Inspiring Eco Messages from Earth Day Festival 2009

Pima County Department of Environmental Quality received some awesome and inspiring messages that Tucsonans of all ages shared with us during Tucson’s community Earth Day celebration. PDEQ staffed an information and activity booth at the Earth Day Festival on April 4, 2009 at Reid Park. We created two fun activities in which attendees could participate. For one activity, we encouraged participants to make an eco sentence from many words provided on magnets (upcycled from reused magnet sheets). For our second activity, we asked participants to share their favorite eco tip. They wrote their tip on a sticky note and posted it on a board.

We captured 66 sentences and poems that adults and children made from the magnet words, and 134 eco tips. Some of the tips were basically the same, so they were weeded out. Below is a listing of these creative messages made from combining magnet words.

Make an Eco Sentence From These Magnet Words

1. make bicycle happy sounds
2. clean planet solar energy
3. dance for the power
   rustle our grass
   unite energy of love
   with morning sounds howl
   for all a green dream
   
4. better not breathe pollution
5. reduce morning waste
6. global garden dance
7. you will love sun lights
8. I dig rocks songs
9. pollution will sway air
10. we will clean the planet
11. beautiful colors save our garden
12. all happy to see stars
13. save energy
14. a green solar family love to dream of better world
15. will you protect wild animals species for us
16. we need clean habitat
17. plant beautiful good trees
18. keep off save the planet
19. reduce pollution walk bicycle
20. evening carpool
    breathe stars
    walk a song
21. alternative power compost
22. I love to see cool you
23. reduce water electricity power use
24. save our (rain) forest
25. all of us carpool to protect the environment
26. I reduce reuse recycle to save our environment
27. make a change for the environment plant tree flower grass
28. clean bus solar better air
29. protect world forest animals for better air
30. rustle animals for cool breeze pollution
31. I use solar power not electricity
32. their are solar energy nights
33. I love plant
34. I clean the world
35. air is good global power
36. science rocks
37. I need a green garden
38. I love water
39. I love our planet
40. wild colors
    morning sounds
    sunrise dance
41. breathe clean air use the bus
42. save will water bus
    CFL happy lights
43. recycle be proud
44. I recycle
45. use solar power for electricity
46. the morning sun for green planet
47. I love all my family
48. I love my world
49. rustle my wild beast
50. we are the difference
51. family make a beautiful happy planet
52. we thank our trees for global energy
53. save our air
54. I will reduce waste of my world to better environment
55. everyone celebrate earth day
56. turn off lights save the planet
57. breathe tree
58. use less energy
59. keep our environment happy
60. use breeze energy power
61. use sun power
62. sing alternative difference
    change sounds
    breathe scent
    happy actions
    sunrise song
63. I will save energy for the love of my world
64. I use our environment to conserve power
65. use the bus to save environment
66. save our planet

Share Your Favorite Eco Tips

1. Plant more trees.
2. Ride a bike.
3. Save 2 liters and make Easter baskets for children.
4. Give items to others using Freecycle.org.
5. Used manure to fertilize plants in garden. Garden to feed animals.
6. Restoring water.
7. You can recycle cat litter. Simply reuse by washing with bleach and drying in the sun.
8. Eat more veggies and less meat.
9. Bicycle down your blood pressure.
10. Recycle brown paper.
11. Shut off water while brushing teeth.
12. Clean the earth.
13. Pick up trash for the world.
14. We walk.
15. Walk to school.
16. Don’t step on bugs.
17. Walk or carpool.
18. Ride the bus.
19. Don’t turn on your lights.
20. Unplug appliances.
21. Take shorter showers.
22. Use both sides of a paper! Save trees!
23. Recycle everything possible.
24. Compost.
25. Turn off lights when not in room.
26. Used coffee and tea grounds to fertilize flowers.
27. Save water. Turn off dripping faucets.
28. Carpool.
29. Recycle or save plants or plant new trees.
30. Make cotton bags for grocery.
31. Use cleaned tap water instead of bottled water.
32. Plant trees and vegetables and flowers.
33. Ride Sun Tran every day.
34. I recycle and use a used box for a recycle box.
35. Walk or bike to work and use bike trails.
36. Save water, energy, and always recycle.
37. Water plants with bath tub water. Plant more trees.
38. Water your garden with gray water.
39. Love the earth. Love yourself. Take care of the earth just as yourself.
40. Plant green.
41. Cuida la casa o Dios nos dio para vivir en ella no para destruirla. (Care for your house which God gave us to live in, don’t destroy it.)
42. Run from school to my house.
43. Drive less is more better.
44. Pick up garbage if you see any.
45. Recycle newspaper, plastic, glass, metal, also cardboard.
46. Recycle and keep trash where it belongs.
47. Walk to work.
48. We recycle all items to be recycled. We also compost plants and food peels.
49. Ride a scooter to school.
50. Stop killing animals and plants.
51. I always recycle at school.
52. Green energy.
53. Capture water during monsoon season for later use on plants.
54. Don’t waste, replace.
55. Make art out of recycling.
56. Earth rocks. Go green.
57. Eat less. Recycle more.
58. Reuse produce bags!
59. Use the sun to dry your clothes – a clothesline.
60. Change to eco-friendly light bulbs.
61. We can walk or ride the bikes to school or work.
62. Recycle, keep the earth clean and ride bikes or walk instead of drive.
63. Offset water in water closet.
64. Try to get my boss to have 10-hr/4 day work week.
65. Don’t litter. It destroys the earth. Recycle so recyclables don’t go to waste.
66. Reuse plastic bags.
67. Eat food from local farms! (There are lots!)
68. Pick up trash for the world, and keep the world clean.
69. Xeriscape – yes. Grass – no.
70. Wear recyclable and vegan clothing!
71. Ride your bike. Don’t drive the car to the corner store.
72. Beat peak!!! Save water.
73. Read it first, before you print it.
74. Recycle things. Reduce pollution.
75. Compost.
76. Know where the money goes.
77. Smile while you garden.
78. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
79. Bathe with a friend to save H2O.
80. Use recycle bags for kitchen and bathroom garbage.
81. Rinse out soap, shampoo, other containers, use that last drop. Use lots less hand soap.
82. Walk, walk, walk to library, store, etc.
83. Reuse cloth bags for grocery shopping and lunch bags.
84. Grow your own garden.
85. Replace incandescent light bulbs with CFL bulbs.
86. Use cloth napkins.

