By Jackson Done ’19

With Earth Day recently passing, I’ve reflected on the importance of being environmentally friendly, and how we as students can continue being green around campus and in our everyday lives. I was surprised to learn what little effort going green requires. This makes going green ideal for busy Loomis students.

One of the easiest and most obvious ways to go green on campus is trading in the disposable water bottles for the reusable ones that can be bought in the bookstore. This simple act can make a huge dent in our global plastic problem. Another quick and simple way to go green is making sure your lights and fans are turned off when you are not in the room. Granted, there are times when I’m running out of my room to the first class of the day and I forget to turn my fan off. Everyone will have moments like that, but not making that mistake a habit is what is important.

  Around campus, the E-Proctors are in charge of events that have to do with environmental sustainability around campus, such as running the Green Cup Challenge and organizing events during Earth Week. The E-proctors hold regular meetings with Mr. Dyreson in the Taylor common room, hard at work trying to make Loomis a more environmentally friendly place. We recently celebrated Earth Week on campus which brought much attention to what the institution and the students can do to lessen the school’s carbon footprint. While I know many of my peers are invested in bettering Loomis, I also feel as though more could be done to encourage students to become actively involved in going green. While there is no “typical Loomis student,” there needs to more emphasis on reaching out to the student body as a whole, from boarders to day students, in order to promote ways of being eco-friendly on a regular basis. There should also be more of a presence in the dorms by the E-Proctors. E-Proctors could come to the dorms every month and update students on new sustainability efforts on campus as well as on different ways to go green.

Besides the E-Proctors’ efforts to make Loomis’ carbon footprint as small as possible, the school is making leaps and bounds by approving the construction of solar panels and approving the allotment of a fund within the school’s endowment for student-led investing in accordance with Environmental, Social, and Governance investing criteria. I find the investment fund most exciting because it gives students power to make a difference in the world outside of the Loomis community. These are examples of significant progress in the community, and these efforts make me optimistic for the future of environmental sustainability at Loomis.