GreenGuardian.com

In 2004, seven students participated in the Peace and Environment Camp, where they learned about waste reduction and composting, and built a compost bin for Camp St. Croix to use in its food waste reduction efforts.  These student Environment Ambassadors pledged to complete a waste reduction community service activity at the end of the camp. Six schools participated in the Peace and Environment essay contest, with 100 essays being submitted. Twenty were published in the Community Reporter, which reaches 12,000 households.  PVP also coordinated a “Waste-Free National Night Out”, where block club leaders encouraged residents to use reusable dishes and utensils, and handed out information on composting and getting off junk mail lists.  A peace garden was developed at a local school, and students were educated on composting.

In 2005, 55 students from Harding High School and St. Paul Open School learned about waste issues and then took photographs of waste they see in their daily lives. The students at Harding created a toxicity reduction brochure featuring photos of household hazardous waste with proper disposal information and distributed the brochures to 400 families. They also created a display on toxicity reduction that was featured in the lobbies of the Battle Creek Parks and Recreation Center and the American Indian Family Center. St. Paul Open students displayed their photos and art at Fresh Grounds coffee shop in St. Paul. Examples of the art projects included “The Ugly Head of Waste” which raised awareness about how much each of us throws away, and “Fashionable Change” which turned items that would otherwise be trash into fashion.