Pima County Public Works Departments Celebrate Earth Day
by Lorraine Simon

On Saturday, April 4, the 15th Annual Tucson Earth Day Festival and Parade, was held at Reid Park. The theme for this year’s event was All Species Deserve a Green Habitat.

Community Relations staff from Pima County Public Works Departments (Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department, Department of Environmental Quality, Regional Flood Control Department, and Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation) were on hand to distribute program literature and materials to approximately 5,000 event spectators.

The event began with the Earth Day Parade. The Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department (PCRWRD) had a marching entry this year with staff singing Just a Spoonful of Grease Can Make Your Sewer Back Up, to the tune of the popular Mary Poppins song, Just a Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down. The lyrics to the grease song were provided by Laura Fairbanks, Community Relations Manager.

Congratulations to PCRWRD for winning first place in this year’s Earth Day Parade in the adult entry category. Our many thanks to PCRWRD employees: Al Bustamante, Francisco Duchicela, Laura Fairbanks, Sandy Garrick (and her two children Alena and Alex), Sean Harmon, Hope Sikora (mother of RWRD employee Stephanie Siva), Lorraine Simon, Cecilia Vindiola, and Lilian Von Rago who volunteered their singing talents and time to march and represent the department.

The Earth Day event, a community celebration of the environment, included approximately 75 environmentally-friendly exhibits, displays, music, food and fun for the entire family.

Procurement Holds Recycling Competition
by Brenda Wilson
from Bid Buzz, Pima County Procurement's Online Newsletter

The County is going “green” is a popular saying. However, within the County, specifically the Procurement Department, “green” is not only a saying but a competition. Recently, Procurement's Green Team held a recycling competition to enhance the Department's knowledge and awareness of Pima County's BOS Resolution No. 2007-84, better known as the sustainability resolution. The Green Team patrolled all offices and discussed what each person in those offices was doing as far as the sustainability resolution. Each person was given points for their sustainability efforts based on the following criteria:

• Recycle Box/Bin: 1 point
• Reuse Paper (double sided): 1 point
• Duplex Lengthy Print Jobs: 1 point
• Monitor, Printer, Office Lights, or Computer Speakers off at the End of the Work Day: 1 point each
• Reusable Office Supplies such as: Pens, Pencils, Paper Clips, Binder Clips: 1 point for each category
• Plastic Water Bottle or Reusable Water Bottle on Desk: 1 point
• Aluminum Can Instead of Glass Container: 1 point
• Nothing in Trash Can that is Recyclable: 2 points
• New Recycling Tip: 3 points
• Carpool, Bus, Walk, or Bicycle to Work: 5 points

Donated prizes were given to first, second, and third place winners. Congratulations go to Hazel Houston, Sharon Brandstatt, and Shirley Cooper as Procurement's Recycling Competition winners!

Another competition was held in Procurement to determine the best decorated recycling box/bin. Monica Dennis was the winner of that competition and received a donated book: Living Green.

If you need more information about Procurement's recycling competition, please contact any member of the “Green Team” (Brenda Wilson, Denise Waldo, Maria Canizales, Stephanie Steward).

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