Green Grizzly members Mayelli, Andres, and Brianna encourage students at Pajaro Valley High School to compost after lunch.
Watsonville Wetlands Watch is excited to announce a successful beginning to their Green Grizzlies Program: a collaboration with the City of Watsonville designed to change student behavior related to waste reduction, composting, and climate action projects.
Spearheading the project are Watsonville Wetlands Watch educators Yesenia Jimenez and Laura Rodriguez, who have recruited an excellent group of 15 Pajaro Valley High students to help make their campus greener through a variety of actions including increasing student composting, educating and encouraging students about recycling, and doing educational presentations about food waste and climate change.
“Our biggest ongoing project right now is compost collection, we’ve been able to collect 143 pounds of compost since the end of August” says Yesenia, who has been working on getting Green Grizzlies going since last April. “Our students are also bringing up green issues at student council meetings to bring more attention to everyone on campus, and trying to get adults like teachers and campus security to help too by changing students’ habit of leaving trash around campus.”
Yesenia also wants to make sure that Green Grizzlies is talking to and working with other environmental clubs on both Pajaro Valley and Watsonville High School campuses “I really want them to know that there are other students working on these topics, and know that they aren’t alone in trying to bring these changes.”
Next up for Green Grizzlies will be conducting an energy audit for the Pajaro Valley High campus, helping with tree planting and care on campus, and raising money to get a special terracycle (the process of recycling items that aren’t normally recyclable) box to take care of waste including chip bags. We’re very proud of our Green Grizzlies, and are excited to see the changes they’ve already made among their peers!
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For more info: www.watsonvillewetlandswatch.org