An interview with the founders of the GBC!
The Green BASIS Committee is a student-led organization founded to help our school on its journey toward becoming more green. In order to learn more about this organization and its goals, I interviewed the founders, Pierce B., Arry J., and Hudson L., to find out their motivations for starting the GBC, and what they see it accomplishing in the future.
What motivated you to start the Green Basis Committee?
Pierce: “I was motivated to start the GBC after seeing the damage humans are causing to our environment in AP Environmental Science. I knew that without actively helping the environment, the world would have a much harder time surviving.”
Arry: “I was always interested in learning about the world around me, but I never fully grasped how much damage we are doing to it. What I learned through my classes this year is that when everyone does their small part, the world will become a healthier and better place.”
Hudson: “I was concerned about the environmental issues both in and outside of school, and wanted to bring awareness of these issues with the rest of the student body.”
What do you hope to accomplish with your club’s members, and the student body in general?
Pierce: “I hope to help cultivate an environment within our club that inspires our members to take action in their lives. In general, I hope that the student body will be inspired by our members and will help to make the school a cleaner and more environmentally friendly space.”
Arry: “With my club's members, I want to take action and spread awareness not just about our world, but about how small actions can come together to make big change. As long as we as a school are doing something to help the environment and spread awareness, thats a win!”
Hudson: “My goals are to improve the green status of our school (for example the recycling system, waste of plastics and paper), as well as providing the student body with mini presentations from time to time about environmental updates of our world.”
What challenges do you expect to face, and how will you go about overcoming these challenges?
Pierce: “I expect to face challenges in making our community a much greener place. Currently, eco-friendly alternatives are much more expensive than their counterparts, which may lead many of our members and inspired peers to shy away from becoming green. I will try to overcome these challenges by advocating for small, green steps to be implemented in all of our members' lives, making small but important strides towards sustainability.”
Arry: “Honestly, money seems to be the biggest challenge that we are expecting to face, and to combat this we just need to educate everyone on why we are so important. For example, when trying to switch our regular plastic based poster paper to water soluble poster paper, the cost ended up being a little too high and we ended up putting off the idea. All in all, when people understand how urgent our issues are, they will then understand why action has to be taken.”
Hudson: “I expect there may be some communication issues with some of the other BASIS schools as we attempt to expand our club to a larger community. Arry, Pierce, and I have been countering this by holding meetings with Ms. Hodge to check in about contacting other BASIS schools so that we can constantly stay updated.”
What direction do you see the GBC taking in the future?
Pierce: “I see the GBC taking a role in the future as a place for environmentally conscious people to better serve their communities through the information and resources they share.”
Arry: “I see GBC turning into a school wide project, with BASIS all around the world truly connecting its students for the first time. This is not just an environmental project, but a cooperative one too!”
Hudson: “I hope that in the future, we can expand GBC to other BASIS schools to create a larger community base to address environmental matters schoolwide.”