The CHS Has A New Environmentalist Club!
By Sadie Gugliotta
When I became part of the CHS at the beginning of the year, I was excited. After the three-year-long trudge of a COVID-stunted middle school experience, I was eager to become really involved in the community through clubs, not only to make new friends, but to forge social change. Thus, one of my first goals was to be active in the school’s environmental club.
Surprisingly, there was none to be found. So, freshmen Viviana Truglia and I, alongside junior Briana Abend and club advisor Mrs. Kelly, have taken it upon ourselves to spearhead the goal with a successful inaugural meeting on Monday, February 6th.
A major initiative that we hope to propel with the club is to involve high school students in actionable governmental and legislative change. It is imperative that we find our voices in government and unite in a common goal of preserving the planet; therefore, the Environmental Club held a valentine-making event on Friday, February 10th at the Canton Public Library in association with Jennifer Wexler, a member of the Canton Residents for a Sustainable, Equitable Future group, as a festive way to remind Massachusetts state representatives of the dire and unrelenting need for climate change legislation by sending cards to Rep. Bill Galvin and Senator Paul Feeney to urge them to support bills such as SD.1079/HD.1581 and HD.2535, which would focus on climate justice through equity and sustainable jobs. This is just one example of the ways we will continue to act to make quantifiable change in our community and the world at large through political and legislative action.
Every Monday, the Environmental Club will convene to discuss new ideas as to how to make CHS, and Canton in general, more sustainable. Other initial goals of the club are to institute a recycling program in the school, to make the cafeteria more environmentally friendly by offering more vegan and vegetarian options and curbing food waste through composting, and to spread information regarding climate change/global warming through social media.
If you are interested in helping us secure a cleaner and more equitable world, come join us! Because climate change isn’t just a planetary problem - it’s a human one.