Don’t throw a piece a paper in the trash can at Woodland Heights! The students here are serious about recycling. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control awarded the school a grant for $1,450 for educating students about environmental issues. A Green Team of students from each class, Kindergarten through fifth grade, is responsible for helping classmates remember to recycle paper, plastic, and aluminum cans. Recycling bins were purchased for every classroom and the students wear their Green Team t-shirts proudly on Fridays. Southern Paper Stock of Spartanburg provided rolling cans and picks up the paper to be recycled.

The Earth Day Celebration was a creative exploration of discovery. Woodland Heights teachers practice actively involving the students in the learning. They sang songs about recycling, painted pictures, made paper mache’ globes, and wrote about “What a Wonderful World” we live in. The fifth graders entertained their parents and the student body with a program that highlighted their recent three day field trip to Barrier Island.

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The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has joined with South Carolina local governments and partners to provide cordless electric mowers to residents at a discount by collecting previously-owned gas-powered mowers to recycle them. The First Annual Lowcountry Lawn Mower Exchange will be held Saturday, March 28, 2009, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

With the tagline “Do Your Part to Help Mow Down Pollution!”, The City of Charleston website shares astounding information to help people understand the emissions from their lawn mowers. For instance, according to the website, in the hour it takes you to mow your lawn, a gas-powered lawn mower emits the same air pollution as driving a car 200 miles.

The website also fuels readers with information such as how many millions of gallons of gasoline are spilled by lawn equipment annually and tips on how individuals can prevent these pollutions. By visiting the website, residents can also enter to win a 14″ Neutron electric mower. The winner will be announced by Charleston Mayor Joe Riley on March 23rd, so enter now.

From the SC For Green website, navigating other links such as Upstate Forever, SC Says No, Greenville Forward, Go Green Charleston, The Coastal Conservation League, and the South Carolina Chapter of the Green Building Council take interested residents on a comprehensive tour of the South Carolina green scene.  The hyperlocal site Go Green Charleston is packed with resources from green building, organic cleaning companies, transportation alternatives, and an events calendar.

To find out more on the building, government, nonprofit, and community connections of South Carolina’s environmental efforts, dig through these resources.  These websites should be a solid starting place to learn more about what South Carolina is working toward and how you can get involved in a green SC.

Designed to promote the use of local and sustainable seafood in South Carolina’s restaurants, the Sustainable Seafood Initiative helps ensure that consumers have fish for the future by teaching our partner chefs about sustainable and local seafood, assessing their menus, and encouraging consumers to dine at our partner restaurants.

The SSI is guided by an interdisciplinary and diverse Steering Committee ensuring that the program pragmatically balances the needs of the environment with the world population’s need for seafood. We believe that we can lessen the impact we have on the oceans by making wise seafood choices and encouraging improvement of fishing and fish-farming methods.

[Find Charleston restaurants and other information here]

http://www.micd.org/

Our second mission was to bring together residents of the Lowcountry with the local businesses that can assist them in living a “greener”, less wasteful life.  Showcasing ideas and sharing knowledge that would allow ANYONE (not just “greenies), to contribute towards a more sustainable world.  As a first year FREE event we relied on sponsors and exhibitor booth fees to offset our costs.  We were delighted at the response from local independent businesses who made up more than 80% of our total exhibitors and helped to sell out our day.  In addition to our exhibitors and food vendors, we also spotlighted 17 inspiring non-profit organizations and showcased the diverse talents of more than 20 speakers and musicians.

While the bands were a popular attraction, it was gratifying to see the level of interest in the speakers and non-profit organizations.  Jamee Haley, the Director of Lowcountry Local First sent me this email:

“I just wanted to let you know what a GREAT job you all did with the Green Fair.  As a participant I was thrilled with the response and as a member of this community I was thinking it’s about time!!!  It was great to see people wander through the non-profit tent and be actually interested in what it is we are doing.  We are asked to do so many things like this and so often it feels like we are just a fixture.  I was so energized by the crowd and all the great things that are starting to come together here in Charleston.  Thank you for taking on such a huge project and congratulations on a job well done!”

While having 5000 “mostly” enthusiastic attendees was thrilling, it is encouraging to know that your participants, most of who donated time and/or money to be there, felt it was well worth their investment and are looking forward to next year.
We especially must again thank our sponsors, without whom this day really would not have been possible.  They believed in us when many others turned us down and I am excited to have their involvement in 2009!  We are also so appreciative to the City of Charleston, who sponsored our event and supported us throughout.  Especially Mayor Riley and The Charleston Green Committee, who came out the day of to volunteer and in Mayor Riley’s case walked from home to say a few words and show his support.  It really meant something to showcase Charleston’s commitment to green in Marion Square Park and that would have never been possible without the determination of Carolee Williams and James Meadors and the blessing of Matt Compton.  There are many others who helped us in this process, but none deserve more recognition than the  City Parks and Rec employees.  Sean Snyder and his awesome crew, worked ridiculous hours on very little sleep to help us with our set up and take down.

While we are already looking for ways we can improve next year; overall the turnout was incredible and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,  we have started planning for next year and I am grateful for any feedback that will assist us in becoming a signature event in Charleston that both businesses and residents look forward to being a part of!