GREEN & Gold: HRS Sustainability

Gene Vann, the Sustainability Coordinator, College prep Biology teacher, and AP Environmental Science teacher, is revolutionizing the sustainability of the School. 

Vann has started and participated in many initiatives and organizations that allow the School to be more sustainable and eco-friendly: one of the main organizations, GO Squad. 

The GO Squad’s goal is to minimize the School’s negative impact on the environment through numerous green initiatives. One of the ways Vann and the GO Squad helps reduce negative environmental impacts by conducting waste audits, a physical analysis of the products that fill the School’s bins. 

GO Squad member in the junior class, Hannah Taylor, stated that the GO Squad conducts “waste audits every week in the Lower, Middle, and Upper School to track how much actual garbage ends up in the trash can, compared to the amount of organics and recycling that fills up the trash.”

Through auditing the School’s trash, the GO Squad discovered that the Middle and Upper School had a lower percentage of objects in the correct bins (organics, recycling, and landfill) compared to the Lower school. 

Vann described how damaging placing organics in the landfill bin is to the environment. He explained that when food products are buried in a landfill and deprived of oxygen, a greenhouse gas results which turns into methane, a very potent gas. 

To encourage the placement of substances in the correct bins, Vann and the GO Squad have installed flaps on the bins, created slideshows in the cafe illustrating what products go where, and made several presentations during assemblies.

Vann also makes sure the School fulfills requirements necessary to qualify as a certified Green Business School. The Green Business Certification requires the School to have an awareness of its maintenance, utilize energy-efficient lighting, aid in pollution prevention, and to employ many other environmentally friendly strategies. 

Moreover, Vann also plans to change the AP Environmental Science class with the goal of teaching issues he deems very relevant and important.. Vann wants to transition away from the typical CollegeBoard curriculum, which has very specific guidelines on what topics must be taught in the class.

In order to make the class more active, Vann seeks to integrate a field research component to “give the students topics in environmental science that mirrors what college environmental science classes would do.” Vann also hopes to add a “sustainability project” in the curriculum that will enable students to recognize a current problem, research, propose, and create a plan of action.