Sprouts of Hope: Climbing In Celebration

By Risa

Each year, around this time, The Sprouts of Hope go rock climbing. Not outside, but on tall walls inside at MetroRock in Everett, MA. This is our way of celebrating another year of being together since we met as a group for the first time on the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in 2007. It was because we were thinking about Dr. King and his life that day that we decided to put the words “Have a Dream, Make a Difference” on the t-shirts we designed. On that day we also came up with our name, The Sprouts of Hope.

You can watch a video of us climbing -- and encouraging each other as we climbed -- at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4mOd3hJVt0

Climbing up these walls is really fun, and this was our second year of doing it as a break from our hard work of planning and doing the activities we do in Roots & Shoots. This time was a different experience for us than it was last year when none of us had climbed before. After our first climbing afternoon, some of us decided to take some rock climbing lessons during the year, and Kaya went to camp there during the summer.

Being at different skill levels, however, didn’t effect or take away from the fun we had. It made it even better. This time we got to do more climbs because some of us could belay the others. Last year, we had to depend on Sarah and her assistant, who are instructors at MetroRock, to belay each of us. This year, Bryan helped us, but he didn’t need to belay everyone. We had a lot more fun because we could help each other.

When one of us was up on the wall, you could hear helpful words passed up to them. “Can you reach that one right there? Yeah great job.” We depended on each other to get up the wall, and then we had to also rely on each other to get down, as the person who was holding the rope had to let it out gradually as her friend bounced off the wall coming down.

We have photographs of some of us climbing, some belaying others, and some with us just having fun being there with each other.

After our climbing, we had a small meeting to talk about upcoming projects, like the one we are doing about energy efficiency. Each of us named some kind of energy use that we wanted to measure in our homes, and we’re going to do those experiments and write about them on this blog. During our meeting, we ate amazing cake that Maya and Melissa made and decorated with Sprouts of Hope written on the top. For her hard work and patience, the Sprouts kids and parents gave Melissa a pretty glass plate with a tree on it and we donated money so she can get things we need for our activities, like if she needs to print some fliers.

Going rock climbing with The Sprouts of Hope was really fun. All of us are eager to go together again next year.

Our Day of Community Service: On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Volunteering in Room 206

By Lilly

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January, The Sprouts of Hope decided to participate in a community service project arranged by the Roots & Shoots group at Northeastern University in Boston. (Sadly, Eliza, Mia and Kaya couldn't join me, Jane, Risa and Maya in this activity.) We were inspired to do this, in part, by a video message Michelle Obama recorded to urge people to get involved in their community by helping others on this special day. You can listen to her message by clicking on this link: http://usaservice.org/page/content/calltoservice/

This national holiday was happening on the day before she became First Lady and she asked people around the country to do something for the community in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., just like she and her husband were planning to do in their new city of Washington, D.C.. So The several members of the Sprouts of Hope, along with other Roots & Shoots members, volunteered at the Mission Hill School in Boston.

When we got to the Mission Hill School, we found out that there were many jobs to be done: making posters encouraging the kids to conserve water, cleaning out classrooms, organizing the library. We chose to clean a combined fourth and fifth grade classroom, and when we first entered the classroom, Room 206, there was a list of things to do.

1. Clean out the work bins
2. Wash down the tables
3. Clean library bins

As it turned out, there were around 30 work bins! So there was a lot of work for us to do.

When the Sprouts had finished the three items on the checklist, we didn't really see very much of a difference. Sure, the room was cleaner, but unless somebody told you we’d been cleaning, if you happened to walk into the room, you might not have noticed the difference. So we kept on cleaning.

I vacuumed the two rugs where we imagined kids sat and read and talked. And we took pillows outside and shook them as a way of cleaning them in the fresh air.

We also organized the really messy coatroom, where it looked like everything that did not have another home ended up being tossed. And we washed some of the windows and the whiteboard, and we swept the hardwood floors with a broom and cleaned things out from underneath tables.

When our work was done, even we were shocked at how different the classroom looked. We wished we could be there to see the teacher’s and students’ reaction when they walked in the next morning.

Want to see us cleaning the classroom? Click on this YouTube link and you can watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETzTYljEUw&feature=channel_page

Just as we were preparing to leave, a man walked into the classroom, and then walked back out. Then, with a confused expression, he walked back in. It turns out that this man is the teacher in Room 206. He introduced himself as Nakia, and told us when he first walked in, he thought it was the wrong classroom... that’s how different it looked! It was a really special moment, and seeing his reaction and meeting him made all of our effort worth all our time we’d devoted to doing such a good job.

