Last year, the Environmental Club tried to start a bottle and can recycling system at Grant. Members went to different classrooms and even explained the new system at an all-school assembly. But when the new bins were put in place, they were more frequently filled with garbage from uneaten lunches, condoms and even vomit than they were with recyclables. These weren’t just accidental mess-ups.

The filth at the bottom of the bins was an intentional disregard for their purpose. Despite battling back with lock systems and other tactics, the project had to be scrapped within a year because more paper and other previously recycled goods were being damaged than cans and bottles were being saved.

The effort to be even environmentally aware at Grant is shoddy.  If conscientiousness can’t be achieved among the youth of Portland – a leader in innovation – it doesn’t stand a chance anywhere else. But that doesn’t mean it has to be that way. In 2003, when the Environmental Club led a project to teach classes to reduce their electricity usage, the school’s electrical bill was reduced by more than $3,000 in a single year.

Today, though, apathy follows us on a daily basis.  In the summers, hoses attached to drinking spigots for athletes run all afternoon unattended, wasting hundreds of gallons of water daily. Entire recycling bins are filled with printing mistakes or unused handouts.  When the school was given an innovative water bottle fountain to cut back on plastic bottles, it was damaged within four days. On a daily basis, students drive three blocks to buy a lunch.  And let me ask, how many students actually pull the handle up on the dual flush toilets?

There is no doubt in my mind that the Grant community is caring. Some of the kindest, most conscientious human acts I have ever seen happened in these very halls. I know this is a student body that cares about its impact. So in honor of Earth month, think about changing one habit in your day. With time, these adjustments can become routine.

Try doing the little things, like choosing to get pizza rather than a hamburger. That’s because you save more water by not eating a pound of meat than you do by not showering for six months. Or when you’re waiting for your friends to get in your car, turn off the engine because idling for more than just 10 seconds uses more gas than restarting it. When you’re throwing something away, check to make sure you place garbage in the correct bin. Pull the handle up when you’re using the dual-flush toilets. It all comes down to this: The hardest part of changing your habits is remembering to try. ♦