Volunteers are needed on Monday, May 22, from 7:00 – 7:35 am at Analy High School in Sebastopol. We will be stationed around the campus stamping cards for the kids that walk, bike, carpool and bus. So far the AP class students have been doing the stamping, but on Monday they have something else to do.

LITE Initiatives/Car-Lite is a participant/sponsor of this wonderful project; let me know if you want to help out and experience the enthusiasm that is building on campus. Respond to [email protected].

Portia

Analy High School students will be rewarded for walking, biking, carpooling, and busing to school between May 15 and June 2. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change and to promote safe routes to schools. Students will receive a stamp on a card every morning that they do not drive alone to school. Student and staff volunteers will be positioned around the school to offer the stamps. With every five stamps, students can redeem their card for discounts at local Sebastopol businesses.

“The motto of this project is ‘Drive Less, Be Cool,’” said Jessica Kellett, coordinator of the Cool Schools program for the Climate Protection Campaign. “The goal is for students to change their behavior. We believe that if students can do this for five days, then they can do it for one month or a whole year. It’s a matter of motivation,” she said. Kellett is coordinating this project with Analy High School math teacher David Casey.

This initiative is the finale to a year-long project between Analy’s Advanced Placement Statistics class and the Climate Protection Campaign’s Cool Schools program. A survey conducted by the class in fall 2005 revealed that Analy students and parents drive over 42,000 miles every week driving to and from school. In one year, that is the same as 60 trips around the Earth. The class decided that they would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the end of the school year. If sustained, that is the equivalent of taking 30 cars off the road.

“How often do we really think about why we do the things we do?” said Diane Landry, a school board member with the West Sonoma County Union High School District. Landry is encouraged that this project blends academic learning with the real world and supports Sebastopol’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “This project is a reminder to all adults that our children can be our teachers,” she said.

Analy’s sister school, El Molino High School, will conduct a similar commute survey this coming fall in order to examine district wide solutions, including busing and carpooling. “Our goal is to make it more convenient and fun for students to walk, bike, carpool or take the bus,” said Casey. Students, staff, parents and community members have formed a working group called CommUTE (Community Organized Towards the Environment) to sustain these efforts. Casey is also working with the faculty to promote International Bike to Work Day on May 18th.

In March, the statistics class and Cool Schools were awarded the “2006 Outstanding Environmental Project of the Year” by the Sonoma County Conservation Council and the Sierra Club Sonoma group.

Businesses participating in the rewards program include Slice of Life, Copperfield Books, Screaming Mimi’s, Box Office Video, My Friend Joe, Coffee Catz, Lucy’s Café, East West Café, Mombo’s Pizza, and Grateful Bagel. Hub Cyclery and Community Bikes are donating a bike each for a grand prize raffle, which will be drawn on June 8th at Analy’s Day on the Green. This is the finale to a year-long project led by Analy’s Advanced Placement Statistics class in partnership with the Climate Protection Campaign’s Cool Schools program.

The Cool Agents Alliance and Speedway Children’s Charities made this initiative possible. For more information, visit www.climateprotectioncampaign.org or call Jessica Kellett at 707-237-2696.

Portia Sinnott
LITE Initiatives - Car-Lite, Community Bikes, Green Mentor, Zero Waste Sonoma County
[email protected]


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