All of us hope that someday soon we can return to the Mission Hill School and help out again.

Other Projects at Mission Hill School

It was also a lot of fun to meet other Roots & Shoots kids who were there that day. All of us had a chance to eat lunch together and we went around in a circle and each of talked about what we liked about being involved with community service. Everyone talked about how much fun they were having and how good it felt to be helping other people.

We also had a chance to see some of the other projects -- like the ones where kids were making signs about conserving water to be put in the restrooms throughout the school. Some other kids were writing short messages about ways kids can easily -- in 5 minutes -- make a real difference in saving the planet's resources and energy.

You can see some examples of the pictures and signs they were making in the photographs, below, and listen to a video (click on the link that follows) of the Northeastern students who organized the day talking about some of the cool projects that happened at the school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhrcEhEnL2s&feature=channel_page

The Sprouts of Hope: Getting Rid of Wasteful Energy Use

Tracking Energy – So We Use Less of It

The Sprouts of Hope welcomed 2009 with a new project, one that we will feature at the Cambridge Science Festival in our presentation on Saturday, April 25. This will be the third year the Sprouts will have had an exhibit as part of the festival's opening day activities. Plan on coming that day and visiting with us and seeing all of the other cool exhibits, too. http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/festival.html.

Our project is about using in-the-home digital technology to tell us how much energy we are using. These simple-to-use tools can show us not only how much power we are using but how much it is costing us --and by knowing this information we can figure out ways to reduce both. We are doing this project in partnership with NStar; this is the first time that NStar has trained any kids in how to use the combination of Power Cost Monitors – we like to call them “Smart Meters” -- and Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitors. (If we do a good job using these tools, then they hope to do a lot of other trainings with kids, so we really hope this works so everyone can learn more about energy use and have fun doing it.)

We learned how to do this when we went to NStar on January 2nd – a visit arranged for us by Mary McCarthy, NStar’s Residential Program Manager, and David MacLellan, who is the technical expert.

He explained how to use the tools they were giving us. Listen to our training on this YouTube video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBomVN3D2wE&feature=channel_page

He and Mary also gave us good suggestions about

various things we can do in our homes to try to reduce the amount of energy we use. For example, do you know that it ALWAYS makes sense to turn lights off when you leave a room, no matter how long you are going to be away from it? And shutting down computers when you are through using them is a good idea, too.

Here is a link to a short video that tells you how to install and use a Power Cost Monitor:

http://dom.com/media/video/powercost/index.html

One of the Sprouts decided to write about the ways her family is planning to make small changes in their home so, as a family, they can be more energy efficient. And they will use these tools we got from NStar to see if their changes make a positive difference.

By Eliza

My family is taking part in the Sprouts Energy Efficiency project. This means that we will have to make changes in our daily lives to conserve energy. First we set up the two meters. Part of the Smart Meter goes around our electric meter outside and the other part, which tells us what is happening with our energy use, stays inside. (I'm showing you pictures of the two parts of the Smart Meter here.) The Kill A Watt one always stays inside and we plug things into it to get readings on energy use. After we did this, my mom and dad and two brothers and I had a meeting about all the different ways we could conserve energy.

I found out that we already had Energy Star kitchen appliances, such as our dishwasher, which meant we are conserving a lot of energy in our kitchen. We also have a basement freezer and it wastes a lot of energy. My parents will be looking into ways to either get rid of our basement freezer or use it in a more energy efficient way. Same with our dehumidifier that is in the basement too. Even though it is a crucial device to prevent things like mold, it consumes a lot of energy. Most dehumidifiers are turned on 24 hours a day, every day, and the cost really adds up on our energy bill. We will be looking into Energy Star dehumidifiers because we’d like to save all that energy!

Washing machines and dryers also use a lot of energy. When we tested our dryer using the tools we’d been given, we found out we are paying $0.04 each hour on our energy bill (just to have it plugged in), which is still a lot. When my dad turned on the dryer, the cost went up to 32 cents per hour. As a family of five, we do laundry a lot and use both the washing machine and dryer. I know there are many families out there that wash as many clothes and even more than we do, which means everyone is using all that energy and paying all that money, too.

At the NSTAR meeting, I learned it is most energy efficient when you use settings for laundry load sizes on your washing machine and dryer. So now we always use the different settings. The best option would be to get an Energy Star (or some other eco-friendly) washing machine/dryer but since they are very expensive most families won’t be able to make that change right away.

