Go Green Workshop @ Cornelia Crenshaw Branch Library

Douglass High School physical science teacher Sandra Upchurch is bringing a group of her Earth-saving teens, dubbed the Watt Busters, to the Cornelia Crenshaw Branch Library, 531 Vance, on Saturday, July 17 at 2 p.m. to present Going Green at Home.

The program, intended for teens and adults, introduces simple ways to save energy and money. Most tips involve repurposing readily available items; for example, using a brick in the toilet tank to conserve water.

Upchurch is an industrial chemist by trade. However, she recounts an encounter with Green Peace, an organization dedicated to protecting the environment, for her conversion from creating chemical products to being a “protector of Mother Earth.” “I was working in a lab, and I didn’t even know what Green Peace was,” she recalls. That soon changed as Upchurch spoke to activists protesting outside the lab.

Now, as a teacher at Douglass, Upchurch trains students on energy conservation. The North Memphis school where she teaches participates in a Tennessee Valley Authority and Memphis, Light, Gas, and Water pilot called Green Schools. Students learn behavioral changes and are trained as energy auditors. Living up to the their Watt Buster name, Upchurch proudly reveals how students initiated a school-wide re-lamping (exchanging regular light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones) and other energy-conscious changes which resulted in a $75,000 cost-savings.

Upchurch hopes the Library workshop will motivate attendees to reconsider how their choices impact the environment, “Every time you flip a switch, you create a demand on the Earth.”

For more information on the program, call 525-1643.