>>ANOUNCER: Promoting a healthy environment
it's the year we breathe
clean, safe water
responsible management of our natural resources
to protect and restore
for a sustainable future...
Environment Matters.
>>Carol Graham: I think one of the things is that they understand
is that they, individually, can make a difference. >>GREG ADOLFSON: Making a difference one
student at a time -
how one West Virginia school's quest to save energy is providing students with a
valuable lesson in sustainability.
Hello everyone and welcome to Environment Matters.
I'm Greg Adolfson with the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection.
Is your community a great place to live, work and play? How about in fifty
years?
That's the mission of West Virginia Sustainable Communities and as the DEP's
Brent Kessinger found out,
the answer doesn't require a crystal ball.
>>NARRATION: The West Virginia Sustainable Community Showcase held recently at Stonewall
Jackson Resort in Lewis County
brought community leaders and experts in sustainability together to exchange
ideas and provide resources to help improve the quality of life in
communities all across the state.
West Virginia Sustainable Communities is a Department of Environmental Protection
initiative in partnership with the Sustainability Institute at Bridgemont
Community and Technical College
and with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum foundation.
>>JO HARRIS: As a community college, we work intently with business and industry
doing training on-site and at our college and
it was just the perfect match. Community development -- community is part of our
name. We're a community and technical college
and another very important role and part of our mission is to educate the
community and work with community development
make sure we have the right environment for the citizens we serve.
>>MARY HUNT: If community leaders can get the information they need
how they can get it exposure to the best practices to other folks that have been
in the same boat that they've been in -
I think that's why the institute is a really important for the sense of place to
bring those kind of concerns together. >>NARRATION: Julia Spelsberg is mayor of Weston.
For her, it was an eye-opening experience
>>JULIA SPELSBERG: Little communities - we've sort of been left behind.
Since the seventies we've lost
not quite half our population but
probably we were seven thousand people in the seventies, now we're down to four thousand.
You lose
your tax base
uh... you lose people paying municipal fees. People leave you're left with delapidated
buildings and you don't have the businesses...
We're never going to bring back
the big glass plants --
big manufacturing --
so we have to work on things that make it a nice place to live...
Encouraging small businesses...
In the first
group I'm in
and hearing what the specialty of each person is and I'm saying that you all have to
give me your cards
because
there's so many aspects of life in Weston
that we could use
their expertise.
>>NARRATION: West Virginia Sustainable Communities is committed to increasing sustainability
principles all across the state
and to help communities like Weston become more environmentally, economically
and socially sustainable.
>>MARY HUNT: This is a way communities can look at themselves
as they are and look at themselves in the future and leaders have vehicles
like the sustainability institute in the partnerships that are established there
like with the DEP and the other public entities -- all that can come
together in a really healthy way
to work with communities which is essentially all of our efforts has
to come to help West virginia communities. >>NARRATION: Improving the quality of
life in West Virginia
one community had a time.
In Lewis County, I'm Brent Kessinger for Environment Matters.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: You can check out the latest news from West Virginia Sustainable Communities by
visiting our website
dep.wv.gov
It's never too early to learn the decisions we make as consumers have an
impact on our environment
and that's the thinking behind the West Virginia sustainable schools program.
The program recognizes schools
that show a commitment to sustainable practices and the facilities
as well as integrate those practices into the community.
Last year, two West Virginia sustainable schools - Hilltop Elementary School in
Marshall County and the Wyoming Career and Technical Center in Pineville
were recognized nationally
winning Green Ribbon School awards from
the u_s_ department of education.
The awards were based on the two schools'
excellence in environmental impact
energy efficiency, healthy school environment and sustainability
education.
>>MIKE PICKENS: We have a responsibility as educators in the state of West Virginia to offer
an environment to our students that is the most conducive to learning
and we do that in in several ways and by being sustainable and offering
sustainable practices allows
the opportunity for students to learn in an environment that
is more healthy,
is more protected
we're able to return to our environment things
otherwise in the past we have not been able to.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: The state department of education is offering technical assistance workshops
to help schools apply
for the west virginia sustainable schools award program.
Up to four of those schools will be nominated for the Green Ribbon schools
program.
Applications are due January 11th.
One of those schools hoping to make the cut his Hometown Elementary in Putnam
County
and as the DEP's TOm Aluises found out,
it's an effort that's been years in the making.
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>>NARRATION: Built in 1978, Hometown Elementary School wasn't designed for
maximum energy efficiency,
but that hasn't stopped the school from becoming the most energy-efficient
school in the county
three years in a row.
>>CAROL GRAHAM: We are very open with the
the students in terms of
what it is that we're trying to accomplish to
make you make a less of a footprint on the earth. 125 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,249 >>NARRATION: It's a lot of little
things - things like turning off unnecessary lights and unused equipment
and reducing the heat in an unoccupied rooms
but it all adds up. >>MELISSA CONNETT: And we try to teach our kids not to waste.
When they go through the salad bar we tell them
take what you eat and eat what
you take. That's our motto.
>>CAROL GRAHAM: I think one of the things is that they understand they, individually, can make
a difference.
