The City of Turlock Municipal Services Department partnered with the Turlock Unified School District to celebrate its seventh annual Go Green Week this week, the City’s primary environmental education campaign.

The environment and a sustainable future are two of the most pressing issues amongst youth, and the Go Green Program helps students learn about conservation and pollution prevention strategies. The program consists of a host of recycling, composting, water conservation and waste reduction activities.

City staff, teachers, administrators, volunteers and students participate in tree plantings, school site visits from local business representatives, recycling contest and a TUSD-wide “Wear Green Day,” complete with sporty green awareness wristbands.

Over the years students from a host of schools have participated in storm drain stenciling, storm water pollution prevention activities and lady bug releases, learned about e-waste recycling and solar array systems, made a green float for the Christmas parade, toured wastewater treatment and recycling facilities, and enjoyed a host of other fun green adventures.

In conjunction with Go Green Week, Turlock’s bus service, BLAST, offers free rides for all passengers on all routes, all week long through March. 1.

In the past seven years the Go Green Program has helped to divert over 15,816 pounds of material from the landfill, plant 114 trees, and assist with fundraising efforts to raise nearly $6,000 for schools through recycling contests.

For tips on how to be green at home, at school, at work and in the yard visit http://www.cityofturlock.org/citydepartments/municipalservices/gogreen/.