Carroll Park Climate Challenge

Purpose

The Carroll Park and Friends Climate Challenge is a neighborhood effort – started by your teenage neighbors - to minimize our personal impact on the environment, reduce our neighborhood carbon footprint, and engage in larger environmental and social justice issues.

Halloween II

Trashy Halloween Decoration Contest 2021

hosted by Elaine Tubinis

Contest Guidelines

This contest is for ONE Halloween decoration on your yard made from trash. Please display this ONE DECORATION along with any other Halloweeny items you use to decorate your yard (especially ones you use year after year.

  • Should be made from things you would otherwise throw away.

  • Examples: Used plastic bags, old clothes, bottles, milk jugs, styrofoam you reluctantly ended up with, straws, old shoes, boots, yard debris, beach trash, palm leaves,lids, coffee cups, stray wood.

  • Can’t buy new things, just old stuff

  • It is OK to paint, but not spray-paint

  • It is OK to use some store-bought elements that you have used in the past – just not new ones.

  • It’s OK to break the rules, just not too much.


Awards: Awards will be given at the Pumpkin Smash Concert on November 6th in categories such as Least Scary, Best Symbolism, Best Use of Plastic Bags, Silliest, Scariest, Swankiest, Sweetest…


Who Can Enter: All Carroll Park residents, their friends and family, people who walk their dogs here and people who like it here. If you don’t live IN Carroll Park, you can take a picture and text it to us at 562-852-6300.


Labelling: Please put a piece of cardboard in front of your creation.


  • Line One: Carroll Park Climate Challenge

  • Line Two: The Name of your Creation

  • Line Three: What it is Made Out of

  • Line Four: Your Name

Bring your former Jack-O’Lantern to our

Carroll Park Pumpkin Smashing Concert on

Saturday, November 6th

Also featured at the event: Music, Recycling Contest and Haul-Away of Pumpkins for Composting

The Winners from Last Year

Best of Show

Modern Mechanical Medusa

Amy Koplovsky

Most Lifelike

Skeleton from Plastic Bottles

Michael Lester

Most Elegant Use of Plastic

Very Tall Witch

Joe and Kim

Most Collaborative

Ghost of Mother Earth

Sharlyn, Autumn, Jason and Terri

Most Creative

Hanging Bat

Carol Wetterhahn


Most Wiggly Bobble-Head Gnome

My Head's on Fire

Terri and Jason


Most Scary Pumpkin

Pumpkin from Plastic Sheeting

Elaine Tubinish

Best Use of Recycled Materials

Wall-E

The Grosch Family

Waning Challenge

Drastic Plastic August and September

Hosted by Jackie DeJung


Jackie is hosting Drastic Plastic August to draw our attention to the worldwide plastic menace and help us curb our own plastic appetite. There are no points attached to these, because each challenge will be judged separately


(Jackie and Dr. Drastika Plastika are pictured here)


Challenge 1) Habit Reversal Challenge

The challenge is to give up ONE plastic-generating habit for one month. If, for example, you regularly buy Trader Joe’s lemonade in plastic bottles, make your own lemonade this month. At the end, let us know how much plastic you have avoided.

Challenge 2) Re- Instater Brothers Bags

Reuse your Re-inStater Brother Bag (we delivered it to your door in August) as many times as possible until the end of September. You then report how many times you used this single bag. Adorn as needed to tell it apart from other bags. (Note: Cherie Vela is in the lead on this one. You can catch up with her though, because she's on vacation).

Challenge 3) Egregious Packaging Photo Contest

Take a photo of an absurdly packaged item in a Long Beach grocery store or other retail establishment. Text your photo to Jack at 562-619-3598. Please include your full name, where you took the photo and, if you remember, the date you took the photo. You can win a beautiful hand crocheted item using plastic sourced from the homes of Carroll Park residents.

Challenge 4) Recycling Savvy Campaign and Contest

The city of Long Beach has recently changed its recycling guidelines. To see what they are, you can

(1) view the city's recycling guidelines at https://www.longbeach.gov/lbrecycles/

(2) check out the city's great yes/no recycling Instagram page.

(3) take a look at our knock-off yes/no page on this website.

(4) attend the city's virtual Recycle Right LB workshop on Saturday, October 9th. frp, 1-11. Register Now

(5) check out our lawn-based Yes/No Recycling displays with Dr. Drastika Plastica and her assistants Sven and Didi.

We are also making a short video of your neighbors and Dr. Plastika giving recycling tips.

Contest: At the November Pumpkin Smash, you will have a chance to compete in a timed Recycle-Off.

Winners of the Vegan Challenge and the Drastic Plastic Challenge will be announced at the Pumpkin Smash Concert on November 6th

Be Sure to Sign up for CPCC

That's how we know how to involve you in our neighborhood efforts.

How Does The Climate Challenge Work?

Climate Challenges will be issued by your neighbors (not just teens – this is inter-generational) on a rotating basis, starting with challenges related to single-use plastics. Challenges will be issued via:

  • Travelling Surfboards: You will first notice the challenge on a surfboard in your neighbor’s front yard. The surfboards will move from house to house, depending on who is putting up the challenge.

  • Our Website, e-Newsletter or Instagram page. You can learn more about the challenges on the website, e-newsletter and instagram page. You will also find suggestions for how to fulfill each challenge. When the challenge has concluded, you can view our collective impact, and hear about overachievers.

  • Report back on your progress through text or feedback form