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 Earth Day |
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Wednesday, March 15
Annual "Earth Day" Meeting
You are invited!
Come celebrate "Earth Day" at ARC's annual meeting Thursday, April 20 at the Elks Lodge -- 11:30 am to 1 pm. $8.50 buffet lunch. Meet guest speaker, Traci Phillips, President, Natural Evolution (a Tulsa collection business) who will discuss "Electronics Recycling" (or E-waste). Find out how recycling can benefit you and take home a bird feeder!
Thursday, February 16
"How Can My School Do More Recycling?"
In celebration of "Earth Day" ARC is sponsoring an essay contest for area High School students (grades 10 thru 12) and Junior High School students (grades 7 thru 9). $100 will be awarded to the top two essay writers. In addition, $50 will be awarded to four honorable mentions. All six winners will be invited to lunch at the Elks Lodge on Thursday, April 20 for ARC's annual meeting. Winners will be acknowledged during the meeting.
Title: "How Can My School Do More Recycling?"
DEADLINE: Monday, April 3, 2006 -- 5 pm
Mail, fax, E-mail or deliver essays to:
Trudy Nevland
231 South Townsend, Ada, OK 74820
(580) 436-8092 fax
trudy.nevland@adaok.com
220 West 7th Street
If you have any questions, call Trudy at 436-8100.
Thursday, February 16
Annual "EARTH DAY" Meeting Set
Mark your calendars now!
ARC's annual "Earth Day" meeting is scheduled for:
Thursday, April 20 at the Elks Lodge
11:30 am to 1 pm / $8.50
This year everyone who attends will receive a bird feeder!
Thursday, April 21
Mayor Proclaims Earth Day 2005
 |  | | Mayor Nemecek and Garmon Smith | |
Mayor Darrell Nemecek proclaimed "Earth Day" in Ada:
WHEREAS, Earth Day, which began in 1970, is now celebrated by millions of people worldwide, this year is its 35th anniversary, and around the world, hundreds of thousands of nongovernmental organizations (such as ARC) governments, teachers and faith-based groups, are making plans to declare that they are part of something extraordinary: A worldwide movement to protect our planet, our children, and our future by recycling and by limiting the amount of waste entering our landfills.
WHEREAS, participating in Earth Day is one way citizens can help raise awareness about the need to reduce waste by reusing, recycling and buying recycled products, and taking pride in our community by helping to keep it clean; and
WHEREAS, state and community leaders should spread the word about the excellent programs established in Ada, such as the City of Ada is recycling ten percent of its solid waste; and
WHEREAS, citizens in Ada may take their cardboard to any of the blue cardboard containers located throughout the city. Citizens may take their used motor oil to the city’s Used Oil Recycling Center at 7th and Townsend, their recyclables to any one of the city’s five recycling drop-off centers (4th and Broadway, 326 East 12th Street, Cougar Plaza, North Hills Shopping Centre and Wal-Mart). And, citizens may take their small rechargeable batteries to the Public Works office at 220 West 7th Street:
NOW, THEREORE, I, DARRELL NEMECEK, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF ADA, OKLAHOMA do hereby proclaim Friday, April 22, 2005 to be “EARTH DAY” in Ada, Oklahoma and I encourage citizens to increase recycling.
Crenwelge Speaks at Annual "Earth Day" Meeting
Kathryn Crenwelge, Environmental Team Leader, Weyerhaeuser Container Board Recycling Facility in Valliant, Oklahoma was this year's guest speaker at ARC's annual meeting. Ms. Crenwelge explained that Weyerhaeuser began recycling in 1974 and has doubled its recycling collection every five years. Weyerhaeuser operates in 18 countries, with customers worldwide. They grow trees, build homes and make essential wood and paper products while protecting the environment.
Winning Essay Written by Daron Ellis
"How Can I convince Someone to Recycle" was the title of this year's essay contest. Ada Hig Senior, Daron Ellis was the first-place winner and was awarded $100. Kayli Edwards and Stephanie Cannon were runners up and were awarded $50 each. All three were given T-shirts and treated to lunch at the Elks Lodge. Congratulations!
