An inspiring quote

Jun 12, 2008

You give a man a fish; you have fed him for a day. You teach him how to fish you have fed him for a lifetime.

-unkown author

This statement is a very true statement, it inspired us to not just give away plants or plant things but in addition to that spread the knowledge on global warming and how it could effect everything years from now. 

Video Documentary

Jun 12, 2008

For a last touch we will be putting together a short video documentary to show our work in the community!  We are very excited about this project and can't wait to help out the earth, community, and anyone/anything else we will put an effect on!

Comments from our friends at redeemer

Jun 10, 2008

    Hey Sarah Annie and Alisha! It's jane from redeemer!!!! well i was thinking about project polar bear last night, and I was thinking about how you guys are stepping in to help our community to be a better place. It sets a really good example for other kids and adults. I think that everyone in our community should help you guys out by simply recycling or taking a shorter shower each day (or night!), or by doing any of the things on your pledge sheet! I have already done some of the things like being a vegetarian for 1 day out of the week, taking a shorter shower, and turning my computer off at night! I know many other people at my church would looove to get involved with project polar bear, so come talk to us soon! much love and luck, Jane!!!!

Total Effects

Jun 08, 2008

Our total impact: 402 LBS of CO2 Removed/Reduced from the atmosphere

Website

Jun 08, 2008

We are working on a website so that others in our community can visit it and find out more about Polar Bears, Global Warming, Our Carbon Footprint, Team YAGW, and how they can help. We don't have it running yet but are working on it!

Redeemer Covenant

Jun 08, 2008

Redeemer Covenant is the sister church to Kirk of the Hills. Our youth minister, Allison Shelby, has brought to our attention that we should get Reedemer involved as well. We also have close friends (Sarah, Jane, and Ellen) from Reedemer that were very interested in getting involved. They were willing to help out by getting their church included in Project Polar Bear. With getting the churches both associated with this project, we think that we can make a huge impact on our community.

    We are going to go share our knowledge with redeemer about global warming, teach them about Project Polar Bear and what our team is doing to help reduce our carbon footprint.

Kirk of the Hills

Jun 08, 2008

WHOLE CHURCH

After talking with the Youth Minister, Allison Shelby, at Kirk of the Hills, the church that all four members attend, we devised a plan to get the church involved also.  When we told her about the project she said, "THAT'S A GREAT IDEA" and wanted to get the rest of the church involved, not just Kirk Youth.

SPECIAL BUDS

An important group of the church includes the special buds group.  This group consists of kids with emotional, physical, and mental dissabilities.  We have always been involved with these kids and making sure that they feel included in our church.

We think that it would be awesome if they got involved, too.  Then they could receive the feeling of giving back, which is often taken away from them with their dissablities.

We feel that this project could, not just benefit the polar bears, teams, and community, but also the kids that have always been looking for a way to help. We have worked with these kids alot over the past few years. We can figure out a way to communicate with the kids about the arrising problem of global warming. 

We'll keep you posted on the current events

Boy Scouts

Jun 08, 2008

After hearing about the idea from Bailey, we decided to get the Boy Scouts involved as well. Both Sarah and Alisha's brothers are in Boy Scouts of America, and when they learned more about the project, they wanted to help out and receive badges at the same time.

5/11/08

Yesterday we went with my little brother Adam to his boy scout meeting. He introduced us to his scout master and he told them what we were planning on doing. We told them about our upcoming projects. They took intrest in the oxley nature center project. We told them our main goal is to plant trees native to Oklahoma and help make up for their bad storm damage. The scout master was definitley wanting to help, so were the scouts!! Infact they had been donated two trees and they were looking for somewhere to plant them. They decided to plant them at the Oxley Nature Center and will help us plant the rest of our trees that we are trting to get donated to us. So basically we are partnering with the boyscouts to complete this ambitious task!

Girl Scouts

Jun 08, 2008

Bailey Veal has revealed an interest in our project.  We have talked to her and wishes to become a marine biologist in the future.  Bailey is currently enrolled for 5th grade at Jenks East Intermediate and heard about us at the Ride Your Bike to School Week at Jenks Southeast Elementary this last school year. She wanted to know how to get involved.

We told her about this project and she suggested to make a bigger impact than just her help, maybe getting her Girl Scout Troop involved.  We plan to take that idea one step further by getting, not just her Girl Scout Troop involved, but others from the Jenks District also.

