Our Accomplishments
Since CENIC entered the Collegiate scene, it has proactively been pursuing all three of its goals by reducing the school’s environmental footprint, spreading awareness, and participating in the wider environmental movement in the following ways: In School | Awareness | Out of School
In School: At the beginning of 2006, Collegiate was an incredibly wasteful institution. But through collaboration with various departments, CENIC has set Collegiate on the path to becoming a greener place. On February 14th, 2008, Collegiate signed on with Juice-inc. to purchase 100% of its electricity from wind power, preventing the emission of 385 tons of greenhouse gases. Additionally, we have installed three solar-powered flag-lights in the front of the school that use stored solar energy to illuminate the flags at night, and have replaced the most-used urinal in the school with a waterless urinal that saves 28,000 gallons of water each year, as well huge amounts of electricity (by reducing the amount of water needed to be treated in sanitization plants). We have also expanded the recycling program, increasing bottle and can recycling in the school. Additionally we have installed a foot-candle sensor in a test room that turns off half of the room’s lighting when there is ample natural sunlight. Working with the technology department, we campaigned for 100% recycled copy paper and got it, and supported the decision to upgrade our printers to automatically print double sided. We also established a year-round ink-cartridge and cell-phone battery recycling drive that to date has prevented hundreds of toxic items from making their way to a landfill. Finally, working with the cafeteria we have switched to 100% recycled napkins, and are considering ways to reduce food waste.
Awareness: Another one of CENIC’s primary goals is to spread awareness to the Collegiate community on the current environmental issues and problems, as well as the solutions. Through the CENIC Newsletters we keep the Collegiate community informed on environment-related news, and with our CENIC Tips published in the Collegiate Journal, we provide information on how families and individuals can reduce their environmental footprint. Additionally, through film screenings, like last year’s very well attended screening of An Inconvenient Truth, we educate the student body on the scientific realities and the consequences of inaction. CENIC also sponsored The 2008 McLean Lecture on U.S energy policy. Finally, we reach out to the school’s other divisions by speaking at assemblies, coordinating projects like a lower school-wide windmill-making activity, and making presentations to first graders on the importance of recycling.
Out of School: Needless to say, environmental activism extends far beyond the Collegiate community. CENIC has broadened its reach in several ways. On an interschool level, in early 2007 we initiated and organized an interschool coalition of the environmental clubs at various other New York schools, meeting every two months to discuss paths of action. The simple existence of the coalition allows each school to build off the other’s successes, and to pressure school administrations to follow another’s lead. On a local level, we met with Environmental Defense General Council Jim Tripp to construct a petition to Mayor Bloomberg and the Taxi and Limousine Commission asking for stricter emission standards for the city’s 13,000+ taxis, and NY municipal vehicles. The New York taxi fleet as of 2006 was responsible for the emission of 580,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent of what 500,000 acres of pine forests would store in carbon for a year. Sending in a total of 1,600 signatures, we believe we influenced the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s recent decision to increase fuel efficiency standards for taxis. On an international level, we have protected 15 acres of East Africa’s Rift Valley Rainforest from deforestation through the Nature Conservancy after various fundraising events, and have offset 18.3 metric tons (40,413 pounds) of carbon dioxide through Terrapass after our wheatgrass/bakesale during CENIC Week 2008. CENC also takes field trips to rallies and environmental seminars.