Earth Day is Every Day
Free Fun Books introduce sustainability in the classroom.
Earth Day, April 22, is celebrated worldwide to show support for our environment and inspire conservation efforts. First introduced in 1970 by Wisconsin's own Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day is a time to teach, learn and demonstrate ways we can work together to protect our environment. Senator Nelson passed away in 2005; however, his legacy of environmental stewardship remains today.
Earth Day in schools
MGE has long-standing partnerships with Madison-area schools to promote environmental conservation and energy education to students. For more than ten years, our campaign—Earth Day, Every Day—has provided teachers with a resource to introduce sustainability concepts in the classroom.
Annually, we publish free classroom Fun Books geared toward fourth through eighth graders. With the books, students can learn about water and energy conservation, electric vehicles, and climate change, among other topics. The books also share information about how reducing our individual energy use can reduce our collective impact on the environment. Reducing our energy use is part of MGE's long-term strategy under our Energy 2030 framework for helping to lower our carbon dioxide emissions 40% from 2005 levels by 2030. The books are coupled with interactive, online activities available on mge.com to expand learning. Teachers can order the Fun Books now through March 16 for delivery during the week of April 3, 2018.
Free classroom party
MGE encourages students to further celebrate Earth Day by participating in a video contest. Winning videos are awarded up to $500 to use toward a classroom party. To participate, students are asked to illustrate a source of renewable energy or conservation idea using sidewalk chalk provided by MGE. They then submit a video showing their illustration and communicating their commitment to the earth and their wise use of energy for its future. New this year, we have created sample scripts to help students get inspired! The deadline for video submission is May 1, 2018.
published: Mar-02-2018