We, the Green Admirals were formed in the fall of 2008 with the purpose of weaning our high school off an addiction to disposable plastic water bottles. The problem with our student body is that their recycling efforts were less than perfect. The majority of the disposable bottles purchased at lunch wound up in the garbage. Not only is this a recycling issue but it is a health issue. In our county everything that is thrown in the garbage is burned.
Not only does the burning of garbage contribute to global warming but it releases harmful toxins into the air. Once in the air wind patterns can bring the pollutants across the globe. Because of this we sought to decrease our school's use of plastic water bottles, and in doing so reduce our impact on the world.
We did this by opening our student body's eyes to the disastrous effects such consumption could cause. Posters such as these plastered the hallways of
Arlington High School.
In advocating the disuse of disposable water bottles we became proponents of reusable water bottles. Before we made our advertisements we surveyed a fraction of our student body to create a baseline for comparison. After a week of advertising we resurveyed the students and saw a 30% increase in students that consistently bring a reusable water bottle to school.
Another thing we did to open eyes was to collect all of the thrown away bottles from one day and display them to the school. We also did this both before and after our advertisements and saw a reduction in the amount of waste.
Our current mission is to spread awareness of Global Warming, Waste and of plastic bottles. We started a water bottle design contest in the elementary schools of the Arlington community. The winning design will be featured on the water bottles that will be sold to the community. Additionally, the winner's class will receive a free set of BPA free reusable water bottles.
We are also involved with World Water Day. We have been inspired by various Walk for Water Day events to plan our own walk for water. World Water Day is
March 22 this year. Our walk for water will take place later in the year but its purpose will be the same, to bring awareness to the world's water problems.
Check back here for more information on our walk!
Created By the Green Admirals