WALK TO SCHOOL DAY is May 23rd. Clemson Police will be on hand to make one lane of the Berkeley bridge only for pedestrians. The other lane will be alternating traffic. Recommended you avoid driving to CES on May 23 between 7:30 and 8am. Parking available at Country Walk (pool lot), Village Walk (undeveloped section) and Lowe's (there's a path across the street from Lowe's that goes to Ashley Estates). See parking map below:
 

 

If you would like to help with the event as a volunteer, send an e-mail to gogreence@gmail.com.
 

5th graders!!! If you walked on EVERY Walk to School Day so far, you will be recognized as "WALKING CHAMPIONS". Please register your name on the Walk to School sign-up sheet, or by sending an e-mail with your name and homeroom to gogreence@gmail.com. 

10th WALK TO SCHOOL DAY coming up!

Can you believe it? Clemson Elementary School's 10th Walk to School event is coming up this spring!!!

We have been SOOOOOO lucky to experience the benefits of walking to school! With the help of the city's major, Clemson University, Daniel High School, Clemson City Police, the surrounding neighborhoods and the school community, we've spread the message of healthy lifestyle, environmental consciousness and safe pedestrian behavior. Our spectacular photo album illustrates the joy and fun we have had on each and every morning as we walked to school. We had our event covered in local papers (see one example) and in New Channel 4. We set into motion the City's Berkeley Bridge Project that will enable future generations to walk to school safely!

Sprout thanks all those involved in this outstanding achievement!

Keep WALKING, and keep GOING GREEN Clemson Elementary!!!

If you would like to help or volunteer, please, leave us a comment!

Berkeley Drive Pedestrian Bridge in the works

Sprout it happy to report, that Clemson City Council Meeting on January, 2014 has signed a resolution to authorize:

 

... THE LOCAL MATCH FOR THE BERKELEY DRIVE SHARED USE PATH AND BERKELEY DRIVE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE TRANSPORTATION ALTERATIVES PROJECT AND DIRECTING THE CITY ENGINEER TO EXECUTE A LOCAL PUBLIC AGENCY PROJECT AGREEMENT WITH THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.

 

Read the Resolution here!!!

As you know, The City of Clemson has been working on improving the safety of pedestrian traffic along Berkeley Drive extending from the intersection of Frontage Road south of US 123 to the Clemson Elementary School drive opposite of Karen Drive to the north of US 123. They proposed improvements that would include the construction of a multiple-use path along the east side of Berkeley Drive and a new pedestrian bridge over US 123.
  

The city's website reports that "The City contracted with Florence and Hutcheson to perform engineering services for the project. Florence and Hutcheson has the finished design of the project and conducted several Public Information Meetings along the way. Final design approval from SCDOT is anticipated in January of 2012. The design portion of the project was funded by the Pickens County “C” Funds Committee."

 

You can see info, pictures and plans on this flyer.

 

Walk to School Day - November 7th, 2013

Remember that cold November morning last year, when we had a chance to walk to school? How much fun it was! Thanks to over 280 energetic walkers, we managed to reduced the carline with more than 230 cars! A huge THANK YOU needs to go our to the police force that helps keep the event safe for all, to all the volunteers that aid walkers and drivers alike, to community members that show patience and support. We especially thank the neighborhoods around the school who graciously allow cars to park in their neighborhoods on Walk to School Day. Giving every family a chance to experience the joy of walking is a wonderful achievement! Nothing proves the value of our Walk to School days more than seeing healthy smiles on faces (instead of yawning, sleepy glances through car windows)!

WALK TO SCHOOL

Let's walk to school again this Friday (May 31st)! Please leave early enough to arrive safely at school by 8:00 a.m. Walking to school is great exercise, and it also helps reduce the number of cars in the carline and keeps our air clean. There will be policemen stationed at different points to assist with walking. Students should plan to go home from school their regular way. Enjoy your walk!
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DID YOU KNOW...? Two recent studies have found that walking to school is associated with higher overall physical activity throughout the day. (In other words: if you start active, you'll stay active.)

There are many potential benefits of physical activity for youth including:

• Weight and blood pressure control
• Bone, muscle, and joint health and maintenance
• Reduction in the risk of diabetes
• Improved psychological welfare
• Better academic performance

SOMETHING ELSE TO THINK ABOUT-------------->

Walking and bicycling to school also may help contribute to the developmental health of children. Some children today have less independence than their parents did and this lack of independence can negatively impact their social behavior development. Driving a child from home to school limits the child's opportunities to interact with their neighborhood and other children. Children who spend more time in supervised structured activities have fewer opportunities to explore their neighborhoods. Children may lose some relatively "safe" opportunities to make decisions independently. They miss some of the lessons gained from learning from mistakes and the confidence that comes with success. Questions also have been raised regarding how children who spend all their travel time in motor vehicles will master fundamental pedestrian and bicycling skills and what kind of drivers they will become because of their lack of experience negotiating traffic as walkers or bicyclists.

(Based on www.saferoutesinfo.org)

EARTH DAY 2013 - APRIL 22.

LET'S CELEBRATE!
Send an e-mail to gogreen@gmail.com to invite a GoGreen volunteer to YOUR classroom!
So many ways to be kind to our Earth ...

- separate your waste in school and/or at home (compost organic waste, sort plastics/papers/aluminum)

- go on a nature walk (eg. on the school's nature trail)

- study about recycling (ask for GoGreen's play recycling truck)

- watch a puppet show about waste decomposition (ask for GoGreen's puppets and props)

- do green crafts (ideas here)

- play the recycling scavenger hunt (Sprout took some photos of green spots in Clemson. Find on the map where the photos were taken! You can see the map and photos here. )

- play the "oil game" (game handbook and video)

- discuss the "The Story of Stuff" (see videos here)

- read books about environmental issues (available at our library)

 

-check your ecological footprint here!

International Recycling

Webelo scouts from Troop 235 are busy recycling at the International Festival! THANK YOU, SCOUTS!

Did you know ..... The  Environmental Performance Index (EPI) completed by Yale University found that in green efforts the U.S. ranks only 39th from 163 countries examined?

The EPI rates countries by assigning numeric values for different aspects of environmental policies. Each of 163 countries was graded on a scale of 1 to 100 (with 100 being the highest score). The EPI ranks many European and South American countries higher that the U.S. The EPI takes into account not just recycling, but other factors like purity of drinking water, carbon emissions and disease rates.

2010 EPI Top 10 Countries With Scores (Out of a possible 100)

1. Switzerland, 95.5
2. Sweden, 93.1
3. Norway, 93.1
4. Finland, 91.4
5. Costa Rica, 90.5
6. Austria, 89.4
7. New Zealand, 88.9
8. Latvia, 88.8
9. Colombia, 88.3
10. France, 87.8

Well, we still have quite a way to go to make it into the top 10! Keep up Go-ing Green, kids!!!!