News from the EarthWays Center

The Home Energy Score is a rating that can provide you with valuable information about your home and can even save you money!

The Sunflower+ Project: STL is in its fifth year. We began as a winning entry in the St. Louis Land Lab Design Competition – a way to re-think vacant, urban land as an asset rather than a liability. Fruitful collaboration is a large part of what keeps us going long after our two year project was scheduled to conclude. Working with Ames VPA School and the Sweet Potato Project keeps our energy level high. Read more to learn how we turned a vacant urban lot into a productive asset to the community!

When you see little black dots marching across your kitchen wall (or windowsill, sink or floor), reach for the magnifying glass, not the can of bug spray.Ants come inside our houses when their colonies wake up in spring. As they clean out winter flotsam from their home, they seek the nearest source of water and food, inside the structure they inhabit (house walls) – and usually, if not intentionally, provided by us. The tiny “sugar ants” we meet as weather warms may nest in wal...

Children understand sustainability as a natural part of the preservation of our planet. All it takes is a little nudge from their teachers, and they enthusiastically embrace sustainability practices in their schools. This year, EarthWays Sustainability Network (ESN) was launched to develop a network of educators who could teach their students about waste, waste reduction, and recycling. ESN teachers train with EarthWays Center staff for one year - learning about solid waste issues, discover...

Students in the Pattonville School District are becoming “energy investigators” with the help of EarthWays Centers education team. As part of their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, Pattonville invited EarthWays staff to work with students to develop a comprehensive curriculum that includes mapping out an energy lesson plan and teaching the students about energy: where it comes from, how it fits into our everyday lives, and how it impacts the environment. St...

EarthWays Center staffers serve as program mentors for schools participating in the U.S. Green Building Council-Missouri Gateway Chapter’s 2016-17 Green Schools Quest. This is a challenge based opportunity for schools to implement low to no-cost sustainable solutions at their school. Children of all ages jump into the “greening” projects with our staff.  Elementary school students at Christ Community Lutheran School worked with Kat Golden, Sustainability Education Manager,...

Look for a new face at EarthWays: We recently welcomed Simon Warren as our new Education and Volunteer Coordinator. Simon brings great experience to our team: He helped to prepare the City of New Orleans’ greenhouse gas inventory and worked with biogas projects in Yunnan province in the People’s Republic of China; conducted research to identify risks to the use and supply of metals, and was an 8th grade science teacher and science content facilitator in Memphis, Tennessee. A native N...