How often do you think about the environment? How often really? With the Paris Climate Agreement reached in 2015, and subsequently revoked in 2017, it is fair to say that the environment has been a big focus for the US in the last 5 years. An example of Freedom caring for the environment is AP Environmental teacher Debra Savage and her “grass-heads.” This sustainability project is created by making a plant doll, which is decorated before being gifted to teachers.
“If you take a look at its plastic packaging and the grass-head itself, they are all materials that you have at your home,” Savage said. “I wanted to show the students that you can use everyday products and repurpose them. That’s sustainability.”
FHS’s Environmental Club, which is sponsored by Savage, focuses mainly toward advocating for recycling within the school. The club competes with other Loudoun County schools in generating the most recyclable material by weight while striving to make recycling a habit for students.
“A lot of people know that the bins are there, but it’s the habit of it,” Environmental Club president Nicole Balog said. “We don’t see the [negative] changes often here in South Riding, so we can throw away our plastic and not see it go into the ocean because we don’t live right by the beach.”
Savage and her students are the perfect example of FHS’s dedication to the environment. Loudoun County Public Schools and FHS have been the recipients of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Award every year since 2009. The award is granted to places that conserve energy through closing doors to trap heat and shutting down technology during times of non-use like vacations. On top of this, the school has implemented the use of recycling bins both in the cafeteria and in classrooms.
“I believe that we have consciously started a really good recycling program,” Assistant Principal Neelum Chaudhry said. “There are two dumpsters outside, one is a trash dumpster and the other is a recycling dumpster.”
Excess food is another byproduct of running a school that is damaging to the environment. Food waste that ends up in landfills produces a large amount of methane, which is a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. At FHS, excess food is cut down by the cafeteria staff calculating how much of food is bought by students. By doing this, they can approximate how much food should be prepared, minimizing the amount of waste as a result.
Despite this and similar efforts, a lot of progress still needs to be made. According to the EPA website, the United States still generates approximately 254 million tons of trash, which calculates to about 4.4 pounds per person per day. Only 34.3% of that trash is recycled, with the rest being incinerated or dumped in a landfill. Small increases in the recycling rate can have huge effects on communities all over the country, both for animals and the environment alike.
“Here’s the problem with our recycling-not just here at FHS but in the United States as well-if people throw food scraps in there or they don’t empty out their gatorade or their water, the whole thing is going to end up in a landfill,” Savage said.
FHS is not perfect, but students and teachers have shown commitment to making this school more environmentally conscious. It is up to the rest of us to make smart decisions that will make our school a model for our community, so that we can preserve our planet for years to come.
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