Sustainability Committee Update!
written by Faith Hanson
School has only been in session for a month, but the Sustainability Committee has been off to a rampant start. Already, the committee has held four meetings and made an appearance on Good Day DA. The committee’s Good Day DA debut featured an outline of the committee and its goals. The description of the committee included information on the five official subcommittees, which are as follows: compost, garden, school store, green to go, and tree planting/community outreach. Leaders Sanju Patel and Mukta Dharmapurikar also extended an invitation to join the committee. Along with this, the committee has hosted two recruitment events so far: the club fair and committee fair. Patel is confident in the success of the recruitment events because of the strong turn-out at each of the meetings, with “as many as 30 people there under the tree!” The goal is to grow this attendance number to be even larger, especially since there are technically about double the amount of members on the committee. Still, compared to past years, the committee turn-out is optimistic for a year filled with accomplishments. Adding to the optimism, Patel notes that “our committee is a very young one, with lots of sophomores and freshmen not hesitating to get involved!”
The committee has also met with the school store about reducing plastic usage. This year, explains Patel, it is a priority of the committee’s to make lunch and all contributions of lunch more sustainable. Not only does reducing plastic in the school store help with this, but also implementing the green to go containers and encouraging compost. The green to go containers are again something new the committee has brought to the table this year. The system has been relatively successful so far, where students can choose a sustainable option to enjoy their food truck lunch from. Unfortunately, however, Patel finds that the expense of washing the green to go containers may not allow our present green to go collaboration be a permanent one.
On a more positive note, compost leader Collin Thorburg is setting the example for his subcommittee with noticeable enthusiasm. He recognizes that “a lot of the times people don’t compost can be chalked up to their lack of knowledge on what is compostable and what isn’t.” Thornburg hopes that this can be solved at DA: “because of our friendly community, I really encourage anyone who is wondering if they can compost or not to simply ask!” Additionally, the tree planting/community outreach committee is “looking promising” this year, according to president Mark Caveney. Caveney describes his role as a “full-time job,” but furthers that he loves it nonetheless.
As for the future, this subcommittee already has multiple events on the horizon. Caveney says that they are working on planning and fundraising for volunteer days, as well as a designated day for tree planting with the organization Keep Durham Beautiful. Last but certainly not least, a collaboration with RAISE about tree planting in redlined communities is currently in the works. All in all, the committee hopes that each of these changes already enacted this year result in a beneficial outcome for not only members of the committee, but all members of DA’s student body. Recently a seminar has been announced for November 5th about trees and their history in Durham. You can learn more and register here: https://livingsustainably.sites.da.org/2021/10/15/trees-in-the-forest-city-and-campus/#more-450. Check back soon to be updated on all of these exciting projects!