Power Down... Money Up

Students can earn money and help the planet.

a. All over the school we want you to ‘Power Down’ and save energy. This doesn’t mean learning in the dark; it simply means not being wasteful and save where appropriate.

1. Use the windows for most of your light.
2. Use AC as much as needed; but not more. And make sure door is closed.
3. Don’t leave computers, AC, and lights on when no one is using it.

b. Electricity bill of April 2008 (approx. 1,300,000 baht) will be compared with April 2009.

c. All the money (electricity) you save in April 2009 will be used for the Power Down grand prize. Therefore, the more electricity you save the more money there is to be won.

d. Groups can enter a charity, school club, or worthy cause into the grand prize contest. The winners will be drawn out of a hat. If that group is picked the money will go towards their cause. Group examples:

• Charity – WWF, Elephant Nature Park, Operation Smile.
• School club – Dance team, GIN, Helping Paws, Green Panthers, etc.
• Cause – Any worthy cause you can think of, such as money for school project.

e. All groups MUST register with Ms. Tananone in Activities Office before April 22.

Eco Survey for Change at ISB

We are looking at some things we can make more environmentally friendly at ISB. We need you to let us know if you want these changes or not.

Click Here to take survey

Earth Hour - Will you vote?

MARCH 28th you can make a stand. EARTH HOUR: Turn off your electricity for 1 hour from 8:30pm - 9:30pm.



Will you vote for the earth this year? Let us know if you will participate by leaving a comment.

The lost eco-mmercial

MS students Zach and Matt made this excellent eco-mmercial for the original contest. This video got second place and was very close to winning. However, it could not be uploaded until now. So enjoy this powerful message.

Don't forget to enter in the new eco-mmercial contest with Central. Details are here.

You Vote on Possible Changes

The students in the Environmental Stewardship class are looking at making a few more environmental improvements at ISB. Some of these changes also include healthier food choices and less animal cruelty. However, each change will come at a cost. Relax, we will not force any of this upon you. First, we will educate about the benefits of each and let you take a survey. If more than 50% of the people are against it, it will be dropped. If 50% or more are for it we will take it to another level, but nothing will be rushed.

Some of the changes we are looking at are:

1. switch to free ranged, organic eggs (not raised in cages)
   
2. switch to organic rice
3. switch to unbleached, recycled napkins

Stay tuned for more info later. Meanwhile feel free to watch some of these videos to learn more.

• Meet your Meat (warning - this is not easy to watch. Plus they are asking everyone to be vegetarian; which is not our goal. Nevertheless, it shows the animal cruelty taking place on many factory farms. If you are sensitive I would recommend looking at the videos below instead).
  
• Store wars - amusing 'Star Wars' animation about organic food.
• The Meatrix - amusing 'Matrix' animation about animal cruelty. You can also see Meatrix 2 and 2.5
  

The video below is only part 1 of Meet Your Meat. click the above link to see cruelty to pigs, cows, etc. Again, only view it if you think you can watch it.

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.