Three innovative environmental education courses are now available for in-school presentation. Have you ever wondered what happens to all those things that we throw away? Everyone knows about recycling, but what does Recycling really do?

And what about those other two R’s, you know, Reduction and Reuse? What are they all about? Well, there is a fun, easy way to learn about Recycling, Reuse, and Reduction and the ”Big Ideas” behind them designed especially for students and their teachers.

Students can learn about waste prevention, embodied energy, sustainability, Green building and creative reuse in fun fast paced presentations. Using modified story telling techniques, minimal props and a single presenter these programs can be performed in a single classroom or can be modified to fit various age groups and class sizes. These programs are best suited for grades 4 through 8.

Programs Currently Available

How Much Energy Is In My Shoe?

This romp through the making of a shoe covers several continents, dark forests, noisy ships, far flung factories, and poisonous clouds on its twisted and tumbling path to the concepts of reduction, sustainability, and embodied energy. Why a shoe? Everybody wears them, yet few realize how many steps there are to making one and just how big their energy footprint really is. It’s great fun for younger learners with an expanded version available for older classes. This program runs twenty minutes for younger classes and up to forty five minutes for older learners.

Sticks and Stones and Other Bones, or The Hole That Ate My House.

What is your house made of? Where did it all come from, and where will it all go when we are done with it? Can you recycle a house? Can we save your house from the hungry giant Hole? Introductions to the materials that make up most of our homes, fill up most of our landfills, and provide a most eye opening look at the worlds of reuse and green building. There are lots of sample materials and lots of fun in this program which runs approximately thirty minutes.

Re-Using Local Materials for the School Garden.

Designed to inspire young gardeners to get out and get creative when building gardens and garden structures. Learn what Hardscaping is, and how to do it with inexpensive, sometimes free, reused materials. Build pathways, arbors, planter beds, and fanciful screens. With lots of examples this revved up version of show and tell will leave learners young and old alike raring and ready to turn that school yard garden, and probably the ones at home as well, into beautiful artful spaces. Program length varies from twenty minutes to one hour depending on age group.

Sponsors

These programs are presented by Matthew Levesque, Program Manager at San Francisco Community Recyclers and Building REsources. Matthew also maintains an art and design studio. A popular and gregarious speaker, Matthew has been presenting workshops and lectures with an emphasis on resource conservation through out California for over ten years. He brings a wide ranging curiosity, an in depth understanding of the issues and materials, and a ready humor to every presentation Matthew has been featured on HGTV, the Discovery Channel, Evening Magazine, Bay Area Back Roads, and numerous other venues.

These programs are sponsored and partially underwritten by Building Resources, a project of San Francisco Community Recyclers. As one of northern California’s oldest Non profit recycling companies, we remain committed to the belief that an educated community is an active, sustainable community. We will not turn down any reasonable request for classes based on lack of funds. Standard rates for classes are Twenty- five dollars per class, and One Hundred dollars for larger groups and assemblies. To inquire about available dates or request a presentation, please call us at 415.285.7814 Monday through Friday, or Email us at brsfcr@yahoo.com.