Confronting the climate crisis

Like clockwork, every April, green banners are pasted to bulletin boards, lights are switched off and reusable water bottles are placed atop desks. Earth Day – intended to spur continual efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change, has become performative. Few deny it: our Earth is nearing the threshold of no return. We teeter on the precipice of preserving the natural world and priorit...

In her award winning book “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson writes, “Most of us walk unseeing through the world, unaware alike of its beauties, its wonders and the strange and sometimes terrible intensity of the lives that are being lived about us.” After reading the story, I agree with Carson as her book opened my eyes to a shocking reality of the world we live in and how we treat it.  Ove...

The Sustainability Council’s mission is to engage students with climate-related work and raise awareness of environmental issues. According to Co-President Dylan Linton (’23), SusCo is split into four committees this year: Service and Action, Community Involvement, Improving School Practices and Outreach. Linton said each committee has individual focuses, although there is often overlap. Ande...

Growing up, Jacob Nathan (’19) was inundated by the natural world. For him, it was merely an extension of the immediate urban landscape he inhabited. “With that, I saw the impact humans were having on the planet,” he said. “The natural world was not as abundant as it might once have been.” Sustainability Council involvement  In high school, Nathan joined the Sustainability Counci...

As energy prices in the U.K. have reached record highs, consumers are struggling to cope with rising costs and alternative energy sources for their households, according to Carbon Brief. The main driver of skyrocketing energy prices is the Russia-Ukraine conflict.  Russia, previously the world’s largest exporter of gas, has cut off most of their natural gas exports to most European countries. Even t...

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Climate change could be irreversible by 2030 if serious action is not taken, according to a report conducted by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I don’t know about you, but that scares me. “Climate anxiety,” as defined by The Lancet Planetary Health, is anxiety related to the global climate crisis and the threat of environmental disaster.  As an environmentalist who cares ...

With climate change worsening, the past year has seen many climate protests from groups such as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion. Some of these protests have caused wide-scale disruption across the U.K., leading to police intervention. According to The Guardian, over 100 climate activists were jailed for protesting in 2022. World Languages and Cultures Teacher Tamara Smith said protests can inspire action a...

In the summer of 2020, near Lake Tahoe, Rowan Hamilton (’26) was forced to evacuate and end summer camp early because of a nearby fire.  While Hamilton said “it doesn’t make me love California any less,” she said this emergency made her more aware of California’s wildfire issue and its potential danger. “It's just in the back of my head whenever I go back, is that it is something tha...

According to the World Wildlife Fund, approximately one-third of the food produced worldwide is wasted. Sustainability Council member Olivia Ford (’24) said food waste and factory farming are two issues she is invested in combatting.  “I did the Cafeteria Committee last year because protecting animals from factory farming and those sorts of things is important to me,” Ford said. Ford s...

U.K. Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey announced Jan. 14 that polluting single-use plastics will be banned in England, according to GOV.UK. England consumes 2.7 billion single-use plastic cutlery items and 721 million single-use plates, yet only 10% of this estimate is recycled.  The ban is in effect as of October, including all single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon stic...

Many users of Instagram or TikTok will be familiar with photos of people wearing T-shirts with environmental slogans, bragging about their reusable metal straws and going to the farmers market with their tote bags. Activist social media posts surged in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, with ubiquitous displays of black squares to show support of the Black Lives Matter movement  on Black Out ...

If you have lived in the U.K. for the past few months, it is likely that you have witnessed or heard about environmental groups causing disruptive protests. Recently, disruptive protests have dramatically increased across the country, according to the BBC. Disruptive protestors should be penalized, as they derail civilians’ livelihoods while doing little to effectively raise awareness about the ...

Through changes in lighting, energy use, heating and equipment, the school has been making both short and long-term plans to become more sustainable, according to Director of Operations Jim Heynderickx.   Heynderickx said the most impactful environmental action was changing the electricity provider to ensure the school’s source is completely recycled and renewable resources through wind or ...

After three years without The International School Sports Tournament due to the pandemic, the competition resumed for fall sports in the spring of 2022. Of the six teams that competed this fall, five teams came first in their respective tournaments.  Traditionally, at the end of each ISST, the winners receive a medal along with an engraved trophy. This year, all winning teams were instead awarded ...