GENERAL MOTORS COMPANY 2015-04-14
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The General Motors Corvette Plant will host roughly 90 kindergarteners from Briarwood Elementary on Wednesday, April 15 - one week ahead of Earth Day. The classes will be visiting the facility's Wildlife Habitat, participating in hands-on environmental activities.
Manufacturing Engineering Manager Ed Whitehead said, "Giving back to the community is a priority for Corvette Assembly. Our environmental team began brainstorming sessions a month ago to determine the best methods to teach key environmental lessons to five and six-year-olds. We're thrilled to help them understand simple things like recycling and the importance of planting trees and flowers. We know that, even at a young age, children learn crucial lessons from hands-on experiences outside the classroom. We're delighted to be a part of that."
During a show-and-tell session, Whitehead will share one of the most unique endeavors the plant is involved with - reusing excess adhesive from the Body Shop to create stalactites in artificial bat caves. These stalactites can help save bats from the fast-spreading White Nose Syndrome, a deadly fungus appearing on the muzzle and other parts of hibernating bats, which has killed more than 5.7 million bats to date in the United States and Canada. International bat experts from such non-governmental organizations as Bat Conservation International and the Organization for Bat Conservation are reviewing the application.
Whitehead will also be talking about and showing the plant's solar powered car charging station, solar trash compactors, and wind-powered lights.
He'll even talk about actions the children can take every day at home - turning off lights, using less water and recycling everything possible. Just last October, the plant once again achieved the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR® Challenge for Industry - cutting energy usage by 10% in five years or less. In fact, the Corvette Plant and Pontiac Stamping are the first GM plants in the world to meet the challenge three times.
Whitehead said, "We are serious here about conserving energy. It saves us money, and it's the right thing to do for the environment. It's not too early for these children to start practicing good energy usage habits at home and at school."
The kindergarteners will be planting sunflowers, coneflowers and trees, participating in leaf rubbing, and playing a recycling relay game to test their ability to segregate aluminum, paper and plastic products.
"We're going to teach them, but we're also going to have a lot of fun," Whitehead said.
The Corvette Plant opened its 75-acre Wildlife Habitat to the public in July 2011.
The habitat features 42,000 pounds of recycled shredded organic mats from the plant that provide soft and consistent ground cover for a picnic area. Screech owls and bats on the property also call recycled Chevrolet Volt battery covers their home. GM Global Waste Manager John Bradburn had the vision to convert the material into nesting boxes, and they have since popped up on the grounds of GM plants.
The habitat development has proven to be an asset to the surrounding community. School groups from all grades, boy scouts, girl scouts and other groups frequently use the site to plant flowers, build and install bird nesting boxes, earn badges and Eagle Scout awards and more.
"The Wildlife Habitat is a gift to our community," said Plant Manager Jeff Lamarche. "We want the community we work in to really experience our commitment to sustainability."
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world's largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4.8 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive & active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value.www.chevrolet.com
|
distributed by
|
