This year, the NHP Sierra Club, a chapter of the American environmentalist organization that strives to promote the protection of the Earth’s ecosystem, has made significant changes to its overall structure. Through these changes, the club hopes to make the school more eco-friendly.
“The club’s primary goal is to create a more environmentally friendly future for NHP, but we want it to be sustainable,” Sierra Club President Abigail Murray said. “We want to put programs into practice, like recycling and the newsletter, that can actually last throughout the years and contribute to a more environmentally conscious student body.”
NHP’s Sierra Club has four new committees to help structure the club, including the school sustainability committee, the recycling committee, the newsletter letter committee and the garden committee. The school sustainability committee focuses on reducing waste and reusing specific items like reusable trays and silverware for the cafeteria. The recycling committee, working with TerraCycle, hopes to collect, sort, and drop off school recycling. The garden committee focuses on beautifying the area by working towards planting a garden on school grounds. The newsletter committee hopes to spread environmental awareness around the school.
“This club will definitely be different than last year because we’ve got a much more active group of students,” club adviser Mr. Galvin said. “We’ve developed a committee system that we hadn’t had previously and we are hoping that this way, we can key in on specific areas that we can give attention to, like writing news articles and having different types of environmental change to make the school more green-friendly.”
Heading towards the future, NHP’s Sierra Club hopes to emphasize the importance of Arbor Day, as well as Earth Day. Additionally, to increase maximum productivity and engagement, the committees plan on meeting every two weeks and as a club, every month. The Sierra Club may also be planning beach restoration trips in the spring, while simultaneously raising awareness about environmental pollution.
The Sierra Club not only aims to improve the school’s environment but has also inspired students to become active participants in creating a greener future.
“Seeing teenagers around my age take proactive steps into developing a positive impact on the environment was my inspiration into joining the Sierra Club,” sophomore Mia Joy Alana said. “It provides a way I can help in preserving the irreplaceable community we call home.”
