Take a Hint from the Girls in Green
I talked to Christy Porterfield, a Girl Scout [28] leader in Newport, VA, about green activities with her scouts. The rural farming community she lives in is already naturally environmentally conservative. And, Christy is a Human Resources Manager at nearby Virginia Tech, a university that is active in promoting recycling, green living, and integrating environmental topics into their curriculum. (VT offers a unique Green Engineering Program,[29] an innovative Earth Sustainability Program,[30] and sponsors Sustainability Week and a Sustainable Home and Transportation Fair.)
The Girl Scouts have several ecologically-themed badges. For their 2008 Earth Day project, Christy’s troop of ten girls, ages 10 – 12, will be cleaning up an area of their local creek, and promoting energy saving light bulbs in the Girl Scouts pilot ITSCOOL promotion of Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs. [31] The troop has recently gotten involved in quilting, too. So far this year, these girls have made and donated 15 quilts to Project Linus,[32] with more on the way. Project Linus is a non-profit group that provides love, and a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need, through the gifts of new, handmade blankets.
Christy’s scouts were very excited when they recently discovered Fairfield’s Bamboo Batting,[33] an ecologically sound, sustainable product, which they now plan to use in their upcoming quilts. The unusually soft quilt batting is 50% organic cotton, and 50% bamboo. (It is made from a different type of bamboo than the variety that Pandas depend on for food.)
According to the Fairfield Processing company, bamboo is Earth’s fastest growing timber plant, it requires no fertilizers, and it can grow 47 inches in 24 hours! And it regenerates: when one stalk is cut, two grow back in its place. Bamboo absorbs 2/3 more carbon dioxide and releases 2/3 more oxygen than any other plant. And, the bamboo plant is used for watershed protection and soil remediation, reducing runoff and sustaining riverbanks. It also helps to mitigate water pollution due to its high nitrogen consumption!
So when these scouts choose bamboo batting for their community service quilts, they are contributing to the wellness of the planet, utilizing natural fibers to enhance overall health, supplying a beautiful quilt to a needy child, and fulfilling criteria for their scout badges, all at once. What a great “win-win” example they are setting for their elders!
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