MTHS Earth Club Magazine 1

Illustration by Ashni Mathew, Earth Club Member

 MTHS Earth Club Magazine 2

Table of Contents:
I. News ............................................................................. pg 3 - 4
II. Living Green .............................................................. pg 5 - 6
III. Sustainable Design ................................................. pg 7 -8
IV. Interesting Plants..................................................... pg 9 - 10
V. Entertainment ........................................................... pg 10 - 11
VI. Poetry ........................................................................ pg 12

Illustration by Tina Lai, Earth Club Member

Happy Earth Day!!!

Editor in Chief: Alice Huang, Earth Club President

Cover Page: Ashni Mathew, Earth Club Member

NEWS section MTHS Earth Club Magazine 3

Montville Switching to Single-Stream Recycling!

Our town has some very exciting news
regarding the Montville curbside recycling There are still some items that are NOT
collection! In the past, recycling was collected recyclable in our town yet, including:
on alternating Wednesdays with separation • Plastic bags
• Electronics
between bottles/cans and paper/cardboard.
• Water bottle caps (i.e. for Poland
However, beginning March 1, 2011, recycling Spring water bottles)
will be collected every Wednesday morning
instead of alternating Wednesdays. Also, more Please remove the caps for these water bottles
types of recyclable materials are being before you recycle them.
accepted, and are permitted to mingle in one
container, referred to as “single stream There are still ways to recycle plastic
bags easily – check your local grocery store to
recycling”.
see if they collect them. Also, electronics can
ALL of these items are recyclable in our town be recycled online and at various locations,
NOW! including the Lincoln Park Recycling Center,
found on George Cobb Lane. This site accepts
• Cardboard (flattened)
TVs, computers, and computer monitors, and is
• Magazines
open Monday-Friday from 7 AM – 3:25 PM and
• Newspapers
Saturday from 8 AM – 4:15 PM.
• Plastics (numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 –
look for the recycling triangle!)
• Brown paper bags
• Office paper (flyers, old
handouts/essays from school, etc.)
• Paperboard (cereal boxes, snack boxes,
etc.)
• Glass bottles/jars
• Aluminum (cans, FOIL, pie tins, etc.)
• Steel cans
• Junk mail If you have received and read the
• Phone books mailed notice from our Township
Administrator, Frank J. Bastone, you already
Especially for plastics, remember to know that “removing 10% of the recyclable
check the number in the recycling triangle. materials thrown in the garbage in 2010 and
Yogurt containers, plastic cups, certain plastic recycling them would have resulted in a savings
caps (i.e. for milk or juice), and shampoo bottles of over $80,000.”
can all be easily recycled! Simply give them a
rinse to clean them and then toss them with the So don’t hold back, now that it is so easy to
rest of your recycling. Toilet paper rolls and recycle more items then we ever could before!
paper towel rolls should not be thrown out
either! -Colette Messina, Earth Club Treasurer
NEWS section MTHS Earth Club Magazine 4

Valentine's Day Rose Sales

This year our Valentine’s Day Rose Sale
was a success! On February 14, MTHS students
were able to deliver their roses (or in some
cases—mini bouquets!) to their girlfriends,
boyfriends, friends, teachers, and parents for
Valentine’s Day. During the previous week,
Earth Club members worked to put up fliers
around the school. In addition, four days were
set aside to sell the roses (three dollars a rose,
two for five dollars). After receiving order
forms, Earth Club members dedicated their
time to help wrap the roses, handwrite
nametags, and many also came in early on
Valentine’s Day to deliver the roses to the
recipients’ homerooms. This year, ove over 45 red
roses were sold. A round of applause to all the
Earth Club members who helped spread
positive emotions around the school through an
environmental approach—the the giving and
receiving of flowers.
-Angela
Angela Huang, Earth Club Secretary

