A notice went out in the Principal's Weekly last week inviting schools from all over the city to participate in the Green Cup Challenge, a national student-driven energy challenge. Please talk to your principal or interested teachers if you think they might enjoy having an energy scavenger hunt for four weeks in January with the goal of reducing the school's electricity use.

The Challenge also encourages students to submit a video. Take a look at last year's winning video here. Some suggested activities during the Green Cup Challenge month include having a waste-free day in the cafeteria, enforcing a school lights-off-at-night and turn-off-the-computer-after-hours policy, hosting an assembly about climate change, showing a documentary such as The Story of Stuff, or inviting a speaker.

Speaker, book, and film ideas are posted at EducatingTomorrow.org, the UFT's (Teacher's Union) green committee site. This is the first year that NYC public schools can participate in the Green Cup Challenge and the more schools that participate, the more fun the competition will be.

Interested schools can register online. An introductory meeting and training for interested schools will be held on Dec. 8 from 9-11 am at the Urban Academy School for Green Careers on West 84th Street in Manhattan. For more information or questions about signing your school up to participate in the green Cup Challenge contact Ozgem Ornektekin.

Last year 120 schools nationwide participated in the Green Cup Challenge and collectively reduced their carbon emissions by 2.5 million pounds, the equivalent of taking 220 cars off the road for a whole year. New York City schools can make a difference!