What We Do

The product manufacturing process for clothing, school supplies, and electronics has many hidden costs, particularly for the environment. The Catlin Environmental Action Team recognizes that as a community we purchase many products throughout the year, including printed clothing for school pride or clubs. Most of the time, these products are purchased only with the cost in mind, and not how they are manufactured or what environmental effects they may have. We are working to change this by making an easy-to-use sustainable purchasing policy! 

In 2019 alone, 353 million tonnes of plastic were produced. Of these, about 50% ended up in regulated landfills, and 22% were dumped "in unregulated landfills, burned in open pits, or leaked into the environment." An additional 19% was incinerated, and only 9% of all this plastic was recycled.  We've noticed a massive source of plastic waste comes from pens and markers, so we decided to work with Staples, the office supplies store, to join their pen recycling program. You may have seen posters around the Upper School, but you can also find more information in the bulletin or this document!

When: Monday, October 30 to Friday, December 1

Where: Bring gently used cold-weather clothing items to your C&C Advisors, they will take a picture, send it to eat@catlin.edu for an entry in the C&C competition, and deposit the items in the collection box in Dant. 

Why: There are many houseless people in the Portland area in need of warm clothing, and most people have many clothes they no longer wear gathering dust in their closets, so let's do something about it, reducing waste from fast fashion in the process!

Prizes: The C&C that donates the most clothing items will get an extra page in the yearbook, delicious treats brought to their C&C, a handmade trophy, and the title of Most Sustainable C&C!

For more information: check out our detailed and descriptive slides!

In May 2024, we hosted author and environmental justice lawyer Eddie Ahn to speak with students on his nationally best-selling debut graphic novel Advocate. He offered students a sensitive, hopeful, and informative description of his own life, encouraging students to explore the intersection of community engagement, environmental justice, and family.

We collaborated with Sunset High, and surrounding Portland Schools, to help organize and put together this youth environmental summit for the community! 

In the 2022-2023 school year, we created a petition to show student support of getting solar panels at Catlin Gabel! We have been talking to the architecture firm working on the school's new Wellness Center, and hope to collaborate with them to include solar panels or other sustainable systems in the plan!

On Monday, February 1, 2022, Catlin Gabel Community members gathered to plant Oregon's 1st Tiny Forest! With an area of 2,000 square feet and more than 600 native plants, this Tiny Forest will act as a carbon sink at our school, as well as a home for biodiversity! Watch a documentary on our Tiny Forest created by Sophia Mauro here, and read the news story from the Portland Tribune here! Check out the Tiny Forest Instagram account here!

In January of 2023, the Environmental Action Team met with a solar panels expert to look over a proposal he prepared for us on what installing solar panels at Catlin would look like! This proposal assumed the solar panels would be on the roof of the Science building, and while we learned that the roof is too old for solar panels, we also learned that this proposed installation could produce about 1,383,356 kWh of energy in its lifetime! Click here to see the full proposal!

In June of 2016, EAT members Maya Rayle '18 and Hayle MeyerHoff '16 recognized the plastic waste being generated by selling drinks in plastic bottles in our barn. They gathered hundreds of signatures and effectively banned drinks in plastic bottles from being sold on campus. Their story was featured on the Catlin Website as well as on KATU News! 

In December 2020, we hosted Elizabeth Rush, the author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She talked to both Upper School and Middle School students about Climate Change, rising sea levels, and Climate Refugees!