The environmental science classes held an Earth Day Celebration during lunch with student volunteers operating booths where students could participate in various activities, such as creating bracelets from sustainable materials or planting a plant outside.
“Earth Day is not only about celebrating and giving gratitude towards our home planet for the life we are able to live, but also about fighting for Earth and the living beings on Earth,” Environmental Science teacher San-Pei Lee said. “Earth Day started out in 1970 as a huge protest against the way humans were degrading our planet at the time, intoxicating the very air we breathe, the waters we drink, and the soils where our food comes from. Thus, even though I think Earth Day should be every day because we should never stop being grateful and caring for our planet, I think having a specific day/week/month every year to raise awareness and gather even more people to take action is an act of standing up for our planet and the humans and other living beings on the planet.”
The general reception of Earth Day was positive from students, with a significant number of participants.
“There were a lot more students in attendance this year compared to last year, but the west wing hallway did get too crowded at times, so hopefully we will move to the patio or teaching theater next year,” Lee said. “Student volunteers also seemed to enjoy helping the passersby with their plants, eco-friendship bracelets, etc. and commented on how they wished lunch was longer or looked forward to doing it again next year.”
The event was held to raise awareness for environmental conservation on campus.
“The mention of Earth Day is often limited to life science classes, so hosting a school-wide Earth Day celebration allows a much greater number of people to learn about Earth Day and in effect, environmentalism,” Lee said. “Many students had never even heard of Earth Day before, let alone know which day it is and its purpose, so it gets students to at least start thinking and talking about taking care of our planet. I think it is often deemed ‘nerdy’ or ‘weird’ to be environmentally-conscious, but making this Earth Day Celebration more fun and approachable helps erase that stigma and opens doors to more people taking action.”
Plato’s Closet Katy collaborated with the Earth Day Celebration, contributing free clothes for a thrifting booth called ‘eco-swap’.
“Eco-swap was also largely successful this year, thanks to our collaboration with Plato’s Closet Katy, and this activity emphasized the importance of thrifting and reusing as an alternative to fast fashion and overconsumption,” Lee said.
Students could also plant a plant outside.
“At our core, humans still have a connection to plants and nature,” Lee said. “There is something fascinating about tending to a seed and watching that seed grow into a mature plant that will go on to become a part of an entire ecosystem, and that fascination is evident in the students who carry a cup of soil and wildflower seeds from that activity table back home.”
The Earth Day Celebration started 3 years ago and has evolved over time.
“Many of the activities were suggested by former students through inspiration from various environmental websites online,” Lee said. “The goal of the activities were to show students that there were more sustainable alternatives to enjoyable hobbies and activities, so that students could start thinking and acting sustainably. For example, friendship bracelets were especially popular a few years ago, but plenty of those friendship bracelets soon ended up in the landfill, so I wanted to emphasize how small acts like using wooden beads or reducing and reusing could still make a difference because these individual actions add up, whether negatively or positively.”