But there is one change every family can make with light bulbs. My family is changing all of our incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). One incandescent bulb costs between $1.44 and $2.40 on each month’s energy bill; a CFL that provides the same amount of light costs between $0.38 and $0.67. I am guessing that in my house we use around 100 lights, and only some are fluorescent. Changing to CFL’s will cut down the energy we use by a lot.

Another thing we’re going to do that will make a huge impact on our energy consumption and on our monthly bill is to use power strips to plug in big energy users like TVs and computers. When you don’t use a power strip, and therefore you JUST press the “off” button on the TV or computer, it still uses electricity. For instance, without power strips the average energy bill will be almost $11.00 for the average TV and in between $5.00 and $22.00 for computers, depending on whether they are in sleep mode or not.

The Sprouts’ goal for this project is to cut down on the energy we use in our homes. This way, we can do our part in conserving the precious energy that humans waste every day and reduce our impact on harming the earth. Hopefully after my family and the rest of Sprouts of Hope try this, we’ll be able to tell others about it and they will try it, too. That is what we are planning to do at the Cambridge Science Festival, and hopefully in other ways, too. Maybe, one day, people throughout the world will be using Smart Meters and everyone will be able to easily find out how much energy they are using and then find ways to reduce. This will help protect the earth and conserve energy, things the Sprouts of Hope – and many, many others – are trying so hard to do. It only takes a few small changes to make a big difference.

Join us at the Cambridge Science Festival – in Kresge Auditorium at MIT -- on Saturday, April 25th from noon until 4:00 and find out what we learned and what you can do in your house to reduce wasteful energy use.

The Flying Peace Dove

Sprouts of Hope and Boston's First Night Activities and Parade

By Mia

On New Year’s Eve, some of the Sprouts of Hope participated in First Night activities in Boston with Roots & Shoots - New England. In the afternoon, we volunteered at the Roots & Shoots craft table inside the Hynes Auditorium, where a lot of First Night events happen for families during the day. There we helped kids make Peace Doves and write or draw cards with messages of peace for children in Baghdad, Iraq and Nairobi, Kenya. We also cut out the two sides of each Peace Dove after the kids colored them and a paper olive branch and then we assembled the doves on wooden sticks. All the cutting was a little tiring, but it was fun seeing how happy the kids were with their finished Peace Doves or “birds on a stick,” as somebody called them.

You can watch a video of us and the kids making Peace Doves by clicking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz9K_69U7gc

What we did in the afternoon led up to what we were hoping to do in the big annual First Night parade that Roots & Shoots was going to be a part of. In the parade, we’d carry two giant Peace Doves that others Roots & Shoots kids had helped to make. But with lots of snow and gusty winds and a really cold temperature, we weren’t sure there would be a parade. By late afternoon, the decision was made to go ahead with the parade, and so we put on the layers of clothing we’d brought and got ready to head outside.

We had a banner with the words “Roots & Shoots” and the two big Peace Doves with wings that normally would flap in the wind. I was very excited as we stood getting ready to walk in the parade that would take us up Boylston Street to the Boston Common. A Procession Marshal put Roots & Shoots - New England between a marching band, playing songs like Yankee Doodle real loudly, and kids and grown-ups in an open air circus who were dressed in crazy costumes. Though it was freezing, really cold, and snowing, we could see lots of people looking down from windows of the Hynes Auditorium and waving to us, and ahead of us the streets were lined with people dancing, cheering and blowing horns.

We started marching and the doves looked great blowing in the wind with our banner in front of them. But pretty soon I looked next to me and saw the dove head flying in the wind without the body. We paused to try to put it back on, but the wind was just too strong.

If you want to watch the Peace Dove's head fly off and follow us as we continue marching in the parade, you can watch us on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI_rF5lRuiw

By the time we’d walked a few blocks, the wind had broken both doves and all we had left was the Roots & Shoots banner and the poles and sheets used to make the doves.

And we had the wire basket shaped like a dove’s head that had once been its face. Kaya carried all of this for the rest of the parade. This was all that was left of the doves. But we marched on, holding on to our banner that also blew in the wind. And we had lots of fun anyway. It was a great New Years Eve!

Lunch Trays to Composting

An Eco-Friendly Project in the Cambridge Public Schools

By Jane

In October 2007, The Sprouts of Hope went to the Cambridge School Committee to speak about a big problem with our school's polystyrene lunch trays. They are harmful to the Earth both in how they are made – from oil – and when they are thrown away, usually in landfills. Some of the trays get recycled, but then they are made into things that end up getting tossed into landfills anyway.

