By Anna Melis

There is power in the youth. In fact, that is why I decided to start the Climate Awareness Club. The idea came to me while I was at the AZ Youth Climate Rally on March 15. Seeing these young people make such waves among legislators put me into a state of awe. I thought to myself, “I want to do this and I can do this.”

So, the following Wednesday I decided to talk to administration and Ms. Tobin about starting a club that everyone could be a part of so that as a school we can try to combat the looming crisis of our generation: climate change.

After getting the club approved and setting a date for the first meeting (Tuesday, March 26), I had to figure out what exactly we were going to do. I had looked over some prospects of things we could do and decided upon educating, community projects, talking with legislators, and at the forefront of the club, making the school more eco-friendly.

The first meeting went surprisingly well, seeing as most people who said they would like to be there had a track meet, play rehearsal, or previous appointments. Everyone was super enthusiastic and full of great ideas, and after sharing ideas we chose to first work on a very small but important piece of information: recycling and cross contamination.

In Arizona we have a huge problem with recycling. Ninety-one percent of recyclable materials don’t get recycled. Some of it is due to contaminated items that cost too much time and money to clean once they arrive at the plants, and another portion of it is items that can be recycled but people don’t realize it. So, to cut down on cross contamination we will be making signs to go above the recycling bins showing what is and isn’t recyclable.

One of the problems with recycling in Arizona is that if you recycle things like soft plastic or shredded paper or even plastic forks, knives, and spoons, mass amounts of damage can be done to the expensive machinery because the softer and smaller things can get intertwined in the gears. In Arizona and America as a whole, there is a record high of people recycling, but the problem is not all of it is conscious recycling. This can be even more detrimental to the environment because items that can actually be recycled are put in landfills. So, as a school, let’s all work together to increase the amount of recyclables that get recycled.

To learn more about recycling you can attend the meetings after school on Tuesdays in Ms. Tobin’s room. All grades are welcome and encouraged to come. For any questions you can contact me at annmeli2021@tempeprep.org or just ask me at school.