The Next Step

Now that I have effectively compiled a list of accomplishments that SAJE and the Green Committee have claimed, its time to see if these changes have actually been implemented. Clearly, the biggest topic here is the cafeteria. What exactly has the Green Committee done to make the cafeteria more environmentally conscious? For this, several people have suggested I talk to Sonya Elder, director of food services for the school department. Apparently, being in charge of the Brookline cafeterias, she was highly involved in the changes made by the Green Committee and several recent changes as well. What I've seen for myself recently has been a decline in the policies originally proposed and implemented by SAJE and the Green Committee. Particularly the reusable dishware. The ceramic plates and plastic baskets are practically gone since so many students were in the habit of leaving them outside or throwing them in the trash. However I've noticed that the recycling policy for recycling bottles is still around in the cafeteria. And people use it a lot. I also want to talk about what could almost be called a cultural phenomenon where students and teachers alike a trying desperately hard to reduce their paper use. Many teachers, especially in the language department I've noticed, are making tremendous efforts to translate almost their entire course, aside from the occasional worksheet and of course the tests, online. My Spanish teacher, Sr. Mendez, has been using a cool website called Voice Thread to have verbal conversations online about specific topics. My Philosophy teacher, Mr. Dickerman, has even raised enough money to buy his own set of class computers to use with google docs and gmail so that people can read articles and take notes online at home and read them during class. And obviously, you (Mr. Fischer) are a big fan of using the internet as well.