epidemic just may strike again next year?
**Beginning on Earth Day You Are Invited to Come Vote for the Winning Entry at www.greatcopyepidemic.com**
IF President Bush had unveiled his goals for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at the beginning of his administration instead of in its waning months, he might have actually played a role in linking the United States to global efforts to curb climate change. But the proposals he made yesterday, which in 2001 could have been a starting point for negotiations with advocates of stronger action in Congress, are now too belated and too weak to be more than a historical footnote. All three remaining presidential candidates are committed to much more stringent, mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide.
I wish I'd known about this sooner so my school could participate, but I'll be doing my part today.
w00t indoctrination!
Its rubbish like this that churns out a society of non-thinkers. Kids hear in elementary school that CO2 induced global warming is a scientific FACT, which it isn't - its a theory, and that the school can do its part by stunts like this. Most schools use recycled paper, so the tree savings is minimal. CO2 spewed out by the buses that got them to school is way worse than that generated by the photocopier.
Schools could do so much more. How about turning off the lights and installing sky-lights like most new Walmart stores have to save energy costs? How about the styrofoam trays and throw-away plastic utensils used these days?
Instead of creating 'extreme' solutions, the little things would go a LONG LONG way to reducing power consumption, use-once and throw away non-biodegradable products, walking to school instead of getting a ride every day, etc..
Grab the low-hanging fruit that can make a difference and avoids the politically charged battles.
energy independence is much more important than global warming. when the US is energy independent there will be no more oil wars and the terrorists will all be too impoverished to reach us. This will save lives AND energy. The global warming crowd can't claim this. They can claim that they will damage and perhaps destroy capitalism which is their true aim. I for one am not done using capitalism. So I want to keep it. True believers in global warm are free to starve and freeze to death next winter--their choice. Think of all the energy they will save! By the by, don't ever expect a Greenie to sacrifice anything in his own life to "show the green way." Global warming is about controlling you and emptying your wallet. When it becomes about something else one of the first things you will notice is that you will understand nothing that is said about global warming. That is because it will all be said in Mandarin Chinese. Only the Chinese can stop man made climate change. They are going through an industrial revolution that is sure to dwarf our own. Does this mean we should do nothing? Far from it. Let's study what Denmark, France, Brazil, and Australia have done on energy and do likewise. Let's drill wherever we have oil and put a new nuclear power plant in every state. Let's use all our coal and natural gas. We don't need foreign energy. The only people who say we can't get off foreign oil are greedy conservatives who are getting paid every time a new oil war starts.