JUNE 2023

From Eating Trash to Hitting Home Runs, What's Next For Climate Change?

Inkyoung Lee

Over the past few decades, climate change and its consequences have become a highly debated topic. While it may have seemed like a far-off issue decades ago, recent studies suggest that the effects will become pervasive in our individual lives, even here at Natick High School (NHS). For example, extending beyond the one million species at risk of extinction and “ghost forests” growing along US coasts, it could mean the loss of our favorite ice cream flavors and negative impacts on sports. 

To name a few, cocoa (chocolate), nuts, and coffee might not be around anymore. According to Ben & Jerry’s, “Western Africa supplies about 60% of the world’s cocoa—and researchers predict that 90% of the area currently used for cocoa cultivation in western Africa will no longer be suitable for the crop by 2050.” Additionally, “studies predict that throughout the next century, the earth will become less and less hospitable to nut trees” and “the regions that produce much of the world’s peanut supply (China, India, Nigeria, and the southern US) are predicted to see more drought in the future.” If you are a fan of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Half Baked, Peanut Butter Cup, Coffee, and more, it is time to take action.  

Ice cream is not the only thing we might lose; outdoor activities and sports are already suffering from the consequences of climate change. CBS News reports that in baseball, the average number of home runs per game has increased over the past 60 years, which is partly due to rising temperatures and lower air density. This, of course, is not the biggest issue climate change poses to the world, or even to athletes. However, rising temperatures may pose an increasing threat to athletes, fans, staff, or anyone spending time outdoors in the hottest regions. At NHS, most of our athletes spend time in direct sunlight, including the outdoor track, turf, fields, and tennis courts. 

Despite the consequences we are facing now, it is not time to be discouraged yet. Both NHS and people all over the world are taking various measures to ensure a future for generations to come. This includes chefs putting a spin on their creativity to create dishes from scraps and prevent food from becoming waste. According to CBS News, almost 40% of food in the US is sent to landfills, worsening the state of climate change and food insecurities. By “eating trash” (aka using food scraps as ingredients), each of us can help address food waste and world hunger while saving restaurants the billions of dollars they lose from more than a third of their dishes going uneaten.  

Furthermore, geoengineering technologies and methods, including cloud seeding, solar geoengineering, and carbon capture, as well as new protective measures for forests, are working to act against climate change. According to ABC News, cloud seeding “involves injecting microscopic particles of silver iodide into the atmosphere to encourage rain and snowfall” as these particles “act like magnets for water droplets and bind together until they are heavy enough to fall as rain or snow.” This is not meant to be a long-term solution, but it is an innovation that helps. At NHS, we have made our own efforts such as our use of solar panels, a compost program, tree planting, and the recent walk-to-school initiative. Addressing climate change is no easy task, but the innovative minds and will of the people today are paving a path to a more sustainable future.

Blazing a Trail: The Spark That Became Natick High School's Walk-to-School Week

Lili Temper

Note: Some of the following quotations have been edited for grammar and clarity. 

In a world facing melting ice caps, rising oceans, worsening weather, and countless other consequences of neglecting the planet, it often seems like the fight against climate change is one with impossible odds. However, the voices of young activists—whether they are as well-known as Greta Thunberg or are simply everyday citizens—are beginning to unite people, inspiring them to work together in movements that are pushing society toward increased sustainability.

This May, a group of Natick students teamed up to create their own movement: Natick High School’s Walk-to-School Week. Beginning on May 15, 2023, students were encouraged to walk, bike, or carpool to school to decrease emissions from vehicles and help combat climate change. As an incentive, the organizers offered a $20 Dunkin’ gift card to the participant that walked or biked the furthest. In addition, the initiative’s Instagram account, @nhswalk, reposted pictures that participants sent or tagged the account in.

“It originally [was] for my Environmental Science class,” said Leah Zarin ’23, social media manager and co-organizer for the initiative. In the class, students were asked to propose a community action that could be taken to help the environment. Leah was immediately inspired to use the opportunity to call attention to—and begin to combat—vehicular emissions. Working alongside Violet Esterman ’23 and Ryan Carlino ’23, she began to spread the word.

Additionally, many students feel that walking to school takes too much time. Leah, who has walked to school nearly every morning since the start of her sophomore year, noted that she was finally able to settle into this routine when school start times were pushed back to facilitate hybrid learning. However, now that Natick’s schedule has returned to normal, fewer people are willing to wake up early to walk—especially not those with classes before or during CDS. “One of the reasons that I would appreciate a later start time would be so that it would give people more time to walk to school,” Leah said, offering a new perspective on the town’s recent proposal for an 8:30 start at the high school.

Now that Walk-to-School Week has come to a close, the organizers—each of whom are seniors—are beginning to look to the future. “I hope that it will get continued,” Leah said. “It’s sort of a class, right now, of all seniors, so if other people in the future would want to continue this [...], that would be interesting.” As of now, there is not a definitive team that will lead Walk-to-School Week for the 2023–2024 school year, but continuing the initiative would be a great first step toward sustainability for Natick High School students.

However, according to Leah, there is still a lot that has yet to be done—both by students and by the town as a whole—to get cars off the road: “Making it more convenient to carpool. [...] But also just generally shifting the culture away from depending on cars to get everywhere.”