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Member Organization Spotlight: Captain Planet
Foundation
Captain Planet Foundation's mission (CPF), a
member organization of Earth Share of Georgia, is to support
hands-on, environmental education projects for youth in grades K -
12. CPF's objective is to encourage innovative activities that
empower children around the world to work individually and
collectively as environmental stewards. Through ongoing education
CPF believes that children can play a vital role in preserving our
natural resources for future generations.
In 2006, Captain
Planet Foundation funded over 120 hands-on, environmental education
projects. The work of our 2006 grantees spanned across 32 states and
internationally in Cameroon and Guatemala. In 2006, grantees planted
27 organic gardens and established 16 new outdoor classrooms.
Grantees last year restored over 10 acres of land with organized
clean-ups, removal of invasive species and restoring native species.
In 2006, CPF funded its first project with a focus on youth finding
solutions to global warming. For more information on Captain Planet
Foundation's programs, please visit:
http://captainplanetfoundation.org/
Don't miss Captain Planet Foundation's 13th Annual X-mas
Party at the Tabernacle, December 14, 2007, General Admission 9:00
pm. The party features great live music and entertainment, an
eco-destination auction, and cocktails from the Aurora Borealis Bar.
For more information or to purchase tickets visit:
http://www.xmasparty.org/eastcoast.htm%3Cbr%20/%3E/
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A Message from the Executive Director: Year End
Donations
In 2007, Earth Share of Georgia has experienced
significant campaign growth, and established new workplace campaigns
and business partners to support our network of 60 environmental
member organizations.
Contact us today at 404-873-3173 and
let us help you plan a gift that will benefit you, your family and
generations to come. Thank you in advance for your generous gift to
Earth Share of Georgia! To donate online please visit:
http://www.earthsharega.org/giving.htm
Madeline L. Reamy, Executive Director
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Holiday Shopping Benefits Earth Share of Georgia
Do
your online holiday shopping at Benevolink, purchase from
hundreds of brand name retailers, and give to Earth Share of Georgia
at the same time! Join the Benevolink giving community and start
earning funds for Earth Share of Georgia just for shopping online
with any of the 200 famous retailers in their Marketplace! It's
free. It's secure. No hassle. Same prices. Favorite retailers. Join
today!
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New Marketing and Printing Partners for Earth Share of
Georgia
Realm
Communications is the now the proud marketing agency of Earth
Share of Georgia. Through the support of a great roster of clients,
Realm is able to donate their services to Earth Share of Georgia and
help us in our work to make the state's air cleaner, land greener,
water purer and future brighter. They have generously offered to
assist ESGA with in-kind design and marketing assistance in 2008.
Canterbury
Press, one of only a few FSC certified printers in Atlanta, has
also agreed to donate their printing services for all of Earth Share
of Georgia's Earth Day 2008 materials. Canterbury Press believes
that use of renewable resources and materials that are
environmentally responsible is a part of being an industry
leader.
FSC Certification means that a paper product has
passed through a "chain-of-custody" from an FSC certified forest,
paper manufacturer, paper merchant and printer. Use of FSC certified
papers warrants that the paper product has been harvested and
produced meeting stringent environmental, social, and economic
standards. Including the FSC logo on printed materials identifies
Earth Share of Georgia as an organization that contributes to
conservation and responsible management of natural
resources.
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Happy Plastic Season
by Kris Lefever
Here we are, in the midst of the most important shopping
season of the entire year. Christmas . . . Kwanza . . Hanukkah!
Which means carefully-wrapped presents, and beautifully-prepared
feasts . . . which means shopping, lots and lots of shopping . . .
and lots and lots and lots of plastic!
No, not the small
squares in your wallet.
Not to burst your holiday bubbles,
but we are also deep in the midst of a global energy crisis. What
does an energy crisis have to do with shopping, you might ask. Well,
have you considered all those plastic shopping bags we receive at
the store to carry our purchases home in? (In the interest of
keeping this article short, I won't even mention the hard plastics
that encase your new electronic gizmos, fancy toys, jewelry, etc.,
nor those ubiquitous plastic beverage bottles.)
According to
The Wall Street Journal, American shoppers go through about 100
billion plastic shopping bags each year, consuming an estimated 12
million barrels of oil in the process 1 (not including the barrels
of oil it takes to deliver the bags to all the grocery stores, toy
stores, pharmacies, clothing stores, etc.) And the majority of them
are used only once! Would a reasonable person consider plastic bags
to be a wise use of a rapidly diminishing resource, a highly-priced
energy source, at that?
Sure, the bags can be recycled! But,
only 1 to 3% of those bags actually are. 2 It's not just because
people don't care. Even if you are putting your plastic bags into a
recycling container, there's a good chance they're being shipped off
to a third world country . . . to be incinerated - it just costs too
much to recycle plastics! 3 The rest end up in landfills if we're
lucky, or, if we're not, buried under leaves, or caught up in trees,
or, worse yet, in the ocean.
There are now nine "oceanic
gyres" (circulating ocean currents) around the world that have
become major accumulation zones for plastic debris. The one known as
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, floating some 1,000 miles west of
San Francisco is estimated to weigh 3 million tons and cover an area
twice the size of Texas. Don't believe me? Check out this website
www.algalita.org/education.html and click on "Plastic in the
Environment" - but preferably not on an empty stomach.
So,
what's a reasonable shopper to do?
Do the math..... and
create a new habit. Think about it - how many plastic bags do you
bring home each week? But what if you carried just one bag into the
store with you? Or two?
Start slowly - it's a habit you have
to form. How many cloth or canvas bags do you already have that can
be put into service for shopping? They don't have to be pretty, just
functional. Put the bags in your car after each shopping trip so
they are already there the next time you stop at the store. Put
"bags" on your grocery list as a reminder to get the bags out of the
car and into the store. It might take you two or three times before
it becomes second nature, but it will.
Don't worry about
looking strange or getting comments from the check-out clerks. More
and more people are bringing in their own bags, and some stores have
attractive reusable bags for sale. And some stores even pay you a
nickel for each bag you bring in and use!
So this holiday
season, maybe its time to give a gift to our planet and ourselves -
reusable bags.
1 www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=4
2
www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=5
3 Ibid.
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Green Express Couriers
Start an account with Green Express Courier
Service, the first courier service in the country to use all
hybrid cars. Ask to participate in the "Earth Share Giving Program"
and Green Express will make a $1.00 contribution to Earth Share of
Georgia for every package ordered for delivery!
For more
information on Green Express Couriers and to start an account call:
770-394-3131 or go to: http://www.greendelivers.com/.
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