Green changemakers – the eco-committee

Bianca in Year 10 introduces how Wimbledon students are making their eco-activism count, and invites you to join them.

The Eco-Committee was formed in the autumn term of 2019 with the simple hope of making positive change for our school. It was created to allow anyone to join who is prepared to get involved and take action to look after our planet, starting here, in school. The separate sub-committees, harnessing student’s specific environmental passions and giving them the opportunity to discuss potential plans, define the structure of the Committee itself.

Green shoots of activism

I found myself involved in a sort of “eco-activism” all the way back in Year Seven. It was the Spring Term and Poorna Baikady, Evie Hannigan and I were in a science lesson learning about sustainable sources of energy. We were looking at how polystyrene was made of crude oils, one of the finite energy sources we studied. Polystyrene like the polystyrene boxes they gave to takeaway food from our very canteen, we realised! And so, with it fresh in our minds how damaging crude oil let alone polystyrene is to the environment, we felt we had to do something.

I suggested a petition. So we got busy running around school asking anyone and everyone to add their signatures, to get rid of the polystyrene boxes and replace them with a more sustainable way of storing food. Armed with a clipboard from the Biology department (which I never returned) we racked up a good 300-400 signatures. Soon enough, the polystyrene boxes were nowhere to be seen and our mission was accomplished. People began bringing in their own tupperware boxes instead, which gave us the name “the Tupperware Trio”. Although this would not last.

Growing a sustainable movement

We achieved change, but alone we could not begin to address every other issue that made our school less sustainable than we wanted it to be. We needed an organised group like the Eco-Committee where different sub-committees could work together, tackling different issues in service of one goal – being a school that worked to take care of the earth. When fighting for a cause completely on your own, the energy is bound to peter out. Now in 2021 the Eco-Committee is open to any students ready to get real with the issue of stewarding our earth.

Get involved

If you see something you would like to be changed in school, come along and make it happen! The Gardening Club, as an example, are working on bringing fruits, vegetables, pollinating flowers and other plants to the school site to increase the biodiversity. This was headed up by the Biodiversity group of the committee. In all, the sub groups are, Biodiversity, Communications, Energy and Utilities, Healthy Living, and Litter and Waste. You can meet some members of the sub-committees here (Year 13 were busy when these photos were taken!).

Meetings twice a month and collaboration in groups across the years allow for a collaborative activism intent on making Wimbledon High more sustainable and getting students passionate about greener futures. This blog will hopefully interest you in all that we are doing to look after our earth and inspire you to join us in setting up sustainable systems in our school for all the generations of Wimbledon High girls to come.