In December, the Junior Nature Explorers students got to interact with some of Kentucky’s raptors! Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky presenters introduced owls, hawks, and falcons to each classroom on Zoom, giving students an up-close look at the unique characteristics of these birds. Students furthered their understanding of camouflage, predators and prey, and adaptations as they observed the birds’ coloration, talons, beaks, feathers, calls, and more!
The City of Lexington’s Green Check program recently honored three new certified members. Honorees included: VisitLEX (Silver), Mediocre Creative (Silver), and Bluegrass United Church of Christ (Bronze). The program recognizes businesses for their green initiatives and helps them expand their sustainability efforts. Becoming a Green Check Member business begins with a personal consultation and completion of the Green Check Sustainability Scorecard. The Sustainability Scorecard caters to organizations across a variety of sectors, including restaurants, non-profit organizations, retail, and manufacturers.
Based on their baseline sustainability score, the business or organization is awarded Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Member designation. Although the certification is valid for three years, member organizations are encouraged to pursue higher tiers through continued participation and achievement.
These three businesses all demonstrate a commitment to increased sustainability within their facilities and operations. Examples initiatives from the businesses include installation of rain gardens, upgrades to energy efficient lighting, office compost programs and promotion of alternative transportation. Beyond these high-impact features, there are lots of actions individual team members can take to improve sustainability in the workplace.
After three years, businesses who wish to renew their certification go through the recertification process. The 2017 Green Check businesses were up for recertification this year. All of the businesses that were able to participate moved up in membership level. They are as follows: Klausing Group (Gold), Broomwagon Bikes & Coffee (Silver), and Wrap Me Day Spa (Bronze).
Green Check is a program of the City of Lexington, managed by Bluegrass Greensource. For more information, including how to become Green Check Certified, please visit www.LexingtonKy.com/GreenCheck.
Bluegrass Greensource held the second successful Hinkston Creek and Dix River Watershed Group Stakeholder Meetings virtually this November. In these days of virtual everything, it was wonderful to have a group of 20+ individuals at each meeting engaging in ways to make our waterways cleaner. Our stakeholder groups meet once or twice a year to update participants and citizens on happenings in the watersheds. Meetings are an opportunity to work through new ideas to improve water quality and raise awareness across the watersheds and surrounding areas. In the coming years, these stakeholder groups will have an opportunity to develop and implement mini watershed projects utilizing Water Quality Mini Grants as seed money through Bluegrass Greensource. This is funded in part by a grant from the US EPA under 319 of the Clean Water Act. People interested in participating in these groups or learning more can email our Watershed Coordinator, Lindsie Nicholas, anytime at lindsie@bggreensource.org.
Our watershed group pages are linked below with upcoming meeting registration, past meeting minutes, presentations and more:
Dix River Watershed Group
Hinkston Creek Watershed Group
Are you committed to making the holidays more environmentally friendly? Here are some ideas to help you start:
Do you still have gifts to purchase? How does online shopping stack up? Check out Your Guide to Earth Friendly Holiday Shopping to find out!
The Live Green Lexington School program has been in full force this semester with virtual waste reduction and water quality lessons. Students use interactive Google Slides, videos, 3D tours of watersheds, and so much more as they explore their local environment. Technology has provided so many opportunities- there is a list of never-ending options for educators and students to learn online.
One of the most exciting new parts of the virtual Middle and High School program is the “Ask an Expert” – Career Panel. Following their classroom lessons, students from each participating Upper-Level school have had an opportunity to listen to and speak with a panel of local experts in water quality or waste reduction focused careers. These culminating events have a lasting impact. According to experts at ACT, students who develop education and career knowledge and skills are likely to “have expanded education and career knowledge, make education and career decisions that better fit them, increase their motivation to learn and achieve, and experience more positive outcomes in both school and work settings.”
Here’s what SCAPA science teacher Ashlie Arkwright has to say about the Ask an Expert Career Panel: “It is important to give students the opportunity to hear from members of our community whose careers relate to topics we address in class. Students often become aware of careers they have never heard of before as a result of experiences such as this. And given the fact that many students are currently not interacting with as many community members during their daily lives, virtual experiences such as the ones that Bluegrass Greensource provides are even more valuable and appreciated.” Addie, a SCAPA 7th grader stated, “The career panel was awesome! I learned so much from the visitors that Mrs. Sayles had. We learned all about the sanitary sewers and storm sewers. I am so happy that we got to hear from career panelists.”
The student and teacher sum it up well. One goal of the Environmental Education efforts through the Live Green Lexington Program is to help students discover the careers that are available to them in our city and beyond. When students have these experiences early on, they can guide them in making decisions and plans about their educational opportunities, and eventually careers.
By: The BGGS Waste Reduction Action Team
With nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states under two dozen banners and annual sales of more than $121.1 billion, Kroger Co. today ranks as one of the world’s largest retailers. As such, the company generates a lot of waste. For fourteen years, Kroger has been publishing its annual Environmental, Social, and Governance report that has outlined a strategic plan to meet it Zero Hunger/Zero Waste sustainability goals.