The following is Daron's essay:
"How To Convince Someone to Recycle"
Recycling programs across the country have made great progress over the last few years. Ada is no exception to this trend. The recycling efforts have extended the life of the landfill, which will save money for the city of Ada and its citizens. This has been a very positive impact for Ada and Pontotoc County. However, as with any other program, more people need to be encouraged to recycle. I would convince others to recycle by explaining how easy it is, describing the savings, and setting an example.
First of all, I would convince someone to recycle by telling then how easy it is to recycle. The City of Ada has made it very convenient for citizens to recycle by setting up five drop-off centers across town. These are located at the corner of 4th and Broadway, Wal-Mart, the North Hills Shopping Centre, Cougar Plaza and 326 East 12th Street. These centers accept paper, plastic, tin, aluminum, and cardboard and have clearly marked containers for each of the recyclable materials. To make it even easier, these centers are available to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Secondly, I would convince someone to recycle by describing the savings of recycling. The savings of the recycling program are sure to encourage others to join in on the efforts. The city of Ada has literally recycled hundreds of tons of material. This material is sold and the money is returned to the city’s budget to help fund the recycling program. Even more important than the money received from selling recycled material is the savings in landfill space. It is estimated that 15 days of landfill life can be saved every year from the Ada recycling program.
Finally, I would convince others to recycle by my personal example. I would do this enthusiastically because it is a privilege to be able to help. I would show others that recycling is their opportunity to help save the earth for future generations. Like the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words,” my personal recycling efforts should do more to convince someone to recycle than if I just told them about it. Hopefully, by my personal recycling, I would be able to convince others to follow my example. Whether it be at home or and at school, each time I placed a coke can in a recycling bin, I would convince others of the need to recycle.
Explaining the ease, describing the savings, and setting an example are three ways I would convince someone to recycle. Hopefully, this would persuade others to participate in the recycling program. The recycling program in Ada will have an even greater impact on our environment when we all convince someone else to recycle.
Thursday, April 22
Earth Day Proclamation 2004
|  | | Earth Day Proclamation 2004 | |
Mayor Darrell Nemecek proclaimed April 22 Earth Day in Ada. He presented the proclamation to Garmon Smith, Ada Recycling Coalition Chair, at ARC's annual recycling meeting. The proclamation encourages citizens in Ada to reduce waste by reusing, recycling and buying recycled products and taking pride in the community by helping to keep it clean.
Thursday, April 22
Annual "Earth Day" Meeting
John Cartwright of the Linn Stock Paper Company speaks at a meeting of the Ada Recycling Coalition at the Ada Elks Lodge April 14
Wednesday, April 14
"What are the long-term benefits of Recycling?"
|  | | Essay Winners with Betty Parham | |
ARC announced the winners of this year's Earth Day essay contest, which was entitled "What are the long-term benefits of Recycling?"
Kayli Edwards -- First Place $100
Beth Nevland -- Honorable Mention $50
Kathryn Hamby -- Honorable Mention $50
In addition, all three winners received an Earth Day T-shirt (donated by Bill and Betty Parham) and accepted an invitation for two to lunch at the Elks Lodge for ARC's annual meeting.
Thursday, April 22
Ada joins planet for Earth Day
First event occurred in 1970
By LEO KELLEY, Staff writer
When the first Earth Day was held 34 years ago (April 22, 1970) there were forecasts of doom and gloom for the world. About 20 million individuals attended rallies that day. Today, estimates of maybe a billion around the globe are expected to celebrate Earth Day 2004. Fortunately, the ecological outlook is much brighter now.
Earth Day 1970 provoked a torrent of apocalyptic predictions. Some of the world’s most esteemed scientists believed the Earth was doomed if drastic changes weren’t implemented immediately to prevent destruction of the planet.
Locally, the Ada area has made an impact on improving the environment. In 1965 (five years before Earth Day 1) the Robert S. Kerr Water Environmental Research Center opened.
And city and area schools have also provided Earth Day activities for students. Ada Recycling Coalition has been serving the community for 14 years.
Ada Mayor Darrell Nemecek has proclaimed today as “Earth Day in Ada” and an Earth Day Water Festival is scheduled at East Central University today. Activities continue throughout the day on the west lawn of the campus and concludes with presentations from 7-8 pm in Dorothy Summers Auditorium on the progress of the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer study and groundwater problems associated with the Tar Creek superfund site.
Harvard biologist George Wald estimated 34 years ago that “civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.”
