Eli Gardenswartz is a first-grader at a West Los Angeles elementary school which is very environmentally conscious, and spends considerable time and effort educating its students about how to lessen their carbon footprint going so far as to use their two field trips to explore recycling and composting. The first trip took the first graders to the Santa Monica Recycling Center the second was to reDiscover, a craft workshop using only recycled materials.
In addition to daily lessons about reading, writing and ‘rithmatic, Eli learned about the benefits of composting and it became his passion, insisting his family create a compost at their home and to his efforts get the parks he frequents in West Los Angeles and Santa Monica to add recycling and composting to their garbage collection. So frustrated was he by the squandered recycling and composting opportunities that he created a petition to lobby public officials to add recycling and compost bins to parks around the city, starting with his two favorites – Douglas Park and Aiden’s Place. Everyone in his class signed the petition and now, with the help of his parents, he is garnering signatures from friends and neighbors outside of school.
“We realize that this is a largely symbolic effort by a very young citizen; however, we also feel that it is a legitimate concern that more people should be passionate about, beyond one little boy and his class,†said Eli’s proud mother, Dr. Cara Gardenswartz.
As part of the Gardenswartz Family’s efforts to fulfill Eli’s dream and help our planet, the family made a charming video in which Eli makes his case.
To see the video: http://youtu.be/qZLzxg0z7kU
For more information: elispetition@gmail.com
