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克城消息
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Students Celebrate Earth Day
Copley High School Environmental Club at Earth Day
LightsOut Akron, April 22, 2008
From left to right, front row: Reshmi Mehta, Carly Major, Allison
Schumacher, Lauren Scott, Javi Devia;
back row: Ginny Lacy, Annmarie Abeyesekera, Grace Patuwo, Ariel Dunaye,
Adrian Christ, Robin Musch. |
“世界地球日”也稱“國際地球年”,它是
2005年11月22日,第60屆聯合國大會通過決議,將2008年定爲“國際地球年”。世界地球日活動起源于美國。1969年,美國民主黨參議員蓋洛德?尼爾森提議,在全國各大學校園內舉辦環保問題講演會。時年25歲的哈佛大學法學院學生丹尼斯.海斯很快就將尼爾森的提議變成了一個在全美各地展開大規模社區性活動的具體構想,並得到很多靑年學生的積極響應。1970年4月22日,美國舉行了聲勢浩大的“地球日”活動,數十萬群衆參與集會,呼籲創造一個清潔、簡單、和平的生活環境。
作爲現代環保運動的開端,“地球日”活動推動了多個國家環境法規的建立。1990年4月22日,全球140多個國家、2億多人同時在世界各地舉行形式多樣的環境保護宣傳活動,呼籲改善全球整體環境。這項活動得到了聯合國的肯定。此後,每年的4月22日被確定爲“世界地球日”。 |
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Students Celebrate Earth Day
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By Grace Feng Patuwo |
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On April 22, 2008, 91.3 FM The Summit hosted an event, in
conjunction with LightsOut Akron, at the Montrose-Fairlawn Hilton in
celebration of Earth Day. LightsOut Akron is an event that invited
Summit County residents to turn off all non-essential lighting for one
hour on Earth Day (April 22) in order to bring awareness to the need
for environmental friendly lifestyles.
The Earth Day celebration featured more than 30 local
green-friendly businesses and organizations including: Keep Akron
Beautiful; LightsOut Akron/Sierra Club; Mike Pruitt Honda; VESPA
Cleveland; METRO RTA; Summit County Oil & Water Conservation; Crown
Point Farm; Western Reserve Land Conservancy; and Slesnick Recycling.
Summit County residents gained many valuable tips on
how to live more “green.” One of the main topics the residents learned
about was the importance of recycling. Connie Kosanovich, Honors and
AP Biology teacher and head advisor to the Environmental Club at
Copley High School, has stressed its importance and successfully
initiated a thriving recycling program at CHS. Each classroom at
Copley has two trash bins, one for recycling paper and one for
garbage. Twice a week, Environmental Club members voluntarily go
around the school to empty out the recycling bins. In addition to
recycling, the Environmental Club passed out 400 trees to students in
celebration of Earth Day and joined in on the 91.3 The Summit Earth
Day event.
LightsOut Akron held a Press Conference on April
2. Some of the key speakers were Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, Summit
County Executive Russ Pry, Keep Akron Beautiful Executive Director
Paula Davis and Sierra Club Energy Conservation Committee Chair and
LightsOut Akron Founder Rich Fein. All speakers addressed the need to
bring awareness to our growing energy problem. Mayor Plusquellic urged
everyone to use energy saving light bulbs and talked about plans to
construct more “green” buildings. Mr. Fein also asked me to speak at
the press conference as a representative from Copley High School.
There, I gave a speech about the importance of LightsOut Akron:
Last year, Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for one
hour. That one hour resulted in 24.86 tons of carbon dioxide not
released into the air—that’s the same as taking 48,613 cars off the
road for an hour!
This year, Mr. Fein and Ms. Boyce have organized
“LightsOut Akron” as a similar event for Summit County in order to
bring awareness to the need for energy conservation and to inspire
people to reduce their daily energy consumption.
It is imperative that we all join in and help initiate the
first step in energy conservation. But it is even more imperative that
people my age become involved in this because the adverse effects of
the climate problem is going to affect us the most. I encourage people
to use compact fluorescence lights (CFLs) and other energy saving
household products. The CFLs use 75% less energy and last up to ten
times longer than the standard bulbs.
Mr. William Steffen, the Principal of Copley High
School, has agreed to participate in LightsOut Akron during the school
day. Copley High School plans to only use half of the lights in
classrooms and hallways with windows.
Many people think that teens are apathetic to relevant
issues, like saving the environment, and that we’re too caught up in
the frivolous details of our lives to care. But the fact is that, we
do care…we just need a reason to!
Schools, such as Copley, are excellent catalysts for
educating my generation about conserving our planet’s resources, as
well as setting eco-friendly habits for students. The younger we
educate kids about preserving and taking care of our earth, the easier
it is for them to form good environmentally conscious habits.
As Co-President of the Environmental Club at Copley High
School, I see the enthusiasm teens have for conserving our earth. In
order to reach other teens, I have created an event on Facebook,
inviting everyone to participate in their homes and to encourage their
schools to be involved.
Thoreau pledged in Walden to “reduce life to its lowest
terms.” Let’s reduce our energy consumption to the mere essential. We
can’t save the entire planet by ourselves, but we can save our little
part of it. Let’s think globally and act locally. Help save your
planet earth as well as mine. |
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