Green Cup Challenge (or, teach your school to be Sustaina-cool)

the problem:

Every year, my school participates in the interscholastic month long energy saving competition, the Green Cup Challenge. With the help of the campus janitorial staff, we measured the amount of energy used at the beginning and at the end of the month of February. During the month, members of my DoSomething Club educated kids on ways to reduce their personal, energy outputs at home and at school (ask me for ideas) and facilitated some great events to keep everyone on the same, energy-saving page during the month. We held candlelit "Lunches and Dinners in the Dark" where we turned off all the lights in the cafeterias for meals. We made a movie (watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQzwVLo85hg) hosted an Eco-Coffee Night where students performed only with acoustic instruments, and we gave out ice cream made locally. We held a "Trashion Show," ('the only place you can get "trashed" on campus') where students signed up to make costumes for models of their choice out of items formerly thought of as "trash" like plastic bottles and Target bags. Our overarching goal during the month was to change peoples' daily habits so that they live more sustainably, and I believe our goal was accomplished! We reduced our energy output by 3% more than last year! 

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