A Note on Recycling Recyclable

Recycling is very important, and h
helpful • Paper (e.g. notebook paper,
for the environment and for us for a number of fliers, envelopes, passes, post-it
post
reasons. Recycling helps to conserve natural notes, etc.)
resources which we will need in the long run. • Cardboard (e.g. tri boards,
tissue boxes, etc.)
Recycling also saves energy and limits pollution.
• Newspapers,, magazines
m
Recycling helps the economy as well because of
• Aluminum cans
the factors mentioned
ntioned above as well as • Plastic and glass bottles
providing local jobs. Recycling can help make
the world a better place, and it’s up to us to Not Recyclable
make it happen! • Tissues
• Paper towels
Look for the blue bins in each classroom • Wrappers/packaging
and the hallways, and make the choice to • Plastic containers
recycle! The following materials can/c
can/cannot be • Styrofoam (e.g. coffee cups)
recycled at Montville Township High School:
Living Green section
How To Find Your Carbon Footprint
What’s a Carbon Footprint?
A carbon footprint is a measure of the
impact our activities have on the environment,
and in particular climate change. It relates to
the amount of greenhouse gases produced in
our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels
for electricity, heating and transportation etc.
The carbon footprint is a measurement of all
greenhouse gases we individually produce and
has units of tons (or kg) of carbon dioxide
equivalent. In simple English, it is basically a
measurement of how much you are
contributing to global warming, and the
ultimate destruction of our modern society. A
carbon footprint is made up of the sum of two
parts, the primary footprint (shown by the
green slices of the pie chart) and the secondary
footprint (shown as the yellow slices).
1. The primary footprint is a measure of our
direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of
fossil fuels including domestic energy
consumption and transportation (e.g. car and
plane). We have direct control of these.
2. The secondary footprint is a measure of the
indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle
of products we use - those associated with their
manufacture and eventual breakdown. To put it
very simply – the more we buy the more
emissions will be caused on our behalf.
MTHS Earth Club Magazine 5
Why should I care about my Carbon Footprint?
As long as the prospect of living in a
post-apocalyptic dystopia with pure anarchy
running amok seems appealing to you, there is
no need to care! Carry along. But if you do
want to die of long age, instead of a freak
tsunami or hurricane, you should probably
care. And even if global warming doesn’t hit
our generation, it is bound to hit the next. You
want to give your children a clean and healthy
earth, right? Everyone knows about global
warming, how it is caused by greenhouse
gases, and how it will eventually lead to the
destruction of our way of living. If you didn’t
pay attention enough in school to know,
chances are you wouldn’t be reading this
anyways. It is now time to take action; take
steps to first become aware of your Carbon
Footprint, and then take steps to reduce it.
How do I calculate my Carbon Footprint?The
process to calculate a Carbon Footprint is
generally complicated, and includes the entry of
almost every industrial-related aspect of your
life, from your car manufacturer to your food
preferences. Because it is nearly impossible to
convey the entire process onto paper in under
10 pages, a quick and straightforward way to
calculate your footprint is to visit this website:
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator/as
px
Living Green section
Now that I know my Carbon Footprint, how
can I reduce it?
• Turn it off when not in use (lights,
television, DVD player, Hi Fi, computer
etc. etc. ...)
• Turn down the central heating slightly
(try just 1 to 2 degrees C). Just 1 degree
will help reduce your heating bill by
about 8%.
• Turn down the water heating setting
(just 2 degrees will make a significant
saving)
• Check the central heating timer setting -
remember there is no point heating the
house after you have left for work
• Fill your dish washer and washing
machine with a full load - this will save
you water, electricity, and washing
powder
• Fill the kettle with only as much water
as you need
• Do your weekly shopping in a single trip
• Hang out the washing to dry rather than
tumble drying it
• Don't buy bottled water if your tap
water is safe to drink
• Buy local fruit and vegetables, or even
try growing your own
• Buy foods that are in season locally
• Don't buy fresh fruit and vegetables
which are out of season, they may have
been flown in
• Reduce your consumption of meat
• Try to only buy products made close to
home (look out and avoid items that are
made in the distant lands)
-Paymon Wang-Lofti, Earth Club Member
How to Buy "Green"
Most of us want to buy environmentally
friendly products but more than often, we
don't--and not because of the additional cost
