New York City has won ‘Coinstar’s Greenest City’ contest. The Big Apple won the title and a $10,000 grant for the New York-based environmental non-profit organization INFORM. The non-profit plans to apply their grant to their “Recycle Your Cell Phone Campaign”. During the month-long contest ending Oct. 15, the New York City area had the highest percentage increase in coin cash-ins at Coinstar Centers compared to a year ago. Consumers put approximately 200 million coins back into circulation.

As part of Coinstar’s Change for our Earth initiative, cities were challenged with reusing idle coin in their city to reduce the need for new coin production. In turn, this lowers environmental impacts associated with primary copper production and preserves natural resources. Coinstar estimates that there is over $10 billion in idle change sitting in U.S. households, with an estimated $687 million in the New York City area.

The top five cities that competed in ‘Coinstar’s Greenest City’ contest are as follows:

1. New York City, New York
2. Seattle, Washington
3. San Francisco
4. Chicago, Illinois

5. Atlanta, Georgia

Competing Cities & Projects

Atlanta • Chicago • Dallas • Houston • Miami • Milwaukee • New York • Phoenix • San Francisco • Seattle

Atlanta

TreesAtlanta
Nursery for BeltLine Arboretum Project
www.treesatlanta.org

TreesAtlanta is a non-profit citizens' group dedicated to protecting and improving our urban environment by planting and conserving trees. Trees Atlanta has been offered the use of land, at the end of Chester Avenue, across from Trees Atlanta's headquarters, to plant and maintain a diverse collection of trees to be later used for Trees Atlanta's BeltLine Arboretum Project. Trees Atlanta will offer additional volunteer opportunities to the organization's 3,000+ volunteers, to help care for the nursery's trees. The grant will support the purchase of trees, preparation of the soil, mulch, and water collection for keeping the trees watered without using City water. The project will serve as a demonstration area for growing healthy urban trees, as part of Trees Atlanta's education program. The more mature trees will then be planted in sections of the City's 22-mile linear arboretum along the Atlanta BeltLine to be enjoyed for many generations to come.

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Chicago

Chicago Gateway Green
Tree Farm Initiative Volunteer Day
www.gatewaygreen.org

Chicago Gateway Green, through its program, TREEcago, is partnering with the City of Chicago to launch Mayor Daley's "Tree Farm Initiative" with a volunteer planting day. The site of the planting is set for 120th and Peoria, in Chicago’s southside West Pullman neighborhood. Abandoned lots dot Chicago's landscape; the Tree Farm Initiative will transform these desolate tracts into green spaces with the ultimate goal of moving the adult trees to places of need around the city.

Through the local Alderman's office, the City, and Chicago Gateway Green's network of supporters, they are working to bring together a diverse and committed group of volunteers to plant the trees. After the initial planting, Chicago Gateway Green will be responsible for maintaining the trees through its TREEcago program.

Rows of native, hardwood saplings will be planted, totaling roughly 135 trees. Native species are used to minimize watering needs and to maximize survivability. These trees will provide innumerable benefits to their urban surroundings. They will remove carbon dioxide and harmful particulates from the air, and produce oxygen. Their canopies will provide shade as well as habitat for birds and small mammals, and will reduce potentially damaging stormwater run-off. Beyond their environmental contributions, trees improve quality of life as well; they reduce noise pollution and increase property values.

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Dallas

Dallas Arboretum
Wild Walkabouts
www.dallasarboretum.org

The Wild Walkabouts program is one of the most popular education programs the arboretum offers. It exposes children to science and the environment directly through nature, making the information meaningful, memorable and fun. Walking our woodland nature trail, children in grades K-6 explore habitats, plants and other wonders of nature with a trained guide. They learn how plants breathe and sweat, discover plant and animal interdependence and investigate plant adaptations, habitats and predator/prey relationships. The hour-long program takes participants to areas not open to the general public and is packed with discoveries and hands-on learning experiences.

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Houston

Houston Audubon
Environmental Education Programs
www.houstonaudubon.org

The Houston Audubon Society seeks to offer environmental education programs and field trips, free of charge, to Title I schools surrounding the organization's Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center.

The Houston Audubon Society proudly teaches innovative natural science programs to over 20,000 youth annually. Houston Audubon's program participants gain critical environmental experiences and knowledge that will benefit them throughout their lives. Children participating in Houston Audubon's programs learn about pond life, woodland and prairie habitats, bayou ecology, and the importance of these ecosystems to humans and wildlife. Students enjoy one-on-one experiences with live birds of prey and an assortment of other educational animals that enhance the learning experience at our Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center. Participants have hands-on nature experiences in the newly created "Nature Explore" classroom, an outdoor exploration space utilizing varied natural materials. This outdoor play space is designed to encourage the child's imagination, artistic expression, and physical movement. Additional discovery zones at the nature center include Sims Bayou, a tall grass prairie pocket, organic and wildlife gardens, and ponds. Children grow vegetables in the organic garden and prepare healthy vegetables and salads to eat.

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Miami

Citizens for a Better South Florida
Neighbors Replanting Neighborhoods
www.abettersouthflorida.org

The Neighbors Replanting Neighborhoods Program, a program under the Urban Greening and Community Forestry Program is a program that educates local communities, particularly within urban neighborhoods, about the economic, environmental, psychological, and aesthetic benefits of trees and native habitats and engages them in protecting and increasing our urban forests. The goals of the Program are:

1. To provide tree and native habitat education through service learning opportunities
2. To increase the numbers of trees planted by neighborhoods in the right-of-way or in their yards, targeting neighborhoods with the lowest tree canopy
3. To maintain and protect existing trees, particularly in neighborhoods with the lowest tree canopy. The Neighbors Replanting Neighborhoods/Citizen Forester Program is a tree education program that provides a method for community members to answer the call to action regarding the state of Miami's tree canopy by gaining the message through:

A. Citizen Forester Community Workshops
B. our agency’s public relations and marketing efforts
C. through the Community Science Workshop programs
D. environmental community events and festivals where we are participants
E. through the 14 NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) office throughout the City of Miami where CFABSF provides environmental educational materials.