One of those goals was announced in late August of 2018: the company will phase out single-use plastic bags across its family of stores by 2025. Kroger’s QFC division, which ran the pilot program, was the first to phase out single-use plastic bags in 2019. Kroger’s Corporate Affairs, Retail Operations, and Sourcing teams are developing a phase out timeline for the next five years, with input from other stakeholders. This is very good news for those concerned about the environmental impact of single-use plastic.
In an effort to help combat single-use plastic waste, several of Kroger’s plastic packaging items–in addition to many other items–are recyclable in the plastic film recycling containers located in Kroger store entrances. The collected items are recycled into new items, like composite lumber and decking. The following items are accepted:
• Single-use plastic grocery bags
• Stretch wrap
• Bread bags
• Produce bags
• Plastic overwrap for toilet paper, napkins and paper towel
• Plastic overwrap packaging on diapers
• Plastic overwrap on bulk items in cases (e.g. water bottles, snacks)
• Dry cleaning bags
• Plastic retail bags (hard plastic and string handles removed)
• Newspaper sleeves/bags
• Clean and dry plastic food storage bags (e.g. Ziploc bags)
• Tyvek house wrap (with glue, labels or other materials removed)
• Plastic shipping envelopes, bubble wrap and air pillows (deflated with labels removed)
• All clean, dry bags labeled #2 or #4 (polyethylene film)
Some estimates suggest that 100 billion single-use plastic bags are thrown away in the U.S. every year. Currently, less than five percent of plastic bags are recycled annually in America, and single-use plastic bags are the fifth-most common single-use plastic found in the environment by magnitude. By recycling our single-use plastic waste at a local Kroger store, we can all begin to make an impact in this every-growing environmental problem.
No school year is complete without a field trip or two and the Bluegrass Greensource educators have been happily out in the field (quite literally) this month! In partnership with the Live Green Lexington education program, we have taken students on virtual field trips all across Fayette County. First graders explored McConnell Springs to learn about trees and the wildlife they support. They were able to look inside the hollow 300 year old bur oak tree which is not only older than Lexington itself, but home to raccoons, snakes, birds, and an infinite number of insects. The second grade classes toured the compost pad with LFUCG’s Joe Brenzel. He explained how yardwaste is brought in to be composted back into nutrient-rich soil. The second grade series focuses on soil superheros (decomposers) so it was great to see that process in action! Third graders joined Joe on a trip to the Materials Recovery Facility for an inside look at how our recycling is sorted and shipped. Our third graders are now recycling experts! The fourth grade classes took virtual trips to FloraCliff Nature Preserve with the director, Beverly James, and citizen scientist, Dan Patrick. Students observed both chemical and biological assessments of the water quality in Elk Lick Creek. Educators Kara Sayles and Rachel Patton did a great job of demonstrating how pH, nitrates, and dissolved oxygen are important indicators of water’s immediate quality. Then we walked upstream where Dan and Beverly rounded up some amazing macroinvertebrates like crayfish, caddisflies, water pennies, and scuds. These give us a bigger picture of the water system’s long term health. We are so appreciative of all our community partners and the exciting and engaging opportunities they help us provide for our students!
Bluegrass Greensource is excited to partner with the Office of Energy Policy to develop a unique energy based curriculum for preschoolers. There are a variety of curriculum options beginning at the kindergarten level but preschool is a unique opportunity to expose our youngest learners to the core basics of how energy moves, works, and transforms! This eight part series will include lessons on wind, water, and solar energy sources, simple machines, plants, animals, electricity, and conservation. The BGGS education team is designing a robust variety of cross-curricular activities to integrate math, science, language, music, art and movement. The curriculum also provides extensions for students to share at home. The series follows national and state standards for preschool education and considers the thematic schedule used by HeadStart. A teacher advisory board will launch the content in classrooms via a pilot program over the course of the 2020-21 school year.
We are excited to announce GreenFest 2020, presented this year by our friends at PNC! Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s GreenFest will be free to participants and will take place completely online, with four nights of workshops happening across two weeks. Mark your calendars for October 20th, 22nd, 27th, and 29th, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
GreenFest 2020 will have 24 different sessions, including: vegetable seed saving, intro to printmaking, making green cleaners, end-of-season garden maintenance, how to make a rain barrel, backyard bird feeding, zero waste shopping, and many more. We will have make-and-take sessions, as well as tours of local sustainability sites. Stay tuned for registration details and announcements of additional workshop sessions.
This fall, our environmental educators are busy adapting to the changes brought about by Covid-19. We are eager to meet with teachers and students virtually! Read on to learn about our programs and how we can work with you.
Also, check out our newest online resources for Environmental Education at home at:
Connecting Community and Water
The pages on the Watershed Based Education Site contain resources for families, homeowners, and teachers to explore and learn more about local watersheds and how to improve them. The site offers information about resources that Bluegrass Greensource promotes throughout Central Kentucky to engage homeowners in hands-on projects to improve their own watershed, along with grant opportunities to help fund best management practices to improve water quality.
