CampusNews
Evan Maynard displays his senior project, a solar-powered golf cart.
Keeping our Planet Green At Lovett, our efforts toward sustainability can be found on a daily basis
On Thursday, April 17, the Upper and Middle Schools continued Earth Day celebrations with an outdoor BBQ and the second annual Education Expo and Action Day, which featured student work relating to sustainability. The Middle School exhibited soil/ sand models and their methods for water testing Lovett’s pond and stream. A solar-powered golf cart— Upper School student Evan Maynard’s senior project—and other fuel-efficient vehicles were on display, as well. On Tuesday, April 22, Earth Day, Lovett’s last Walk to School day of the year took place and the Lower School organized a morning of sustainability activities and games with a butterfly theme, complete with a professional storyteller. Together with Upper School botany students, they sold houseplants, garden seedlings, and milkweed plants to provide habitats for migrating Monarch butterflies. Later that day, Lovett’s third annual Food Fair took place in the plaza. Upper School students sampled organic and sustainably grown foods donated by local vendors.
across campus—composting in the Dining Hall, creating our own biodiesel, hosting Walk to School days, installing compact fluorescent lighting, building LEED-certified schools, and more. And now, we can add another initiative to this growing list: promoting renewable energy, through certificates and carbon offsets! Lovett is one of 28 schools nationwide to become a charter member of the Green Schools Purchasing Consortium, a program of the Green Schools Alliance. Through this consortium, 28 public and independent schools have agreed to purchase nearly 25 million kilowatt hours of renewable electricity in 2014—the environmental equivalent of taking 3,400 cars off the road for a year! By so doing, we are helping to counterbalance our environmental footprint while also supporting the creation of clean energy. Sterling Planet, the nation’s leading retail renewable energy provider, is providing these verified renewable energy certificates from a blend of wind, biomass, and landfill gas-to-energy projects. And, the Lovett community can contribute to this initiative! Through Keep My Planet Green, an affiliate of Sterling Planet, parents, alumni, and friends can also offset their car emissions or home electricity use while subsidizing projects that reduce carbon into the air. Moreover, for every renewable energy certificate or carbon offset purchased through Keep My Planet Green, a portion of the purchase costs will come back to Lovett to enhance our sustainability programs. For as little as $36 a year, members of the Lovett community can offset their car emissions. And for less than 5¢ per day, members can offset their car and home energy use. Visit <www.keepmyplanetgreen.com/partner/lovett> for more information.
Lovett rolled out its partnership with Keep My Planet Green during our Educational Expo and Action Day held during Earth Week.
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