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Revisiting the Green BINGO Board
Do you remember your environmental goals from January? Don’t worry, in this article, we will catch you up on the Green BINGO Board! We will address each row and give examples of some employees completing these initiatives.
The top row, Row G:
While the NIH Green Labs Program won’t begin until late fall, the rest of these initiatives are quite achievable now. If you participated in the NIH Freezer Challenge, you likely fulfilled the ‘update your inventory’ initiative, and most IC Sustainability Working Groups meet monthly (Green Team Leads Council and Sustainable Lab Practices Working Group meet every other month). There is still plenty of time to complete both initiatives. While you’re at it, feel free to submit a picture for Take Action!
|  Photo of Row G, Columns E1 and E2 – Lydia Lo, Environmental Compliance Branch (DEP/ORF) with a journal made of brown paper bags and scrap paper |
The next row, Row R:
The NIH Green Labs Fair typically happens in September, so that too is an unavailable initiative right now. But procuring an electronic from the PRDS or using the NIH Free Stuff service can be a breeze! Once again, if you participated in the Freezer Challenge or have had a ULT freezer preventative maintenance at some point within the past 6 months (as is required by NIH policy), then you can mark off that rightmost initiative as well.
|  Photo of Row R, Column N – Andrew Hogan, Molecular Neurogenetics Section (NHGRI) cleaning dust from the filter of the lab’s ULT freezer
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The middle row, Row E1:
Bingo! It’s possible to already have this entire row complete, if you participated in Bike to Work Day on May 17. If not, you can still participate in Car Free Day later this year to claim that tile. The Green Zone Newsletter subscription and sharing tiles can be done right now, and the composting and Energy Star purchase tiles can be completed any time.
|  Photo of Row E1, Column E2 – Dr. Fei Wang, Translational Research Branch (NIA) at the Building One NIH Pit Stop on Bike to Work Day
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The penultimate row, Row E2:
Bingo again! The NIH Earth Day Event was a smashing success, not only at Bethesda and RTP, but also including NCI Frederick, RML, and Bayview. We hope you were able to attend! While recycling a campus-unique material and shopping at a farmer’s market can be relatively straightforward, encouraging ‘powering down’ for a month and getting involved in the NIH Chemical Redistribution Program will take a little more forethought.
|  Photo of Row E2, Column R – Lucy Aistis, Sustainability Branch (DEP/ORF) handing out stickers at the Earth Day Bethesda Event
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The last row, Row N:
Triple Bingo! We hope you were able to participate in the NIH Freezer Challenge, open January 1st to May 31st this year. The results of the fierce competition will be out shortly. June is also the perfect time to start growing some plants and checking out the local thrift store for summer accessories. If you haven’t already, set a weekly reminder to recycle so that you can go about it more intentionally.
|  Photo of Row N, Column R – Dr. Alfred Johnson, Deputy Director for Management (OD) planting the commemorative tree at Earth Day
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Review the Green BINGO Board and make sure to mark off any initiatives you have completed after January 1, 2024. If you need clarifications on any tile, visit the
January 2024 article. Whomever submits their board with the most initiatives completed by November 1 will receive a reward, as well as a Spotlight article for the month of December. Good luck!
Are you able to
Take Action this month? We want to see!
Send us a picture of you carrying out one of these ideas, and we might feature it in a future article.
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The NIH Green Zone Newsletter is a publication intended to inform NIH staff about the Division of Environmental Protection and NIH Green Teams projects and initiatives. The text contained in this newsletter is not copyrighted and can be reprinted without permission. If you use portions of this newsletter in your own publication, we ask that you please credit the source. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Thank you.
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Division of Environmental Protection | Office of Research Facilities | Office of Management
National Institutes of Health | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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