but because of the lack of consumer
knowledge. Retailers and companies
relentlessly bombard the public with claims of
MTHS Earth Club Magazine 6
innovative products, packaging, recycling, and
company practices that reduce harmful impact
to the environment. How much of it is truth
though, or even has a direct contribution to the
environment? Consumers have become
increasingly wary of corporate "green-washing,"
and it's hard be not to be skeptical when
environmental consciousness only appears to
be the latest bandwagon in the advertising
world. So what does it really mean to buy
green?
GoodGuide (www.goodguide.com) is
designed to empower the consumer with the
knowledge to choose "healthy, green, ethical
products." Established in 2004, the company is
an online based system that hosts ratings of
over 75,000 consumer products, scored by a
panel of scientific experts on the product's
impact to health, environment, and society. The
company even provides a free iPhone
application that allows the consumer to scan
bar codes to find product ratings. Highly
credited by industry experts, GoodGuide draws
data from 300 sources, including firms that do
socially responsible investing research, scientific
institutions, academic studies, and company
web-sites. In a world of green-washing,
GoodGuide's ratings establishes some real
scientific standards of what it means to buy
"green."
Sample product ratings:
Best Peanut Butter Ratings (top score of 10):
Worst Peanut Butter Ratings:
-Alice Huang, Earth Club President
Sustainable Design section
Disposable
Dinnerware
Can Be Eco -
Friendly
Too
Americans use an estimated 23 billion
paper cups every year. That’s over 360 million
pounds of solid waste, not to mention the
resource usages during production. Not only are
9.5 million trees cut down, but also the energy
used to power the process could fuel 77
thousand homes. And the amount of water
used during production—5.75.7 billion gallons
gallons—is
unfathomably enormous.
These frightening numbers don’t even
include other forms of paper waste, like paper
plates and dinnerware. However, paper is not
the only disposable threat; Styrofoam takes
hundreds of years to break down. But we face a
quandary: when hosting an event, people are
understandably hesitant to bring out their best
chinaware, and they may not even have enough
A Bold Step in the Bath
Tissue Industry
It is amazing how little thought we give
to the little cardboard tubes that give our toilet
paper rolls their nice circular shape. Every single
year, though, we use up almost 17 billion of
these rolls in America alone. What’s worse is
that we toss almost all of them into the garbage
instead of in the recycle bin. This all easily adds
up to around 160 million pounds of trash.
According to a commercial put out by the Scott
Paper Company, all the tubes thrown own away in
America are enough to fill up the Empire State
Building—twice.
With the state of the environment in
steady decline, more and more companies have
MTHS Earth Club Magazine 7
chinaware for everyone. What else but
disposable plates and cups could guests use?
Paradoxically, disposable
isposable tableware is
indispensable.
Wasara, an ambitious Japanese
company, wants to solve all that with their
dinnerware. Their simplistic and sleek
dinnerware is still disposable, but much more
ecofriendly in several ways. Instead of cutting
down trees,s, Wasara creates paper tableware
from easily obtained and replenished sugarcane
waste, usually trashed as a byproduct of sugar
production, and bamboo. In addition, bamboo
and sugarcane are both fast-growing
growing plants,
plants
making them much more sustainable sources
source of
pulp than wood is. Furthermore, the organic
nature of these products—other
other paper
products are often coated with plastic—makes
plastic
them readily biodegradable.
While not as sustainable as non-
non
disposable tableware, Wasara is an excellent
choice for when you need disposable plates and
cups. Wasara disposable dinnerware is available
online through their North American
distributor, Branch Projects, Inc.
(branchhome.com)
-Dorothy Chen, Earthh Club Member
started to go “green.” The Scott Paper Company
has lately started to go “green” as well—if
well your
mom m shops at Walmart, you are probably guilty
of using their toilet paper—by by making their
toilet paper rolls out of 40% recycled material.
But recently, they took a bold step forward in
the “bath tissue” industry, forever changing the
way we view toilet paper. r. In order to reduce the
amount of these cardboard tubes wasted each
year, the Scott Paper Company simply removed
them from the equation. They are called “Scott
Naturals Tube-Free
Free Bath Tissue” and by some
technological breakthrough in bath tissue
production,
on, they are able to retain their shape
without the support of a cardboard tube.
Yet such ingenious innovation in bath
tissue technology still will not completely rid
the world of its cardboard tube gluttony. The
Sustainable Design section MTHS Earth Club Magazine 8

