Green Ambassadors

Green Ambassadors gives Rise Above Plastics presentation presentation at Google HQ!

2009-09-01T11:10:00.001-07:00

Three of our many amazing Green Ambassadors gave the Rise Above Presentation at Google on Tuesday August 25th! Rudy Sanchez, Matthew Dang and Jordan Howard gave the empowering presentation which is made to inform everyone of the harms of disposable plastics and the solutions that we can make in our daily life’s to make a difference. The many problems going on in our oceans and our animals due to the massive amount of plastics contaminating the environment are shown throughout the presentation. Yet, instead of bombarding you with the issues, the alternatives are also provided for you to make a change and do something about the world. Rise Above Plastics is just another small step toward a greener and better world.

Green Action Teacher Conference

2009-09-01T11:02:00.001-07:00

For more pictures click on the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=2033257&id=1492893855

Green Ambassadors expands to 10 different schools across California!

2009-08-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

From August 13th through the 14th, teachers from across California attended the two day conference in which they learned about the Green Ambassadors program in order to take it and inspire their students at their schools. They were able to learn many of the projects and steps that they had to take to teach the Green Ambassadors course and inspire their students to make a difference and become leaders in their community. While they walked out with the skills and inspiration gained from the conference and Green Ambassador Youth Leaders, they were excited to take the knowledge back to start a new revolution of change and leadership. We hope that this is one of the many more conferences that will expand this program around the country and the world.

Green Ambassadors greening Paramount Pictures by Rudy Sanchez.

2009-08-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

During the month of July the Green Ambassadors, including myself, had the awesome opportunity to green the Paramount Studios lot. A Paramount Green House was set up to help employees on the lot become more environmentally conscious on their daily office decisions and also future Paramount plans that will only make a more sustainable studio. We all were experts in all the sections:
 The Green Office
 Paper Wise
 Water Wise
 Home Entertainment
 Production
 The Chilled Water System

Each section not only showcased Paramount’s eco-accomplishments, but also their goals. Where some sections promised to start implementing Chilled Water systems, replacing the old A/C’s; others were using technology to help reduce energy/resources not only in the office but as well as the lot. Also, sections covering how to be water and paper wise; paper being a HUGE resource consumed on there!

Over the 3 weeks the Green House was open, over 2000 Paramount employees had visited us, and each week, we raffled off GPS systems, a foldable bike. Whole Foods gift cards, and a Kindle 2. The whole 3 weeks there, every Green Ambassador gave mini-tours of each section to various people. Ranging from sound guys to directors to producers.

As our time at the Studio came to an end, we all were sad, but excited as well. Excited that we took our knowledge from the Green Ambassador class and went out to teach others about it as well. We were also glad to be part of this process, a process where big companies are more involved in this “Green Revolution” and hopefully they are not the first of many companies to do this.

UGG Biodegradable Bag Research

2009-06-23T22:10:00.001-07:00

Today, the area where the UGG Biodegradable Bag was buried was found full of soil and nothing else! Apparently, the bag did biodegrade completely leaving no trace behind. This, only proving that what was promised on the label, that it would biodegrade within 3 months, was true.
If you ever have any doubts about what is promised on different products, make it an experiment! There will only be one way to know whether it is true or pure fabrication, it is by experimenting and finding out!

Green Ambassadors wins the Audience Award at the Santa Monica Teen Film Festival!

2009-06-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, June 21st, Green Ambassadors presented the film “A Day in the Life”; a film made by students, showing society the various steps they can take to have a sustainable lifestyle. It was selected out of 70 submitted films and came as a finalist among other 19 films. The film has been promoted at many other events spreading the word and empowering others to make a difference.

Watch “A Day in the Life”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMDWXLnSysE

ECHS EARTH DAY!!!

2009-04-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

On Friday, April 24, 2009, Environmental Charter High School hosted their annual Earth Day event!! This time with more than 1,000 visitors, adults and students that came to experience a day full of knowledge and awareness! With our brand new amphitheater, we hosted our first Earth Day pep rally on stage! With ECHS students presenting about different topics and raising environmental awareness, we were able to provide students with more than one lesson in one day incorporated with fun activities and performances!

