By Tara Lonsdorf, Special Writer
Hightstown High School’s environmental awareness club Project Green joined members of the community April 23 at a pro-conservation rally in front of Peddie Bridge.
Amid cries of “Leave the oil in the soil!” “Leave the coal in the hole!” and “Honk if you’re green!” 57 people attended the event as active participants, signing a pledge to foster eco-friendly habits in daily life.
The rally was organized by Gretchen Contreras, a biology teacher at the school who also serves as an advisor for the club. Ms. Contreras, who had first learned of the importance of conservation from growing up on a homestead farm, has been an advocate for environmental protection for much of her adult life.
She believes that by becoming aware of climate change and habitat destruction, people will be more inclined to take responsibility for these issues – and thus, to take action.
“We can no longer ignore or deny the negative impacts that humans have made on the environment,” said Ms. Contreras. “In order to stop the damage and then repair the damage, we must envision a new role for humans on Earth. In this role humans will put resource conservation, wildlife protection and toxin elimination as top priorities.”
For the students involved, the rally was a chance to publicly demonstrate their passion for ecology and preservation. This was especially the case for junior Jaanvi Mahesh, who is a member of student leadership for Project Green. A member of the club since her freshman year, this was her first experience promoting positive change on such a large scale.
“Usually we’ve always been confined to the school,” Ms. Mahesh said. “It was our first opportunity to go into the community and make a difference.”
It allows us to make a more direct impact.”
According to Ms. Mahesh, this could be felt by the large number of cars who stopped to beep in response to “Honk if you’re green!” signs and chants, as well as by the number of non-students who stopped to join the rally.
“We’re trying to get people to be more aware of how they can make the world a friendlier place for everyone,” she said. “I feel that people will go home and remember our messages.”
So what can young people do to help out the environment? According to Ms. Contreras, reducing the amount of plastics consumed on a day-to-day basis is a good place to start.
“As we learn about plastic waste in our oceans that kills wildlife and toxic chemicals in the plastics around our food that enter our bloodstreams, one might decide to refuse to use plastics by changing out a plastic shower curtain for a cloth one, stop buying plastic water bottles, or not microwave food in plastics,” she said.
Earth Day might not be every day, but if the students of Project Green have anything to say about it, it will come pretty close.
