By Lora Allison, Director of Community Life
On Monday, April 22 the world celebrated Earth Day. There were pledges to be more sustainable, festivals across the country, and reminders to reduce, reuse and recycle at every turn. Here at St. Margaret’s, we have the distinct opportunity to embrace the ideas of Earth Day, each and every day. There are recycling and composting bins that reduce the amount of trash that will end up in the landfill, and the school garden allows students the opportunity to connect with their food and understand the ease with which a small container can produce fresh, organic and tangible produce. But we can always do more…
In honor of Earth Day this year, St. Margaret’s welcomed Justin Cutter and The Compass Green Project to campus. The Compass Green Project is a fully functional greenhouse built in the back of an 18-foot box truck that grows vegetables, grains and herbs and is powered by waste vegetable oil. Mr. Cutter spoke to Lower, Middle and Upper School students in two assemblies and then welcomed students to visit the truck to explore first-hand the concepts that he discussed. The message that Justin shared with 1,000 Tartans: with knowledge comes power. The Compass Green Project seeks to illustrate that the world’s population is growing, fertile soil to produce food is dwindling, and farming practices in most cases rely on the use of fertilizers and pesticides which enters our food supply and water table. Ultimately, the current trends in commercial farming are not sustainable. Through simple practices we can grow some of our own food in small spaces, or make conscientious choices to purchase and consume responsibly grown produce.
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St. Margaret’s is proud to have these conversations take place on campus, and welcomes families to become involved in the on-campus garden and celebrate the efforts beginning to reduce waste through trash-free lunches and composting programs. In the upcoming year, the sustainability philosophy and practices across campus will be a much larger conversation. If you are interested in sustainability and would like to join the dialogue, or if your family would like to volunteer in the garden throughout the spring and summer, please contact Lora Allison, director of community life at lora.allison@smes.org.