Jordan Howard: an exemplary Green Ambassador

2009-04-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Jordan Howard, a Green Ambassador at Environmental Charter High School and Youth Leader, has been an exemplary leader for Green Ambassadors changing the lives of many and encouraging them to make a difference in the world and to spread the leadership and green solutions to other youth and around the world. Her amazing leadership and accomplishments are always being recognized, only this time, on national television! For Earth Day, Nickelodeon had special feature shows and segments encouraging youth to make simple changes in their lives to make a difference in the world. During their broadcasting, they created special segments in which youth around the country were featured showing youth the difference that they are making in the environment and how they are being leaders. Because of her creation of Rise Above Plastics, a program teaching and training students to talk about the harmful effects of plastics and the alternatives for disposable plastics starting from reusable canteens to reusable plastic bags.Congratulations Jordan!!

For more information visit:
http://www.nick.com/minisites/biggreen/powerdown/profiles.jhtml

Green Ambassador Productions Presents: Recycled Fashion Show

2009-04-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

Green Ambassador Productions, a project of Green Ambassadors just had their first performance at Manhattan Beach VOICE Earth Day at Polliwog Park! This fashion show is made for the purpose of spreading the message of reusing materials such as old vintage clothing from thrift shops or clothes that is no longer used to recreate it and reuse it. Reusing clothing is one of the many ways to save resources and take a step toward change! The Green Ambassadors will be performing this fashion show at different events. Don't hesitate to come and join us!

ECHS Earth Day
Friday, April 24, 2009
Environmental Charter High School
16315 Grevillea Ave.
Lawndale,CA 90260
From 9am to 12pm

Hawthorne Community Earth Day
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Hawthorne Memorial Park
3901 El Segundo Blvd.
Hawthorne, CA
Performance at 11am and Green Ambassadors Booth

Inside the Outdoors: Eco-Fabulous
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Newport Coast Community Center
6401 San Joaquin Hills Road
Newport Coast, CA 92657
From 4pm to 10pm
Performance from 6:30pm to 7pm

L.A Zero Waste Fashion Show
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
555 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
From 8am to 1pm

Green Ambassadors Green Adventure to Quail Springs!

2009-04-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Our third Green Adventure took place this past weekend, April 4th - April 7th, 2009, at Quail Springs (

http://quailsprings.org) and was a huge success! Sara Laimon, Guzel Gjenasaj and Amy Frame lead ten students of Environmental Charter High School. They spent four days learning about permaculture, natural building, and relationship building with community and each other. Not only did they learn the value of living symbiotically with their environment, they also thought of creative applications for the knowledge to be used in their school, communities, and homes. During the trip, film maker Alex Gorosh, lead them in filming the solutions they plan on sharing with their peers and community. Check back soon for the finished films.

Every member of the group expressed their gratitude for the trip, many with 6 out of 10 planning to return for Quail Springs’ Sustainable Vocations program this summer. The unique program will prepare youth (ages 15-24) for diverse leadership roles that integrate sustainability into their communities and provides an experiential introduction to the growing green jobs market.

Students will earn an internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certification (72 hour course).

ECHS Softball Team Mobilizes Green Practices!!!

2009-04-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

Being green is not something you only do at home or at school, but EVERYWHERE! On Saturday March 28, the softball team played proud and hard in the Westminster Tournament. After a long day, during their snack time, the girls had Gatorade bottles and orange peels left over. Practicing being Green Ambassadors, they collected the bottles and orange peels to take back to campus to recycle and compost! There is no excuse for not helping the planet for practicing sustainability does not have a location. It should go everywhere we go, while on the road or back home. Making a difference in the world is not as hard as it seems, taking small steps everyday will soon lead to a better place.

The Urban Homestead visits ECHS!

2009-04-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

The authors of the book, The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City: Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, visited Environmental Charter High School and Green Ambassadors to promote sustainability within urban areas showing our students the alternative ways to create a sustainable environment from your apartment to your backyard. Students were eager and amazed by how little it takes to make a big difference in their household and the planet. Providing them with examples such as cleaning without toxins and growing your own food on your patio or balcony, they proved that to be green and maintain a sustainable lifestyle, you don't need to much to get started. Students were eager to take the solutions to their households and spread the word. The aftermath of the presentation suddenly became a hunger revolt to make a difference. Simply Green Ambassadors hungry to make a difference in their lives while changing the world all at once.

Common Vision Visit to Environmental Charter High School!

2009-03-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

On March 2, 2009, Common Vision visited Environmental Charter High School to promote the planting of fruit trees and recycling in artistic and upbeat ways. Common Vision and Green Ambassadors allied to plant fruit trees around the community of Lawndale. Groups of students and Common Vision members led their groups to houses in the Lawndale community to spread the importance of trees as resource providers. Throughout the day, Common Vision went from classroom to classroom to spread their upbeat musical talents using cans and recycled drums as instruments. Students and community members realizing how meaningful and easy it was to plant a tree, were inspired by Common Vision and left with the desire to be able to take a tree home and watch it grow throughout time while making a difference in the world.

