Sustainability Matters: Reshaping Redwood High School’s Environmental Footprint

As Redwood High School heads towards a greener future, staff members share their thoughts on existing problems on campus, and improvements to be made in order to boost the school’s environmental impact as a whole.

By Charlotte Brown

When you look around the environment you see trash scattered among the fallen leaves. A neglected problem that continues to be ignored throughout the world. A problem that demands attention and a collaborative effort.

In a society where actions determine the future, Redwood can step into a more sustainable and eco-conscious chapter and take measures to help the environment sooner rather than later.

From the plastic wrap on apples at lunch, to the papers thrown around the campus, everything contributes to the pollution around the school.

As new technology advances, Redwood takes measures to create a more environmentally-friendly school that can help lower its negative environmental impact.

Virgil Madruga, one of Redwood’s campus janitors, has seen how Redwood has been affected by pollution first hand. He says, “It’s been like this for years. It’s messy after lunch and even the parking lot is a bad problem.”

Redwood’s Student Parking Lot requires a lot of attention as students are quick to try and get rid of their after lunch trash. Madruga says, “Students will just empty out their car and throw it all on the ground. During lunch most kids just sit in the car and let the gas from their car go into the air which adds to the air pollution.”

The houses surrounding the campus have been negatively affected by the carelessness of students as well. Madruga adds, “I’ve had complaints about how students will throw their garbage into people’s yards and just have no care for it.”

Redwood has taken some steps to care for the ecosystem and as the world advances technology there have been noticeable changes. Madruga says, “We’ve swapped the gym carts to electric and have been looking into getting more. We also added solar panels to use less electricity and focus more on renewable energy.”

There is only so much the school can control without much help from the student body.
Madruga says, “We dump all of our trash into the recycling bins and then the trash gets sorted out, so most of the recycling gets put into the right spot.”

Superintendent Kirk Shrum at the VUSD District Office notes all of the positive and negative effects the schools have on the environment. He says, “The increase of student population correlates to more trash, but we are constantly analyzing staffing levels and adjusting as necessary.”

Using recycling bins and putting them in the correct spots is a big contributor to the pollution problem at Redwood High School. This is just a small portion of what the school has to control. Shrum says, “We have recycling bins in all classrooms, offices, and cafeterias and I would say we try, if not more, than other organizations to put in the effort to recycle.”

“Thirty-eight out of forty-two schools have solar panels installed. We have multiple electric vehicles and many charging batteries for them and we have plans to install more units,” says Shrum.

As for the student body, Shrum says, “Students can give back by recycling and reducing single-use items, conserving water and shutting off electricity when not needed, supporting environmental organizations and volunteering.”

Michael White is the AP Environmental Science teacher at Redwood High School. He shares his insight from a teacher’s perspective on the campus. He also runs the Generation Green Club to help encourage students to be more involved. White says, “I know we do produce a lot of trash but most of it is paper and we do default to recycling so that’s good.”

There are many things that contribute to the pollution around Redwood’s campus between the cars, trash and the surrounding business and their effects and efforts to recycle. White says, “I wish we could have a no idle zone which means you cannot have your car on and I feel like that would help clear up the air since a lot of students just sit and leave their car on.”

The impact of Redwood is not all negative. White continues, “I am glad we switched to solar because we are offsetting our energy consumption and I know that when we go on breaks they are really good at shutting everything off and conserving energy.”

“Kids are doing pretty good with bringing hydro flasks or stanleys but I think all of us can be more aware of the products we consume and what waste they leave behind,” says White.

John Coon is the Agriculture teacher at Redwood High School. He shares his thoughts on pollution and focuses on the bigger world problems of air quality and agricultural impacts as a whole. He says, “From a student perspective I am kind of disappointed in how we are raising our future generation to not pick up their trash without being told.”

”If we throw trash on our ground then we look like trash but luckily we have a ground crew that will clean up, but if it was up to me I wouldn’t clean it up after them.”

Finding new solutions to different problems in the environment can be a big help in contributing to bigger problems in society. Coon says, “With regenerative agriculture we can find solutions around the school that will take more carbon out of the air and put it in the root of a plant so it is not distilled in the air and it can lower our carbon footprint.”

“We don’t try to recycle as efficiently as other places and I know we can put in more effort to actually recycle because it will play into effect and it is the small things that matter,” continues Coon.

As Redwood embraces sustainable solutions, the school can grow the seeds of change and make for a greener tomorrow. The steps of a more involved student body, making choices for a better, safer environment. Even the tiniest steps into building an Eco-friendly society will contribute to a greener future!

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