Going green at Placer High could save the school money, energy and help better the Earth. It can also teach students how to be environmentally friendly for a healthy and beneficial future.

“I think we should go green at Placer because the world needs help to survive and not many people are doing anything to benefit it,” said sophomore Clare Jolley.

Placer can become more environmentally friendly by using our school garden to grow food for lunches, instead of having all our produce shipped to us from factories. Even just growing lettuce for our salads could be a helpful factor.

“One of the most important things we could do to go green would be growing a garden, leading to us eating healthier foods and not having to buy all our food,” said Jolley.

Styrofoam plates used for lunches can also be replaced with reusable ones. This could not only save our school the money but to help the environment by not putting a massive amount of waste in landfills.

“We are trying to figure out a way to get rid of the styrofoam plates in the cafeteria and replace them with reusable ones,” said Jason Long, head of the Environment Club.

There are a variety of things that can make huge impacts such as teachers turning off the lights more often and even turning sunlight into energy using solar power. We can reduce our electricity bill during school and use the extra money for things that we may need in the future.

“Solar power would be huge here,” said Long.

According to Long, other local schools have already added solar arrays and have benefited from it greatly.

“Solar panels would be good because there are so many classrooms who take up an insane amount of electricity and they could help us save money and energy,” said Jolley.

According to the American Solar Energy Society, sunlight hitting the Earth for one minute is enough to meet the world energy demand for an entire year. Adding solar panels would be a big aid in going green during school.

“Placer is the only high school inAuburnso we could make a big difference. Why not go green if there are possibilities that could save us money and help out the planet,” stated Jolley.

Recycling is also a popular concept in going green. Paper is one of the main forms of waste produced by schools. Many Placer students support the idea and would like to see more bins for recycling cans, paper and plastics around campus.

“Doing little things such as adding more recycling bins can really help a lot and can save the school some money,” said sophomore Jessica Lund.

Together we can create a healthy environment and help keep our school clean! We can all join efforts to turn off the lights, recycle our waste and be more globally aware of this pressing issue.