To learn more about Common Vision, please visit: www.commonvision.org

UGG Biodegradable Bag Research

2009-03-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

Green Ambassadors will be conducting research to find out if the UGG Biodegradable Bag that UGG's usually come in is really what it claims to be. The bag will be buried in the soil and checked within three months to see if the bag is really biodegradable. Don't forget to check back May 25, 2009 to see if the final results of the experiment!

Hey! Tanks L.A teaches Green Ambassadors how to store rainwater!

2009-02-23T22:26:00.001-08:00

Catching rainwater has never been easier. Hey! Tanks L.A focus on the practice of catching and collecting of rainwater for irrigation and any other household purposes.
Hey! Tanks L.A just visited Environmental Charter High School to demonstrate to Green Ambassadors how to install your own rainwater harvesting system and how it works.
The shortage of water in California has been increasing massively as irrigating and day to day household usage takes up hundreds of gallons a day. By catching rainwater you will not only be saving water but money.
Creating rainwater harvesting catching system can cost an average of $20 for materials.
As the Green Ambassadors learned how to make the system, they were excited to take the idea home and make a difference in their every day life. With simple and accessible materials such as measuring tape, flower pot, markers and tin snips. It’s easy and you will be making a difference in your everyday life and the world!

For more info visit:heytanksla.com

The New and Improved Cobb Benches

2008-10-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Alex Pine for providing the photos.

The Native Garden At ECHS

2008-10-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

Today I was fortunate enough to plant native plants in our now native garden. We have 5 different sections like dessert, chaparral, coastal, grassland, and Catalina plants . These sections are all in California which makes them native. Many students attended this planting. I persoanlly planted to. it was great. it was a two day process. on friday what we had to do was get rid of all the unwanted plants or weeds as most commonly known in this world. after that we were done and saturday came. what we did on saturday was just plant all the plants. the toughest part was digging the hole and then we had to get the plant out of the case. after that we had to put the plant in the ground and get dirty. that was the fun part to get dirty. we planted the plants. i don't have much to say but i can show you that is all.i can't write about things like this but the pictures we took were great.

Bioneers The San RAFAEL Trip

2008-10-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

hey here i am on my second day at bioneers it is a blast you can say. to a student Like me it is expensive to buy items that are BEING SOLD it is a problem but guess what just tells me that i need a job how cool huh poor me needs a job

well there are 8 students here and i hope they are having fun. it is a blast and it is something that they are really happy about for actually applying.

what i am writing here today for is the fact that i met someone yesterday that changed my life. her name is Erica fernandez she is 18years old and is currently attending Stanford. i have never had the chance to say i am proud of someone but that is someone i am really proud of. i know huh a little 16 year old saying she is proud of an 18 year old.

what she has done is go against california. i know that is something big but that big important part is the fact that she actually won. not many people can say hey guess what man i changed the construction of a nasty natural gas pipes under my hometown. what she did was prevent a natural gas company invade in oxnard her hometown.
she was twelve years old when she first started she was twelve. she is now 18 and she protected her city from people who would cause her friends and family asthama and respiratory problems.

i have never been so proud. she was born and raised in mexico untl she was 12 and then came here and was taught english with a latino club, Sierra club. she made a difference she made a change she is my hero.

Today a saturday what is going on is a dacnce and all these eco loving people are here to have fun i have done the presentation, done the panel, seen the shops, now it is time to dance something new. i am ready

peace out

Cobb Benches

2008-10-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

While the whole e-waste collection event was going on, volunteers from ECHS were assisting
Ray Cirino, to build cobb benches.

Sarah Laimen, a green ambassador teacher at ECHS, met Ray Cirino in the street at venice.
When He asked her about what permaculture is and how she feels about it?Permaculture is a
sustainable way of life. As they talked they came up with a way to bring this conception ECHS.

Jon (sophomore) and some other ECHS students described a cobb bench to be a bench made
out of dirt, water, clay and hay(straw). The elements around us, mix it all together which makes
it all turn hard like a rock. It is resistant against weather and crazy kids. The volunteers found
this as a fun and environmental activity that they enjoyed doing.

Ray Cirino said that the cobb benches were able to last up to 200 years. When created they
take up less energy. He plans on getting about 300 of the ECHS students to finish the rest of
the process. Because this is the first step of a revolution. He is going to guide us through
this whole process. As he stated "I'm going to teach you how to crawl, run, then fly".

