Maryland Associationof Student Councils
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Maryland AssociationGive your school's delegates the chance to attend MASC events and benefit from MASC's leadership, advocacy, and communication activities! Join Now
2017-2018May Green Goals
Hello fellow student leaders! As the year wraps up, let’s reflect on some of the ways we can continue to be environmentally friendly throughout the summer. Let’s finish off strong with our last green goals of the year.
*Tweet or tag @mdstuco a picture when participating in Earth Day
April Green Goals
Happy April everyone! Earth Day is this month on April 22nd. People from all over the world have celebrated this day since 1970. Various events are held to show support for environmental protection. This month’s green goals will include activities to do on your own or with a few friends to benefit the environment. Go out and show your support for environmental protection.
*Tweet or tag @mdstuco a picture when participating in Earth Day
Happy March, student leaders of Maryland! The universal World Water Day is held this month, on March 22nd. The United Nations’ dedicated this day to increase people’s awareness of water’s importance in the environment, agriculture, health and trade. This day shines light on how crucial water is to our day to day lives and how privileged we are in the United States to have an abundant source of clean water. In tribute to countries around the world without a source of clean water, we dedicate this month’s green goals to water conservation.
Do not flush things down the toilet that can be easily thrown in the trash. Each flush is usually about 3.5 gallons – that can add up quickly!
Put a water bottle with a few pebbles in the tank of your toilet. This saves up to 10 gallons of toilet water a day.
When using a dishwasher, refrain from pre-rinsing. Scrap leftover and then put it in the dishwasher.
Instead of using the garbage disposal, make a compost with some of your food waste.
Wash your clothes in cold water. An added bonus- it saves money!
Only do laundry or dishes when you have a full load. We need to be as efficient as possible.
*Tweet or tag @mdstuco a picture when doing these
Welcome to February student leaders. The past few months we’ve focused on reusability and sustainability, but now it’s time to target reducing our ecological footprint as a whole. Little changes in our day to day lives can have an immense impact on restoring water and air quality. We’ve composed a five-step process to achieving an earth-friendly lifestyle!
Step 1 – Start the morning right with a hot cup of coffee or water. When doing so, ditch the plastic or paper cups. Invest in a coffee tumbler or reusable water bottle. This easy change in habit goes a long way in reducing waste.
Step 2 – Driving to school can be boring. Pick up a friend! Not only is it earth-friendly, you also have a friend to talk to on your way to school. Carpooling is the best way to reduce gas emission from transportation.
Step 3 – When you have arrived at school, you may notice that many of your classmates are not as awake as you. Encourage your classmates to take an ecological footprint calculator and research the ways they can reduce it.
Step 4 – After dinner, you may have dishes to wash. The average dishwasher uses 6 gallons per wash. It is imperative to run only full loads in your dishwasher or hand wash your dishes!
Step 5 – You’ve arrived at your home. It’s time to start winding down. Before hitting the bed, lower the thermostat. Bundle up to stay warm, and sleep well knowing that you’re making a difference in saving the world.
*Tweet or tag @mdstuco a picture when doing these
Hello fellow student leaders, we hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing Winter Break and New Year! With 2018 coming along, New Year’s resolutions are made. The New Year is a great way to say goodbye to your non-environmentally friendly habits; so let 2018 be full of a new environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Leave plastic water bottles in 2017, grab a reusable bottle which can save a lot of money and they are BPA free (BPA is a chemical used in plastic bottles which can be harmful to your health and the environment).
Use less water. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth and only use the dishwasher if it’s completely full of dishes.
Carpool to events, having multiple cars going to the same location gives off a lot of vehicle emissions that are very disastrous for the environment. (Especially for MASC events that are far away)
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Do not forget the three R’s; they are very important. There are multiple things you can do on a daily basis such as recycling paper or reusing containers.
New year, New you? Try upcycling, a cheap alternative to buying new clothes all the time. This is a great way to add something new to your style. Start 2018 with a new style.
Be green at your school. Join or start a green club at your school to make it a more environmentally friendly. Looks great on a resume, too.
Sell or donate used textbooks from the last semester. You never know who could need it.
*Tweet or tag @mdstuco a picture when doing one of these items!