At our school, we decided to make signs to show kids where to recycle the trays; before we did made these signs, most of the kids tossed the polystyrene trays into the regular trash. Now, the signs help; more of the trays at least get recycled, even though they have to be driven to Boston for this to happen.

When we went to the School Committee meeting, each of the Sprouts, along with a few others kids from our school who care about these issues, wrote about why she thought the school committee should do something to replace the polystyrene trays. It turned out that we had to go back a second time about a month later to talk some more about all of this, but on our second visit the members unanimously passed a motion requiring the Superintendent to do research to find an eco- friendly alternative for this tray. Watching them cast this vote made us feel really good.

The Superintendent formed a committee that studied possibilities. They looked at using reusable trays and getting dishwashers to wash them, but that wasn't cost effective and it uses too much water. They could find trays that we could compost but not ones that would come close enough in price to the very inexpensive polystyrene ones. So after studying all of this, the Superintendent proposed that a pilot composting program be started in our school, King Open, and then hopefully after we do it, this composting effort will spread throughout all of the Cambridge public schools. All of this makes sense. We really want to use trays that we can compost -- as soon as their price comes down, as it is doing -- so this means when we switch to using those trays, and then both the trays and our food can go into the city’s big composting program.

About a year later – on December 16, 2008 – the Sprouts and two other students from King Open – talked with the Cambridge School Committee about the progress being made on our composting program. But we reminded them that even though we are really happy to be doing the composting pilot at our school that our goal is still to replace the polystyrene lunch trays in all of the Cambridge Public Schools.

Each of us talked for about two minutes about what we are doing at our school to help put this program into action. We told them how we are going to have a composting pep rally at our school. To lead off the pep rally, we are going to show a You Tube video of Will.I.Am's song “Yes We Can” that uses the words of President-elect Barack Obama. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

We want everyone in the school to feel a part of this effort, so there are going to be auditions for parts in the few short skits we created. Here is some of what we told the school committee about these skits: These will be sketches about people like Ruby Bridges, an African-American girl who went to school even when white people shouted mean things at her and told her she could not go to their school. And because our school is named after Martin Luther King, Jr., the pep rally will end with words he might have said if he was with us today.

Here is part of what Dr. King’s voice will say:

“Having confidence in ourselves and our goals gave us the ability to accomplish what no one thought we could. Now, at King Open, we have the chance to show that what each student does matters a lot. By not letting anyone tell you that your effort does not matter, each of you can make our new composting program
a big success. And when you succeed, you will become leaders in Cambridge. Other schools and students will learn from you how to protect the planet Earth. I’m proud you named your school after me, especially at times like this when we say, “Yes We Can."

Along with students in an after-school science group and with our science teacher, Donna, we are working hard on making this composting project work at our school. The members of the school committee have been very supportive or our efforts, and they tell us to be patient and it will happen step-by-step. We have learned that getting a project like this done requires all of us taking little steps and taking them together. And even though it seems like a lot of time has gone by since we first told the school committee about the lunch tray problem, just a year later we are moving from having no composting program in the Cambridge schools and polystyrene trays in all of Cambridge Public Schools to having King Open’s composting program starting soon. I say it's a job well done.

After we spoke, the CEO of the Cambridge School Department told the school committee that composting is going to start at our school in late January. It's the first time we heard an actual date, so now we're excited it will happen soon.

As we've been working on this cafeteria project, we met a woman named Kelly Dunn who was working for the Cambridge Department of Public Works. She was in charge of recycling in the city, and she came and talked with us and was really eager to hear our ideas about how we could make our cafeteria and school more "green." It was really fun talking with her; she listened to our ideas, and she was a big supporter of our efforts to get the composting program started at our school and hopefully at a lot of other schools in Cambridge. There she is with us in this photograph -- that's her in the white sweater.

In the fall, we were sad to hear that she was leaving Cambridge to take a "green" job at Boston University -- she is now the sustainability coordinator for B.U.'s dining services, but we were happy for her because we knew she'd do a GREAT job!! And now The Boston Globe has written an article about her, and so we want to give you a link so you can meet Kelly and hear about all the things she is doing to make Boston University a greener place to eat.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2009/01/28/dining_at_green_u/

Letters to President Obama: Kids and Environmental Action

In the middle of November, President-elect Barack Obama gave a very cool talk about climate change on his blog. We listened to it and really liked it when he said how much he cared doing something about what is happening to our planet as it gets warmer and warmer when he gets to be our President.