extremely useful little cardboard tubes that
come with every toilet paper roll have become
part of our everyday lives—some have used
them as checker-pieces, plumbing, scientific
inquiry, and even as instruments. And even if
Scott’s courageous experiment were to succeed
in removing 75% of the wasted cardboard
tubes, all the tubes wasted each year in
America would still be enough to build a bridge
to the moon." -Charles Qian, Earth Club
Member, Envirothon Team Participant

"Green" Fashion!
The idea of “Green” fashion (also called
eco fashion and sustainable fashion) is truly
soaring in the fashion industry. From handbags
to sneakers to the clothes we wear, more and
more designs are emerging for the
environmentally friendly. So whenever you’re
out on a shopping spree, help do your part by Bags Made of Old Coffee Sacks: Designed by
incorporating some “green” fashion into your Lost Property of London
regular wardrobe!
- Angela Huang, Earth Club Secretary All parts of the bags are recycled and each one
is unique!
Here are some interesting, eco friendly
products to look out for:

Bags Made Entirely From Candy Wrappers

Oat Shoes: Sneakers You Can Compost

Can Tab Accessories

by Ecoi

Bags Made of All Recycled Materials:

Designed by Vivienne Westwood for
the Africa Project
Interesting Plants Section
Garlic--Not Just a Cooking
Ingredient
Garlic is an herb that has many uses,
including giving people bad breathe. The
scientific name of garlic is Allium Sativum and is
part of the Liliaceae family. Garlic is best grown
in rich, moist, sandy soil in warm climate with
plenty of sun. Only the bulb and cloves are
used. By cutting or macerating garlic cloves, the
active compounds from the herb can be
released. The cloves contain alliin, an odorless
sulfur containing substance. This substance
turns into allicin when it comes into contact
with the enzyme allinase after being cut or
crushed. Allicin, along with other sulfur
containing substances, is the reason garlic gives
people bad breathe. The smell gets excreted
from the body through the lungs and skin.
Chewing basil, mint, or thyme can counteract
this smell. Garlic capsules or tablets are also an
option, as they were odorless, but they are not
as effective as real authentic garlic.
Garlic is an ingredient that is
commonly used in cooking as a seasoning.
Although garlic is often used for culinary
purposes, it also has a wide variety of medicinal
purposes as well. Garlic has been used in China
since AD 500 for treating colds, tuberculosis,
dysentery, and digestive ailments as well as
fungal infections for the skin. In World War I,
garlic was widely used to dress wounds due to
its antibacterial properties. It can also be used
to promote the circulatory system and help
prevent coronary heart disease, thrombosis,
strokes, and treat diabetes by lowering blood
sugar levels. Other uses for garlic include
reducing blood cholesterol, acting as an
antioxidant, lowering the level of low density
lipoprotein, increasing blood circulation to
MTHS Earth Club Magazine 9
capillaries, reducing the tendency for blood to
clot, and enhancing fibrinolysis. There are even
indications for having anti HIV activity, reducing
the risks of certain cancers, and giving people
long life with its anti aging properties.
Even though garlic has an undesirable
odor, its usefulness far exceeds the cons of
garlic. Use it to cook with every meal and surely
the beneficial effects will start to show.
Everything from antibacterial properties to
reducing the effects of caner, garlic is sure to
give people a long and healthy life in this world
plagued by fast food and the like.
-Tae Seo Park, Earth Club Member
The Apple of Death
The Manchineel Tree, also known as the
“apple of death,” is one of the most poisonous
plants in the world. The tree grows on coastal
beaches, and is native to Florida, the Caribbean,
Central America, and South America. In these
regions, it is regarded as something to avoid at
all costs.
The Manchineel’s nickname comes
from the fact that its fruits look just like small
green apples, and are deceptively sweet and
fragrant. However, if ingested, the results can