More than three decades later, the world hasn’t come to an end. “If anything,” said Ronald Bailey, editor of Earth Report, “the planet’s ecological future has never looked so promising. The prophets of doom were not simply wrong, but spectacularly wrong.”
In 1970, Bailey said, many so-called experts predicted the “population explosion” would threaten the entire universe. While it’s true that far too many people remain poor and hungry--800 million are still malnourished and nearly 1.2 billion live on less than a dollar a day--the world has not seen mass starvation among its 6 billion inhabitants during the past three decades.
Since 1970, total fertility (the number of children a woman has over the course of her lifetime) has been dropping nearly everywhere on the planet, Bailey said. In fact, it has dropped from around six children per woman in the 1960s to 2.8 today.
“Pollution was the other big issue on Earth Day 1970,” Bailey said. “Smog choked many Americans cities and sludge coated the banks of many rivers... DDT, which had been implicated in the decline of various bird species, including the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon and the brown pelican, would be banned in the United States.”
So, has air pollution worsened? In a recent National Air Quality Trends report, the EPA--itself created three decades ago partly as a response to Earth Day celebrations--determined it to be quite the contrary.
“Since 1970, total U.S. population increased 29 percent, vehicle miles traveled increased 121 percent, and gross national product increased 104 percent,” the report said. “During that same period, notable reductions in air quality concentrations and emissions took place.”
Environmental leaders point to the shift from leaded to unleaded gasoline as just one policy that has greatly impacted air quality. While the doomsters predicted the world’s crude oil reserves would be depleted by 2000, experts now say that enough oil reserves exist to supply the planet for at least another 100 years.
“Indeed, one of the chief things to get happy about is that the doomsters were so wrong,” Bailey said. “Civilization didn’t collapse, hundreds of millions didn’t die in famines, pesticides didn’t cause epidemics of cancer, and the air and water didn’t get dirtier in the industrialized nations.”
While Earth Day 1970 (a day when even “hippies” called off their Vietnam War protest) spotlighted the need to protect our planet from ecological disaster, it has taken the work of many from around the planet to make a difference. Fortunately, the gloomy predictions did not occur. But, like Bailey and others say, the world must keep its guard up to assure it doesn’t occur in the future.
Wednesday, April 23
Mayor Proclaims "Earth Week"
Mayor Bob Fennell proclaims the week of April 21 thru April 25 as "Earth Day Week" in Ada and presents proclamation to Garmon Smith, Chair, at ARC's annual meeting today.
Wednesday, April 23
Essay Contest -- Winners Announced
To celebrate “Earth Day” this year, the Ada Recycling Coalition sponsored an essay contest for area high school students (9th thru 12th grade) and a $50 savings bond was awarded to the winners -- Beth Nevland (Latta) Kaylie Edwards (Ada) and Melissa Burden.
This year's theme was: “What one item would you add to the list of recyclables the City of Ada collects and why?”
Pictured is Beth Nevland and Melisa Burden with Betty Parham, one of the judges.
Mayor Proclaims Earth Day in Ada !
|  | | Proclamation Presentation | |
Mayor Amelda McCortney proclaimed April 22 as "Earth Day" in Ada at ARC's annual meeting:
WHEREAS, each year Americans generate more than 200 million tons of municipal solid waste; and WHEREAS, participating in Earth Day in Ada is one way citizens can help raise awareness about the need to reduce waste by reusing, recycling, and buying recycled products, and take pride in our city; and WHEREAS, community leaders need to spread the word about the excellent programs they have established, the growth of markets for recyclables, and the importance of buying recycled products; and WHEREAS, Ada citizens may take their recyclables to the City’s recycling centers at 326 East 12th Street or to the corner of 6th and Stockton and their used motor oil to 7th and Townsend:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, AMELDA MCCORTNEY, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF ADA, OKLAHOMA do hereby proclaim Thursday, April 22, 2002 to be “EARTH DAY” in the City of Ada, Oklahoma and encourage citizens to join together to “Protect Our Home, the Earth!” We have only one planet and we must work together to protect and sustain it.
Tuesday, April 16
"How Does Recycling Benefit My Community?"
|  | | 2002 Winning Essay Writers | |
ARC sponsored its first essay contest for area students and awarded three $100 savings bonds and six $50 savings bonds -- 57 essays were received.
