See how DENR is doing a no budget rollout of its new Sustainability Policy by connecting it with an internal Earth Day Contest. Still continuing to hope that all of our good sustainability efforts will be increasingly recognized as real and permanent government efficiency.

Contest is for DENR employees only, but you can send me your successes to share on statewide sustainability website any day or post them to this list at: sustainablenc@lists.p2pays.org

EARTH DAY 2002

DENR SUSTAINABILITY CONTEST

Contest starts March 1, 2002

Last entries accepted April 12, 2002

Attention DENR employees: Learn more about the department's Sustainability Policy and Procedures to show your environmental commitment just in time for Earth Day, April 22, 2002.

To find out more, please view the DENR Sustainability Committee Web site at http://www.sustainablenc.org/DENR. Under "Quick Links," click on the Sustainability Contest link to read the new DENR Sustainability policy. Then, using the electronic contest entry form found on the contest page, enter the contest with a sustainability story or sustainability tip.

Three prizes will be awarded.

�        One prize will be for the best-judged sustainability story that prevents wastes and/or minimizes any negative environmental impact.

�        Another prize will be for the best-judged sustainability tip for preventing waste and/or minimizing any negative environmental impact.

�        And for a third prize, all contest entries will be entered into a general drawing.

Sustainability stories and tips will be used by DENR's Sustainability Liaisons Team for sustainability education, and to showcase ways that DENR employees are already involved with sustainability.

Sustainability is much more than recycling paper and cans. By incorporating sustainability in how things are done at the office and in the field, DENR employees not only prevent negative environmental impacts, but also save time and resources. DENR employees, using sustainable thinking in large and small ways, have the potential to save millions over the coming years.

� For example, the Museum of Natural Sciences recently changed the adhesive it uses to put program posters on core board. This allowed hundreds of dollars worth of core board to be reused again and again, instead of being land filled.

� In another example, the Division of Air Quality saved a $10,000 connection cost, and a monthly electric bill for one of its state air sampling stations, by spending just $300 for a solar panel, a boat battery, and a connector device. That single solar set-up saves a small amount of air pollution from power plants every year.

We need your sustainability related stories and sustainability tips, so enter the contest today, at http://www.sustainablenc.org/DENR.