More people are riding bikes to Assumption now.

The Environmental Club has an organic garden in front of the school.

The organic garden has vegetables and flowers.

Students and faculty are recycling paper, cans, batteries and styrofoam.

The Assumption High School Environmental Club is open to all students. The club exists to increase and promote an active interest in environmental issues. The club participates in many activities such as local park clean-up projects, and other outdoor excursions. Students can also participate by being a Recycling Representative for their homeroom.

The Assumption High School Environmental Concerns Committee is comprised of faculty, staff, administrators and students. They are working on making changes on campus and have developed the following tips to appear in the weekly Faculty Bulletin:

Entry for the First Week
The Environmental Concerns Committee would like to invite the Assumption faculty and staff to practice more fully the mission of the Sisters of Mercy, which calls us to "act in harmony and interdependence with all creation." To help us achieve this goal, the Committee will provide weekly environmental tips in the Faculty Bulletin. We encourage you to read the tips and implement as much as you can!

So here is the first tip: During these warm months, please consider closing the blinds in your classrooms at the end of the day. This will keep classrooms cooler, reducing the need for air conditioning and using less electricity.

Entries for Subsequent Weeks
1. Always recycle aluminum cans! There is a recycling container in the faculty dining room with a can crusher above. Please empty cans before crushing them. There is also aluminum can recycling available in the cafeteria. According to the Sierra Club, "nearly 50 billion cans trashed in 2005 could have saved enough energy to power 1.3 million American homes if they had been recycled. Each can tossed wastes as much energy as pouring out half a can of gasoline."
2. There is a box labeled "Reusable Paper" in the faculty workroom. If you have 8 ½ x 11" paper that is clean on one side, put it in the box with the clean side up. Make sure the paper has no staples or confidential information. Feel free to also use this paper for scrap paper in class or class assignments. Students can make posters on the clean side instead of using a fresh sheet.
3. Encourage students to reuse materials at the end of an event. For example, after a dance, save decorations and extra supplies in the Student Activities Closet rather than disposing of them. Likewise, before shopping for an event, check out the supplies in the closet first.
4. Organic coffee (caffeinated and decaffeinated) is available in the faculty room. According to Cooperative Coffees, organic farming promotes long-term sustainability of soil and water supplies, lessens the amount of pesticides and chemicals that destroy our earth, and protects the natural habitat of other species such as migratory birds.
5. During these cooler months, please consider opening the blinds in your classrooms all day. Not only does this let in a source of natural light, but it will also keep classrooms warmer, reducing the stress on our boiler and using less natural gas.
6. When making copies, always hit the front and back feature on the copy machine, minimizing paper use. According to the Sierra Club, the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. We can do better!
7. At lunch consider packing up plastic, glass, and tin containers to recycle at home. This includes yogurt cups, soup cans, and microwave trays. If you're eating a microwave meal, take the cardboard box to a recycling bin at school. We can recycle cardboard on the premises!
8. There are bins in C203 for batteries and styrofoam recycling. Please make sure any styrofoam is clean. According to the US Environmental protection Agency, "disposable batteries account for half of the approximately 1,800 tons of cadmium in our waste stream each year."
9. When printing from a website, you can copy and paste the necessary information into a Word document to avoid printing unnecessary advertisements or website information.
10. If it is a bright, sunny day, consider keeping your classroom lights off, using the natural light and conserving electricity.
11. When you leave a room, turn off the light. For example, when you're finished using the faculty "phone" room, flip the switch on your way out.
12. When assigning posters, consider having students split one piece or save previous posters and use the backs.
13. Don't forget the feature on School Fusion for the on-line submission of assignments.
14. When eating lunch in the cafeteria, pick up one napkin instead of several. Likewise, when washing your hands in the restroom, click the dispenser once instead of several times for your paper towel.
15. Consider other options for transportation to school: carpooling, TARC, or biking/walking. There is a bike rack located outside the connector to the CAC. If you're not familiar with TARC, try their new Trip Planner at http://www.ridetarc.org/tripplan/. According to the American Public Transportation Association, "public transit saves an estimated 1.4 billion gallons of gas annually, which translates into about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide."
16. Teachers are responsible for emptying classroom recycling bins. During Channel One, send a couple of students to the recycling bin outside the Arts and Science building. Encourage students to use the recycling bin on a daily basis and please model by example! According to the Sierra Club, recycling saves 60% of the energy needed to make paper.
17. If you have a lamp in your classroom or office, please consider replacing any incandescent bulbs with a compact fluorescent (CFL). CFLs use ¼ of the electricity and last several years longer.
18. If you've never been, please take a short break and check out the Environmental Club's organic garden next to the Arts and Science building on Bardstown Road. Contact Sally Craven if you're interested in helping out!
19. Be mindful of using any equipment (ie: overhead projectors, TVs, stereos, VCR/DVD players, computers, or the projectors mounted on the ceiling) that requires electricity. Don't let it run if it is not in use.
20. If you're working at school over the weekend and you're the last to leave, please turn off lights in the faculty room.
21. Instead of printing an e-mail, consider making folders in Outlook to save the electronic version.
22. Consider the necessity of purchases before making them. Consuming less ultimately creates less waste! According to the Sierra Club, we'd need more than five Earths at the American rate of consumption.
23. Avoid using plastic bags. If you must use a plastic bag for your lunch, please recycle it next to the aluminum can recycling bin. According to the Sierra Club, "an estimated 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags are consumed globally each year. It takes 60 million barrels of oil to produce 500 billion bags. Bags buried in a landfill can take as long as 1,000 years to break down."
24. Use human power instead of electricity when possible. For instance, manually sharpen your pencil, take the stairs, or open your own door in the breezeway.
25. Challenge your students to consider their tissue and toilet paper use. According to the Sierra Club, "North Americans use 50 pounds per person of toilet paper and tissues per year, up from 37 pounds per person 20 years ago. Greenpeace Canada reports that if every American household replaced just one box of 100-sheet facial tissues with recycled, we'd save 103,000 trees."
26. Consider offering a more plant-based diet for student and faculty events. According to the University of Chicago, switching to a plant-based diet shrinks your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year. In comparison, trading a standard car for a hybrid cuts only about one ton per year.