Green is good, but so is yellow—especially if it comes in the form of lovely daffodils popping up all around our town. Last fall Mayor Menino and the City of Boston gave away 40,000 bulbs in the “Boston Blooms with Daffodils” program to individuals and organizations willing to plant them in public spaces around the city. West Roxbury Saves Energy secured several hundred; we passed along some to local schools for their grounds and planted others around town. Responsible for daffs in one of the photos below through the same Boston Blooms program was the Evening Garden Club of West Roxbury.

Today’s challenge is to identify where these yellow beauties are blooming—the first five people to correctly name all four locations will receive a free WRSE T-shirt! Just send your guesses to wrse@westroxburysavesenergy [David--pls make this a link]. We will post the winners’ names on our Web site, WestRoxburySavesEnergy.org, along with partner photos that divulge the locations clearly. There is at least one clue to each location in each photo, so look closely!

Have fun, and enjoy the spring daffs as they beautify West Roxbury in this month of Earth Day. Also remember that the annual Boston Shines cleanup days are April 27 and 28 this year, and we need the usual good turnout for West Roxbury, to clean up Centre Street and plant flowers again this year. Check the WRSE Web site for more details or call Chris Tracy of Neighborhood Services at  617-635-3485 to register.

Please also remember to join us on Earth Day, April 22, at West on Centre for a Solar Energy Workshop, where you can find out if your house is a good candidate for solar and also learn about solar energy rebates through the City’s Renew Boston program or sign up for a free home-energy assessment.

ANSWERS POSTED MAY 1; see paired answer photos below. No winners, unfortunately, but thanks to those who made guesses!

1: West Roxbury Education Complex

2: Jim Roche Community Ice Arena

3: West Roxbury Branch Library

4: Havey Beach

Bad things happen when plastic bags blow away, get left in our landfills for decades, and cause us to increase our dependency on oil. Please ask our legislators to ban plastic checkout bags now.

To read more—and to easily send an e-mail to Gov. Deval Patrick, Rep. Ed Coppinger, and Sen. Mike Rush now—go to this link: https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=8646.

Plastic bags are ugly and cause ugly repercussions, and we don’t need to use them. Take a reusable bag with you whenever you shop, not just for groceries.

Thank you, on behalf of our planet!

Visit this page on the blog called The Daily Green to learn about the latest in LEDs, CFLs, halogens, and hybrids. (Photo: The Daily Green)

The plastic bag outfit made its first appearance of 2012 this April for Earth Day. As always, we tried to encourage shoppers to think about using bags that are not plastic and bringing their own every time they shop—not just at Roche Bros., but at CVS or for toys or wherever we usually mindlessly take a new plastic or paper bag from the cashier in which to carry our items. This plastic bag outfit is pretty scary—it’s how many plastic bags the typical person uses every year. The outfit of bags, created and worn by WRSE member Karen Sauer, consists of 365 plastic bags and illustrates how even one person can make a difference to the environment by choosing to stop using plastic bags. Did you know that most plastic bags are made out of petroleum, only adding to our dependence on oil?

Some Not-So-Fun Facts about Plastic Bags

Only 2 percent of all plastic bags used in the United States get recycled

Plastic bags take from 500 to 1,000 years to break down in a landfill

The United States uses 100 billion plastic bags annually

Making those bags requires 12 million barrels of oil

Saturday, April 28
8:30 am to 2:00 pm

Join WRSE this Saturday morning to beautify West Roxbury by planting flowers on Centre Street as part of the 10th annual Boston Shines neighborhood cleanup. The City provides the flowers, but we need your helping hands. Meet us at the Hastings Street parking lot (the corner of Centre and Hastings) at 8:30 am on Saturday, April 28, to pick up gloves and tools (or bring your own), a free T-shirt, and flowers to plant. Please come out and bring family, friends, and colleagues to make this effort a great success again this year!

If you have any questions, contact us at wrse@westroxburysavesenergy.org. We hope to see many of you on Saturday!

This cleanup event is part of the Mayor’s year-round cleanup and community service program, Boston Shines 365.

Green is good, but so is yellow—especially if it comes in the form of lovely daffodils popping up all around our town. Last fall Mayor Menino and the City of Boston gave away 40,000 bulbs in the “Boston Blooms with Daffodils” program to individuals and organizations willing to plant them in public spaces around the city. West Roxbury Saves Energy secured several hundred; we passed along some to local schools for their grounds and planted others around town. Responsible for daffs in one of the photos below through the same Boston Blooms program was the Evening Garden Club of West Roxbury.

Today’s challenge is to identify where these yellow beauties are blooming—the first five people to correctly name all four locations will receive a free WRSE T-shirt! Just send your guesses to wrse@westroxburysavesenergy [David--pls make this a link]. We will post the winners’ names on our Web site, WestRoxburySavesEnergy.org, along with partner photos that divulge the locations clearly. There is at least one clue to each location in each photo, so look closely!

Have fun, and enjoy the spring daffs as they beautify West Roxbury in this month of Earth Day. Also remember that the annual Boston Shines cleanup days are April 27 and 28 this year, and we need the usual good turnout for West Roxbury, to clean up Centre Street and plant flowers again this year. Check the WRSE Web site for more details or call Chris Tracy of Neighborhood Services at  617-635-3485 to register.

Please also remember to join us on Earth Day, April 22, at West on Centre for a Solar Energy Workshop, where you can find out if your house is a good candidate for solar and also learn about solar energy rebates through the City’s Renew Boston program or sign up for a free home-energy assessment.

ANSWERS POSTED MAY 1; see paired answer photos below. No winners, unfortunately, but thanks to those who made guesses!

1: West Roxbury Education Complex

2: Jim Roche Community Ice Arena

3: West Roxbury Branch Library

4: Havey Beach

Sunday, April 22, 2012
4:30–5:30 pm
West on Centre, 1732 Centre Street, West Roxbury

Find out if your house is a good candidate for solar energy and learn how to obtain solar energy rebates offered to Boston residents through the city’s Renew Boston program.

Free and open to all

Submit your act of green on the act.earthday.org Web site and become a part of the movement to reach a billion acts of green this Earth Day! Do something for this planet, which does so much for you!

If you don’t have time to compost your yard waste and leaves this spring, let the City of Boston do it for you! Collection will be on your recycling day from April 30 through May 25.

Place leaves and other debris in large paper leaf bags or open barrels labeled “yard waste.” Do not use plastic bags! You can request “yard waste” stickers for barrels by calling 617-635-4500.

Tie branches with string, 3-foot maximum length and 1-inch maximum in diameter. Do not put branches in barrels.

Put your branches, barrels, and/or bags on the curb by 7 am on your recycling day. For more information, click here.

REMEMBER: Yard waste will not be collected during trash pickup for two weeks prior to the start of leaf collection, so hold on to your yard waste until the end of April/May for composting pickup.

Purchase BACKYARD COMPOST BINS and KITCHEN SCRAP BUCKETS at a discount:

Compost bin: $50
Kitchen bucket: $10

Boston Building Resources, 100 Terrace Street, Roxbury
Monday–Saturday, 10 am–3 pm

The City of Boston Public Works Department purchases the bins and buckets and sells them at a discounted price at Boston Building Resources. The kitchen scrap bucket has a handle and a lid and holds 7 liters. A clean and convenient way to collect food scraps for your compost bin!

For information on composting, click here.