More than 20 Douglas High students have formed the Environmental Club in hopes of promoting green policies at the high school and raising awareness among their peers about environmental issues facing the next generation.
"It's something I really care about," said 18-year-old senior Andrew Solomon, president and founder of the club.
Solomon recently returned from a Senate page appointment in Washington, D.C. He said he was disheartened to learn how little gets done in the nation's capital.
"I feel I have an opportunity to get involved in this community first," he said. "I want people to be more conscious of what they're doing and more cognizant of what's going on around them."
Club members met on Tuesday to hear guest speaker Steven Cruz, a Washoe Tribe member, discuss green-building techniques, such as straw-bale house construction, and xeriscaping, a landscaping style that conforms to the natural environment rather than altering it.
"Mother Earth is alive," Cruz told students. "As humans, we live in the image of Mother Earth and are made of the elements that the Earth produces. When we take care of Mother Earth, we are in essence taking care of ourselves."
Students agreed.
"I'm really affected by nature," said 17-year-old Alice Sady. "I look at what we have here and want to preserve it."
Sady and her classmates are doing more than talking; they're putting their ideals into action and affecting change in their immediate surroundings.
After Cruz's presentation, club members went to the high school kitchen to collect dozens of cardboard boxes, which they dragged outside, broke down and left to be recycled.
Douglas High counselor and club advisor Kris Robison estimated that the kitchen produces 20 to 30 cardboard boxes a day. She said the school's recycling program is a collaborative effort between the school and agencies throughout the county.
The Environmental Club breaks down and sorts the cardboard, which Amber Emery of Carson Valley Recycling picks up once a week.
National Honor Society students oversee the paper recycling program, while the Alpine Club and students of Allyson Lammiman's agriculture classes take care of the plastics. Both materials are picked up by Douglas Disposal.
"Everybody is pitching in and going green," Robison said.
Senior Kevin Sacherman said other countries are outperforming America in terms of waste reduction. He said he spent a year in Germany where a family of four had to use a small trash can for an entire week's worth of waste.
"Everything else was recycled," he said. "I came back here and saw these huge trash cans on the street. I bet 3/4 of that trash could be recycled."
Club members hope to inspire a shift in consciousness not only among their peers, but in the larger community.
"We want to get the word out to students because they are the future, but it's also important to get everyone in the Valley involved," said 17-year-old Monica Terveer. "A lot of people don't know about the opportunities here to be environmentally-friendly. We live in such a beautiful place. Other places don't look like this. A couple hundred miles down the road is Yucca Mountain. We need to stand up and make a difference."
Robison, and the club's co-advisor, science teacher Tony Brown, are hoping to obtain a large public recycling bin for the high school in the future.
But for now, Robison said, the public can use other drop-off locations in the Valley.
Douglas County Transfer Station, end of Dump Road, east of the Douglas County Fairgrounds.
Open 9 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Accepts aluminum cans, glass and plastic containers, tin cans, corrugated cardboard, newspaper, motor oil, automobile batteries, magazines and office paper. Accepts hazardous materials 2 to 4 p.m. Thursdays and 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturdays.
Douglas County Animal Shelter, 921 Pinenut Road, Gardnerville
Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Accepts aluminum cans; ink cartridges (no Epson) during business hours.
Holbrook Station, 1501 Highway 395, Holbrook Junction.
Accepts aluminum cans, glass and plastic containers.
Jacks Valley Elementary School, 701 Jacks Valley Road.
Accepts aluminum and tin cans, glass and plastic containers.
Gardnerville Elementary School, 1290 Toler Lane, Gardnerville.
Accepts aluminum cans, glass and plastic containers.
Smith's Food and Drug Center, 1341 Highway 395, Gardnerville.
Accepts aluminum cans.
Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School, 701 Long Valley Road, Gardnerville Ranchos.
Accepts aluminum cans, glass and plastic containers.
Bently Biofuels, 1350 Buckeye Road, Minden.
Accepts glass, aluminum, tin and plastic.
