Fulton Elementary PTA Becomes First CarbonFree® Green PTA Partner in America
Ivan Chan on September 1st, 2009
The Fulton Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is the first CarbonFree® Green PTA in America.
“We are very proud to join CarbonFree® Partner companies and organizations like Discovery Communications, Avis, Amtrak, 41pounds.org and others to help the environment, support energy independence, and help make the transition to a clean energy future possible,” states Fulton PTA President Brian Meshkin. “It is our hope that we will teach our kids and lead by example to encourage progress from the grassroots.”
As a CarbonFree® Green PTA, Fulton offset its carbon footprint with a donation to Carbonfund.org, which calculated the carbon emissions from the building usage and attendee transportation to meetings and activities for the 2009-10 school year. Fulton’s donation supports Carbonfund.org’s third-party validated carbon offset projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reforestation which are reducing global warming emissions today.
The PTA will also hold a fundraiser where members and friends can make their homes and cars CarbonFree® with 20 percent of the tax-deductible donations supporting the PTA’s environmental initiatives. Additionally, the Fulton Elementary PTA is reducing its paper and ink consumption by 50 percent, supporting its Environmental Committee’s Chesapeake Bay Day assembly and the school’s soil conservation garden at Fulton Elementary as multi-disciplinary learning experiences, and embarking on other environmental initiatives.
The Green PTA Program involves:
• Becoming a CarbonFree® PTA Partner by reducing, offsetting the carbon footprint of a PTA’s activities
• Reducing paper and fossil fuel-based ink consumption through increased use of electronic mediums
• Establishing an environmental or wellness PTA committee that promotes more environmentally conscious choices by families such as carpooling
• Completing a Green School certification application in the PTA’s state (if available)
• Incorporating environmental protection initiatives in PTA projects
“With the great families, teachers and administrators at Fulton Elementary, we are pleased to lead the way and plant a seed here that will hopefully grow and flourish as other PTA’s join us,” said Meshkin.
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Follow @Carbonfundorg on Twitter!
The story of how and why the Fulton Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) became the CarbonFree® Green PTA in America would make a great presentation at the North American Association for Environmental Education conference in Buffalo NY on September 29-October 2, 2010. Learn more and enter a presentation at http://www.naaee.org/conference. .