This year’s Green Week, which took place from April 22 to 26, was filled with more events than in previous years and generated an abundance of positive feedback from students around SDA. Events, like Bike for Bagels, pot painting, watching the environmentally themed “Erin Brockovich” at a movie night in physics teacher George Stimson’s room, and a solar-powered music festival during lunch, were planned as part of the week and featured positive, environmentally conscious themes. The event was hosted primarily by ECO Club with contributions from SEE Club and FEED Club.
Events were kicked off on Monday with the first day of a week of pot painting. Eco Club hosted a table in front of the Mosaic where students could paint pots. After painting a pot, the student picked out a plant to be potted in it. In addition, plants appeared all around campus
Bike for Bagels, also hosted by ECO Club, was the first event hosted on Tuesday. Students who made their ways to school via environmentally friendly alternatives were awarded with free bagels from Einstein Bros Bagels. ECO Club Treasurer Senior Devin Murphy described the event as “…a tradition for SDA…. Biking is a sustainable mode of transportation, so we decided to integrate it into Green Week.” Bike for Bagels was the only event put on this year that was carried on from previous years.
Even after years of running, Bike for Bagels still received enthusiastic participation. Murphy estimated that 15 to 20 people participated, consisting of a number of girls from the distance track team. Junior Keely Thompson said, “I bike every day. I don’t have a car. The student parking lot is scary but it’s a nice cool down after track. [Bike for Bagels] was yummy and it was fun to bike with [junior Marin Callaway].”
Tuesday’s events also included an environmentally friendly cars demonstration that took place on the walkway in front of the Performing Arts Center. The demonstration featured a Nisson Leaf, Prius, and 1985 Mercedes on veggie diesel. The owners were there to answer questions. Murphy said the students were “legitimately interested. A lot of people came to see the cars and they asked a lot of questions about why they were better than fossil fuel cars. It was nice to see that students at SDA were interested in green technology.”
Freshman Riley Gatts was one of the students at the demo. “I really liked the issues brought up and they need to be addressed. I think it’s really cool how students are taking action against pollution,” said Gatts.
There were no events hosted at lunch on Wednesday, but after school, there was a small movie night in Stimson’s room. The movie was “Erin Brockovich,” based on a real story a female protagonist taking action against water pollution and the devastating effects on families in the area. A small group of students, as well as Stimson, situated themselves on desks and in lawn chairs with cups of Stimson’s hot apple cider.
ECO club member Senior Betty Huang was impressed by the movie: “I went not really knowing what we were going to watch. Someone told me it was about environmental policy and I was kind of like, ‘Eeh. Yeah, sounds kind of whatever,’ but it turned out to be a damn good movie. Erin Brockovich is the number one badass babe in my mind. She either defied or rigged any female stereotype in such a ‘so-what’ kind of selfless way that I couldn’t help but respect tremendously.”
Besides the movie, Senior Dhyana Buckley enjoyed the atmosphere of the event. She thought “…the hot apple cider was a wonderful addition. I thought the event was well put together and it was super fun to watch movies with classmates and have fun.”
Thursday events included a Solana Center trash audit, ECO Club’s extinct species graveyard by the Mosaic, and a drum circle. Thursday’s events were a learning experience for Junior Katrina Olsen: “I learned that the Tasmanian tiger is extinct. That’s disappointing. I learned how to recycle water bottles and there was a nice beat in the background… I liked how the drum circle changed; it wasn’t just people hitting drums, but I don’t trust my drumming skills.”
As part of the trash audit, “I signed a pledge that I would recycle 40 percent of my waste. They want to get it to 75 percent in California. I will recycle water bottles more,” said Olsen.
Friday was the last day of the Green Week celebration. Solar panels built by SEE club powered a concert for the student band, The Ink Slingers, on the side of the Mosaic. FEED club had a booth where they accepted donations and sold various goods. Proceeds went toward FEED club’s goal of providing food for the hungry.