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Milwaukee

American Rivers
Catching the Rain: Green Solutions to Water Pollution
www.AmericanRivers.org

Stormwater runoff is one of the largest sources of water pollution in the Unites States. When it rains, water runs off hard surfaces like streets, driveways, and sidewalks and mixes with substances such as gasoline, fertilizers, pet waste, and sediment from construction sites. In some cities, like Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when there is a heavy rain, polluted stormwater overloads the sewage system and is released, untreated, directly into Milwaukee’s rivers and Lake Michigan.

Instead of turning to traditional, expensive methods of stopping this water pollution, American Rivers is helping Milwaukee's residents create a "green" solution. The most efficient and environmentally friendly way of reducing stormwater pollution is to reduce the amount of water flowing into the sewers by creating places where water can soak into the ground without flooding the street. These areas are called rain gardens, and are an effective, green and beautiful way to improve water quality while creating green space in urban areas.

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New York

Inform, Inc.
Recycle Your Cell Phone Campaign
www.informinc.org

Building on its research, INFORM has identified the need to educate the general public about cell phone recycling. Cell phones are one of the most omnipresent consumer products today. There are over 3.3 billion cell phone subscriptions across the globe. According to an Atlanta-based cell phone recycler, 750 million retired cell phones in the US alone have not been recycled and the numbers are expected to increase by 150 million in 2008. These retired cell phones are among the many electronic products considered to be electronic waste, the fastest growing component of the US waste stream. Only 12.5 percent of the 2.63 million tons of e-waste was recycled in 2005.

Using the New York City transit system – and specifically buses – to launch a Recycle Your Cell Phone Campaign would allow us to reach a large audience in a relatively short amount of time. INFORM’s Recycle Your Cell Phone Campaign will employ smart, bold graphics and memorable messages to draw people’s attention to the imperative and ease of recycling their cell phones. Viewers will also be given an easy-to-remember website (www.secretlife.org) where they will be able to obtain accessible information on cell phone recycling: from free downloadable mail–in envelops to more in-depth information about the e-waste problem.

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Phoenix

Arizona Association for Environmental Education
Out and About Phoenix
www.arizonaee.org

The Arizona Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) proposes to facilitate outdoor and informal education programs across the state of Arizona as a supporting member of the No Child Left Inside movement (www.NCLICoalition.org). The overarching purpose of these programs and their supporting materials will be to increase the frequency and quality of time spent in nature by children and their caregivers. The benefits of this increased time outdoors are enormous and fall into three categories: physical health, academic improvements and emotional wellness. AAEE's mission is to promote environmental literacy (www.arizonaee.org.), and is well-positioned to provide this manner of programming.

A key development in Phoenix is the newly formed Be Outdoors Arizona (BOA) whose mission is to promote and facilitate reconnecting kids with nature. BOA includes AAEE board members and organizational members, and is a natural partner for this project. While AAEE can provide the coordination of the project as it develops, BOA will be active in shaping the outreach strategies and workshop scenarios for teachers, youth leaders and caregivers, and parents.

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San Francisco

Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
LINC
www.parksconservancy.org

LINC (Linking Individuals to the Natural Community) is part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy’s Site Stewardship programs which actively engage over 19,000 community volunteers and youth program participants annually in the Presidio of San Francisco and elsewhere in the Golden Gate National Parks, through stewardship, environmental sustainability and restoration activities. LINC was launched in 2005 to serve high school students who have an interest in the environment and are looking for an opportunity to work on special natural resource projects throughout the Golden Gate National Parks.

The LINC program consists of six (6), week-long modules, each with a different natural resource theme. In 2009, the LINC summer team will consist of 16 students and 2 interns recruited from local public schools, and supervised by restoration and education specialists. Future plans call for expanding the audience for this program by offering LINC activities during the school year. The LINC team works on authentic park projects with themes including plant propagation, habitat restoration, mapping, trail work and environmental education. All activities are linked to park priorities and provide critical natural resource support to the Golden Gate National Parks. LINC provides students an enriching and challenging summer job, and educational opportunities focused on ecology and environmental science topics.

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Seattle

Cascade Land Conservancy
Green Seattle Partnership
www.greenseattle.org

The Green Seattle Partnership (GSP) is a 20–year effort, in partnership with the City of Seattle, to engage Seattle residents in restoring 2,500 acres of forested parks, creating healthier and more livable communities and passing on a legacy of community service to future generations. The Green Seattle Partnership engages over 10,000 volunteers each year with the goal of planting more than 200,000 trees. In 2007 alone, GSP hosted 576 volunteer events and engaged 10,000 volunteers! Our single biggest event is Green Seattle Day, held each November. Last year, in an amazing community effort, 500 volunteers gathered in 17 Seattle parks. Over 3,000 trees and shrubs were planted in a single day.

The stewardship of our urban green space brings people together in their own neighborhoods to create a healthy, livable city with sustainable forested parklands. To date, the Partnership has mobilized Seattle residents to donate 150,000 volunteer hours and plant 20,000 trees and restore 264 acres of forested parklands. We must increase this level of recruitment to ensure the restoration of Seattle's 3,200 acres of parklands. A grant of $10,000 would allow the Green Seattle Partnership to continue the community outreach and volunteer recruitment which is crucial to the success of GSP and the restoration of the Seattle's urban green space.

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