Boston Children’s Museum is hosting a day of special events in honor of Earth Day. The museum is at 300 Congress Street in the Fort Point section of Boston.
Visitors are able to participate in activities such as recycle creations, exploring green packaging and decorating a reusable bag. Additionally they can learn about water testing and how to pack a waste free lunch.
Every family who attends the event can take home a free tree and attend a demonstration on proper planting.
National Grid, an energy company and a sponsor of Earth Day at the museum, has employees on-hand to answer questions. Sue Lednar, a specialist in the energy efficiency department, she she has noticed more people becoming Earth-conscious.
Members of MassRecycle, are there to promote paper recycling, agree.
“I see it in the level of questions asked on our website. How can I recycle at my child’s school? How can I recycle at work? Lots of people are asking how they can recycle in their own world community,” said Jessica Wozniak, executive director of MassRecycle.
Izzitgreen.com is a local online community launching next month that functions as a social networking site where visitors can rate local businesses on their eco-sensitivity.
Their goal is to make the green movement more powerful at the local level, said Jordan Wirfs-Brock, content director of Izzitgreen.com.
The company’s mascot, Izzit, a large furry lima-bean green creature is on hand to take pictures and interact with visitors.
Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Clever Beacon Hill Shop Cleans Green + Clothes Planet
Clevergreen Cleaners, an environmentally-friendly dry cleaner, is marking Earth Day with a clothing drive this month in honor of Earth Day. Used clothing will be cleaned and sent to Planet Aid, a non-profit group located in several states that raises money for those in need in third-world countries.
Once the group receives the clothing, they resell it and proceeds go towards education and HIV/AIDS programs in Africa and Asia. Chelsea, an employee at Clevergreen, estimates about 30-something people have donated their used clothes over the past few weeks.
“We’ve been pretty successful. We could use more children’s clothes, since we’ve been mostly getting adult’s. But we’re not complaining,” she said.
For the rest of the year, Clevergreen likes to think of itself as celebrating Earth Day every day because it uses DF 2000, a biodegradable cleaning solvent. The company usese less than one gallon of DF2000 to clean 40 pounds of clothes, she said. Since the clothing never actually gets wet, there is no need for drying equipment that consumes lots of energy.
Once the group receives the clothing, they resell it and proceeds go towards education and HIV/AIDS programs in Africa and Asia. Chelsea, an employee at Clevergreen, estimates about 30-something people have donated their used clothes over the past few weeks.
“We’ve been pretty successful. We could use more children’s clothes, since we’ve been mostly getting adult’s. But we’re not complaining,” she said.
For the rest of the year, Clevergreen likes to think of itself as celebrating Earth Day every day because it uses DF 2000, a biodegradable cleaning solvent. The company usese less than one gallon of DF2000 to clean 40 pounds of clothes, she said. Since the clothing never actually gets wet, there is no need for drying equipment that consumes lots of energy.
Expanding Minds Not Landfills
Sumona Dey stands next to a pile of laptops in the bottom floor of the China Trade Building, near Chinatown. The recruitment manager for World Computer Exchange, Dey is spending her Earth Day patiently waiting for donations of computers.
After an hour, no donations had come in, but Dey remains optimistic.
“We have some companies who have called saying they will be coming,” Dey says.
Dey works for World Computer Exchange, a global education and environment non-profit group. WCE is hosting “Expand Minds Not Landfills” today through Friday in celebration of Earth Day to create social change on two fronts. In regards to the environment, WCE works to keep used working computers and laptops out of landfills to help the environment -- and computer education is a second -- but equally important -- goal for the group.
Donated computers are shipped to schools in developing countries and volunteers teach students to use them.
“Volunteers find schools that need them [computers]. We seek volunteers who will do the training for the students, show them how the computers work and the Internet,” Dey says.
The last WCE shipment went from Chicago to Nigeria, along with seven volunteers. WCE has 25 chapters nationwide, and has sent more than 10,000 computers from Boston. The group is extending its stay in Chinatown after this week and will be accepting donations every Friday through the summer.
