Earth+Day+Contest

Our Projects Glogster Go Green Initiative Earth Day Contest  Entries must be submitted by April 22, 2012 Glogster EDU and the Go Green Initiative have teamed up to celebrate Earth Day 2012 by putting your environmental awareness to the test! This is a perfect opportunity to learn more about your community and earn Earth Day-themed prizes for you, your classroom, or your school. Ready to go green? Start off by choosing one, two, or all three of the following systems in your community to focus on: **the water system, the food system, and the energy system**. Then create a Glog with text, images, audio, and video demonstrating how the system(s) work in your community and ways the system(s) could be greener or more sustainable. The most informative and creative Glogs by individual students, classrooms, and schools will win.

Future Friendly
 * Identify the source of your water, food and/or energy. How far does it travel to get to your community?
 * Show the steps that your water, food and/or energy must take to travel from the source to you.
 * Demonstrate what is green and/or sustainable about the system(s) you studied, or the ways you think the system(s) could be improved?
 * Show evidence that you have taken the information you learned to an individual or organization in your community that can help make the water, food and/or energy system(s) more sustainable.

Getting started How do you determine whether a system is green or sustainable? Here are a few questions to consider.


 * Water: **
 * Is the quality of your water good?
 * Are the pipes that your water flows through old and leaky, or are they well maintained?
 * Does your community rely on a water source that is far away?
 * What happens in your community if there is a drought?

Credible Websites: Podcast resources:
 * EPA in New Jersey
 * [|U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)]
 * [|USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services]
 * 1) [|Water efficiency]
 * 2) [|America’s water crisis and what to do about it:]
 * 3) [|Protecting our planet’s water sources, with Philippe Cousteau]

**Food: ** Credible Websites: Podcast resources:
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">Is it easy or difficult to get food that is grown close to your home?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">Are organic fruits and vegetables affordable and easy to obtain?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">How does your grocery store ensure that they buy safe foods, and if there is a food recall, how do they let shoppers know about it?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">If a large amount of the food in your community is shipped in on trucks, and the price of fuel for those trucks goes up substantially, you can expect that the cost of food also goes up. How would an increase in the price of food based on higher fuel prices affect your community?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">a. [|U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)]
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">b. [|Food and Drug Administration (FDA)]
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">[|Urban Farming and the New City Food System]
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">[|What you should know about GMO’s]
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">[|EarthEcho’s Food Education program]

**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">Energy: ** Credible Websites: Podcast resources:
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">How many megawatts of electricity do your school, home or city use each month?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">Where does the energy for your communities come from, and how much of it is from renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, etc.)?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">How far away are the power plants that create the electricity your community uses?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">Does your community have energy conservation and energy efficiency programs in place?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">a. [|U.S. Energy Information Administration]
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">b. [|U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)]
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">[|Renewable energy investments]
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">[|“Fracking” for Natural Gas]
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">[|The Alternative to America’s Oil Addiction]

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 18px; text-align: left;">Where to start looking for information: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">- Utility companies. These companies can tell you how your water and energy systems work. Your electric utility company can also tell you how much of your electricity comes from coal, nuclear, solar, wind, or waterpower. - Companies that supply food to your school or local stores. Is the food local? Is it cooked on site? Is it shipped in from far away? Trace the food system at your school back to where the original ingredients come from. You can also trace the food system coming into your home by talking to local grocers about where they buy the food you see on the shelves of the grocery store. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">[|Or, tune into the Go Green Radio Podcast]

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d9e64; font-family: arial; font-size: 18px; text-align: left;">About the Go Green Initiative <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,lucida,sans-serif,;">The Go Green Initiative is a global organization that trains volunteers in schools, homes, businesses and organizations to conserve natural resources for future generations, and to protect human health though environmental stewardship. We provide free and continual instruction for over 2,724 volunteers in all 50 U.S. states and in 71 countries, teaching them to quantify their environmental impact, and increase the resources their communities conserve. Click here for more information: [|www.GoGreenInitiative.org]