*Disclaimer: Ms. Lopez not only sponsors Ecology Club but also advises Devils’ Advocate.

With the sun peeking through the trees and the slight breeze in the air, taking a stroll through nature during the springtime holds beauty and happiness. However, although our aesthetic planet may not seem like it, it is facing some serious environmental issues and concerns, most of which are human caused, according to NASA’s climate change report. 

Aside from April Fool’s Day, the month also includes another holiday: Earth Day, on April 22. Ecology club has taken this singular day and created Earth Week. These five days, April 23 through April 27, celebrate the planet and focus on mending environmental issues that the world faces.

“As a club, it is meant to provide environmental learning and opportunities to the student body and faculty to make the school and local community a more environmentally-conscious area in regards to sustainability,” said Ms. Lopez, who has sponsored Ecology Club for the past six years.

The club has done various activities throughout the school, including setting up a recycling system.

“We put a huge focus on recycling; we even implemented the recycling program here at school,” said Alex Hughes, senior, who is co-president. “We have made a tutorial, and we enter a film festival every year. We also take care of the garden; we are doing composting this year, and we fundraise to help conservation and clean energy.”

With this in mind, the club members create events and activities for earth week to involve the entire school.

“About three years ago, the presidents [of the club] had decided that they wanted to do more than just celebrate a day, so, really, its goal is to just bring awareness to the fact that we have Earth Day every April, and [earth week] allows opportunities for students to engage in different ways, whether it be in the dress days that showcase appreciation for different places or aspects about being green,” Ms. Lopez said. “We also do eco tips in the announcements to engage in that learning aspect. We do prizes for biking to school, trivia, and of course art stuff in the courtyard. It’s just an opportunity to engage students who are not a part of Ecology Club to do things that help them to feel green.”

Ecology Club has planned plenty of events for this week, many of which strive to lessen our negative impacts on the environment.

“For Earth Week, we have a lot of stuff planned. We are hopefully going to do a ‘Lights Out’ day, which will fundraise for solar lights for a school in Africa,” Hughes said. “We are also doing Bike to School Day, we are putting in a compost bin, and we are handing out ‘seed confetti’, which you can plant and wildflowers will grow.”

In regards to lessening one’s carbon footprint as an individual, there are many steps one can take to be more environmentally conscious.

“Personally, I try to recycle as much as I possibly can, and I tell friends and family to do so as well,” Hughes said. “It’s also good to turn off lights when you’re not in a room, turn off water when you’re not using it, and just bike and walk as often as you can because, honestly, for a lot of the places that we drive to we don’t actually need to drive to get there.”

With the club having roughly 20 members, the atmosphere is quaint for the passionate members. 

“You can tell that everyone who is in the club really wants to be there, so you all have that one thing in common,” said Elijah Villa, senior member of the past two years. “It’s not like how sometimes you feel like you have to join a club to have it look good on your record. We are all so close and that is probably the best part.”

To learn more about Ecology Club, you can attend a meeting in room 249 the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 3:10 p.m.