By Stephanie Vaccaro, Staff Writer
”Our Future, Our Challenge” was the first environmental conference at Princeton Day School held on Saturday.
Nearly 100 students from all over the state were in attendance.
”We really need to galvanize our generation to attack these tremendous problems we’ve been left with,” said Adam Strauss-Goldfarb, a 10th grade student in the environmental action club at PDS. “It’s a tremendous issue. We really need to get all hands on deck to tackle the environmental issues that face us, that are going to face us.”
After their faculty adviser, Liz Cutler, proposed the idea of the conference, said Alex Zink, an 11th grade student, “We hit the ground running We identified the subjects,” said Alex. And then Ms. Cutler helped to find the appropriate speakers through her network of contacts.
”We have an amazing core of seniors this year,” said Ms. Cutler. “So, with these younger kids, you have to bring them up. The club is all about empowering students to become activists and to learn the tools to do that. So, one of the fun things about the eco-conference is teaching kids. How do you do publicity? How do you contact a speaker? How do you give an introduction? So, the kids are doing all of the talking, they’re introducing all of the speakers.”
”The goal of that is two-fold,” said Ms. Cutler. “One is for kids to see you don’t have to do this for a living to make a difference. You can be a volunteer at a nonprofit. And also to help connect them for volunteerism and internships.”
All of the speakers they approached agreed to participate. Among them were Dr. Emily Carter and Dr. Shana Weber of Princeton University, Lyle Rawlings of Advanced Solar Products and Fred McManus of Whole Earth Center.
”At some point, the planet’s survival becomes your responsibility,” said Dr. Carter, the keynote speaker for the conference. “As a result, it’s really important that you take from this conference what you’ve learned and spread the word.”
Dr. Carter said that 50 percent of the electricity used in the United States comes from coal-burning plants. Eighty-five percent of energy used fuel and electricity comes from fossil fuels. She spoke about the importance of conservation and encouraged students to consider their consumption of good from the planet’s perspective, not just their own.
The lunch fair, which consisted of about 16 nonprofit organizations and allowed students to find information regarding volunteering and interning for nonprofits, was organized by Princeton High School senior Ross Mazur.
While it wasn’t the right time of year to get locally grown ingredients for their lunch, said Ms. Cutler, a vegetarian option was offered. No disposables were used and they composted, which is standard practice at the school.
”I think what’s exciting, especially for the students who are coming, to cross-pollinate, to learn things, to take away some sense of hope,” said Ms. Cutler. “I think there’s a huge sense of hopelessness among kids, that this environmental problem is just bigger than they can handle. What can I do? And I think the answer is: a lot.”