THIS IS BY MELISSA HIGAREDA
SHE IS A NEW HELPER
HOPE YOU LIKE HER

E -Waste Collection

2008-10-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Today at ECHS we had an E-waste collection event.

All the proceedings of the E-waste would go to the athletic department at ECHS.

Meagan Hill the athletic coordinator states, "It is an exciting day for our community, we are doing something to keep e-waste out of landfills and also raising money for students and athletics it's a win-win situation". She faces a lot of problems like booking places for practice for all sports (soccer,basketball,softball). This E-waste will really help the students not the school. Well both equipment for students and school doesn't need to find a way to raise funds. Students will now have more supplies or should we say equipment for them to practice with.

Ayinde a ninth grade basketball player at ECHS says "I think it's great its good for the environment and brings people together in the community".

Tamara a basketball/softball player a person really committed to the athletics department believes that "It's a good idea to help the athletics because we really need money because we need a gym." She is a senior and she understands the problems players face while trying to find a gym to play with.

I am a soccer player and am very glad that we are having an e-waste drive to get more soccer balls Woo Hoo.

So we are saving the environment and getting money like Ms. Hill says it is a win win situation.

I was also able to interview the helper or the person who leads this organization or in other words the person all the E-Waste actually goes to. His name is Mark (johnny 2 bag what he said when i asked for his name haahaa) he is the ASL Recyclers leader/supervisor of the E-Waste Collection at ECHS.

He says that his organization is the end source for end of life electronics. Its a state funded program and its a way for them to help nonprofit organizations and school districts. Their specialty is CRT devices which are TVs and monitors. They have their own warehouse and are really big on recycling. The warehouse itself has 30 workers and 70 sales man and a few he stated "women in the office". The stuff that is given to them is demanufactured or in other words teared apart. Then those items that are demanufactured are sold to the people who want the materials cool huh trash equals money.

How Did We Find Them?

The school found them through networking you can say. It all went from America a girl from the ASL Recyclers to Heal the Bay one of green ambassadors buddy's and then they sent her to us. That simple. What it is to have friends huh.

What is Going on At ECHS on October 11,2008?

2008-10-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are having an E-Waste how do you say collection for the schools athletics department. We really are low on funds and we want anyone who has E-waste to come and leave their waste at our school where all proceedings go to the athletics department. we are doing something green and helping the school so just stop right over and deliver your electronic waste computers, computer screens,t.v.s, batteries,anything electronic, refrigerators, all that jazz. Another man's trash can be our soccer balls and basket balls. So just stop by at our campus

16315 Grevillea Ave., Lawndale, CA 90260-2858 Phone 310-214-34001

Also tomorrow is the start of building our Cobb Benches. This is very exciting because now many students will build what they want them to look like. many students want to help and i will be there tomorrow to interview everyone who is trying to make them. I will also take pictures. You will be able to see what the students have created and also how they feel. Wish the students good luck.

Will write again tomorrow.

Avoir

Update on Green Ambassadors!!!!

2008-10-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

hello everyone today will be a very quick post since school is really going down my throat. Punctuation and spelling are not a concern for me at this moment. please deal with it, i can say if there are any problems just comment and let me know. Okay so the cobb benches are up and going the meeting is soon i don't have exact dates will check them tomorrow and update since tomorrow is friday will have much more time. Also Bioneers is great we just had our meeting yesterday we need to find out info on the basics what is a ga what is echs what have we done the basics things our advisor ms. laimon puts down our throats everytime we do go to open meetings. there was also a costa rica night recently because a few lucky students were able to go to costa rica to see a new way of green life. the girls and boys did their presentation on the individual thing they researched while there. i bet it was great i personally did not go but hope the girls and boys did great.

Ohhhhh one big thing i should let yall know is the fact that i believe i am not sure am guessing our current school does not have an auditorium and yeah i know every school does need that we know from experience but i believe the cobb benches are going to be our auditorium awesome huh.

what has been happening abbott kinney is big don't recall writing about that well we made mini terrariums which are great don't need much water and sunlight i loved it.

Well that is all i can remember.

tomorrow i have a free afternoon so will get the specific details on the benches and bioneers and any new projects. i sure will have to tell you about our green ambassador class but that will be in next post and i will also write about their recent project. well write to yall tomorrow.

Composting is great!!!

Say no to Plastic

Congrats Students YAY Bioneers!!