be fatal. In fact, all parts of the tree are
poisonous. Contact with the leaves, bark, or
fruit can cause painful blisters to form on the
skin. Its sap, a whitish milky substance, can
cause burns if touched. Just standing under the
 Entertainment Section
tree can be dangerous, especially if it is raining.
The small amount of sap that a raindrop picks
up when it falls on a leaf can cause painful
blisters. Burning the tree creates sap filled
smoke that can cause blindness and swelling of
the throat in anyone near the vicinity.
Historically, the tree’s poisonous nature
has resulted in its notorious reputation as a
killer. The tree’s sap was used by Carib Indians
to poison arrow tips, resulting in slow and
painful deaths for anyone struck. One supposed
form of torture would involve tying a victim to
the trunk of the tree, and leaving them there
during a rainstorm. Nowadays, warnings are
placed near the tree to make sure people stay
far away. In some areas, signs are planted
around the tree. In others, a red “X” a painted
on the trunk to identify this dangerous plant.
- Kevin Shih, Earth Club Vice President
Literature Review
When I received Barbara Kingsolver’s
novel Prodigal Summer this fall in my English
class, I couldn’t help but shudder with disgust.
Lauded on the back cover as a “hymn to
nature,” the novel was described as three
interwoven love stories, set in the backdrop of
the Appalachian wilderness. I approached the
book cautiously, afraid it would be full of
cliched melodrama, and although I found the
writing style to be a bit too lush for my liking, I
was on the whole pleasantly surprised.
Kingsolver, who holds a master’s degree in
biology, had produced a truly scientific novel
that is both entertaining and an informative
homage to an environmentalist worldview.
The novel begins and ends with
Deanna, a divorced wildlife ranger, who must
reevaluate her morals as she becomes
romantically involved with Eddie Bondo, a
younger hunter intent on destroying her
favorite species--the coyote. Further down the
mountain, a young widow named Lusa grapples
with her husband’s premature death and her
subsequent role in his large, mistrusting family.
MTHS Earth Club Magazine 10
Across town from
Lusa, the elderly
Garnett Walker
continues a decades-
old feud with his
environmentally-
conscious neighbor
Nannie Rawley with
some surprising
results. Although
each story is by itself interesting, the novel rides
not on its plot but on its characters, who
Kingsolver fleshes out remarkably well with her
scientific finesse.
All three female main characters--
Deanna, Lusa, and Nannie Rawley--possess a
great deal of scientific knowledge; Deanna
wrote her masters thesis on coyotes, Lusa was
completing post-doctoral work studying moths
at the time of her marriage, and Nannie,
although not highly educated, is an expert at
sustainable farming. Relying on her extensive
knowledge of ecology, Kingsolver integrates
interesting tidbits about moths, coyotes and
other species with ease. While some readers
may find her preoccupation with science a bore,
her integration of facts into her character’s daily
lives truly fleshes out their personalities.
Furthermore, most readers will find Kingsolver’s
stress on environmental issues both informative
and fascinating.
The morals of Kingsolver’s
environmental lessons are rather simple--don’t
hunt for the sake of killing itself, don’t poison
insects to protect your human lifestyle. Instead
of getting caught up in the nuances of
exceedingly academic environmental principles,
Kingsolver presents the issues in the dialogue of
one character teaching another in simple terms.
The ranger Deanna warns her boyfriend Eddie
“To kill a natural predator is a sin” and Lusa
kindly lectures her niece Crys about the dangers
of pesticides. Nannie Rawley even delves into
scientific terminology with her explanation of
the Volterra Principle, which describes how
Entertainment Section
pesticide use actually increases the target
population.
For the environmentally-minded, these
lessons themselves are enough to seal the deal
about Prodigal Summer. I wasn’t thrilled about
the book when I first picked it up--to be honest,
