Oceanside and Island Park contributed to recycling and reuse efforts, helping to reduce their carbon footprints and raise environmental awareness.
South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside initiated a new program called Project Green, which is headed by the Green Team, a group of the hospital’s department heads. As part of the program, the hospital switched to using a purified water system instead of bottled water, and in doing so saved money and plastic. Also, more materials from all parts of the hospital are being recycled than ever before. And the hospital is looking into using more environmentally-friendly cleaning products. The hospital administration views going green as an extension of their mission to provide health care to everyone, by keeping the planet healthy.
Students at Oceanside Middle School celebrated Halloween this year by wrapping themselves in environmentally friendly costumes fashioned out of newspaper as part of the school's initiative to go green.
Throughout the year the school has added recycling bins -- like for halloween costumes -- and it currently has recycling stations on every floor for aluminum cans and plastic bottles. There is a used cell phone collection bin in the lobby. Even the lunchroom is on board, collecting juice boxes and aluminum can tabs.
The school has teamed up with Save the Earth Foundation, a non-profit group focused on environmental awareness, for nearly two years as part of the group's pilot school program.
New students got their first taste of the program in October when the school powered down for a day by turning off its electricity. No laptops booted up and the PA system went silent, with security officers walking down the halls and ringing bells to signal the end of a class period.
And the Town of Hempstead itself also jumped onto the “going green” bandwagon by purchasing a solar-powered house that is Long Island’s first completely solar-powered office building. And, with help from the Island Park-based solar power company EmPower, the town is planning to construct Long Island’s first hydrogen fueling station at the Lido Beach preserve-- in what is becoming the town’s “Energy Park.”
