Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

The Woolridge Elementary School Green Club recently collected hair and nylons as part of their 1st Annual Recycling Bonanza.  Out timing for collecting these items is fortunate given the current crisis in the Gulf of Mexico.  The hair and nylons we collected will be sent to a great orgnization called Matter of Trust.

A huge nationwide response is currently taking place to help get hair boom to the gulf coast beaches in need. Matter of Trust has 12 locations spread out through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida that are receiving hair. There are hundreds of volunteers having Boom B Q parties where they're making the boom.

Thousands are signing up to their database program Excess Access (free and fast) to be assigned where to send hair, fur, waste wool clippings and used nylons (washed, runs ok) for making the booms. Please see their Youtube for information on Hair Mats and Hair Booms!

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Trash Teams

The following post was written by Katie M. who is a student at P.B. Smith Elementary School in Warrenton, VA. It serves as an example of the types of posts the Woolridge Elementary School Green Club is interested in receiving from its students. If you're a Woolridge Elementary School student and wish to contribute your own article, e-mail it to gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com. Please include your first name and last initial as well as your teacher's name and grade level. Make sure you get your parents' permission too!



As people drive along our nation's highways, they often throw trash out their car windows. The people do not want to wait until they get to a trashcan, or they do not want to take the time to dispose of their in a proper fashion. The kindest deed I can imagine is to help create a solution to this HUGE problem. It affects a lot of things in the world. Like the world is one thing that people can destroy. Animals are another one because people throw trash and the animals do not know what it is so they eat it. But, while they are eating usually they get ran over by a car. It also affects plants and nature. It affects them by the trash because the food will rot and would go down into the ground. That would get to the roots and die. Remember, plants give us oxygen.

Since, plants give us oxygen, we need to save them or WE die. Which one would you choose? Right, we should save the plants. Something we could LIVE with. Our dogs and cats could be in jeopardy too as well as the plants. By all that trash on the ground its make our world look dirty and unsafe. This world needs to stay alive and well. But, how are we going to do that?

Yes, how are we going to do that? Well, some people like to clean up trash and they are called Trash Teams or the TT. Trash teams are very useful to the earth because they clean up trash. But, they should not do it alone. We should make up a National Clean-up day. Then, EVERYONE will be helping the earth.

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

It is roughly the size of Texas, containing approximately 3.5 million tons of trash. Shoes, toys, bags, pacifiers, wrappers, toothbrushes, and bottles too numerous to count are only part of what can be found in this accidental dump floating midway between Hawaii and San Francisco. It is estimated that 80% of the garbage comes from land-based sources, and 20% from ships at sea. Ocean currents carry debris from the east coast of Asia to the center of the gyre in about five years, and debris from the west coast of North America in a year or less

As the plastic garbage degrades into smaller and smaller pieces and disintegrates, the plastic ultimately becomes small enough to be ingested by aquatic organisms which reside near the ocean's surface. Plastic waste then enters the food chain and may eventually be consumed by humans.

So please recycle, reduce the amount of plastics you use, and make sure you dispose of your trash properly.

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