Laziness in our School could mean Disaster for our Planet
By KATE H.
Only one day in the roughly 550 days that I have been at of F.H.S. have I had to restrain myself from strangling another student.
It was after class had ended, and I was waiting outside for my bus. Nearby, a girl of similar age to me was talking with her friends and eating yogurt. Upon finishing her snack, she dropped the toxic plastic container and spoon to the ground, kicking it aside nonchalantly.
Feelings of unadulterated outrage flooded mind.
It wasn’t until after the shock had passed that I realized my fists were tightly clenched, as though I had been about to discover my defiant alter-ego, the kind of girl who could walk confidently up to her peers and sock ‘em one when they had it coming.
It seems that environmental activism has taken a sorry backseat at Fredericton High, and riding up front are laziness and his pal egocentricity. The idea that students, the future of our world, could be so blind to the environmental concerns which are (and will continue to be) our burden to bear, is simply astounding to me. It takes a new level of naivety to be oblivious to the severe shifts in temperature that we have experienced in recent years, even here in New Brunswick. Global warming is a subject taught in our school, and one that we are clearly not bringing adequate attention to.
If garbage cans had been conveniently placed, would she have thrown out her trash? Perhaps. And that brings to light another issue afloat in the environmental activities of our school. The lack of recycling bins, which are scattered around the building sparingly. What do we need to do to make the administration understand that we, the students of F.H.S., are part of a convenience-based society? If ‘green’ initiatives are not made easy, they are not accomplished. It may be a sad statement for my generation to have to admit to, but those are the facts.
To resolve this infuriating issue, or at least improve the current state of things, there are two easy steps that we can work towards. We must teach the practical benefits of recycling our waste, and cover environmental activism in class, at least to the point where students know to throw out their own garbage. Then, we must place paper and plastic recycling bins in every classroom.
We are of course all aware of the recent budget cuts, which have had a noticeable effect on our school. It is quite possible that this proposal would be rejected, because of our limited funds. Is this how F.H.S. is aligning its priorities? I’m sure these bins are expensive, and a hassle to empty, but the hassle will be much greater when we’re firing our grandchildren into space to save them from our contaminated, kiln of a planet.
Fredericton High School, it’s time to wake up. Dormancy is no longer an option. The world is our only home, and by treating it with disrespect you are not only irritating tree-huggers like me, you are cheating yourself out of a peaceful, healthy future on planet earth.
Welcome to the Jungle 