The 1st place winners were: Tyson Shivers (Latta H.S.) Staci Souza (Byng Jr. High) and Andrew Duty (Latta 6th grade). The runners up were: Beth Nevland (Latta Jr. High) Flora Dennis (Byng H.S.) Ashley Anderson (Latta 6th grade) Miranda Ellis (Ada H.S.) Christopher Nguyen (Willard) and Danna Howry (Ada Jr. High).
Tuesday, April 16
Winning H.S. Essay by Tyson Shivers
“How Does Recycling Benefit My Community?”
Although recycling has not always played a major role in our society, it is increasingly becoming a part of the American way of life. Realizing that our resources will not last forever, we are learning to become more accountable for the conservation of these precious gifts. The city of Ada has been blessed with people who have had, and continue to have, the foresight to devote time, energies, and monies to recycling. With a recycling center open on 12th Street, our citizens are provided an avenue to do their share in a community-wide on going recycling project for many disposable products. Recycling participation is steadily growing, helping to preserve the beauty of our city. Latta, my school, received a recycling grant which serves a dual purpose: not only are our students recycling products such as cans, phone books and newspapers, but our younger students are now becoming aware at an early age of the importance and necessity of recycling throughout their lives. Two years ago, through my DECA chapter and the Ada Lions Club, I started an innovative recycling project for our community. I coordinated an activity where our school students would ask for used eyewear along with the usual candy while trick-or-treating on Halloween. During the first year, we collected more than 1,000 pairs of glasses. Last year, I helped the Lions Club expand this recycling program throughout our county schools and church youth groups. During this drive, my school alone collected more than 750 pairs. Six local optometrists cleaned the eyewear and determined the prescriptions. The eyeglasses have been delivered to people around the world who need them but cannot afford them. These optometrists have taken some of them on mission trips to countries such as Ecuador. The resulting success stories made me proud of the endeavors of our young people and other community members. The far-reaching effects of this recycling project have bonded many Ada citizens of various ages whom otherwise might not even have met. I have developed lasting friendships with many others who were involved in this project. The more traditional ways of recycling provided by the bins at the 12th Street recycling center have been very beneficial for our community in many ways. In addition to all the apparent benefits of recycling paper, glass and aluminum, hopefully there will be many other ways our community will be inspired to recycle, forging bonds of unity among our citizens. Ada does a great job of recycling and it's as evident when you drive down Main Street or Mississippi, as it is when you drive down our rural roads. We are a progressive and close-knit community, and I am certain we will continue to find ways to recycle that will help other communities as well as our own.
Tyson Shivers
Latta High School
Tuesday, April 16
12th Annual "Earth Day" Meeting
ARC held its 12th annual meeting at the Elks Lodge on April 16. There were 54 guests in attendance including the nine student essay winners.
Garmon Smith, Chair, gave an update on ARC's accomplishments over the year, and David Hendricks, Public Works Director, gave an update on the City of Ada's recycling progress (check back for minutes to be posted soon).
Guest speaker, Michael Patton, Executive Director, Tulsa Metropolitan Environmental Trust (M.E.T.) was incredibly informative and entertaining. "Recycling cannot be taught," Mr. Patton explained. "It has to be "caught."
Winning Jr. High Essay by Staci Souza
"How Does Recycling Benefit My Community?" While visiting my aunt and uncle in El Dorado, Kansas, I noticed that they had individual containers for the different materials that they recycle. I had heard of people doing this, but I had never actually seen it before. When I questioned her about all of the containers, she told me that the city had made recycling mandatory. El Dorado provided all of the town's occupants with orange bags for recycling and black bags for their other trash. While they could fill as many orange bags as they wanted, they were given a limit on the number of black bags that they could use. If they exceeded this limit, they would be fined. This made me think about my own home and the Ada community. The more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me of how beneficial recycling is.
