In February 2011, the Earth Task Force (ETF) put together a team of students and adults to write an application for the National Environmental Education Foundation to help fund sustainability initiatives at their school. Despite the stiff competition nationally, we are thrilled to announce that New Vista High School (NVHS) has been awarded the Green… Read more »
The third quarter of the Community Adventure Program (CAP) for the 2010-2011 school year came to a close as spring started to emerge around us. While the class was very excited for a week of relaxation, spring break meant no more CAP. It was a little bittersweet for all of us after a very enjoyable… Read more »
The Cottonwood Institute put together an incredible Environmental Leadership Summit for Johnson & Wales University Community Leadership Institute students on February 4th, 2011 at the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado in downtown Denver. Facilitated by Ford Church and Paige Doughty and students from New Vista High School’s environmental club called the Earth Task Force, the day… Read more »
If ‘change the world’ means bringing a positive change to some corner of the globe– affecting the lives of one, ten, a hundred, or a thousand people, then, in my opinion, the answer is yes. -David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World. As we reflect on another amazing year at the Cottonwood Institute,… Read more »
Community Adventure Program (CAP) students unleashed their inner worker bee this quarter to create a great two-pronged Action Project that focused on honey bees and cold-frames. Based on early class discussions, the plight of the honey bee was a hot topic within this group, which was duly noted. However, they just couldn’t let go of… Read more »
The Earth Task Force held their S.U.P.E.R. Summit (Students Understanding Personal Environmental Responsibility) on November 11th, 2010 at Casey Middle School. The Summit attracted over 70 participants and eight different school groups committed to creating environmental change within their high schools and larger community. Throughout the day the students discussed sustainability goals that have already… Read more »
In previous years, the Earth Task Force has designated certain months as “alternative transportation” months. During this time we encouraged students and faculty to alternatively transport themselves to and from school. As an incentive, we recorded participation and invited those who participated frequently to a pizza party where we held a raffle. This year, because… Read more »
After a wildly successful inaugural year, the Cottonwood Institute‘s Earth Task Force at New Vista High School is taking on a new challenge this year to host Boulder Valley School District‘s first student-directed environmental summit called Students Understanding Personal Environmental Responsibility, also known as the S.U.P.E.R. Summit. High school students and teachers from all over… Read more »
After much discussion and many good ideas, Community Adventure Program (CAP) students decided to dive in deep to tackle the water quality of Boulder Creek. As a central part of downtown Boulder, the class thought it was unfortunate that there was visible trash around the creek constantly, so they decided to do something about it!… Read more »
“If every US citizen ate just one meal a week composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.” This statistic from Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle inspired 4th quarter Community Adventure Program students at New Vista High School… Read more »
