Alison Moerland
- May 20, 2022
- 2 min read

Unleashing the creativity of students and teachers to promote sustainability

When education helps students develop a strong personal connection to climate solutions, as well as a sense of personal agency and empowerment, it can have consequential impact on kids’ daily behaviors and decision-making and can ultimately influence a community. And the Brookwood Upper School Environmental Club is a testament to the impact a group of eight middle-schoolers can have on not only a school community, but also our local towns (and furry friends, too!).

This year, the Environmental Club has hosted a variety of events and activities to increase understanding of the need for sustainability and took action to reduce waste. The first of which was bore out of the idea to reduce waste through "reuse" and they devised and executed the Towels for Toys Drive to support the creation of dog toys out of used and unwanted textiles. And they also delivered the nearly-new items to Wellspring and Beverly Bootstraps. Thank you for your support of this incredibly-successful initiative.

On Earth Day, the Environmental Club hosted a documentary screening of "Kiss the Ground" and hosted a panel discussion for Upper School students. The panel consisted of experts in the field doing environmental work:

Emma Shorr, '06 runs Rising Sign Farm, a veggie and herb farm outside of Seattle, WA in the Snoqualmie valley. Our growing practices are focused on no-till, carbon friendly techniques, and our distribution based in equity and care.
Betsy Tielscher, P '22, '24 is the NOAA North Regional Director and focuses on ocean and coastal science and management.
Dana Wilfahrt, '05 co-founded Sister Island Oysters with another Brookwood alumna, Anna Parker. They are a small-scale, sustainable oyster farm in Freeport, ME. focused on regenerative aquaculture/farming. Dana also works for Patagonia in their Sustainability and Strategic Planning group.