Flickr slideshow!

If you can put your pictures on Flickr, and add them to the Earth Day Groceries Project Group, they'll appear in this slideshow:

Award Certificate Ready

The award certificate for 2009 is now ready - so sorry for the delay. It's also available as a pdf file: http://www.earthdaybags.org/awards/

Facebook Group, Wiki launched!

Yes, that's right! If you are on Facebook, please consider joining the brand new Facebook Group for the Earthday Groceries Project! Add pictures, videos, join in on and start your own discussions, etc, etc.

There is also a brand new wiki, at earthdaybags.wikispaces.com, where you can do much the same thing, and add contact info - you don't have to be a member there.

If you have more ideas on how to expand/update the project, please leave a comment here. Thanks! - Mark

Earth Day 2009 - changes ahead...

Reports are starting to come in for the effort in 2009! There are some changes to the web site that visitors and participants should be aware of:

• Reports submitted for the 2009 effort will be combined with 2008 reports. I'll have all the report pages renamed to read "2008-09" by the end of the week, hopefully.
• Pictures will not be put up on the project web site any more. Participants are encouraged to upload their pictures to their school/organization web site - or a photo sharing site like Flickr, and then email in a link to those pictures. Those links will then be added to the pictures page.

I know this may be a disappointment to some, but these decisions were based on time and money - the lack of both. My apologies - Mark

Pictures - it's over

Wow! An amazing 197 schools sent in pictures of their efforts on the Earth Day Groceries Project in 2008. And 35 0f them were from Romania - go figure... If anybody knows what happened in Romania to cause this big spike, please let me know.

Anyway, all pictures sent in have been placed on new web pages. We'll probably top 200 school submissions by the end of May, a record by a long shot.

Unfortunately, The Earth Day Groceries Project will not be able to host pictures for schools from now on. We will certainly add links to other web pages and collections with pictures, but...

The issue is time. It takes an average of 10 minutes to convert and archive an email with picture attachments into a web page for a school. For 200 web pages, that's a lot of minutes - and way too many hours to add to my teaching life, even if I got paid for it :) Many thanks to all the teachers and group leaders who have sent in their pictures over the years - they are incredible! They will always remain on the website as testimony to the comittment of millions of schoolchildren to saving our Earth.


I'll close this chapter in the project by sharing the very first picture from another school ever sent in to the web site. From 1996, Royston Elementary in Royston, BC, Canada - thanks, Kelsey!


tags: earthday earthdaybags

What it means

Ever wonder what people think when they get home and start taking their groceries out of an Earth Day grocery bag? Here's a report just in from Kristina Villena at Sunset Hills Elementary in San Diego, California:

The day after Earth Day, we got a letter from a member of the community who had received one of our bags.

"My husband came home from Stater Brothers that day with his groceries in some of the most beautiful bags I've ever seen. Each grocery bag was a one of a kind masterpiece, evidently created with incredible love for our planet and others. I only know the names of a few of the artists but I wanted them to know how their gifts to our family (and the Earth!) impacted us. I was overwhelmed with such happiness when I first saw them that I nearly cried in joy!"

Thanks for such a great project!

Reports and PIctures - update 4/23/08

It's the day after Earth Day, and the response to this project this year is fantastic! Reports are coming in steadily, in extremely high numbers. Pictures, on the other hand, are coming in in record numbers!

Here's when to expect pictures and reports to appear on the web site:

• Reports will appear on the site withing 24 hours.
• Pictures currently have a 4 or 5 day delay. I'm sorry for this, but right now there are pictures from 75 schools waiting to be put up on the site. Given that it takes about 10 minutes to create each page for a school, well, the math says it'll happen on the weekend.

So, project participants, my apologies for the delay - but thanks for taking the time to fill out a report and send in those pictures! Keep them coming! - Mark

Contribute video!

The time has certainly come to include video of Earth Day Groceries Project activities. If you have one, upload it to a place like YouTube or TeacherTube - and then let us know its location. We'll put it on its own page, in the Pictures section of the site.

Here's the first video on the site, from Arbor Heights Elementary in Seattle. It's only about 2 minutes, and pretty basic, but hopefully you will get a sense of the excitement:



It's also on YouTube Here's a page with a little more info.

Live event - Earthcast 2008 - join in!

On Earthday, April 22nd, there will be a 24 hour webcast about the health of our planet, planned and implemented by educators. I'm very honored to be participating as an invited guest, talking about The Earth Day Groceries Project. I hope other project participants will join in the conversation!

