Conservation leads to a healthy planet

Learn Green, Live Green focus for July: Tread Lightly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Media Contacts:
Lynelle A. Miller, 317.232.6614, lamiller@doe.in.gov
Jason Bearce, 317.232.6618, jbearce@doe.in.gov
Avon Waters, 317.234.4703, awaters@doe.in.gov

Summer is here. That means family vacations, barbeques and lots of outdoor activities. Although you may be away from home, it doesn’t mean you can’t continue to live environmentally friendly. That is why the Indiana Department of Education encourages Hoosiers to “tread lightly” throughout July as part of the ongoing Learn Green, Live Green initiative launched in January. “School may be out, but summer vacation is a great time to continue learning about our planet and how to keep it healthy,” said Dr. Suellen Reed,

Some wind turbines are located on local farmers' property. The wind farm in Earl Park is Indiana's first.

Superintendent of Public Instruction. “The best way to learn about our planet is to get outside and study nature up close.”

What does it mean to tread lightly?

Every choice you make contributes to the health of our planet – good or bad. While out and about on vacation or during summer activities, we encourage all Hoosiers to be more conscious of reducing the negative impact they have on our planet. The best way to tread lightly is to conserve, whether it’s conserving energy, water or the amount of waste you produce.

It’s easy to grab paper plates, paper towels and disposable containers for your picnic in the park, but deciding to take reusable products – even cloth napkins – can make a world of difference when it comes to conserving energy and reducing waste. If you have no other choice than disposable items, be sure to recycle your waste when finished and that may require you to take your items back home and put them in your own recycling bin if there are none at your site. Get more tips on how you can tread lightly online at www.doe.in.gov/green by clicking on our Tips link.

Indiana’s first wind farm

Benton County has made a commitment to tread lightly by becoming home to Indiana’s first wind farm. Orion Energy Group has erected 87 wind turbines in Earl Park. These giant white structures tower 260 feet above the ground and have 160-foot blades that extend from their base. Each wind turbine produces enough carbon-free electricity to power 400 homes – with the entire wind farm producing enough electricity for 34,800 average American homes.

In Fowler, also located in Benton County, BP Alternative and Dominion are in phase one of constructing 222 wind turbines to create the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm. Once finished, this wind farm will be one of the largest wind-power facilities in the world and will generate enough electricity to power more than 200,000 homes.

To learn more about the wind farms and how the wind turbines work, go online to www.doe.in.gov/green and click on the Spotlights link. There you can also read more about what schools across the state are doing to “go green.”

Keep up the “green” work

Although this month’s focus is Tread Lightly, we encourage Hoosiers to keep up with all the other Learn Green, Live Green initiatives such as recycling, reducing waste, using renewable resources, choosing more environmentally friendly transportation and learning more about beneficial organisms. For more information on our past initiatives, visit www.doe.in.gov/green and click through the different months on each of the tabs or go to the Recycle Bin.

Learn Green, Live Green

earn Green, Live Green is a year-long initiative, launched in January, that is designed to help educators, students, parents and community members discover practical, cost-effective ways to model environmentally-responsible behavior both inside and outside of the classroom. The Learn Green, Live Green concept fits naturally with Indiana’s academic standards, local school curricula and student learning goals at each grade level. Local participation is completely voluntary. Each month in 2008, the Indiana Department of Education spotlights a different aspect of the issue through an interactive Web site, www.doe.in.gov/green, while offering a variety of related resources for schools and communities.