The green team at Erie strives to help the environment, but an apparent question is how they will take bigger issues into account such as looking into carbon emissions, and individual change can only take us so far. 

Maggie Lane and Mizuki Green help guide the green team. While there are no leadership roles, Maggie and Mizuki have been in the green team the longest. The green team has been a part of moving the recycling bins at Erie to ensure that the recycling can actually be recycled.

The green team organizes events at the school to promote their club as well has taking care of the earth, a popular event being the bike to school day where doughnuts are waiting at the school for those who biked and reduced their carbon emission. Along with this, the green team manages a little garden plot where they learn to grow and keep plants alive.  

When talking about the green team, it is important to know some of the events that they organize to promote keeping the environment clean. Maggie Lane speaks on the green team events, “my favorite green team initiative is the bike to school day, I think it is so important and is overlooked. When everyone gets their car they drive to school and work and back to their house. It is just something we do and don’t think about.”

The goal of this initiative was to bring to light our impact on the world and to make a small change within the community. However, when talking about carbon emissions, the global impact is brought to the forefront of the conversation with very little focus on the individual carbon footprint. 

Mizuki Green had some intriguing answers for that overlying question, “last year I was in the speech and debate class. I did a project on government corporations and the guilt consumers feel based on the fact that we feel like we are the main issue when it comes to pollution…But we can have an impact on our community and by informing other people about the choices we have in our day-to-day lives we can emphasize the importance of voting for better initiatives including presidents, and bills in our states. It is important to understand we do have an impact.” 

The green team also has an organic garden in Kenosha farms. The green team manages a small plot of the community garden. Within this garden they have tomatoes, flowers, cucumbers, zucchini and even watermelon. The garden has brought the community together. Mizuki and Maggie brought in fresh tomatoes, and their friends accepted them and ate them like apples, not just at lunch but in class as well, showing the friendships that come along with being apart of the green team. 

The green team values community. Outside of public initiatives, the green team goes on group hikes, have meetings, and work together on the garden fostered in this community. The future of the green team is bright, as the students are working on creating human connections within their own team and also forming welcoming environment that has great potential to grow the club in the future. 

Change is gradual and not linear, so while people may not see the immediate change after voting on policies, or lowering your carbon emissions, this isn’t a reason to perpetuate harmful cycles. By supporting Erie’s green team, and working on small scale change, environment goals are possible to achieve.