Four Youth programs focus on the visual arts, environmental science, and engineering. This is a class at Thomas Edison Charter School in using found objects to make a mural. Courtesy of Four Youth

Four Youth takes long-term ‘quality over quantity’ approach to helping kids achieve

Ken MammarellaEducation, Headlines

WILMINGTON — Four Youth is committed to its long-term mission. “There’s this metric in which [organizations offering grants] ask you how many kids you serve,” said co-founder Theresa Emmett. “But for us, it’s more about quality over quantity” and about serving students over an extended period. RELATED Brandywine Village promotes itself with new welcome center “For instance, I’ve been at …

compost guys

Community composting facility starting in Brandywine Hundred

Ken MammarellaCulture, Headlines

Plastic Free Delaware, a group that formed a decade ago to get rid of environmentally unfriendly single-use bags, is now tackling something that forms a quarter of municipal waste: Food scraps. It is creating its first community composting facility in Talley Day Park, behind the Brandywine Hundred Library, and prominently located right across a parking area from the playground. The …

Bills passed Tuesday would offer rebates for electric vehicles and require some school buses to be electric, too. (Unsplash photo by Cchuttersnap)

Senate passes 5 environment bills, budget

Sam HautHeadlines, Government

On Tuesday, the Senate passed with five bills that relate to the environment, with Republicans offering some resistance, and a budget that had less opposition. House Bill 99, sponsored by Rep. Debra Heffernan, D-Brandywine Hundred South, would require that Delaware meet certain emission reduction requirements, getting to zero net emissions by 2050, and create climate change officers within all nine …

Recycle your Christmas tree at any of Delaware's 25 yard waste sites.

How to recycle your Christmas tree into rich soil

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Culture

Stay in the holiday spirit this last week of 2022 and help conserve and improve Delaware’s soil by recycling your Christmas tree.  The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is asking First Staters to give their real trees to a yard waste recycling site rather than dumping them off in landfills.  According to DNREC, 176,000 tons of grass, …

Caesar Rodney students planting as part of their environmental studies. (Courtesy of Caesar Rodney School District Facebook).

Caesar Rodney gets $227,000 for environment education, projects

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Caesar Rodney School District is the only district in the country to be awarded a grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation for habitat restoration and education. The district will use that $227,000 to continue to restore underutilized space on 14 public school campuses within the district.  To do that, it will revitalize the EcoTeam Volunteer Corps, use traditional …

BIOGAS

Sussex biogas facility expansion subject of upcoming workshop

Charles MegginsonBusiness, Headlines

Delaware’s environmental control agency will hold a virtual community workshop on Sept. 28 to discuss a proposal to expand a Seaford biogas facility. Biogas is a renewable fuel produced by the breakdown of organic matter, such as animal manure. The result is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. Bioenergy Devco, the company that …

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Delaware to spend $18 million on EV chargers

Charles MegginsonGovernment, Headlines

Delaware’s transportation department will use federal infrastructure funds to install multi-car electric vehicle chargers along major travel routes throughout the state. The move comes as part of a national effort to increase access to electric vehicle charging stations, thereby making electric vehicles a more reliable means of transportation. Delaware Department of Transportation secretary Nicole Majeski said installing charging stations in …

Plastic bags from DNREC facebook page

Attention shoppers: No more plastic bags as of July 1

Ken MammarellaGovernment, Headlines

“Bags, wallet, keys and phone” are some new lyrics suggested for the old children’s exercise song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” as Delaware moves to a plastic bags ban. The new words come from some creative folks at the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to promote a broader and deeper ban on plastic bags that starts Friday, …

Emissions

Carbon emissions goals released from Senate committee

Charles MegginsonGovernment, Headlines

A controversial bill setting Delaware’s goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions was released from the Senate Environment and Energy Committee Wednesday and will advance to the Senate floor for a vote.  Senate Bill 305, the Delaware Climate Change Solutions Act, would require Delaware to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% before 2030 and by 90% before 2050.  Opponents said the …

Bag

Total plastic bag ban begins July 1

Charles MegginsonGovernment, Headlines

Do you use reusable grocery store bags? Beginning July 1, you’ll have to choose between reusable and paper — and there won’t be any other options. Under Delaware’s 2019 plastic bag ban, stores were allowed to use the thicker 2.25 millimeter-thick plastic film bags, which were considered reusable under the law. Last June, the General Assembly enhanced the state’s plastic …