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GOING
GREEN
Dovetailing with UNESCO’S Week for Sustainable
Development, St. Stephen’s first-ever Green
Week was very successful and, as several students
have put it, a great show of what our students are
capable of achieving together. The six-day event (November
9-14) set out not only to raise awareness of environmental
issues, but also to empower student leaders on a broad
scale and provide the creative spark for future school-wide
projects.
Some forty members of Students United for Nature (S.U.N.)
and the Recycling Club collaborated to plan and run
the week, with Activities Coordinator Mr. Pringle,
S.U.N. Faculty Advisor Mrs. Johnson-Mottola, and me,
Jennifer Chen, as Recycling Faculty Advisor on-hand
to help guide the vision to fruition. Threemajor educational
moments punctuatedtheweek: an all-school Eco Quiz
team competition, the screening of Leonardo Di Caprio’s
powerful documentary The 11th Hour and a guest talk
by parent and FAO Senior Fishery Industry Officer
Michele Kuruc on the urgency of protection of the
world’s fisheries. Every day at lunch students
had the opportunity to support environmental causes
by participating in the raffle and bake sale or signing
petitions calling upon the administration to take
new green initiatives, such as phasing in recycled
paper products throughout the school, reducing food
waste at lunch, using eco-friendly cleaning products
andeliminating plastic cups and stirrers in the bar
(Rome does not recycle these items). Ms. Murphy, who
has wholeheartedly affirmed our commitment to going
green, is preparing a response.
Other festivities, intendedto energize the student
body, included an acoustic concert and all-school
Field Day that saw 150 students in twenty teams descend
on Circo Massimo Friday afternoon to compete in a
rotation of recycling-themed relays, Capture the Can
and a battle of Tug ofWar so intense that we broke
both ropes!
The Saturday Eco Fair, the flagship event, offered
a combination of crafts for families and opportunities
for all to dialogue and learn. Student leaders ran
non-profit sales of fair trade t-shirts, St. Stephen’s
cloth shopping bags (Keep an eye out for sale of these
at other community events!), raffle tickets, and homemade
baked goods. Representatives from Greenpeace and Occhio
del Riciclone mingled with the modest but enthusiastic
turnout to discuss local and global environmental
efforts and sell funky accessories fashioned from
recycled materials. An organic barbecue with live
entertainment capped off the day.
Themain event was a series of presentations, beginning
with S.U.N. on the damaging consequences of our excessive
use of plastic bags and their participation in the
Occhio del Riciclone’s Porta la Sporta initiative
to educate area shopkeepers and encourage them to
promote the use of reusable shopping bags. In sharing
about their organization, Greenpeace urged everyone
to consider their role in protecting the environment
and congratulated our two clubs on their projects.
Jan Klaus di Blasio ‘04 screened the trailer
of the moving documentary Home, andS.U.N. President
Sofia, Recycling
President Guido, and Ms. Murphy delivered impassioned
closing remarks. Green Week’s most tangible
outcomes are the 500 Euros raised for environmental
causes and a pizza party generously donated by Parents
Association President Carmen Moauro awarded to Team
#19 for ranking first in the weeklong competition.
But surely the most sought-after goals were to inspire
heightened awareness of the range and seriousness
of the dangers we as human beings face given our abuse
of the environment and to provide the impetus for
action.
Sofia clearly expressed the week’s educational
purpose in a poster addressed to the student body:
“You have every reason to ask yourself, ‘In
what way am I helping the environment by playing a
quiz game or watching a movie?’ True, you may
not be saving the world from the effects of global
warming simply by attending the Eco Quiz in Morning
Meeting. But at least you will have gained some knowledge
about environmental issues. And that is already a
start.” Responses by students at each grade
level, including Shirley and Giorgia, confirm an earnest
move in the direction of education. While Roberto
praised Green Week for “show[ing] what our school
is capable of doing,” he expressed the hope
that in future years a larger percentage of the student
body will feel implicated and compelled to take action.