Planning for the Polar Bear Walk

Jun 08, 2008

We are planning the first Polar Bear Walk.  We are going to get sponsors to help with funding and providing refreshments.  We will be doing the walk at a local park.

The admissions will cost $5.  All funding will go to funding for trees and plants to plant around the community.

By doing this, people will be able to help the polar bears, learn about going green*, and becoming healthier at the same time.

*We will be giving out brochures about Project Polar Bear, Team YAGW, and Polar Bear International

We are also going to be selling our Team YAGW and a Polar Bear Walk Shirt.  The profits will benefit buying plants, trees, supplies, and donations for a large organization called Up With Trees.

Comments from kids

Jun 02, 2008

Here is a section of out blog where we post comments we have got from kids about project polar bear!

After I heard what team yagw was doing i was very excited and wanted to help. I first heard of them at ride your bike to school day. Then i had an idea! I wanted to get my girl scout troop involved! Team yagw was very interested in this idea. After this i felt very good about helping the earth!!!  

-Bailey Veal age: 10

After team Yagw inspired me to help the earth i told my mom and we went out and bought some vegetables to make a family garden. We are now harvesting our vegetables and eating them!

-Adam Casey age:12

Spreading the knowledge

Jun 02, 2008

Team YAGW can reach out to children and their parents or anyone involved or interested in our projects. However, there are many other people who don't know about project polar bear. Why is this? Well its simply that their daily activities don't interfere with team YAGW's projects. This is why we are trying to find other ways to spread our knowledge to other people in the community who aren't aware of what's going on around us but are certainly able to make a huge difference if informed and told how to help or get involved. Here are somethings we do/are planning on doing...

1. We buy flowers (at a discounted price), Water them, and load them up on our eco-effiecent, battery powered golf cart (instead of using a car) and drive around different neighborhoods. We knock on peoples doors introduce ourselves and what we are doing. Next We tell people that we are giving away and helping plant flowers to anyone who would like to participate. We also tell them we except donations. This way we can reach out to senior citizens, adults with a busy working schedule, or other people who can simply pitch in and make an impact! We are planning to do a lot more of it in the future! So far we have spread the knowledge only in Eufala, Oklahoma. We gave away seventy plants/flowers, giving about two-three flowers at each household. We have been telling people about other ways they can help too.

2. Here is anohter thing we are planning to do in the near future......... This also involves spreading the awareness to others but in a different way. This  sort of relates to the thing we are doing at the Tulsa zoo. (Check our meeting with the tulsa zoo blog to find out more on that.) We are going around different neighborhoods, but this time not with plants but with clip boards! We will tell people about our mission and then share how they can help. Different clip boards will have different pledges, such as turning off lights for one more hour every day, recycling paper, aluminum or plastic, ect. Now the people who agree to a certain pledge will sign the appropriate clip board along with putting their Email address so we can add them to our weekly Email list and make sure they really going to follow through with this obligation, and keeping up with their pledges. From here we will  track how much carbon dioxide will be eliminated from the atmosphere.

3. Many people have busy working lives. In this case we can reach out to people at their jobs. We will perform this task by setting out donation jars informing on what we plan to do, handing out flyers which tell what we are doing, how to help, and how to contact us. These flyers will be made out of recycled paper and at the bottom will tell the people who pick up these flyers to recycle them instead of sending them straight to the trash!   

We will keep you updated on our success through spreading knowledge! If you would like more information please email us and tell us about yourself. We would love to get to know you and help you find ways of helping out that fit your lifestyle! :-)

Southeast Elementary School

May 28, 2008

We will be working with the same school we did when we started Ride Your Bike to School Day.  We have talked to the administrator, and she said that if we make a powerpoint we may present to the fourth grade classes, and that if we simplify it enough we can also present it to he lower grades.  We were fortunate enough that the children are starting to learn more about the environment, so Project Polar Bear and Team YAGW fit into the lesson plans of the teachers perfectly.  We would also like to give each class a plant and have them see who can get it the largest in a three week period, and whichever class has the largest plant in each grade, will get a party or a special surprise.  We understand that through educating children, no carbon dioxide is absorbed, but we as a team find it just as important as planting trees.  Things you learn about when you are young stick with you your entire life.  We find that through educating people, there are immeasurable benefits.  Like the old saying,  "You give a person to fish, you feed them for a day, you teach a persn to fish you feed them for a lifetime

Donations

May 28, 2008

We have talked to some businesses that cannot donate specifically to Team YAGW, but still want to help.  We are going to collect the funds from that and make a donation to Polar Bear International in honor of Team YAGW.