2008-09-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

I am writing this post today to congratulate all the students who were chosen to go to Bioneers.
The following students had to write answers to questions and have a recommendation from a teacher. I will tell you this the students who did not get accepted shouldn't feel bad they did try hard and Guess What there will be better opportunities for you to apply and attend the BAHAMAS how cool is that. This summer or last summer you can say that they went to Costa Rica and the year before that Brazil. So there are definitely more opportunities for everyone and another San Fransisco trip this year in November so apply to that also. What else can i say there will be a Cob bench meeting tomorrow. I will let everyone know the students ideas tomorrow with the pictures of the ideas. I was looking everywhere for pictures of the cob bench we created at our other campus but couldn't find anything. Bingo! got one photo well there it goes our cob bench from the old campus. That is what is going to be lets say developed no wait yes the students tomorrow will develop a way to create it on our new campus. Good Luck with that ECHS students. Well now let me congratulate everyone who will attend the Bioneers conference

Darion Barlow
Christian Silas
Phoenicia Harrington
Carolina Parra
Belenia Avenclano
Joceyln Perez
Daisy Alvarez
Jordan Howard
Breion Carter

Oh and sorry if I misspelled any names wrong for this. They were received this way and thats how I wrote it. Also sorry for not putting any accents on the names.

BIONEERS!!!!!!!

2008-09-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Everyone Everyone Everyone we are now in the process of choosing lucky students to attend Bioneers. You may not know currently but it is held in San Fransisco which is Northern California. It is far away from Lawndale so is pretty important to go to this conference. One of our fellow Green Ambassadors is presenting there her name is Jordan Howard we are very pound of her she is an 11th grade student who is coordinating everything the room,the way to get there, food, everything so 10 lucky students will be under her guidance. We are under her wing. Also she went to Costa Rica to learn more on how sustainable people live there she loved it I would guess. I have talked to other students and they liked it also . These are opportunities the Green Ambassadors offer. So if people like you and I care about the environment we will be able to attend places like this. I will keep everyone posted on what is going on but currently no names have been released on who will go. i spoke to Jordan today about is and she is totally stressed on who will attend but just think San Fransisco for only 40 dollars not bad am I right. Will keep you posted. BIONEERS SO EXCITING If you want to learn more about the Bioneers
http://www.bioneers.org/

High School Student Conference Program Sept 15-16,2008

2008-09-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

I attended a conference yesterday.
It was great.
The conference was intended for teenagers
"A Conference and Expo on New and Emerging Clean Air Technologies and Innovations"
We had three sessions there was the first which was the movie:
"AIR, The Search for One Clean Breath"
This was a movie like everything else it shows us the basics of air and the pollution. But the great thing about this movie is that it doesn't just show the bad things about this planet and its air conditions but the fact that there are places who are trying to do something for this planet. They gave us a few examples like
Iceland which are actually doing an air quality revolution and they are turning to hydrogen for their fuel necessities.
What struck me the most was the fact that there is a place in England called
BedZED where everything is perfect for the environment. It is all eco-friendly. It has almost no carbon emissions coming from the little apartment like homes.
It almost reminds me of Dr. Seuss homes. For more information on BedZED and I totally recommend it is to go to following web address:
http://www.peabody.org.uk/pages/GetPage.aspx?id=179

The second was the presentations of teenagers who are actually making a change. There are many teenagers just like me who are doing something. For example Los Altos Academy are creating a vehicle known as HICE or Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine. These are teenagers who know the problem with our current fuel source and are inventing some other way of transportation but what you should notice is the fact that they are HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.

Another set of high school students form La Mirada High School have a Bike and Walk to School Day where they then see how much carbon emissions they didn’t emit the day the school did this Bike and Walk to School. They also have Beach Clean Ups on a regular basis also recycling is done everyday by the students to prevent waste.

Now here is the rub the energy club made a solar doll house as an example of how a regular house can function with solar energy they also have a solar boats competition well they don’t have it but they attend one it is the “Shell Eco Marathon”. The students must build a boat form scratch and attach all the gadgets to make it run including the solar panel.

THESE ARE ALL TEENAGERS WHO ARE GOING TO RUN THE WORLD ONE DAY AND IF THEY ALL THINK LIKE THIS AND WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE THEN OUR PLANET WILL BE A MUCH BETTER PLACE. EVERYONE CAN DO SOMETHING AND THE FACT THAT TEENAGERS CARE MORE THAN ADULTS WELL THATS BOGUS. WE ARE THE FUTURE AND WE WILL CHANGE THIS PLANETS PATH.

I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH A QUOTE I GOT FROM THE MOVIE. JUST THINK ABOUT THIS.
"MORE PEOPLE DIE OF AIR POLLUTION THAN CAR CRASHES"