Graphic by Yuko Tanaka/The Choate News
Earth Day celebrated its 50th anniversary last Wednesday, April 22, as people around the world united to commemorate the Earth and raise awareness about the deteriorating state of the environment. Even though we are away from campus, Choate still came together to celebrate Earth Day through social media and a creative art project created by the Choate C-Proctors: Project eARTh.
During the rapid surge of environmental movements in the late 20th century, environmental consciousness had also emerged within the Choate community. On April 21, 1970, Choate celebrated its first school-wide Earth Day in hopes of educating the community about the increasing importance of environmental awareness. On April 25, 1970, The Choate News published an Earth-Day-themed issue in which Steve Biddie ’70 detailed some of the Earth Day program’s activities, which ranged from “a student-run chapel and actual air pollution demonstration to a varied series of five lecture-workshops and seven afternoon environmental action projects.” The program, packed with a variety of events, not only fueled more environmental advocacy on campus but also paved the path for future environmental action through policies, clubs, and student movements.
Following the School’s first Earth Day celebration, sustainability and environmental protection have remained a prevalent topic at Choate. In recent years, the School has seen a significant increase in environmental awareness and a commitment to sustainable practices. In the spring of 2008, Director of Sustainability and science teacher Ms. Katrina Linthorst Homan founded the C-Proctors a year after the creation of the Sustainability Committee. “We wanted to have a student leadership group to work as the student arm of that committee and to give students a chance to help educate and encourage the community to be more sustainable,” Ms. Homan said.
Since the establishment of C-Proctors, environmental awareness has taken an even greater presence among Choate students with the group being more focused than ever to further promote sustainability. Head C-Proctor Blanca Payne ’20 said, “We’ve increased our media presence on Boarcast and Instagram and improved signage around campus for trash, compost, and recycling. Our ultimate goal as the C-Proctors is to provide students with the knowledge and tools to build good habits and make more sustainable choices from their own volition.”
Since the establishment of the C-Proctors, Earth Day events have been hosted to celebrate and involve the community in sustainability efforts — one of them being Earth Week. “Last year, the C-Proctors hosted an Earth Week with different projects each day, such as Project eARTh,” C-Proctor Claire Fu ’22 said. However, since the Choate community could not gather for the annual celebration, they turned to social media. Fu continued, “The events were restructured to allow for asynchronous participation. Project eARTh was the hallmark of this year’s Earth Day celebration, but there were also new activities such as ‘Get Outside Day’ or ‘Look at the Sky Day’ in an effort to allow for maximum involvement.”
In addition to C-Proctors and their hosted events, the creation of the Kohler Environmental Center (KEC) and the Environmental Immersion Program (EIP) are a testament to Choate’s progress in environmental awareness. The KEC, which opened in 2015, is a LEED Platinum environmental research and education center dedicated “to providing support and training for students who want to have a major impact on the world,” according to EIP Program Director Mr. Joe Scanio. He added, “The combination of a sound foundation in science and data analysis and visualization with authentic research, ethics, economics, policy, humanities, arts, and the residential experience of living and eating in a sustainable building prepares Choate students to be important contributors to a variety of fields in college and beyond.”
Regarding the future of C-Proctors, Ms. Homan also said that they “have a set of Sustainability Goals that have been endorsed by the Board of Trustees, so the goal is to move forward on those.” Choate hopes to ultimately intertwine sustainability into the curriculum by teaching environmental literacy, into student life by emphasizing sustainability as a core value in residential life, and into school operations by carrying out a full assessment of the School’s carbon footprint and alternative energy plans.
Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Choate has come a long way in its commitment to sustainability. As the world strives towards a more sustainable future, Choate’s efforts through the establishment of C-Proctors, the EIP at the KEC, and Choate’s long-term sustainability goals all embody the overall message of Earth Day: unparalleled commitment and passion towards transformative change for the planet.