For more info: www.worldcomputerexchange.org
After an hour, no donations had come in, but Dey remains optimistic.
“We have some companies who have called saying they will be coming,” Dey says.
Dey works for World Computer Exchange, a global education and environment non-profit group. WCE is hosting “Expand Minds Not Landfills” today through Friday in celebration of Earth Day to create social change on two fronts. In regards to the environment, WCE works to keep used working computers and laptops out of landfills to help the environment -- and computer education is a second -- but equally important -- goal for the group.
Donated computers are shipped to schools in developing countries and volunteers teach students to use them.
“Volunteers find schools that need them [computers]. We seek volunteers who will do the training for the students, show them how the computers work and the Internet,” Dey says.
The last WCE shipment went from Chicago to Nigeria, along with seven volunteers. WCE has 25 chapters nationwide, and has sent more than 10,000 computers from Boston. The group is extending its stay in Chinatown after this week and will be accepting donations every Friday through the summer.
For more info: www.worldcomputerexchange.org
Not all flowers are for Earth Day
A kiosk at the corner of Franklin and Federal streets is over-run with boxes of fresh flowers . . .turns out most of them are for Secretaries/Administrative Assistant's Day which is tomorrow April 23 -- so keep those cards and letters coming.
Boston history causes problems for Earth Day
One intrepid reporter, Chrisanne Grise, learned that Cambridge and other communities don't have many Earth Day events. One reason is an Earth Day concert that used to be held at the Hatch Shell along the Charles River.
The concert, sponsored by WBOS-FM, drew so many people that local activities went overlooked. But several years ago, the show was changed to mid-May because of rain-outs and yet remains a reason for limited local events on Earth Day itself.
"For years, we didn't organize any events here [in Cambridge] because everyone was going to the free concert over there," said John Bolduc, environmental planner for the city. "This year the station moved it to May, probably for weather reasons."
However, some groups in Cambridge have planned their own events. MIT has an entire Earth Week , featuring a speech from Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday night, in which he will speak about his plans for the future of clean energy in the commonwealth, according to an MIT press release. Patrick is expected to also discuss energy innovation and other energy policy plans.
MIT's Earth Week also includes an opportunity for MIT students to show projects related to environmental research, called the EcoExpo on April 23. The following day there is the Earth Day Fair which features MIT groups and vendors teaching students how to voice opinions on environmental issues and how to make life more sustainable. There will also be free food and live music.
"I hope this raises environmental awareness on campus. I went to Dartmouth a few weekends ago and compared to them, I would say we don't very well in terms of energy conservation and recycling," said Jean Li, a sophomore at MIT. "I'm not sure what exactly the agenda is for the Earth Fair, but I hope it's a good mix of long term research goals like biodiesel, or solar power as well as things we can do better on a daily basis."
The concert, sponsored by WBOS-FM, drew so many people that local activities went overlooked. But several years ago, the show was changed to mid-May because of rain-outs and yet remains a reason for limited local events on Earth Day itself.
"For years, we didn't organize any events here [in Cambridge] because everyone was going to the free concert over there," said John Bolduc, environmental planner for the city. "This year the station moved it to May, probably for weather reasons."
However, some groups in Cambridge have planned their own events. MIT has an entire Earth Week , featuring a speech from Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday night, in which he will speak about his plans for the future of clean energy in the commonwealth, according to an MIT press release. Patrick is expected to also discuss energy innovation and other energy policy plans.
MIT's Earth Week also includes an opportunity for MIT students to show projects related to environmental research, called the EcoExpo on April 23. The following day there is the Earth Day Fair which features MIT groups and vendors teaching students how to voice opinions on environmental issues and how to make life more sustainable. There will also be free food and live music.
"I hope this raises environmental awareness on campus. I went to Dartmouth a few weekends ago and compared to them, I would say we don't very well in terms of energy conservation and recycling," said Jean Li, a sophomore at MIT. "I'm not sure what exactly the agenda is for the Earth Fair, but I hope it's a good mix of long term research goals like biodiesel, or solar power as well as things we can do better on a daily basis."
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