We are happy to welcome our second TOP student to join our Green Team. Presently, the two work study students, Mario and Jimena, are from Bronx Collaborative. Way to go Bronx Collab! Special thanks go out to Rytva Soni who has been able to coordinate students into this environmentally meaningful work study program. I'm still hoping that DWC and World View will be able to provide the right students for our school's only cafeteria recycling and outdoor learning opportunity.

First and foremost, our JBOLC Green team are engaged in outdoor learning - this season, we have been focusing on work in Meg's Community Garden and Edible Forest where this coming Thursday, from 3:30 to 6:30 we will be hosting our 9th annual Gratitude Fall Harvest Festival. We hope that you will celebrate with us and encourage your students to come to learn what we're all about. Meanwhile, we have been dividing perennial herbs that have done so well within our garden and introducing them to the edible forest. We have found that herbs like lemon balm, lavender, sage, oregano are easy to grow and our lovable but pesty rabbits do not bother with them. This winter we will try to completely rabbit proof our fenced in garden but will be sure to plant enough edibles in our landscape to keep even our endlessly gnawing rabbits content. We have numerous other hands on projects to accomplish this school year.

I am happy to announce that, we (and I'm ever mindful of the kind and helpful custodians and lunch staff who are assisting in our recycling efforts), in 11 days of recycling, have managed to save 315.92 lbs of plastic, metal, glass, cartons (of course) as well as apples, bananas, packaged apples and carrots, pears, hummus containers and various snack chip bags from being wasted in the landfill. Out of this total, 89.31 lbs. was recovered food. I am also happy to announce that POTS (Part of the Solution - a local organization on Webster Avenue whose mission it is "to nourish the basic needs and hungers of all who come to its doors") accepted 26.84 lbs of apples, packaged and whole, hummus and snacks that we recovered and is willing to do so again in the future. (I am planning to make weekly deliveries on Wednesdays - presently my self-designated day off). The other 62.47 lbs of recovered food, primarily apples, bananas and pears, I have been putting through my kitchen to make applesauce, applesauce muffins, banana bread, apple pies, etc. If you want to know how these taste, you could ask any of the custodians or kitchen help in the cafeteria who help me or try them yourselves at the Harvest Festival this coming Thursday, where they will be shared with the community. Now, if we factor in the amount of liquids we've emptied we have already achieved 964.84 lbs of waste diversion. That's already almost one sixth of our overall goal of 3 tons by the end of June. But it should not be mostly me doing this heavy lifting.

I have taken this project on not only because it is a passion of mine and a part of our programming as a recent non profit, I also know that sustainable food production and materials recovery are two of the best means we have before us to contribute to a livable future on our planet for us and our children. I have always felt that school environments should be on the very front line in terms of sustainability, leading the way, not following in step. Unfortunately, most schools follow the status quo in terms of recycling and sustainability and that is not good enough. We simply are not doing enough as a society to prepare for the effects of climate change and a hotter, less biodiverse and more humanly populated planet. We have missed the boat in terms of prevention.

My hours are flexible but presently from 11:00 to 2:00 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for recycling and food recovery. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I am in our gardens from around 2:30 to 5:30. I am taking Wednesdays off (though this is likely the day we will deliver food to POTS). I still can't believe that only 2 students in our entire school are available for this work, please continue to try to recruit students. I am willing to take up to 12 students - I've already been to your offices - you know where to find me and how to reach me (hit reply) if you have students can offer some support