Tag: earth day

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In brief: Plogging craze, Crozet shuttle, marathon man, and more

Plogging and other Earth Day events

A combination of jogging while picking up trash—who wouldn’t want to go plogging? Easter Sunday, from 1 to 5pm, is your chance.

“Instead of hunting for Easter eggs, we’re hunting for litter,” says organizer and self-proclaimed tree-hugger Brady Earnhart. He’s never been plogging, but was immediately intrigued when he read about the European craze in The New Yorker.

Earnhart says his event will probably be more of a stroll than a jog, and will start and end at Rapture on the Downtown Mall. “Get some exercise
while you’re making Charlottesville a prettier place, and hang out with a crowd who feels the way you do about it,” he says.

Participants will break into smaller groups and collect as much garbage as they can from the designated zones, which can be found on a map on the Facebook event page, “Easter Plogging: A Holiday Litter Hunt.”

Bring your smartphone and plastic grocery bags (for collecting) if you’ve got ’em, says Earnhart.

And if you’re in the mood for more environmentally-friendly (and plogging!) events, here are just a few options:

Plog with the prez

Join UVA President Jim Ryan on April 19 at 7am at Madison Hall for running and litter pickup, one of more than 20 university-sponsored Earth Week events. A full schedule can be found at sustainability.virginia.edu.

Break out your bike helmet

Piedmont Environmental Council and other groups are leading a casual ride April 19 at 5:30pm through neighborhood streets, along bike lanes,
and greenways, with an optional social hour and advocacy brainstorming session to follow. Meet at Peloton Station.

Lace up your hiking boots

Join Wild Virginia on a guided two- to three-mile hike at Montpelier April 27 from 10am to noon. The cost is $10 with a $5 recommended donation to Wild Virginia, and those interested can sign up by searching “Nature Exploration Hike at Montpelier” on Eventbrite.

Quote of the week

“[Discriminatory symbols] certainly include Confederate imagery, which evokes a time when black people were enslaved, sold, beaten, and even killed at the whim of their masters.”—Educator/activist Walt Heinecke to the Albemarle School Board April 11

In brief

Don’t go

A petition started by UVA alumna Lacey Kohlmoos asks the men’s basketball team not to visit the White House in the wake of their NCAA championship win, and at press time, the online document had 10,900 of the 11,000 requested John Hancocks. But here’s the catch: While the winner may traditionally be extended an invitation to the president’s abode, as of yet, the Cavaliers have not been invited.

Rebel students

Since Albemarle Superintendent Matt Haas banned white supremacist and Nazi imagery on clothing as disruptive, six students have been counseled, Haas told the school board April 11. The first, reported as wearing a hat with Confederate imagery, also had on a Confederate T-shirt. That student spent several days at home.

Eze Amos

Riot free

Charlottesville police reported minimal mayhem as Hoos celebrated UVA’s national basketball championship into the wee hours of April 9. Police made three misdemeanor arrests for drunk in public, trespassing, and assault. UVA police reported three calls for vandalism, and fire and rescue responded to seven burned sofas/bonfires.

Crozet express

JAUNT is planning to launch a new bus service from Crozet to UVA and Sentara Martha Jefferson starting August 5, with other stops to allow riders to connect with transit options, according to the Progress. JAUNT, which is still seeking input, aims to keep the ride to no more than 45 minutes and will charge $2 each way.

Good pork

Virginia’s U.S. senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine get $43 million in federal funding from HUD for affordable housing in Virginia, including $875,000 for Charlottesville Redevelopment & Housing Authority.

Ryan’s run

UVA prez Jim Ryan ran his ninth Boston Marathon April 15 in honor of 26 teachers, one for every mile. Donors contributed $260 to get an educator who had made a difference listed on Ryan’s shirt.

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‘Facts not quacks:’ Locals gear up to march for science

Neuroscientist Kelly Barford helped organize the April 22 local March for Science, starting at IX Art Park. On April 12 members of Cville Comm-UNI-ty met at Three Notch’d Brewing Company for a fundraiser and to make signs for the march. Photo by Eze Amos

The University of Virginia received $143 million in biomedical research funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2016. With President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he plans to cut $5.8 billion from the NIH’s budget, local neuroscientist Kelly Barford says it’s time to march.

As a member of Cville Comm-UNI-ty, a group of UVA professors, employees, students and friends not officially affiliated with the university, Barford has helped organize a mini March For Science in Charlottesville on April 22. The official March for Science takes place the same day in Washington, D.C., and the global movement hopes to champion the vital role science plays in the economy, government and elsewhere. 

