Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon

For Immediate Release
Feb. 23, 2010

Rosemount High Plans to “Cool their Heels”

Rosemount High’s Irish Green Team has been awarded a $12,770 grant by the MPCA with funds provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Rosemount High is one of 100 schools statewide that was eligible to apply for the grant as second year participants in the Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon project. The primary goal of the project will be to reduce the school’s carbon footprint by 11% by June 2011. The strategies for carbon reduction all include a strong education component that will engage a large portion of the student body through their math and science classes. The project includes 4 objectives. The first objective is to educate the school of our current carbon footprint and our goal for reducing it. The Art Honors Society is designing a poster to help with this. Grant funds will cover the printing and production costs. Secondly, students in 9th grade Earth Science classes will be doing research, gathering data and forming action plans to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. Grant funds will be used to purchase meters to monitor energy use, adjust lighting levels and locate areas of the school in need of insulation, weather stripping and caulking. Students will also be using the meters in some of their math classes and be able to check out the instruments to monitor energy use at home. Funds are also being used to purchase motion-activated light sensors, energy misers for vending machines, energy efficient computer monitors, power strips for teachers and weather stripping and caulking. The third objective is to decrease the number of student cars driven to and from school by 10% by encouraging students to ride the bus, bike or walk. The Irish Green Team will organize a walk/bike/ride the bus to school day this spring and again in the fall to help promote this goal. The last goal is to reduce paper use at school by 10% through teacher training and the use of software that will allow paper use to be monitored. More than 4.5 million sheets of paper were printed last year. If the school can reduce that number by 10% it is equivalent to saving 54 trees that are capable of sequestering 1.2 million tons of carbon annually. (Based on data found at Conservatree.org)

Veda Kanitz
Irish Green Advisor