Loading ...To celebrate Earth Week, the Palo Alto High School Environmental Initiative will be offering opportunities for students to learn about various environmental issues during lunch from April 17 to 19 on the Quad.
This year’s Earth Week was pushed ahead a week to avoid clashing with Not In Our Schools Week, which starts on Earth Day (April 22, 2013), according to PEI co-president and junior Heather Strathearn. Additionally, because of STAR testing on Monday and Tuesday, Earth Week will only have events from Wednesday to Friday: “The Paly Landfill,” “Business Fair” and “The Day of Darkness.”
Earth Week will kick off with “The Paly Landfill,” a demonstration emphasizing the importance of recycling. Strathearn said that students are invited to leave their recyclable objects on a tarp on the Quad to create “a visual representation of what would otherwise go to the landfill.”
Thursday will follow with an environmental business fair which the PEI hopes will educate students on environmentally friendly businesses.
“There will be tables set up with eco-friendly businesses to discuss how they work to reduce their negative environmental impact and the importance of how you buy,” Strathearn said. “We will also have a table from PEI set up with some cool toys related to energy use.”
Finally, inspired by “dark hour” initiatives of various cities, the last day of Earth Week, “The Day of Darkness,” forgoes a lunchtime activity. Instead, the PEI will ask both teachers and students to voluntarily turn off all lights in their classrooms during 5th period if not the whole day.
“The idea behind this is to show the importance of turning off lights when they are not necessary as well as demonstrating the quantity of energy consumption here at Paly,” Strathearn said.
Both Strathearn and co-president senior Tia Rabinovitz anticipate the week to go smoothly.
“I think Earth Week will go really well,” Rabinovitz said. “The events we’ve planned are all very visual, so that should help involve the whole student body.”
Both co-presidents further expressed hopes that Earth Week will raise awareness in the Paly community about the importance of the environment.
“People may think the Earth is not affected by their actions or that they are already doing everything they can, but for the most part, that isn’t true,” Strathearn said. “People should participate because it is not only interesting to learn and be a part of activities related to the environment they live in, but it is also very important and will only grow in importance as time goes on.”
Rabinovitz echoed Strathearn’s sentiments.
“The purpose is not to drastically change the way Paly operates in this short amount of time but to teach everyone to make small changes in their own lives that will have a lasting impact on the planet’s health,” she said.
For those who want to get more involved, Rabinovitz suggests joining the PEI, which meets during lunch every Tuesday in Nicole Loomis’s room, or simply taking the time to consider their daily impacts on the environment.
“Anyone interested should try and do their part too by remembering to recycle, turn the lights off when they leave a room, take shorter showers and buy locally grown and produced food,” Rabinovitz said.