“Charlottesville is an incredible area for scientists,” she says, alluding to the city’s emergence as a hub for the biotech industry, and the many opportunities presented by the university. But a cut in the NIH budget is a major threat to local scientific advancement, she says.

“The second [threat] is, more generally, on the scientists,” Barford continues. “We tend to not communicate with the community on what we’re doing and what kind of impact that might have.”

So from 1:30-3pm on Earth Day at IX Art Park, local scientists will wear name tags that say “ask me about [insert field of study].” They, along with other science enthusiasts, will give a series of five-minute talks. And rows of booths will offer interactive activities and other information for adults and children.

At 3pm, eventgoers will march, signs in hand, from the art park to the Sprint Pavilion.

Barford brainstormed some of her sign ideas before an April 12 march fundraiser at Three Notch’d Brewing Company. “Facts not quacks,” “Don’t hate, educate,” “Protect our planet” and “Research saves lives if funding survives” made the list.

Also in attendance was Cville Comm-UNI-ty member Judy White, a molecular virologist, who will take her support for science to the nation’s capital this weekend.

“I’m probably a typical scientist who’s a little more introverted by nature,” she says. “It takes an impetus to get us out to do something like this and I think there are two things going on with the march that we support—one is that it’s a celebration of science and all it does for us every minute of the day. But also, there’s this underlying fear that science is being a bit dismissed in society—belittled a little bit—and we worry that the current administration is more on the anti-science side of the spectrum.”

She will march alongside Dan Engel, another Cville Comm-UNI-ty member who studies in the same field, and has coordinated three buses of scientists and nonscientists that will pick up marchers for the Washington, D.C., rally at Scott Stadium at 6am April 22. Each bus holds 55 people and two are already full, he says. Tickets are $50 for the general public and $20 for students (there are 17 spots left).

“People used to debate about whether the world was flat or round, and then it was established that the world is round,” says Engel. “Climate change is in that category now.

“Scientists have reached the point where we think it’s time to stand up and show our politicians on both sides of the aisle that science is really important. We are professional fact finders.”

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Learn How2Recycle the tough stuff

Local nonprofit How2Recycle helps you recycle through descriptive labeling. Photo courtesy of How2Recycle

 

If you’ve ever wanted to recycle the plastic bag inside of your box of Cheerios but didn’t quite know how, a Charlottesville-based initiative called How2Recycle could be your saving grace. In the spirit of Earth Day, here’s a bit more about the project created by a three-person team working to make a big impact out of their tiny East Water Street office.

How2Recycle, a project within a larger nonprofit called GreenBlue, encompasses several aspects of sustainability, including chemical formulation, forestry, packaging, recycling and composting, according to Anne Elsea, the GreenBlue communications coordinator.

“Folks in Charlottesville may know us through our work composting at the City Market,” she says. But even if you haven’t met the team in-person, you may have seen How2Recycle’s labels across the United States and Canada in stores such as Target, Wegmans, Walmart and Food Lion and on brands like McDonald’s, Verizon, Hasboro and Coca-Cola. Over 45 member companies sport How2Recycle labels on thousands of food and beverage items, toys, cleaning products and more.

The team’s main goal? Making recycling simple.

On a box of Cheerios, for instance, the How2Recycle label says the cardboard can be recycled as a paper box, but the plastic bag inside must be taken back to a store drop-off.

“The recycling label that pleasantly surprises people the most is our store drop-off label,” Elsea says. “Many people know that you can take your plastic bags back to the grocery store to recycle, but did you know that you can also recycle other plastic bags and wraps there?”

These bags include those Cheerios bags and Sealed Air bags, or packaging pillows, that you may receive inside your Amazon shipments—”Just pop them to deflate and take them back to the store,” Elsea says.

Locally, How2Recycle drop off locations for plastic bags, plastic film and plastic wrap can be found in Target and at the McIntire Recycling Facility.

Nationally, a major issue with recycling is “aspirational recycling,” Elsea says, “where people will throw most of their packaging into their recycling bin in hopes that it will somehow get recycled.”

Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and it costs time and money to filter out the trash that can’t yet be recycled.

“So by keeping those items out, that don’t belong in the recycling bin, you’re doing as much good as putting the things in recycling that do belong there,” Elsea says. “Knowing how to recycle right isn’t easy. And that’s exactly what we are trying to fix.”

Follow How2Recycle on Twitter and Facebook to learn more.