Great job Girls!

Dont forget to remind your friends and family to bring in the Plastic bags for recycling~

Electronics Challenge:

Consumer electronic products are responsible for approximately 15 percent of household electricity use. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the average American household has three televisions, two DVD players or recorders, at least one digital camera, one desktop computer and two cell phones, among other consumer electronics products-the average American household has 24 consumer electronics products.

Electronics Solutions:

Do it yourself

Many electronic appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched off. These "phantom" loads occur in most appliances that use electricity such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances.

In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics and appliances is consumed while the products are turned off. This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the power strip to cut all power to the appliance.

Below are some quick tips to save energy with commonly used electronics.

Computers

There is a common misconception that screen savers reduce energy use by monitors; they do not. Automatic switching to sleep mode or manually turning monitors off is always the better energy-saving strategy.

To maximize savings with a laptop, put the AC adapter on a power strip that can be turned off (or will turn off automatically); the transformer in the AC adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not plugged into the adapter.

Turn off your monitor when you're away from your PC for 20 minutes or more. If you will be away for two hours or more, turn off your personal computer and monitor.

Televisions, DVD Players

Plug home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips; turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use (TVs and DVDs in standby mode still use several watts of power).

Battery Chargers

Studies have shown that using rechargeable batteries for products like cordless phones and PDAs is more cost effective than throwaway batteries. If you must use throwaways, check with your trash removal company about safe disposal options.

Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use

Next Bronze meeting January 24th:

SNACK : Georgie

* Bring a bag of Lint:  Yes good old dryer lint.  Put a bag next to your dryer and ask mom or dad when they clean out the lint trap to place the lint into your bag.  We will learn how to make fire starters for our Bronze award Bonfire in April.
* we will talk about home energy conservation and show girls how to monitor and record energy levels within their homes. ( monitors provided by North Riverside Library)

* Those with Machine #1 will deliver it to the next person on machine one same for machine#2

Energy Monitor schedule
January 

24 : 1.Amber Delaney /   2.Mollie
25 : 1.Amber Delaney /   2.Mollie
26 : 1.Amber Delaney /   2.Mollie
27 : 1.Georgie/    2.Emily
28 : 1.Georgie/    2.Emily
29 : 1.Georgie/    2.Emily
30 : 1.Alexandra/ 2.Alisa
31 : 1.Alexandra/ 2.Alisa

February
1:  1.Alexandra/ 2.Alisa
2:  1.Madeylyn/ 2.Jazmine
3:  1.Madeylyn/ 2.Jazmine
4:  1.Madeylyn/ 2.Jazmine
5:  1.Ana / 2.Briyana
6:  1.Ana / 2.Briyana
7:  1.Ana / 2.Briyana
8:  1.Jenna / 2.Zosia
9:  1.Jenna / 2.Zosia
10:1.Jenna / 2.Zosia
11.Cameron
12.Cameron
13.Cameron

Plastic Bag Information

Fast Facts on Plastic Bags

·        Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide. Consider China, a country of 1.3 billion, which consumes 3 billion plastic bags daily, according to China Trade News.

·        About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.

·        A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.

·        More than 3.5 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps were discarded in 2008.

·        Only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled (BBC).

·        The U.S. goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags. This costs retailers about $4 billion a year.

·        Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts (2008)

·        Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down.

·        Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.

The Problem

·        An estimated 6 billion plastic bags are consumed--just in that county--each year. (William T. Fujioka, 2008)

·        It is estimated that worldwide plastic bag consumption falls between 500 billion and 1 trillion bags annually. That breaks down to almost 1 million every minute.

·        The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store.

·        In good circumstances, high-density polyethylene will take more than 20 years to degrade. In less ideal circumstances (land fills or as general refuse), a bag will take more than 1,000 years to degrade.

·        An estimated 3,960,000 tons of plastic bags, sack and wraps were produced in 2008. Of those, 3,570,000 tons (90%) were discarded. This is almost triple the amount discarded the first year plastic bag numbers were tracked (1,230,000 tons in 1980). (EPA)

·        Anywhere from .5% to 3% of all bags winds up recycled. (BBC, CNN)

·        Every square mile of the ocean has about 46,000 pieces of floating plastic in it. (UN, 2006)

·        Ten percent of the plastic produced every year worldwide winds up in the ocean. 70% of which finds its way to the ocean floor, where it will likely never degrade. (UN, 2006)

The Impact

·        The U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually at an estimated cost to retailers of $4 billion. (The Wall Street Journal)

·        The extremely slow decomposition rate of plastic bags leaves them to drift on the ocean for untold years. According to Algalita Marine Research Foundation, these plastic bags cause the death of many marine animals (fish, sea turtles, etc.), every year when animals mistake them for food.

·        Numbers were kept on 43 different types of refuse. Cigarette butts were the most common. Plastic bags came in second. (Ocean Conservency, 2008)

·        When plastics break down, they don't biodegrade; they photodegrade. This means the materials break down to smaller fragments which readily soak up toxins. They then contaminate soil, waterways, and animals upon digestion.

·        Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up to harvest them. These are then woven and sold as hats and (more durable) bags.

Ornaments Part One~

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Our first meeting of the Bronze award was a huge success..... 14 girls will be taking on the goal of completing a bronze award project his year. 

Girl cut and glues and hooked the Milk jugs together that so many of you donated, 

 into a new creation

the Jugelton~ half milk jug half skeleton.

This was our first step in our bronze award by working on our Journeys badge/Bronze award

centering around a recycling theme.

Add caption

BRONZE AWARD MEETING: OCTOBER

**

***Milk Jugs  needed 8-9 per girl…. Please rinse well and drop off at Mrs. Winkler's prior to October 17th...... I will try to draw out the patterns on them to save time.


*** Hot glue guns.....

Great way to kick off our Bronze award!  

If you have extra please bring them, we will recycle any that are not used.

Bronze Award-

Please show this link
 to your Girl Scout~