Listen to President-elect Obama talk about all of this on his Weblog at http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/president_elect_obama_promises_new_chapter_on_climate_change/

Hearing this gave us an idea. Since we are involved with a lot of environmental issues in our hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts, we decided to write to President-elect Obama and tell to let him know how glad we are that he is going to be our President and tell him about what we are doing so he can get a sense of how kids want to be taken seriously in all of the change that is going to have to happen. So much of what is going on now is going to affect what it's going to be like when we are grown-ups. We think kids like us should be included in finding a way to make this a better place for all of us to live. So we wrote our letters, which we will show you, and we are urging you to write to him, too. And if you want to send us your letters -- talking about what you are doing in your community to make the world a better place for us to grow up in -- we'd love to read them and share them with others who will come to our blog.


Letter to President Obama
Roots & Shoots: The Obama Connection

Dear President Obama:

My name is Mia and I am really happy you will be our next President. I live in Cambridge, MA where I am part of a Roots and Shoots group called "The Sprouts of Hope." Roots and Shoots is an organization started by Jane Goodall for kids all around the world. She started Roots and Shoots (http://www.rootsandshoots.org/) in Tanzania with just a small group of kids. It has grown and grown and now there are Roots and Shoots groups around the world.
Jane Goodall started this group because she knew kids wanted to make a difference in their communities but they didn't know how. The idea was kids, like those in Roots and Shoots, are small, but if they want to they can make a big difference.

You have shown the world than anyone can be President. We know that what we do can make a difference. That is why we are trying to make our school greener. We are helping to start a composting program in our school in addition to other projects we do.

"Yes We Can!" is how we are introducing our program. At our Cambridge public school, King Open, you are a big figure. In the beginning of the year, you could hear "Obama 'O8" ringing through the hall and see it on stickers, buttons, and T-shirts students word proudly. When me, my mom, and two friends made calls to get out the vote the day before the elections, we knew even our calls (we mostly got answering machines) were making a difference.

As an environmental group that does projects to make our community more green, we will really appreciate the things you are going to do as President to make our country more green.

Congratulations!

Sincerely, Mia and The Sprouts of Hope


Letter to President Obama: Helping the Environment

Dear President Obama

We are so glad and happy you won the election! We are the Sprouts of Hope, a Roots and Shoots group (http://www.rootsandshoots.org/). The Sprouts of Hope is an environmental group. We were very excited when we found out you had won. We think you will help with all our environmental issues, such as global warming.We have recently won the Cambridge GoGreen Award for all of our activities. http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/et/ggm/gg_bawhist.html

We have done plenty of things such as organizing Waste-Free Lunch Days at our school. We have done a "Stop Global Warming" walk as part of the nationwide StepItUp campaign. In January, our school is going to be the 1st school in Cambridge to start composting.

As Sprouts, we really admire you and hope you will help make a positive change in the environment.

Sincerely, Kaya in the Sprouts of Hope group

P.S. Tell your daughters hi! We think your daughters are really awesome? The Sprouts of Hope are 7 girls, ages 11-13, in Cambridge, MA

Outstanding
Believe
Awesome
Makes change
Amazing

Letters to President Obama: Inspiring Us

Dear President-Elect Obama,

Hi! My name is Lilly. I am 12 years old and I go to a Cambridge public school. I am writing to tell you how excited we are that you have been elected because I and the rest of my environmental group think you will help with environmental issues.

Also we wanted you to know that we are using you as an inspiration for the (school district's first) composting program in January (same month you are inaugurated!) that we are starting in our school. To get the other kids at our school informed and excited, we are having a schoolwide assembly. In the assembly, we are including a music video called "Yes We can" by Will I Am with you in it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yq0tMYPDJQ) Also we have some skits that different kids in the school will be performing. Its main idea is "yes we can" (our logo for the composting program, too) and the skits feature Ruby Bridges, Craig Mello, Dolores Huerta, Sally Ride and Martin Luther King, Jr. and talk about times in their lives when they found a way to get through difficult times by saying "yes we can."

Congratulations again! Sincerely, Lilly, a Sprouts of Hope member.

Dear President Obama,

I am so glad you are now the President. There are people who I think of as people really moving the community forward. Those are people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr, and more recently you. Those people help people (and whole communities) like me, everyday people, realize how many things are possible.

That relates to my Roots and Shoots group; if our composting pilot program works in our school, maybe it can spread to other schools in Cambridge,and possibly farther away. We are letting other schools know that composting can work. By doing this, we also know we are helping the planet. We're so glad you want to help the planet, too, by taking on the problem of climate change.

Sincerely, Risa, Cambridge, MA