Lab's Earth Day activities start today
Laboratory employees can help clean up their work areas and engage in a friendly competition by participating in the sixth annual Great Garbage Grab starting today. The event is part of a number of events scheduled this month at the Lab for Earth Day.
Employee teams can pick up litter in areas around their workspace, and in visible common areas. The employee team that picks up the largest amount of litter can win the 2009 Traveling Trash trophy.
Other scheduled events to celebrate Earth Day include the Pollution Prevention awards ceremony April 22 in the Physics Building Auditorium, a Take-the-Bus contest to encourage the use of mass transit, and an Energy Town Hall meeting April 21 in Fuller Lodge. The Lab’s Earth Day events are sponsored by the Environmental Protection (ENV) Division.
The 39th Earth Day is April 22 and the Lab’s Earth Day theme this year is “Global Environment, LANL Commitment: A Natural Partnership.”
The Take-the-Bus contest the week of April 20-24 encourages employees to ride Los Alamos County’s Atomic City Transit bus system. According to Sonja Salzman of Ecology and Air Quality (ENV-EAQ), Lab employees who park their car and use mass transit to and from work for one week will reduce emissions by 100 pounds per vehicle.
The Lab employee who uses an Atomic City Transit bus the most number of times during the contest week gets a $50 Los Alamos County Chamber Check. Second and third place runners-up get a $25 Chamber check, said Salzman. Employees should ask an Atomic City Transit driver for an Earth Day card every time they ride a bus. At the end of the contest, send the cards to Mail Stop J978 by interoffice mail.
The public can learn about its roles in energy research and energy and fuels conservation at the Energy Town Hall. Other energy-related issues, such as renewable energy, also will be discussed.
The Laboratory’s Pollution Prevention award winners will be recognized at a ceremony April 22 at the Physics Building Auditorium, and the Laboratory is partnering with Los Alamos County to celebrate Earth Day with a community event April 25.
ARAMARK Corp. also is getting into the Earth Day spirit with a Farmer’s Market special beginning April 23. To help support local farmers and reduce the Lab’s carbon footprint, ARAMARK is collaborating with the Los Alamos Farmer’s Market to offer a Farmer’s Market Special Thursdays at the Otowi Building Cafeteria.
ARAMARK also offers Eco-Grounds, Fair Trade Certified coffees. Fair Trade ensures that farmers are given a fair price, which helps create a better quality of life for farmers and promotes sustainable growing practices. Eco-Ground coffee is served in a cup and lid made with recycled content and a jacket made from 70 percent recycled fiber.
Learn more about these and other scheduled Earth Day activities online.
