Some scientists believe that only 12 years are left until climate change is irreversible, so Garfield students formed the Green Team to improve our school’s carbon emissions. Sophomore Xintong He, club co-president, and Senior Emile Robinson, a club officer, shared their successes and plans for the Green Team.
“Green Team is environmental-education based and we focus on teaching environmental awareness and sustainability by providing unique ways to learn about environmental sustainability,”Robinson said. For the club, environmental-education looks like organizing waste audits to quantify the waste the school produces, presentations on how native wildlife benefits our ecosystem, and hands-on activities like making seed bombs, but that’s not all. “We’re mainly focusing on compost right now,” He said, “what I’ve seen in the compost made me want to take action, especially in classrooms. [Students] usually just throw away food and stuff in the recycling and garbage bins, which [isn’t] really correct.” This year, the club aims to take action against waste by establishing compost policies in Garfield, involving school-wide compost bins: compost being a large waste factor.
Sustainability is what drove He to take on the leadership role. “I wanted to be a Green Team officer because I was interested in environmental justice and I was involved with other climate change groups outside of school…I kinda wanted [to] take a look at sustainability.” He encourages everyone–including students–to lead action against climate change. “People can strive for systemic change by going to protests, sit-ins, [and] lobbying with legislators to help make more climate friendly policies,” she suggested.
Both He and Robinson commented on the successful turnout the team has seen this year compared to years previous. “It’s really fun to see how many people are interested in environmental sustainability and how willing people are to participate in the activities we present. That’s exciting to witness as an officer,” Robinson said. “This amount of [members] means we’re kind of influencing people, or at least getting people to kind of care about the environment and stuff like that,” He elaborated. The club is growing exponentially, and remains tight-knight and optimistic.
You too can help create a cleaner Garfield; the Garfield Green Team meets on Monday lunches in room 235 and advertise free doughnuts.