Outside of its annual assembly presentation, much of the Fieldston community may not be aware of all that the Environmental Club does for the school. However, members of the club meet nearly every week to discuss various environmental issues and plan ways in which they and the school as a whole can make a difference. The club is involved in a number of exciting initiatives, both large and small, that are helping Fieldston work toward becoming a greener place.
One of the Environmental Club’s biggest projects right now is the implementation of solar panels on various buildings on the Fieldston campus. This initiative began around the time of the club’s assembly last year. After the student body showed support for this idea, club members, specifically junior Alec Fleischer, began delving into the project.
“We gave a few companies a call and we got estimates,” said Fleischer, “Those estimates have grown into this cool project which would involve putting solar [panels] on the gym, pool, and auditorium roofs. It would also hopefully be on two warehouse roofs.”
Fleischer has attended two Board of Trustee meetings so far and is planning to go to a third. The Board has been supportive thus far, and he thinks that there is a good chance the project will be approved, although maybe not to the full scale proposed.
Faculty advisor and Fieldston “Green Dean” Howie Waldman is extremely excited about the significance of this initiative, saying, “Previous proposals we’ve made for solar panels, [have been] maybe 5% of the electrical usage. [Now] we’re talking about in the first stage something like 60% of the electrical usage, and [later] 108% of the electrical usage in the school being generated by solar panels.”
Solar panels are not the only environmentally friendly improvement that the club is working on. One of the smaller scale initiatives that the club has been taking on involves devising and carrying out a composting system.
“Club members,” said senior Danielle Cohen, “usually twice a week, go and compost by the baseball field.”
The current system only allows for certain kinds of waste from the cafeteria, such as fruit and vegetable peels and skins, and not students’ actual waste after meals, to be composted. However, the club is hoping to eventually change that.
“We’re hoping to be able to compost our actual food waste, whether that’s by means of a pickup service or a rocket composter,” said senior Lexie Rubens. “That isn’t our primary project right now, but in the future we’d like to do that.”
Another environmental initiative in the works involves collaboration with the Investment Club.
“We’ve raised $1000 through bake sales. We’re giving it to the Investment Club, and they’re going to find green companies, maybe renewable energy companies. We are planning to invest that money in these companies. The main point of this is to make a statement,” said Rubens.
The Environmental Club is aware that $1000 is a comparatively small sum to invest that wouldn’t make a huge amount of difference in these companies’ efforts. However, the goal of the investment is, rather than for purely fiscal reasons, to make a point about the importance of environmentally conscious investment and Fieldston’s commitment to it.
The Environmental Club has also been working towards finding more environmentally friendly ways to keep the school warm.
“Rather than focus our energy on trying to get more efficient heating in our school,” said senior Celine Arar, “We’re trying to get better insulation because there’s a lot of cold air that comes through the windows.
The club has been working with Head of Facilities Evan Lederman to find the best way to enhance Fieldston’s windows. Mr. Lederman has been testing a few different methods; Removable Plexiglass window covers have been installed in Rooms 402 and 403, and a different type are being tried out in Room 511, or the Computer Lab. The club is currently trying to determine what method will be most cost and time efficient. So far, removable Plexiglass seems to be the most inexpensive yet effective option. One issue that the club faces here concerns the appearance of the window covers.
“Part of the problem is they want the outside of our school to look the same, and it’s hard to find a way to combine function with [aesthetics]” said senior Alexa Mendel.
Another initiative that the club has been involved in is exploring more energy efficient hand-drying alternatives. The club is comparing both energy efficiency and actual effectiveness of paper towels and electric hand-dryers. To test an alternative to the relatively ineffective and loud hand-dryers in the Freshman Corridor, the club has ordered Dyson hand-dryers that will be installed near the Upper Gym for a test run. However, the club is not going to make any permanent changes unless students agree to them.
“We’re not taking paper towels out of the bathrooms without student [approval]” said Rubens.
The club is also looking at alternative lighting methods for the school. It has already taken some steps in this area.
“Over the years we’ve been using more and more efficient fluorescent bulbs,” said Mr. Waldman, “They’re energy savers, and therefore they’re also CO2 savers.”
The club is now looking to take the next step in energy-efficient lighting, and Facilities is helping them look for places where LED lights can replace fluorescents. The club would strive to find LED lights that not only are energy efficient, but that the Fieldston community is comfortable with.
With all these projects and more to come, the Environmental Club is helping Fieldston make huge leaps towards being more environmentally responsible.
“People don’t realize that the Environmental Club is looking at all these things all the time, and we’ve actually made a lot of progress in the last few years on environmental initiatives,” said Mr. Waldman, “Even when we get stopped, we go around, we try something else. We keep trying to figure out new ways to save energy and help protect the environment.”
