Environmental Roundup: Eco-Happenings Across the State
Trash Talk By BETH TURNER
Tulsa Master Recyclers Association
LOCAL CHANGE-MAKERS: TCC President Leigh Goodson and former Mayor Kathy Taylor present Nourish Drink Café founders Amy Murray, Piper Kacere and Rich Kacere with the $30,000 prize for first place in TCC’s Start-Up Cup competition in 2014.
Courtesy TCC Startup Cup
What a proud feeing to be surrounded by so many go-getter, no-excuses powerhouses that make our community a thriving, vibrant, healthy place to live, work and play. What better time to do just that than summertime?! Our state has a lot going on. Here are just a few of those activities and organizations providing outlets for all of us who desire to live with less trash.
Get Wet
The Shawnee Tribe is hosting a free, one-day workshop (Water Education for Teachers) on Thursday, July 23. This event will be held at the Shawnee Tribe Community Building in Miami, Okla. It will focus on service learning environmental education. Those who might enjoy this include educators, parents and community leaders. For more information contact Rosanna Sheppard at rosanna@shaw-nee-tribe.com.
Get a Tour
If you would like to learn more about how Tulsa’s current trash system works, request a tour! You will be amazed to watch nanotechnology in action as it decides what a piece of trash is in nanoseconds, and where it should go by shooting jets of air in the right direction. For more information, log on to feedmrmurph.com/schedule-a-tour.
Get in the Know
Oklahoma Policy Institute (OK Policy) is a non-partisan independent policy think-tank launched in 2008, growing out of work that had previously been conducted by the public policy department of Community Action Project of Tulsa County. Their mission is to promote adequate, fair, and fiscally responsible funding of public services and expanded opportunity for all Oklahomans by providing timely and credible information, analysis, and ideas. Sign up for a newsletter, email a question or get some help understanding a policy at olicy.org.
Get Food Savy
Want to learn more about our food? Pollinator Partnership can help! This nonprofit organization is dedicated to the protection and promotion of pollinators and their ecosystems. Learn what plants are best for our area, or what can harm those little bugs that give us our food. Just visit the website at pollinator.org.
The Porter Peach Festival will run this year from July 16-18. Many go for the free peaches and ice cream, others go for the cobbler. I go for the bushel of peaches since the squirrels run away with most of mine.
Don’t forget about our area farmer’s markets offering fresh, locally grown foods. I would like to mention that the program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are both offered Tulsa’s Brookside and Cherry Street locations, as well as Norman, Okmulgee, -, Owasso, Pottawatemie, Stillwell, Tahlequah and Uptown 23rd. Thank you to all the markets choosing to be a part of these programs.
Get Inventive
I believe we all have great ideas on how a product or business could better our environment. What better way to test yours out than to submit it to TCC’s Start-Up Cup? Even if your idea is not selected, you can still receive great feedback as you get started on something that might make your future and all of ours just a little better. Learn more at .Startupcup.com.
Get Involved
Once you’ve decided to do it, getting involved on a level that best suits your lifestyle can be simple. You can sign up online to volunteer with the racing events around town such as the Tulsa Run. Or, just have lunch surrounded by fellow Oklahomans interested in eco-living. Sustainable Tulsa hosts lunch and networking the first Thursday of each month at Foolish Things Coffee Company. Learn more at sustainabletulsa.org.
These are just a few of the goings on around our great state. Please send in your events, advice, and activities. One reader recently sent in an idea for metal recycling that I am interested in learning more about. So, with your input I can offer a readers’ write very soon. Send in your words of wisdom to bturner@gtrnews.com.
Updated 06-29-2015
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