Sustainability Spotlight: East High Eco Club

Students at East high school have been pushing for more sustainable practices in their building for several years now. Dan Shafer, a biology teacher at East, has recently been appointed as the club sponsor and shares how students have been leading the way for environmental improvements. Shafer also mentioned how the club has accomplished many things within their building to advocate for sustainability and has even acquired a budget to help reach their goals. The initiatives taken on by this group have been anything from fundraising, to cleaning up the school parking lot after hours, to putting energy saving stickers on light switches across the school. One of the larger impacts this group has made included the removal of disposable plastic utensils in the lunchroom; students now use reusable silverware. This switch has improved composting and recycling during lunch because of the added sorting step to stop and make students think about where to put their waste. Implementing this seemingly simple change has diverted about 13% more of their waste from the landfill!

Our Sustainability Team was able to sit in on one of the club meetings and observe the group. They had an energetic atmosphere and discussed how the club had impacted them. Many members joined in order to benefit the community while getting involved, whereas others described the sense of urgency they feel about advocating for sustainable practices. Since joining the club they have learned how to better organize and coordinate with others and how being apart of a club has an individual impact as well. One of the largest takeaways the group has found is that taking small steps and doing a lot of little things can actually make a difference. Although the Eco Club has already accomplished some significant changes at their school, they are continuing to brainstorm exciting ideas with murmurs of an Arbor Day event in the works.

Congratulations to the East Eco Club for leading the way towards sustainability in Lincoln Public Schools!