By Ingrid Chang
The Environmental Club is attempting to raise awareness about conserving energy through a series of projects, most recently by putting signs near light switches and computers saying “Turn me off!” and sponsoring a beach cleanup on Dec. 7.
The light switches idea, conceived by Julie Barzilay â09 and Sal Greenberger â09, was carried out by members of the Environmental Club, who took the signs with them and posted them in their classrooms.
“Having the lights on is something we take for granted, because if we turn all the lights off, we still have enough light through the windows,” Barzilay said. “Even if you just turn it off for five minutes it saves so much energy.”
The signs seem to have been taking effect, with many people noticing and teachers commenting on them.
“I think it just puts the environment on peopleâs radars even if theyâre not doing anything yet,” Barzilay said. “If theyâre seeing it every day, they think about it when they go home and they turn off the lights.”
The club is working on getting rid of Styrofoam in the cafeteria and ordering reusable water bottles for students, which some sports teams have already adopted.
They are planning an environmental education day in the 10th grade Choices and Challenges course, working with the Prefect Council to possibly make semiformal a green event, organizing a beach cleanup on Dec. 7 and will be holding a drive for recycling batteries, cell phones, ink cartridges, and contests involving environmentally related questions and prizes. They have also joined the Green School Alliance, which focuses on reducing schoolsâ carbon footprints.
“We just want people to be aware and know how to be environmentally responsible people,” Barzilay said.
The motivations of the Environmental Club for the year revolve around the conservation of natural resources.
“The earth is running out of many of the resources to create energy, so we need to save the energy that we have,” Barzilay said.
