Keep Atlanta Beautiful Stepping Lightly In Atlanta™ Awards Contest

Our ecological footprint tells us how much land and water we need to live. If it’s too big, it means there may not be enough to go around. That’s why it’s so important to step lightly -- for Atlanta and for our planet.

This Earth Day, kids from Metro Atlanta answered the call to think globally and act locally by participating in the 3rd annual Keep Atlanta Beautiful Stepping Lightly in Atlanta™ Awards Contest, showing us how they have reduced their ecological footprints where it matters to them most; in their homes, their schools and their communities.

May 1 through May 15, WSBTV.com visitors helped celebrate their vision for a greener Atlanta by voting for the most innovative projects from the selected finalists in the WSB-TV People’s Choice Award, hosted here on Going Green Georgia.

Voting has now ended, and Mrs. Kraften's 1st Grade Organic Garden -- Imagine Wesley International Academy was voted the winner! Congratulations to all of our selected finalists!

For more information on the contest, visit www.KeepAtlantaBeautiful.org.

Check out the videos below, to see the hard work of all the finalists. Thank you and Go Green!

Mrs. Kraften's 1st Grade Organic Garden -- Imagine Wesley International Academy

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Ari is a student in Mrs. Kraften’s 1st grade class and a participant in the Urban Organic Garden Project at Imagine Wesley International Academy. The project addressed the environmental issues of waste reduction, water conservation and agriculture and school gardens. The goals were to buy the least amount of materials possible and utilize found objects, things considered “trash,” and use retained rain water as our water source. The project started in Mrs. Kraften’s home and was then expanded to each of the 1st grade boys’ homes.

Each of the students helped clean up tire waste and wood around East Atlanta as well as caring and tending each of their own gardens. They contribute to the composting efforts weekly with vegetable and fruit trimmings, coffee grinds and egg shells. They also water their gardens with rain water collected in their own rain buckets.

The entire first grade class and their families participated in cleaning up tires and wood scraps in areas of Atlanta. Everything for the project was found or donated with the exception of organic potting soil.

VIDEO: Mrs. Kraften's 1st Grade Organic Garden -- Imagine Wesley International Academy

Marist Environmental Club -- Marist School

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The Marist Environmental Club is working for sustainability in the school and spreading their ideas through the community. The focus has been on a garden, The Green Cup Challenge to reduce energy use at the school, a recycling program and reusable lunch bags. The garden was designed by Marist mothers, overseen by Marist teachers, and built by Marist students so there is strong community support for the project. The school is redoing the cafeteria to make it more energy efficient and produce grown in the Marist garden will be sold in the cafeteria.

The Green Cup Challenge encourages participants to reduce energy costs in their schools. With over 30 schools participating, Marist environmental club publicized the competition throughout the school to encourage students there to conserve energy.

The recycling program at Marist reaches into every classroom and helps Marist save tons of paper and plastic products. Additionally, the club is reducing paper bag consumption by selling cloth bags with the Marist Environmental Club logo. Each bag sold is the equivalent of taking 10 cans out of a garbage dump and saving 180 paper bags per year. The club has sold 75 bags, or saved 13,500 paper bags.

VIDEO: Marist Environmental Club -- Marist School

Paper Recycling Program -- Alfretta Harper Elementary, Harper Explorers

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The idea for the program came when the school participated in Clayton County Public Schools first recycled Christmas tree competition in December of 2008. Interest in reusing everyday items grew when the school placed 2nd in the competition and students thought more on how to expand on the idea. They set a goal to begin a recycling drive and share what they learned with teachers and students. Their first task was to put recycling bins around the school for paper and the Explorers club made hand-painted paper recycling bins. Excitement mounted as they set up an entire week’s worth of Harper’s Goin’ Green” initiatives to raise awareness for the program. Activities included a phone book recycling drive where students and teachers recycled more than 500 telephone books, and educational tips and trivia televised through the schools morning news.

VIDEO: Paper Recycling Program -- Alfretta Harper Elementary, Harper Explorers

Water Conservation -- Fayetteville Intermediate School, Gifted and Talented Program

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Third, fourth and fifth grade students in the gifted and talented program at Fayetteville Intermediate School were very concerned with the on-going drought in Georgia and its implications on the state and our community, and wanted to know what they could do to help conserve water and share knowledge with their family and friends. The students decided they would invent a device to put in your toilet tank that would displace the water, thus conserving water with every flush. After testing several devices, the students decided a full water bottle would do the trick. They then partnered with their local Home Depot who supplied water bottles and toilets for demonstrations and allowed them to set up on a Saturday and pass out water bottles and valuable information to the community.

VIDEO: Water Conservation -- Fayetteville Intermediate School, Gifted and Talented Program