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.

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)
   

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