the first lines are far too overwrought and
melodramatic--but I’m glad I finished it
nevertheless. Barbara Kingsolver manages to be
emotional without being too sappy and smart
without being too moralistic, and for those
qualities alone, I highly recommend her novel
Prodigal Summer.
- Alexandra Hartley, Earth Club Member
Movie Review
Water is essential to life on earth. We
need water to grow food, keep clean, provide
power, control fire, and last but not least, we
need it to stay alive! If water is constantly being
cleaned and recycled through the earth’s water
cycle, why do we need to conserve it? The
answer is that people use up our planet’s fresh
water faster than it can naturally be
replenished. This theme of conserving water in
areas where there isn’t much to begin with has
been portrayed very well in the new hit movie
“Rango,” directed by Gore Verbinski and
featuring the voices of Johnny Depp and Isla
Fisher.
“Rango” is a wonderful film. From the
writing, acting, and animation art, it is
masterfully unique and incredibly
intelligent. While I am generally a fan of
animated films, they usually tend to be cookie-
cutter versions each other. “Rango” breaks the
mold. While I did take my little brother and
sister to see it with me, it is hardly a typical
children’s film. I laughed out loud several times.
Sometimes I was the only person who was
laughing as some of the many jokes went over
the heads of even the adults in the
audience. Apparently, not many people in the
audience had seen “Fear and Loathing in Las
MTHS Earth Club Magazine 11
Vegas.” Even for
those wanting to see
“Rango” who
haven’t, it will still be
hilarious I guarantee.
Along with the
wonderful cameo by
Raoul Duke, Jonny
Depp is incredible, as
usual, in his portrayal
of Rango. Bill Nighy, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin,
Ned Beatty, and Alfred Molina compliment him
equally in performance.
For a film to be great it can’t just be
entertaining, it has to mean something. This
film has literary value as well. It’s about a
chameleon who can blend in anywhere finding
an identity of his own. It’s about the core
values that make America great. Rango learns
that a person is defined by their deeds and the
key to greatness and respect is ultimately
selflessness. I found this an important message
for a nation who finds itself in a very similar
situation as the town of Dirt.
Getting back to the movie’s theme of
saving water, here is a bit of plot summary. Lars
is a chameleon who, due to a little accident
ends up in a little town where he names himself
Rango to a wide and varied bunch of critters.
Before long, Rango becomes the Sheriff and
finds himself in the middle of a water shortage
controversy, with a few shady characters
keeping the townsfolk in the dark. Ultimately
this is a story about a lonely chameleon who
attempts to find himself by masquerading as
something he’s not, coupled with his decision to
help the town or not and some strong spoken
green issues about water conservation. Either
way, “Rango” is a little bit more than just your
average wham, bam animated feature.
So if you’re tired of the same old
recycled garbage or you simply don’t want to
see a movie meant for twelve-year-olds, check
out “Rango” because I promise you won’t be
disappointed.
-Christopher Tullo, Earth Club Art Director
Poetry section MTHS Earth Club Magazine 12

Haikus
Kaiwen Chen & Cindy Wei

Raindrops

Dewdrops shine in the morning

Time for a new day

Flowers

Flower buds blossom

They wake up facing the sun
Spring has now arrived

Spring Senses

Fresh rain on wet grass

Flowers’ fragrance spread throughout
Willows dance with wind

The Earth is so lovely a place to me.

The Earth is so lovely a place to me.
I don’t understand how you could disagree!
It gives soil for wonderful crops to grow,
Has beauty that’s natural, sunsets that glow!

Just one thing that bothers me to the extreme,

Is how some people litter like it is esteemed.
Come on, people, really, is it so hard?
Just pick up your trash, give the Earth some regard!

It doesn’t take much, all I’m saying is this:

If you think there’s a maid, you think quite amiss!

- Anonymous