Just as any new job would require, there was a huge ceremonial initiation. Complete with invisible crowns, my new boss all dressed up in her finest robes, a dull edged sword in hand and the words, “I, Christina Y. Salmon-Wassillie, now dub thee, Angel D. Alvarez, Environmental Intern!” And of course the crowd went wild!

OK, so maybe it didn’t happen quite like that…but I was still excited to start! On my first official day in the office, Christina took me around showing me what went where, explaining what was expected, where the broom and dust pan were kept to keep the office looking neat, and had me read over plans for the upcoming term. I enjoy the little office by the river; it’s quiet. My favorite thing about this job is that you don’t have to sit in an office all day. Christina always has somewhere for me to go and things for me to do.

For example, on Wednesdays I get to go around and gather recycle bins and sort the recyclables back at the office. On Tuesday, Tess and I worked our way through a huge pile of cans. We had to re-bag them so they would be ready to be shipped off to the Anchorage Recycling Center. It was disgusting; we had to sort through and take out all the trash from each bag. We suffered various unknown rotten items, slimy egg shells, nasty leftover chewing tobacco, and many other horrific items. (I will spare your precious minds of the awful details.)

I am looking forward to the potato picking, making flyers to inform the community of events such as Earth Hour, collecting labels, and learning more about ways I can help protect the environment. Not to mention working with my awesome new boss! This year is going to be great.

Here's the "Did You Know?" For the month:
Did you know: For every 1 ton of plastic that is recycled we save the equivalent of 2 people's energy use for 1 year, the amount of water used by 1 person in 2 month's time and almost 2000 pounds of oil?                         
(http://www.environment-green.com/)