Published on August 25th, 2008
As kindergarteners to post-grads across the U.S. begin returning to school this month and next, they’re finding more and more of their campuses taking steps to reduce energy consumption, save water and go green. All this week, we at EcoLocalizer plan to highlight some of the ways in which schools nationwide are working to becoming more sustainable.
The University of Florida in Gainesville, for example, is launching a campaign to encourage students, faculty members and staff to reduce individual car travel in and around town. UF’s “One Less Car Challenge” (the grammar nag in me has to note it should be the “One Fewer Car Challenge”) asks everyone to explore other ways of commuting, including bicycling, regional transit, car-pooling and car-sharing.
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Published on August 18th, 2008
If you’re looking for a challenge, try growing a productive vegetable garden in Florida’s superheated summers. I’ve worked toward that goal every day for the past three months and have only a few successes to show for it: six sturdy sunflowers, one infant pumpkin and a spreading mass of strawberries in which the slugs beat me to the fruits nine times out of ten. On the other hand, daily explorations of my wooded backyard have revealed wild foods galore that grow without an ounce of effort on my part: huckleberries, wild blackberries, even Southern crabapples.
So I was happy to discover that other Floridians have reached the same conclusion I have: that it makes sense, in as difficult a climate as ours, to emphasize foods from native plants, especially tree crops.
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As kindergarteners to post-grads across the U.S. begin returning to school this month and next, they’re finding more and more of their campuses taking steps to reduce energy consumption, save water and go green. All this week, we at EcoLocalizer plan to highlight some of the ways in which schools nationwide are working to becoming more sustainable.