We are also working on finding several businesses to sell us plants and trees for a discounted price so that we are able to buy more to plant at oxley nature center and Dickonson YMCA!  

Oxley Nature Center

May 28, 2008

Next to the Tulsa Zoo there is a place that has nature trails and a museum-type building.  In recent ice storms that have ravaged the state of Oklahoma the Oxley Nature Center had some sever damage done.  Many of the trees surrounding the building and in the forest have fallen, damaging the building and many of the trails.  Due to all of the damage they are currently under major construction and have had to close dow until November.  We are going to try and help speed up the process of rebuilding the Oxley Nature Center, by checking trails for large limbs and fallen trees and reporting it or clearing it so the trails can be used as soon as possible.  We cannot help with actually working on the buildings there, but we have offered to help with the landscaping.  We are going to plant trees and start a garden.  We will be planting native trees, only and will be writing educational papers on the trees and how much carbon dioxide they absorb.  We have already began discussing dates to begin with the manager of the Oxley Nature Center, and hope that we can get it up and running as soon as possible.

YAGW Website and E-mail List

May 28, 2008

We are currently starting a website and an e-mail list.  On the website it will be quite similar to our Project Polar Bear Blog, but will be more about upcoming local events and giving out tips on how more people can get involved.  The e-mail list is sent out at least once a week and tells about what we are working on that week, how you can get involved, some simple tips that will help lessen your carbon footprint, and upcoming local events.  If you are interested in helping us when it comes to labor, have any questions, comments, suggestions or, would like to join our e-mail list, please contact us at YAGWmail@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you! Thanks!

Dickinson YMCA

May 28, 2008

We have started talking to a local YMCA that has just opened, and they have agreed to let us plant a community garden and to educate families on the environment, Project Polar Bear, Polar Bear International, and team YAGW.  We are going to plant flowers and some native trees on the YMCA's land.  The land they have provided is quite a large area, and local children and their families will help maintain the land.  The YMCA is quite excited, as are we, because they were looking for some new ways to involve younger children, teens, young adults, the elderly, and local families .  A final date for the beginning of the garden is yet to be decided, but we have found some local support in finding financial assistance.  A local bank helped us set up a bank account so we can earn interest on our donations, and some local store have agreed to sell us plats at a discounted price.

June 9, 2008

We are meeting with Kyle from the YMCA.  We are discussing our plans on how and what we need to do.  We are finding out what plants we need to buy, who to get involved, what we need to ammend to soil, and the supplies that are needed to successfully complete this task.

 We will keep you updated!

Meeting With Tulsa Zoo

May 28, 2008

Today we had a meeting with the Tulsa Zoo and discussed our plans and ow we were going to act on or plans.  Many ideas were conceived today, and we now have many more ideas and new ways to go about acting on them.  We are now going to work with The Tulsa Zoo on our project.  Some ideas we have had are to plant garden at the zoo and to have a table in front of the polar bear exhibit so we can talk to people who are coming to look at the polar bears.  We are going to do thing like ask for donations, teach simple ways to positively impact their environment (turning your lights off for one extra hour every day, leaving the water off while you brush your teeth, carpooling, driving less, buying fuel efficient and low emission vehicles, buying florescent light bulbs, recycling, unplugging electronic and appliances when they are not in use, and buying recycled items), selling recycled items, and educating everyone on the polar bears' situation and how they can help.  we are also looking into planting a garden at the zoo.  None of our plans on zoo grounds are completely final yet, but we will keep you updated.  

Ride your bike to school

May 19, 2008

Today we began ride your bike to school day.  The middle school didn't have school, so team YAGW went over to a local elementary school and rode our bikes with some of the kids that live nearby to and from school.  The turn-out was much more then we had expected, and entire families rode with us! We told the kids about Project Polar Bear and how they could help.  All of the kids seemed to be very interested and decided to ride their bikes to school for the remainder of the school year and next year!  We have got enough kids to ride there bikes everyday that is would reduce 420 pounds of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that would be put out throughout the next school year. In the one week our thirtey-five participants rode their bike to school, they have already reduced 12 pounds of carbon dioxide emission.  We got this result in a week of kids riding bikes, so we just can't wait for the summer to be over so we can continue to do work with all of the kids in our town and our local schools!