“We are a toss away society unless we program ourselves to not be, and I think it starts in school,” said David Goodwin, principal of Peninsula High School. Today, students at PHS are stepping up to that challenge and confronting environmental bullies… with recycling bins.

A major group that keeps the trash under control at PHS is The Environmental Club. The Environmental Club is run by not just one person, but four: Lauren Russell, Emma Summerour, Grace Fortson, and Sasha Meyer. Every friday, PHS students come together to help each other raise environmental awareness and separate the school’s trash and recyclable items.

“Honestly, Environmental Club is very easy and adaptable to put into your schedule because it’s only an hour every friday,” said Russell.

Each semester, the Environmental Club focuses on one huge project. This semester, they are creating posters and presentations to raise awareness about different environmental problems that each student feels strongly about.Their topics range from climate change to biomagnification to decreasing bee populations.

The Environmental Club’s meetings usually consist of four to eight people that come together from 2:15 PM to 3:15 PM in room 411. They debrief on their projects and discuss future goals.

Trying to spread advocacy about the world’s and our community’s issues can be extremely hard, especially when only a few people are working. These students are solely depending on each other to keep the club running and to truly make an impact on Peninsula and our surrounding community.

“If we had more people and more support then we would be able to make more and better projects, to have a greater impact on the community,” said Russell.

Everything this club is doing is beginning to spread awareness throughout our community. These students are bringing in more and more students and teaching them about environmental issues and what they can do about it. Whether it’s just sorting paper and plastic or separating as much as possible, anything helps and everything is encouraged.

“You can help the environment by recycling at home and doing everything you can,” Russell said.

The club’s students collect and separate as much as they can. They even have to sort through some of the food items that students mindlessly throw into the trash or recycling.

“Our recycling here [at PHS] is a little bit confusing” said Sioban Keenan.

Although the Environmental Club is keeping up the recycling program, it’s overwhelming at times. With such a big task for just a couple students in a school as big as Peninsula, they hope the district will get contribute more to recycling. If the district office were to get involved, a lot more could be done and more people would become involved at home and at school.

“All students can be involved,” said Goodwin. “Awareness is key.”