By Emily F. Popek
John F. Kennedy once called children "the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future." When it comes to environmental issues, this is doubly true. Fortunately for local residents, our environmental future seems to be in good hands.
Every Wednesday, the library at Oneonta High School transforms from a quiet place for study to a bustling hub of activity for the members of the Environmental Club. Minutes after the lunch bell rings, students bearing cafeteria trays, paper lunch bags and thermoses are greeted by librarian and Environmental Club adviser Deb Dalton as the club's weekly meeting gets under way.
According to club president Jessie Matus, the club began about two years ago, although environmental clubs have existed at OHS in other forms.
Inspired by biology teacher Karen Beagle, Matus launched a school-wide recycling program for paper, cans and bottles, and the current Environmental Club was born. Now, collecting and evaluating the school's recyclables is one of the club's main activities. Each Friday, "the blue bins go out and the kids pick them up," Dalton said, and the results of the week's take are tallied, averaging 250 to 300 pounds per week.
It's not all schlepping around blue bins for these high school students, though. Dalton opened a recent meeting with reminders of an upcoming trip to the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, an announcement that was greeted with cheers from the 15 or 20 students in attendance.
After Dalton said a few words to the group, Matus took the floor to explain the club's upcoming Earth Day cleanup project. Members listened as Matus, who is author of The Daily Star's "Teenhood Today" Teen Talk column, explained how the group would patrol the school grounds to pick up trash on April 23, the day after Earth Day.
All the trash collected would be itemized and recorded, Matus said, so that the results could be published in an article for the school newspaper.
Even as the group made plans to pick up garbage _ an activity not every high school student would approach with relish _ the talk was spirited and good-natured. When one student suggested bringing gloves to handle some of the more unpleasant trash, another student joked that "Sanitation is for nerds!" Matus picked up on the humorous tone of the conversation, adding, "If anyone has any harpoons, you can bring those too."
When they're not picking up garbage or recycled paper, Environmental Club students have plenty of other activities to keep them busy. A number of its members are preparing for the Leatherstocking Regional Envirothon, an annual academic competition for high school students across Otsego and Montgomery counties. Last year was Oneonta's first time entering the contest, and Matus said the team took home a second-place finish. "This year we're going for first," Matus said.
Club members also showed their stuff at the 2008 Earth Festival at Milford Central School. "We did a presentation about water bottles, explaining the economic impact," Matus said. The group also participated in the Otsego County Fair Recycling Initiative, spearheaded by the Wildlife Learning Co., and conducted a letter-writing campaign in support of the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, a version of which was approved in the 2009-10 New York state budget.
Despite how active the Environmental Club is, students said it can be a challenge to get the message out to the rest of the school, something club member Abby Puritz said is an ongoing effort.
"It's mostly just a matter of raising awareness and letting people know what we're doing," Puritz said. The planned newspaper article is one such endeavor; club members also created greeting cards made from recycled paper, which they hope to sell as a fundraiser and also as another way of promoting the club itself.
Club member Josette Souza added that, while many people support environmental issues in general, the real challenge is in getting people to actually pitch in.
"It's not that hard to get people interested, because people are definitely aware of environmental issues," Souza said. "The hard part is getting them to actually do something."
For anyone wanting to start an environmental club of his own, Matus had a few tips that made it sound as easy as 1-2-3. "Find a teacher who cares about environmental issues to be your adviser; go to sites like SierraClub.org to see how they do things; and get some people together." Matus suggested looking at existing recycling programs within the school _ or lack thereof _ as a good starting point.
A few days later, a different group of Oneonta students were gathering across town for a meeting of their Environmental Club. A few days before spring break, sixth-graders at Center Street Elementary School piled into the classroom of Bonnie Havens during lunch time to talk about fundraising, field trips and creative ways to save the planet.
Like their older counterparts, the Center Street students list recycling as one of their main objectives. Groups of students from the club take turns each Friday during recess, visiting each of the school's classrooms and offices to empty boxes, tubs and cartons of recyclable paper.
"The kids keep track of the poundage collected per month and add the totals to the recycling graph" that hangs in the school's main hallway, Havens said. The large chart shows the ups and downs of the school's paper consumption in a tidy line graph, which Havens said is calculated and recorded entirely by students. "All I've done is facilitate," Havens said. "They do everything else. ... They're a great group of kids who care a tremendous amount about the environment."
Tops on the agenda at the club's recent meeting was discussion of a recent fundraiser and resulting field trip. Club members raised $329 from the sale of flower bulbs to fund a field trip. Although the students were disappointed to learn that the trip they had planned would not be happening, frowns were replaced with smiles when Havens announced that the club's next assignment would be to return from spring break with ideas for outings.
Besides their upcoming trip, the Center Street students were bursting with even bigger ideas about what could be done to help the environment. When club members were asked what they would do with $100,000, the room became a sea of raised hands, with a few students carried almost out of their chairs by their enthusiasm.
If Sarah Bercovitz had $100,000 to spend, the first thing she would do would be to paint murals on businesses and public buildings, "so people will always remember to recycle." The rest of the money would be spent on paying the recycling expenses for local businesses. Recycling was also on the agenda for Arden Wise, who would take her money to the Legislature to ban plastics, shut down businesses that pollute and find new ways to recycle or cut down on garbage.
Kai Davies would spend his hundred grand on transportation, funding the purchase of Smart cars and converting local buses to run on fuel made from vegetable oil. Talia Davis echoed Kai's ideas, saying she would use the money to help create an eco-friendly gasoline. Eli Wise had an idea that could add some fun to environmental issues. "I would use the money to make a green festival. We could have raffles, and give away (compact) fluorescent light bulbs."
These Oneonta groups offer but a small sample of what is going on among area youths. Students from Franklin Central School and the Otsego Area Occupational Center will be at the Earth Festival at Milford Central School on April 18. In Cooperstown, students are involved not only in recycling paper, cans and bottles, but are using a "Kid Garden" at the elementary school as a living laboratory for learning about organic gardening, health and nutrition, and more.
Jackie Pondolfino of Center Street Elementary School had some parting advice for anyone who wants to help the environment. "It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do something," the sixth-grader said. "We can all help in some way, even if it's something small."
If children are our best hope for the future, these youngsters are demonstrating that the Earth is in very capable hands.