I think that's the biggest and the reason why that's important is because if we
could do that as a tiny little school
to everybody would be aware that
that will catch on. >>NARRATION: And if you're wondering if these lessons
are catching on,
just ask these second graders. Michael Wagner: Sometimes when I save power in my
room when I leave I turn my TV and my lights off.
>>CHANDLER EISEL: When I go to my nana's and I drink a lot of pop and she has cans
and whenever we drink a whole can we put it in the recycling bin.
>>ALLISON CLARK: I turn out the lights and off the TV
and help my mom
help me save
and turn out the lights
on my
sister
helped me to
in her bedroom
when
she's
asleep...
>>NARRATION: The students at Hometown are learning more than just reading and math,
they're learning to be good citizens who understand their role and their
responsibility to the community that they live in.
>>CAROL GRAHAM: There's an excitement and an enthusiasm about trying to
make a difference
and make a difference in terms of what we do
on the individual level. >>NARRATION: And by turning off a few lights, these teachers hope to
turn students onto a lifelong commitment to sustainability.
In Putnam County, I'm Tom Aluise for Environment Matters.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: Winners of this year's West Virginia sustainable schools awards
will be announced
february fifteenth.
Cooking wild ramps is a long time culinary tradition in appalachia
and now one local business in Huntington by the same name
hopes to have the same kind of staying power.
The DEP's Mike Huff has the details...
>>NARRATION: When we first is that the Wild Ramp this past spring
it was an empty storefront and a big dream...
>>GAIL PATTON: We're building up a producer corps of producers who are interested in branching
out and expanding their
production. We are going to give them opportunities to sell their
products
to restaurants and local businesses...
>>NARRATION: that was then...
this is now.
>>GAIL PATTON: We expected it to be a good response but not like this...
We're very surprised and very pleased.
>>NARRATION: Jobs and the opportunity for local food producers to market their products to
a wider customer base is the force behind Tri-state local foods and The Wild Ramp.
The group was awarded a five thousand dollar mini grant from the West Virginia
Department of Environmental Protection for technical assistance to support a
buy local campaign that connected local producers with consumers.
More than a traditional farmers' market, The Wild Ramp operates year-round.
>>GAIL PATTON: We have already have producers who are planning to
do high tunnel and low row covers and those sorts of things in order to extend
the season
for produce.
We obviously will have our meat and our eggs and our ice cream and our tofu
and veggie burgers and all those things throughout the winter - honey,
maple syrup -- but were also planning to have produce year-round.
>>NARRATION: Located in the lower level of Huntington's historic Heritage Station,
the Wild Ramp has become a popular downtown destination for serious foodies...
>>SHEILA REDLING: I was really excited about it
because once you've had fresh eggs -- that was what got me here, fresh eggs are
worth any trip --
and then the local produce and just the variety and learning to eat seasonally
it's made a huge difference in how
I eat and knowing there's fresh meat - that's fantastic. >>NARRATION: Community involvement
has been the driving force behind the success of the Wild Ramp...
>>GAIL PATTON: They've just been wonderful
very much so in every way not only in buying things but in volunteering and
helping us
get things done. We have volunteers who come in and volunteer at the store. We have
volunteers who stay home and do work
from home -- marketing type work,
surveys, helping us with grant proposals -- all those kinds of things so we
have a really great team. We have a huge support for our kick starter campaign.
We've raised eleven thousand seven hundred dollars in thirty days so that was huge.
>>NARRATION: Gail says the Wild Ramp also allows consumers to develop a
relationship with the farmers and artisans who supply the market --
something customers we talked to appreciate...
>>SHEILA REDLING: I think it's nice to see their hard work
finding an audience
that there's a payoff for being a responsible farmer
and raising healthy cattle and to use responsible and sustainable means --
I think it's nice that we can finally
give back to the people who make that commitment
and it's a nice trade-off. We all win...
In Huntington,
I'm Mike Huff
for Environment Matters. >>GREG ADOLFSON: The Wild Ramp is open Thursday and Friday from 11
a m until 7 p m and on Saturday from 10 a m until 4 p m.
Two West Virginia sustainability success stories were highlighted recently on an
international stage.
Doctor Ed Crowe from West Virginia University presented a paper at the World
Energy Engineering Congress
on the West Virginia Sustainable Communities Initiative
and the West Virginia E3: Economy Energy and the Environment Program.
You may remember those programs from our earlier stories
featuring Sustainable Williamson
and the E3 program's energy audit of the Gilmer County courthouse.
Dr. Crowe's presentation highlighted the synergy of the two programs and how these
initiatives are designed to help local governments and industries
thrive in a
new era focused on sustainability
and promote sustainable government, manufacturing and economic growth throughout
West Virginia.
Coming up: some simple things you can do to save energy and money this winter
but first, if you drink coffee for an afternoon pick me up - invest in your own cup
it not only cuts down on waste, it helps keep your drink
warmer much longer.
Most coffee shops will happily
fill your own cup and many offer a discount in exchange.
We're back in a moment... 250