Earth Club raises awareness with water bottles

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This is a picture of the water bottle that is being sold by the Earth Club.

Brit Stein, Staff Reporter

Rather than just celebrate for one day, HHS Earth Club has decided to celebrate Earth Day throughout this whole week. As part of this celebration, during all three lunches, HHS Earth Club is selling custom designed reusable water bottles and succulent plants.

“We are trying to eliminate one-use plastic water bottles at this school,” said Stephanie Sween, senior and a president of Earth Club. “The first step is just to showcase that there is an accessible alternative option. That is why we are selling water bottles.”

The water bottles are made of glass with a protective black rubber covering and a custom designed logo. The logo was created by Nathan Anderson, senior, and it reads, “There is no planet B.”

Anne Goodroad, senior and a president of Earth Club, expresses that the play on words is an attempt to emphasize Earth Club’s larger mission to spread overall awareness of the deterioration of the planet due to pollution and misallocation of resources.

“I am really excited to help others become more aware of their impact on our planet,” Goodroad said. “I think the water bottles have a really important message on them.”

The bottles are being sold at lunch for $6.00. The original price was $12.00.

“Earth Club decided to cover the half of the cost for the water bottles so that they could be cheaper for kids to purchase. Since our goal is just to cut down on all plastic use, we wanted to be sure that the water bottles are affordable,” Sween said.

Sween expresses her excitement at seeing her classmates purchase the water bottles.

“I think its really cool that they have actually been selling. I have seen so many people carrying them around school and using them which is really exciting,” Sween said.

The water bottles are part of HHS Earth Club’s larger initiative to promote water conservation. Sween expresses that Earth Club has taken additional strides to save water as HHS.

“Earth Club is also meeting with the school board in order to implement more of the water bottle filling stations. We just got a grant from the school board and there will be a new filler in Lindbergh either at the end of this year or the fall of next,” Sween said.

Earth Club has also been selling plants, mostly cacti throughout the week in order to raise additional awareness for Earth Day. Furthermore, Earth Club created necklaces out of pine cones and twisted yarn to be worn around in support of the celebration.

“We gave the necklaces to teachers and to Ms. Johnson, the school principal. The teachers and Ms. Johnson have been wearing them around, so we also gave them away at lunch,” Sween said. “Eventually we ran out because people wanted them.”

Earth Club also organized this month’s Boost TASC. Tomorrow, students who attend Boost TASC will hear from a representative for Youth Environmental Activists of Minnesota.

“This week is all about educating others and getting students to become more aware of the world around them,” Goodroad said.

Earth Club representatives encourage students interested in joining to come to their Wednesday morning meetings. Earth Club meets at 7:10 in room S184.