Green Week at HHS

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Claire Stone

Be Green Watermelon by Isabel Allen (Senior)

Sophie Cohen, Contributing Writer

This past week Hingham High School’s Green Team hosted their fourth annual Green Week. Each day of the week was designated to a different cause to help make our school a more efficient and environmentally friendly place to be. The first day was “Meatless Monday.”

Everyone was encouraged to bring a vegetarian lunch to help reduce their carbon footprint and help de-pollute the atmosphere. This was a great way to bring awareness to people that what you eat is important and has a huge impact on the earth. Eating meatless whenever possible if great for the animals, the environment and your health.

Tuesday was “Treeless Tuesday” where teachers were asked to teach paperless lessons and use as little waste as possible. This was a great reminder that we do, as a whole, use a lot of paper in the high school. It seems with every meeting, lesson or activity there is a worksheet or a packet. Using the Internet to our advantage to help reduce the amount of paper we use is an excellent option.

“Waste not Wednesday” was all about just that­ reducing waste! Students were asked to bring reusable water bottles, lunch containers, and lunch boxes. The table with the most reusable items per person won a gift card. It was a fun little competition while reminding students and teachers how easy it is to waste less. There is no reason to buy plastic water bottles when reusable ones help the planet tremendously and are actually healthier to drink from.

Thursday was “Turn it Off Thursday.” The hallways and classrooms had their lights turned off to save electricity. It was pretty spooky walking through the hallways sometimes, but a great way to help the environment.

Finally, Friday was “Fossil Free Friday.” Students and parents were encouraged to carpool to reduce waste. Not only is this good for the environment but it helps reduce the crowds that form in the morning. Carpooling is such an easy and efficient way to be green because there is less carbon pollution, less money spent on gas and encourages people to converse in the morning!

This week has been a great lesson because each day we did something different to help the environment, but it really didn’t disrupt the flow of the day. It showed us how easy it is to just be a little more efficient and how the smallest changes, like turning the lights off once a week can make a huge impact.