Happy Earth Week!
The entire school met for an all-school assembly this morning during which the leaders of the Green Initiative Club, Inara Junkala ('20), Brianna Handford ('20) , and Audrey Brown ('19) introduced this year's Earth Week theme and activities that will go along with it. This year's theme is "Save the Endangered Species." Mr. Findler, the Green Initiative Club's faculty advisor, explored this theme as he spoke to the students about the importance of recycling.
"Every piece of plastic that has ever been created is still in existence today," Mr. Findler explained. "All of the ziplock baggies, all of the tupperware, every plastic bin and plastic toy, every straw that’s ever existed is still with us, somewhere here on Earth. Because that’s what plastic was designed to do. It was created to resist decomposition. And because of that, we need to do our best to stop using plastic."
Reducing our use of plastic and other pollutants is especially important when it comes to our earth. In just the last 40 years, more than half of the world’s wildlife is gone. In the same amount of time, the world population has doubled to reach 7.5 billion people.
After Mr. Findler spoke, a Spartan and Athenian from each grade joined together for the recycle relay race. Each participant ran faster than the next, trying to beat their rival to recycle. (check out our Facebook page for the video!)
We are excited for a great week! The activities include:
- Lower School students reading books, writing poetry, and working on Earth Week projects in the Makerspaces
- Middle School students working in Advisory to establish measurable goals to reduce the impact on the environmental footprint for the week and tally results.
- A "Lights Out" Day on Tuesday- each classroom to have lights turned off for as much of the school day as is possible
- Middle School and Upper School students viewing and discussing different documentaries highlighting this year's theme
- Upper School Earth Week workshops offered by faculty
- A special guest speaker and Wakefield parent, Quyen Vu, will discuss the issues of illegal global wildlife trafficking in pursuit of some well-known species groups like rhino horn/ivory, tiger bone, turtles, bear bile and pangolins to the Lower and Middle Schools
To finish the week, the Green Initiative Club invites you to join in the All-School Campus Beautification Project this Saturday from 9:30am - 12:30am. Check your Friday Flash for more details!