This emphasis on active engagement was very much the
spirit of remarks that Recycling Club Secretary Emma
prepared for the Eco Fair. Describing the dire state
of the planet, she urged, “The only way that
we can change this pessimistic view on life in a few
years is by a drastic change in our society, culture
and everyday life, and the way we and other people
think!…. We hope that you will enjoy this event
and leave with a though: How am I going to make a
difference?”
Many other participants, including junior Bhavana
and Giulia, felt that GreenWeek successfully incited
new reflection and action. “It was also very
well set up, with the groups and the competitions,
and I think that’s what really got it going:
competition and the will to make our school and possibly
our city a greener place!” Trojano said. Moreover,
taking part in an important effort was a personally
enriching experience for Giulia: “Saturday was
awesome because I finally got to work on something
that I’m really feel proud of!” Whether
or not Green Week will become an annual tradition
– as many certainly hope it will –, the
green movement has set down fresh roots at St. Stephen’s.
How it will grow to make a difference both at SSS
and in our larger community is up to us – as
individuals with a conscience and as a school with
a true commitment to action.
Ms. Jennifer Chen, English Departmen
Faculty Advisor for the Recycling Club
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RECYCLING
CLUB
If
you walk around school for more than a minute, you
will most certainly stumble upon some strange looking
yellow or blue bin with “paper”or “plastic/
glass/ tin”written on it. You also may find
some posters that will tell you some interesting facts
about the horrible treatment we are giving to our
only earth. The St. Stephens Recycling Club 2009 has
been making huge progress at school in terms of both
recycling and community this first semester.
Our group is composed of about 25 students from every
possible grade and background, showing a spirit of
awareness as well as great dedication. This dedication
was reflected in the outcomes of UNESCO “Green
Week” during which each of us took an important
role, whether it was by making posters and publicizing
or by working at the center of the decisions and planning.
Before “Green Week”, the Recycling Club
bought and organized the bins and supplies that were
needed to set up the recycling structure at our school.
We also explained what can be thrown into each bin
by performing skits and making posters. We are divided
into two committees: the maintenance committee that
takes care of the condition of the bins and the collection
committee that actually transports paper and other
goods to the correct disposal location near school
(soon to be inside school).
Recycling is the minimum one can do to slow down the
process of a looming catastrophe. It is somewhat a
placebo used by world governments to keep the majority
happy, thinking that by putting forth this minimum
effort they are saving the planet. By keeping an open
mind and accepting the education given to us and turning
it into action, we can make a much greater difference
in our environment.
Guido President Recycling Club
Emma Secretary Recycling Club
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Students
United for Nature
Every
Tuesday, during lunch, in the Biology lab, a group of
concerned students scheme to make the city of Rome “green”.
The brainchild of Mrs. Johnson-Mottola and St. Stephen’s
students, S.U.N. (Students United for Nature) is a new
green club that has already seen significant action
since the beginning of the year. In addition to participating
in recent campaigns in Rome aimed at making the city
more green, we have worked to raise student awareness
of at St. Stephens with posters and Green week.
For those of you who were unfortunate enough to miss
out on Green Week, what does being “green”
mean? It means practicing environmentally sustainable
actions and being aware of the consequences of our actions.
It means being aware of environmental issues and realizing
that global warming and climate change aren’t
topics that you can choose to believe or disbelieve.
These are real things that need to be considered.
With this in mind, S.U.N. has worked to help our immediate
community. Since our inception, we have already worked
to help clean up local parks and beaches. Over the past
two weeks, we have gone to various stores and asked
them to stop using plastic bags and encourag their customers
to use reusable bags, campaigning under Rome’s
Porta la Sporta project. In addition, we have worked
with the recycling club to start the school’s
first-ever green week.
S.U.N. is always welcome to new members and new ideas.
Right now, one of our members is interested in creating
an organic garden. The average school cafeteria wastes
one ton of food every week. By creating a compost system,
the nutrients from this waste could be broken down to
create compost soil to use in the garden, creating a
sustainable cycle. That’s just one example of
the change we hope to make in an effort to make our
school green. So remember, if you want to make a difference
in the environment, come to S.U.N. meetings ever Tuesday,
during lunch, in the Biology lab.
Tommy Vice President, S.U.N. |
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