Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Google Power Meter.

Google has a device that I think millions of people will use in the near future. You can have a sneak peak now. They have come up with a power meter that is used with your computer to tell you how much energy you are using in your house, when it is being used and what is doing it. You can actually see what is the most wasteful and costing you money. Check out their 1 minute video be clicking Google Power Meter.

Eco-mmercial contest # 2 - Plastic Bags!

I'm not here to promote Central over other shopping centers since I like to work on projects with all of them, but I do have something cool to tell you. For a while now I have been trying to contact businesses to look into reducing plastic bag use around Thailand. Perhaps, even taking a European approach and charging for the bags. Central has responded and we met last week. Don't worry there are no current plans to charge you for a bag, but they have a plan to reduce bags by at least 25% in the next 2 years. The Green Panthers will work with them on some areas. For example, the first step is to have Eco-mmercial contest # 2. However, this time all the videos should focus on plastic bags. We know plastic bags are terrible for the environment, there are solutions, and your video should prepare customers to make a lifestyle change and not use plastic bags.

The point of the commercial is to convince people to use less plastic bags, and in particular to purchase one of the eco bags that Central sells for 60 baht. This bag can be used as a points card. The bag has a bar code and every time you use it you get points. How cool is that!

CONTEST DETAILS:

  1. Video length must be 60 seconds or less. This will be strictly enforced and any videos longer than this time will not be eligible to win.
  2. Video can be done in English and/or Thai.
  3. At some point in the video it must have the Central logo and it must show the Central eco bag (I think any winning video would have this in it anyway)
  4. The winning video will get a 5000 baht gift voucher and have their videos shown at Central Changwattana every hour.
  5. All videos can be turned in to Mr. Dyke (PE office) or Ms. Tananone (activities office).
  6. Deadline for submission is April 22nd (Earth Day), 2009.
If interested, please send an email to kerryd@isb.ac.th to let me know who you are.

This video from You tube and this website might get you started, but don't copy it. Remember to follow the guidelines above.






9th Annual Bangkok Ultimate Frisbee Tournament Goes 'Green'.


On Feb 21-22 260 players came to Bangkok to play in the very popular Ultimate Frisbee tournament. The event is always fun and exciting and a great way to meet new friends. However, in past years the amount of trash it created was disgusting. This year it went green and the Green Panthers were there to make sure of it. Some of the changes were to not supply bottles of water, but have large containers and you can refill your own reusable bottle. It also had recycling bins to separate the waste, but most importantly we severely reduced the amount of disposable plates and cups. We usually go through about 3000 plus disposable plastic cups and about 1000+ plates. This time everyone paid the Green Panther students 100 baht as a deposit for the dishes and when returned they got 80 baht back. The system accomplished its goal and I would guess waste was reduced by about 95%. I would like to thank Natalie, Jayna, Cha, Katie, Ina, Howard, Alisa and Leon for volunteering your time over the weekend to make this work.

Bang Pu Eco Trip



On Feb 13-14 ISB MS students went to Bang Pu in the province of Samut Prakan, just an hour south of Bangkok. Here we worked with WWF to help restore the bird sanctuary and plant a mangrove forest. The students did scientific research and learned a lot about this valuable ecosystem. The place is home to 100's of species of birds and for many it was their first time seeing a mudskipper! Click here to see all the photos.

At the end of the trip 5 eco all-star awards were given. All of the students were great, but this was for those who went above and beyond the call of duty. The winners were Raimy, Katie, Tay, Win, and a student that has been on every eco trip in the MS, Ton-Leow.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

ISB HS students stand up for the environment


High school students joined in the eco-fair as well at the BCCT. These students focused on waste reduction at ISB and highlighted things done in the past such as, reducing plastic bags from 300 to zero, switching to reusable dishes, using eco bags and reusable bottles.

This group is currently on 3 projects:
  1. Reducing energy at school
  2. Using reusable water bottles
  3. Planting trees to offset flights taken by our student groups.
Keep up the good work!

ISB MS students speak out


















At the start of the school year several ISB students along with other international schools of Bangkok went to an event held by the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand. Here the MS Green Panthers spoke about the benefits (environmental, health, and animal rights) of organic food. 4 students presented to an audience of other students and business men and women. Afterwards all who attended could come to our booth to try our blind taste test comparing organic milk and apples to non-organic milk and apples. The organic apples won by a landslide and the milk was closer, but the organic milk still came out on top.

Local Recycling Center Visit


I teach Environmental Stewardship 4 times a year and each class takes a trip to the local recycling center. They also have to take their own items to recycle. The kids get to keep the money they earn too. To stick with the 'green' side, we travel there by the neighborhood solar bus and we visit a village compost center too.

New Recycling Bins

Recently we have been receiving a lot of batteries to recycle. Our small containers could not handle the load, so our school staff painted this very eye pleasing recycling container for us.

Keep bringing in those items to recycle.

We no longer take juice boxes, but we still take:
  1. Newspapers
  2. Batteries
  3. bottles/can
  4. Ink jet cartridges
  5. cell phones & their batteries
  6. aluminum tabs (for artificial limbs)

Monday, February 2, 2009

Eco-mmercial Contest with TRUE Vision















For a few months now the Green Panthers have hosted an eco-mmercial contest. The idea was to have students make a short video about any environmental topic. There were 26 entries and the final winner was Jori T, a senior at ISB. Her video, "Would you leave your trash here?" was about making choices. Jori received 5000 baht from the Green Panthers and then Jori and I went to the TRUE studios to film a TV show about the contest and Green Panthers. I would like to thank TRUE Vision for allowing us to show the video and go on television. You can see some of the videos right here on this site, but to see more go to Youtube and type in isb green panthers.

Other videos include:

5 steps to make Bangkok Green

Reuse bags and bottles

Help the Planet

2nd grade eco all-star

Plastic bags

Ice Melting

Waterbottles

A planet for living

Impact of bottles

It's ok to hug a tree

Trash