The event is called Earthcast 2008, and it will be broadcast/shared in a variety of ways for 24 hours. Be sure to tune in and participate, if you want, on Earthday. It begins at 12:00 AM GMT on Earthday. (that's 9 PM April 21 on the East Coast of the US, 6 PM on the West Coast, etc)

I'll be there on April 21st, from 6 to 7 PM, West Coast time.

Desktop Wallpaper for 2008!

There is now some new beautiful desktop wallpaper available on the project website. For the fourth consecutive year, we are pleased and proud to offer the wonderful photographs of expert birder Marv Breece.

Head to Get Started, and select Desktop Wallpaper. There are 8 new pictures for 2008, bringing the total wallpaper choices to 88! So take a couple of moments to dress up your computer with beautiful images of the Birds of Washington.

You'll be reminded that Earth Day is indeed every day! Thanks, Marv!

Pictures are coming in!

Pictures from the 2008 Earth Day Groceries Project effort are now starting to go up on the website. Please remember to check these guidelines before sending them in. Thanks! - Mark

Participation Certificates are ready!

When you submit a report to the Earth Day Groceries Project, you end up on a page with printable participation certificates. As of April 9, the certificates for 2008 are finally ready.

You might want to bookmark the page. Here's a sample. There are variations, so check out the options: www.earthdaybags.org/awards

Ready for reports for 2008!

Yes, the Earth Day Groceries Project website is now ready to take your reports for 2008!

Head to Send in Your Report, and let the world know how the project went in your community!

Sponsor the Project!

For several years, corporate sponsors paid for the maintenance and operation of The Earth Day Groceries Project website. Currently it costs over $2,000 per year. That does not count for my time running the site - that has always been as a volunteer.

But times change, and corporate money is harder to come by, so I'm asking individuals to lend a hand. I've set up a secure site where people can contribute any amount to keep The Earth Day Groceries Project running.

Any sponsors will receive a tax deductible receipt, and their names will appear on our Sponsors page.

Thanks - Mark

Getting Ready for 2008!

Yes, the Earth Day Groceries Project is on again in 2008! Every year about this time I end up being amazed - and jolted into action - by email queries from people wondering if the Project is still going - next year. You bet it is.

2008 will mark the fifteenth year this activity has been coordinated on the Internet!

A quick way to get started is to go right to the Four Simple Steps page, and start making plans for April 22, 2008.

If you don't see references to 2008 as you look through the website, know that I'm getting there. In the meantime, I'll note updates to the website, right here in this blog. So encourage those who might be interested in participating to subscribe to the rss feed for this blog. And leave questions via comments here, of course.

More coming soon,
Mark Ahlness
project founder and third grade teacher

More still coming in

Two weeks after Earth Day, pictures and reports are still coming in to the Earth Day Groceries Project. I just received a couple of pictures from Discovery School in Cuernavaca, Mexico. This school has participated in the project for several years. Many thanks to Diana Ramos, the principal there. Here is an incredibly beautiful display of some of their artwork.

All caught up (for now)

Pictures and reports submitted to The Earth Day Groceries Project as of Sunday, April 29, are now all caught up. There will be lots more coming in over the next few weeks, so keep checking back on the Reports and Pictures pages for what everybody has been up to. And it's never too late to send in information for your school or organization, because, as we all know, Earth Day is every day! Thanks to all!

Here's one of the hundreds of stunning pictures, just sent in from Pierre Elliott Traudeau Elementary Schoolin Vaudreuil-Dorion, Qc, Canada

Behind on pics, but getting there....

There have been so many pictures sent in this year, there is a bit of a back up... All pictures sent in before Tuesday, April 24 have been posted, at http://www.earthdaybags.org/pictures.htm

I'll catch up on all pictures this weekend. While much of the web site is automated, every report must be approved (and edited, if necessary) one at a time. Each picture page for a school is created manually, and every picture sent in must be resized manually as well.

Thanks so much for your patience, and thanks for taking the time to report in, with words and pictures! - Mark

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day 2007, Burien, WA - 1
Originally uploaded by mahlness.

Just a quick post on Earth Day. Yesterday I was in nearby Burien, Washington, and decided to stop into a grocery store, just to see. I never shop there, don't know anything about the store or its surrounding community...

Hanging above the checkstand area of this Albertsons were dozens of Earth Day Grocery Bags and globes. How cool. Made me wonder how many thousands (hopefully) of other stores will be passing them out, with their beautiful kid messages and artwork.

It is that wondering, coupled with hope, that keeps all of us leaning forward, I think. Happy Earth Day!

Pictures are coming in!

Wow! Pictures are coming in already. A few are listed on the project pictures page. Here's one from Falcon Cove Middle School in Weston, FL Simply amazing art!

Check here if you're not sure how to get your pictures in.