Health & Wellness Programs
P.A.C.E.S.
A Program for Tracking Activity Choices & Eating Sensibly
Campus Rec’s Talkin’ Trash this Year!
Are you?
PACES Recycle Challenge!
How it Works
- P.A.C.E.S Recycle Challenge is an 8 week physical activity, nutrition and recycling challenge tracking program starting September 27th to November 19th, 2010. Participants can register as a single participant or as a pair of two participants.
- Participants monitor and record their
- Physical activity minutes
- Efforts to walk, bike ride, carpool or take transit to reduce emissions
- Vegetable and fruit intake
- Composting of vegetables and fruit
- Activity, Vegetable/fruit intake and Recycling efforts are recorded on an Activity Card loaded with carrots
, sneakers 
and recycling icons 
.
- Each pair of sneakers
is equal to 30 minutes of activity. For every 30 minutes of activity performed, participants can cross off a pair of sneakers on their card.
- Each pair of carrots
is equal to 1 serving of fruits and/or vegetables. For every serving of fruit and/or vegetable consumed, one pair of carrots can be crossed off.
- Each Recycling Icon
is equal to
- One fruit or vegetable peel or scrap composted
- Or one effort to reduce emissions including walking, bike riding, carpooling or taking transit instead of driving to any destination.
For each composting or emission reduction effort completed, one recycling icon can be crossed off.
- The Activity card is worth almost 10 hours of activity, over 50 servings of fruit & vegetables and several efforts to either compost or reduce emissions
- Once all sneakers, carrots and recycling icons are crossed off, the activity card is complete and can then be submitted and entered into the Recycling Challenge Draw box located in the gym front lobby, building 190.
- Individuals and/or pairs can complete as many activity cards as they are able too during the 8 week program. Each completed card by a single participant will receive two ballots into the entry draw box. Each completed card by a pair of participants will also receive two ballots into the entry draw box (one ballot per person).
- Draw Dates: October 20th & November 17. Winners will be contacted by email or phone.
- What Can You Win?
Prizes-tons of great prizes!
- How Do You Obtain the Activity Cards?
Activity cards will be emailed to registered participants only to save paper. They can also be downloaded by clicking the Acitivty Card link!
- How Do You Register?
Register your name and email address at the Gym front desk and you are good to go!
- What does this program cost?
Your personal commitment to a healthier lifestyle and environment.
- Need More Information?
Contact Karen Alden at Karen.Alden@viu.ca or phone 740.6429
How Does Composting Help the Environment?
How to Build a Compost at Your Home
Things You Will Need:
- Spading fork
- Green material (i.e. grass clippings)
- Brown material (i.e. dry leaves)
- Shovel
- Hose
******************************************************************************
Step 1
Choose a site that is handy to your garden and kitchen, yet out of plain sight.
Step 2
You will need a compost bin, a container or structure in which to build your compost pile. Compost bins can be homemade from chicken wire, wood, bricks, or plastic. You can also buy compost bins, often at low costs through municipal recycling programs. Be sure the bin that you make or buy has ventilation holes in the sides, so your pile gets the air it needs to decompose.
Step 3
You can also buy a more permanent bin or build a three-bin compost system made from slatted wood or recycled pallets. Leave the bins open on one side so you can add compost materials and turn the pile easily. Cover the top of the bins with a sheet of plywood if you live in a very rainy climate. A three-bin system allows you to turn the compost from one bin to another and store finished compost until you are ready to use it.
Step 4
To start your pile, put alternate layers of browns (carbon-rich materials) and greens (nitrogen-rich materials) into your compost bin. Brown materials can be dead leaves, straw, sawdust, and wood chips. Green materials include grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps and clippings from your garden.
Do not add animal waste, meats, oils, dairy, diseased plants, weeds that have gone to seed, or plants treated with pesticides or herbicides to your compost.
Step 5
Compost piles with a balance of one part green to two part brown materials break down fastest. The easiest way to achieve this balance is to add one garden forkful of green material to the pile, top it with two forkfuls of brown material, and mix them together. Continue adding greens and browns until the pile is at least 3 cubic feet (3 ft. x 3 ft. x 3 ft.). Piles of this size heat up quickly and break down faster.
Step 6
Add in a shovelful of finished compost or garden soil to help kick start the microbial activity in your pile.
Step 7
Compost also needs the correct amount of moisture to breakdown. Compost with the right moisture level should feel like a damp, wrung-out sponge. Too much moisture can cause temperatures to fall within the pile (and make it smell). Too little moisture slows down the decomposition rate and keeps the pile from heating up. Check your compost pile's moisture level once a week and adjust it if necessary by adding water to increase moisture or more browns to help dry the pile out.
Step 8
Turn the pile once a week to move material from the outside of the pile in. Turning also keeps the pile from compacting, which reduces airflow and slows down decomposition.
Step 9
You should have finished compost in about two months. You'll know your compost is finished when it no longer heats up and you can't identify any of the original materials. The compost should be dark brown, moist and earthy smelling. Dig finished compost into your garden's soil. You can use partially composted material as mulch. If you shred materials before adding them to the pile, they will break down faster. Most compost piles will turn to finished compost in three to six months. When your compost is black and earthy-smelling, with a soft, crumbly texture, it’s ready to use.
Step 10
You can also build a very basic, passive compost system by simply piling up leaves, grass clippings and other yard waste into a pile in a secluded corner of your yard. The compost will be ready when the original ingredients are unrecognizable, usually in about 6 to 12 months. Compost at the bottom and middle of the pile typically "finishes" first.
Tips & Warnings
- Healthy compost smells pleasantly earthy - turn it more often and add more dry brown matter if yours smells funky.
- Use liquid compost starters - called inoculants - if you have no healthy soil to add at first.
- Water your compost pile only during extended dry weather, and then only enough to moisten it, not drench the contents.
- Many excellent compost systems of varying sizes are available at different price levels.
- Do not compost animal waste, meats, oils, diseased plants or plants treated with weed killers.
(http://www.ehow.com/how_3541_begin-compost-pile.html)
What Else Can be Composted?
More than you think…
Still more…
Still more…
There’s still more…
Join us on Facebook! Always be in the loop with Campus Rec.