Materials for recycling are disposed in different ways and places, and no money is expected in return. Paper, plastic and tin cans can be taken to recycling centers, such as the one on 12th Street in Ada. Bins are labeled for each one of these. Although Ada no longer has a glass plant, glass is accepted in other towns. Worn out tires can be left at tire shops where they can be sent off in bulk, made into rubber chips and used for road building. Some recycling methods pay money. For example, unwanted clothes can be sold through a consignment store of which Ada has several. Garage sales here are popular, too. Aluminum cans can be sold for a small profit to centers, such as the one on West Main in Ada. There are also unique ways that old household items can be recycled. Old bowling balls make contemporary vases for flower arrangements since the holes support stems easily. Also, an old console television set takes on a new meaning with an aquarium inserted where the boob tube was.
Even though many people are aware of ways recycling benefits the environment, so many still decide not to participate. One reason probably is because it is time consuming. We are so use to throwing everything into one trash can and dropping it at curbside to be collected by the garbage service. It is extremely difficult to "change our ways" whenever we have been doing things the same way all of our lives.
The facts favoring recycling are clear. In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means that each adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash for the next generation! This statistic is evidence that everyone can benefit from recycling. The availability of natural raw materials is decreasing, and they are more costly to use than recycled materials. If more people recycled, the demand for natural resources will slightly decrease; this will help control the prices of goods manufactured for the retail market.
Families can make money by recycling their old toys, clothes, appliances, etc. Communities can benefit from recycling, too. For example, five plastic bottles can make enough insulation to fill an adult ski jacket. Also, a recycled aluminum can can generate enough energy to run a television set for three hours. Recycling helps the community's economy, too, because it creates jobs. According to statistics, it takes one person to burn 10,000 tons of waste, six to dispose of it in a landfill, and 36 to recycle it. In this sense, it "pays" to recycle. Ada is a classic example of more employees being hired to manage the refuse to be recycled. Newspapers baled at the Ada Recycling Center eventually come back on the market as notebook paper, cereal boxes and even wrapping paper.
Even though recycling is basically an inconvenience, the benefits far outnumber the hassle. Oklahoma could easily adopt a recycling system similar to that of El Dorado. The environment there proves it works. The force of law can break old habits. If we all get involved now, we won't face the hardships that others have faced because of their lack of recycling; instead, we will reap the wonderful benefits that recycling has to offer!
Staci Souza
Byng Jr. High
Winning Elementary Essay -- Andrew Duty
"How Does Recycling Benefit My Community?" This essay will tell you about some of the benefits of recycling. There are several reasons why everyone should care enough about the environment and recycle.
One benefit of recycling is not having so much trash in our landfills. Our landfills are filling up quickly, and we have these huge mountains of trash. We dig giant holes in our earth, fill them completely full of trash and then keep piling it up until it is a mountain. Once a mountain is created from our trash, we dig up a new area. There are only so many places to bury trash. Not to mention the smell of the area around it and the pests. Pests like wild dogs, disease carrying rodents, and thousands of birds. Recycling keeps us from filling up those holes as fast. It saves the land from being torn up and stuffed with garbage.
Another benefit of recycling is not wasting our natural resources, like our forest areas. Students can help by doing simple things like using both sides of a sheet of notebook paper, and not wasting the notebook paper. Businesses should conserve paper too. Reports can be prepared and stored on computer disks instead of paper, plus they can recycle the computer paper that they do use. At home if we recycle things like our newspaper and if we don't over use paper products like paper plates and paper napkins, we won't have to cut down so many trees to make new paper products. All of this will help keep us from cutting down so many trees. This protects our natural resources for future generations.
One very important benefit of recycling things like motor oil and chemicals is that it keeps our lakes and rivers from being contaminated. We need to make sure we don't dump out used motor oil or throw away car batteries. These things can leak into our rivers and kill fish and everything else that uses that water to drink, even people. If a farmer uses that river to irrigate his crops, then the food he grew can be contaminated which could cause people to become very sick and cause birth defects in unborn children.
Everyone needs to recycle everything they can and be careful with our planet, it is the only one we have. People should care about our natural resources and care about the future generations. It is the right thing to do!
Andrew Duty
Latta 6th Grade
Sunday, April 22
Earth Day 2001
ARC hosts an annual meeting in April each year to celebrate Earth Day. Guests and City officials received Earth Day T-shirts. Our speaker in 2001 was Dr. Sarah Kimball of the OSU Cooperative Extension Service, Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Dr. Kimball was very informative about recycling, solid waste issues, the need for computer recycling and household hazardous waste collection events.
 | | Click here for information from Dr. Kimball |
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