Green Team Updates
Lake Oswego High School- Nate Foster
Photo: Barbara and Jim Fisher
The students of the LOHS Green Team have continued in their efforts since the last newsletter, with each committee contributing. The Native Plants committee has hosted two monthly ivy pulls after the planting event, focusing on a new section of the campus. Their next event is March 13th at the high school tennis courts, where they plan to pull more ivy and plant trees in the wake of the snow storm. Community volunteers are welcome and can contact Jack Halsey to participate.
- The Activism Committee coordinated a discussion group over the Flint Water Crisis, bringing together several dozen students to discuss the environmental and social impacts of the crisis, over shared resources. Everyone enjoyed the discussion group and they hope to have another event in the near future.
- The Curriculum Committee has been analyzing the results of an audit and survey they did of LOHS. They would like to see the school adopt more curriculum around sustainability issues and climate change.
- The Renewable Energy Committee continues to research solar panels in the hopes of building a case for installing them some one day in our district.
- The Food Waste Committee will host their third and final meeting with 5th graders this week. The high schoolers have met with about two dozen 5th graders to engage in the topic of fighting food waste to help the environment. At the first meeting, they also presented an instructional video they made about how to perform a plate waste food audit as part of their science unit.
Oregon environmental journalist Emma Marris spoke at the Green Team meeting this week. Her hopeful message of what students can do in the face of climate change included taking these actionable steps: 1) Reject shame 2) Focus on systems over self 3) Join a collective 4) Define your role and 5) Know what you are fighting for. We plan to debrief over her talking points and see how they connect to our work in the Green Team and with community organizations.
We’re looking forward to the months ahead and planning for Earth Day! We are always looking for community members to speak or sit-in at meetings, so please reach out to Nate Foster if interested.
Lakeridge High School- Benjamin Connor
Photo: Barbara and Jim Fisher
Since Lakeridge Green Team’s last update, we’ve been hard at work at Lakeridge and in Lake Oswego as a whole. We created a page on Lakeridge’s website, establishing our commitment to sustainability and promoting environmentalism to the broader student body. To continue this effort, we established a “Sustainability Newsletter” that goes out weekly to all Lakeridge students in the Pacer E-News, informing the student body about environmental news, how they can get involved, and tips for how to be more environmentally friendly at home. We’ve also been working with the Teachers Going Green group to make Lakeridge more sustainable, particularly once regular in-person instruction resumes. In Lake Oswego as a whole, we’ve held several ivy pulls, gathering a wide range of volunteers to save trees from being toppled and working to preserve the native flora. In the wake of the ice storm in Lake Oswego, we’ve also been volunteering at Lakeridge to gather debris.
Going forward, we’re planning to keep holding volunteer events like the ivy pull and are excited to keep making a difference! We’re looking into the curriculum within Lakeridge itself, with the goal of ensuring that all students are being properly informed about the dangers that climate change and pollution pose. Additionally, for Earth Day we’re going to participate in the Earth Month Eco-Challenge, focused on reducing our individual contributions to climate change. We’re looking forward to continuing the fight towards sustainability.
Lakeridge High School’s Green Team is always looking for people to speak or sit-in at meetings. If you’re interested, please contact Benjamin Connor.