Hello everyone! We hope you had a great Thanksgiving, but sadly we are now back to our busy school day lives. With that said, we all create a lot of waste in and out of school. One person makes 4.6 pounds of waste every day. Americans produce 251,000,000 pounds of waste a year. As student leaders, we all need to be cautious about our human footprint. Human footprints are the impacts of everyday activities towards the world (such as taking a shower or eating breakfast). These activities can either be positive or negative which is why we need to make sure that we pay attention to how our actions can affect the environment.
1. Make a compost basket – throw in soil, a few twigs, compostable materials, and keep it moist with water. Organic Farming!
2. Use Mason Jars or Reusable Containers instead of one time containers
3. Recycle your old electronic devices properly as incorrectly decomposed electronics emit radioactivity and carbon dioxide
4. Repurpose items in your home. Take an old bookcase, add some color, and now you’ve revamped your old boring case.
*Tweet or tag @mdstuco a picture when doing these!
Happy November fellow student leaders! November is the month of food. This month is Good Nutrition Month, American Diabetes Awareness Month, National Peanut Butter Lovers Month, and Thanksgiving. But throughout all our good eats, we need to be a little more cognizant in how the food we eat impacts the environment. And remember, eat well, but eat mindfully!
Water Bottles
1. In the United States, bottled water costs between $0.25 and $2 per bottle while tap water costs less than a penny.
2. The manufacturing of plastic pollutes air, land and water, while exposing workers to toxic chemicals.
3. Plastic is NOT biodegradable and takes up to 1,000 years to decompose.
4. This month do not buy or use any plastic water bottle. Instead, buy a reusable water bottle. You may even start to love it so much you will never want to go back to plastic water bottles!
Food Waste
• Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food gets lost or wasted each year.
• Fruits, vegetables, roots, and tubers have the highest wastage rates of all foods.
• Shop realistically and be sure to check expiration dates.
• Make sure to eat those Thanksgiving dinner leftovers.
Organic Food
• Organic food production eliminates soil and water contamination, conserves biodiversity, fights against global warming, and reduces the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
• This month go to an organic food store in your area once a week to buy essential groceries. Although it may be costly, the cost of saving our planet is important!
*While doing these goals, post on social media and tag us @MDSTUCO
Hello fellow leaders! MASC hopes you all are enjoying the beginning of the school year. This month we will discuss the decline of the bee population. One out of three bites of food you eat daily is pollinated by bees. In other words, a third of all the food we produce depends on pollination! Bees and other pollinating insects play an essential role in ecosystems. However, since the late 1990s, the bee population has been in a high rate of decline. In fact, Maryland ranks as one of the highest rates of bee decline in the U.S. It is urgent that the student leaders of Maryland take a stand to help. Here are a few ways you can help, remember even the smallest actions can make a difference.
1) Plant different flowers and herbs for the bees to pollinate. Also, make sure that the plants are bee friendly.
2) Bees get thirsty after pollinating native plants so place a basin of water with a few pebbles inside of it to help them quench their thirst.
3) Do not weed your garden, the weeds are food for the bees.
4) Don’t use harmful pesticides to treat lawns.
5) Online forms of advocacy and change making! http://www.queenofthesun.com/get-involved/push-for-policy-change/ (MASC is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of this outside website.)
Maryland is over 60%
Hello fellow student leaders, the school year has begun and we want to share with you all the ways we can be environmentally-friendly this school year. Please share these tips with peers to spread the word. As leaders, it is crucial to be eco-friendly in order to take care of our environment. Everyone makes mistakes and these are easy fixes to everyday recycling matters. Remember, little acts of recycling can have a huge impact. So let’s jump right into the Green Goals of the Month.
Reduce Waste
1. If possible take notes on an electronic device while in class to save paper.
2. Use a reusable water bottle.
3. Use a mug or insulated water bottle for drinks with preferred temperatures.
4. Use eco-friendly school supplies because many ingredients in common supplies are harmful to the environment such as PVC (made with dangerous chemicals) which are in common stationery items.
5. Pack a no garbage lunch, using Tupperware and other reusable utensils.
Recycling
1. The caps on water bottles are not recyclable; please throw them in the trash.
2. Pizza boxes cannot be recycled because the grease contaminates the box. In most cases, you can recycle the top if not contaminated by grease.
3. Do not recycle Styrofoam in your recycling bin; find a drop site specifically for Styrofoam
4. Plastic bags must be clean, dry and empty before they are recycled.
5. Milk and Juice cartons are to be recycled.