The Environmental Issue by HiLite News

CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL NEWSMAGAZINE VOL. 86, NO. 10 MAY 20, 2022

Students discuss everyday environmentalism, increasing use of sustainable alternatives over single-use plastics PAGE 18 | JILLIAN MOORE

table of contents

just a minute

entertainment

feature

04 TINY HOUSE, BIG HELP

14 HANDMADE

28 SUBURBAN SPRAWL

See environmental aspects, benefits of tiny house living

Students take a stand against fast fashion, create self-made clothes

Residents of Carmel look at effects of suburban expansion on environment

perspectives

16 RACING WITH FASHION 17 PUBLIC LIFE

30 WASTE NOT 32 PINKY PROMISE 34 CREATION CARE

06 FAIR GAME 07 HEINOUS HUNTING 08 ALL AN ACT Performative activism rampant on social media, prevents progress in climate movement

09 FREE FOOD FALLACY

in-depth 18 EVERYDAY ENVIRONMENTALISTS Students increasingly value, utilize sustainable alternatives over single-use plastics

news

student section

10 NEWS BRIEFS 11 CLUB SPOTLIGHT 12 PLANT A GARDEN

24 GREEN THUMB 25 GAC TO THE FUTURE 26 SHIFT TO THRIFTS

Librarian, student discuss Carmel Clay Public Library Seed Library Program

13 STAYIN ALIVE

poster painting: Ashlyn Walker, Confront the Climate Crisis member and sophomore, paints a poster at an activism event on April 24. The event, INtersect, celebrated intersectional activism in Indiana and was hosted by Confront the Climate Crisis at the Carmel Gazebo. Walker designed the poster especially for the event. GRACE GUO PHOTO

Student discuss environmental factors, aspects of thrifting

sports

36 OUT OF STEAM 38 TOO HOT TO HANDLE Students discuss their concern of extreme weather, temperatures during their season

15 minutes 40 SHOE SHRINE

Q&A with Brandon Trinh on collecting reused shoes

staff Editors in Chief Cady Armstrong Chloe Sun Managing Editors Aniket Biswal Sowmya Chundi Daniel Kim Emily Sandy Leah Tan Riley TerBush Front/TOC/JAM Elise Varhan Perspectives Joshika Sathyamathan Daniel Tian News Zainab Idrees Raghav Sriram Entertainment Riley Laferriere Jillian Moore Cover Maddie Misterka Student Section Saumya Somasi Feature Archit Kalra Chenyao Liu Sports Austin Guo Darshini Shankar 15 Minutes Jasmine Zhang Web Eva Glazier Social Media Olivia McKee Copy Editors Avery Carlisle Matthew Du Claire He Saahas Kandru Sumedha Kota

Rohan Mahesh Eddie Sun Photographers Marissa Finney Caroline Just Arthur Mansavage Luke Miller Gabby Saber Zoe Tu Graphic Artists Siri Byrisetty Kent Fujita Grace Guo Moody Homsi Alan Huang Nathan Huang Yichen Liu Ali Persinger Arjun Purohit Writers Royce Brown Lorna Ding Maryam Hafeez Addison Joyce Dariush Khurram Christian Ledbetter Kate Loper Hibba Mahmood Maggie Meyer Pallevi Pillai Arya Pinnamaneni Alivia Romaniuk Siri Surapaneni Kruti Subbannavar Michelle Wan Lauryn Weninger Ryan Zhang Advisor Jim Streisel Principal Thomas Harmas Superintendent Michael Beresford

Contact information: Mailing Address: 520 E. Main St. Carmel IN 46032 Phone: (317) 846 7221 Ext. 7143 Website: www.hilite.org Email: Staff members may be contacted by using their first initial and their last name appending @hilite.org The HiLite is a student publication distributed to students, faculty, and staff of Carmel High School with a press run of 1,500. Copies are distributed to every school in the Carmel Clay district as well as the Chamber of Commerce. City Hall and the Carmel Clay Public Library. The paper serves as a public forum and two-way communication for both the school and the community. Opinions expressed in the newspaper are not necessarily those of CHS nor Carmel Clay system faculty staff or administration. Credentials: The HiLite belongs to the Indiana High School Press Association, Quill & Scroll and the National Scholastic Press Association. Advertising: Businesses may advertise in the HiLite if their ads adhere to guidelines. The advertising policy is available in Room C147 or at www.hilite.org/ads-info. Responding to the HiLite: Letters to the editor will be accepted for the May 20 issue no later than June 10. Letters may be submitted to Room C147 placed in the mailbox of Jim Streisel, emailed to management2122@hilite. org or mailed to the school. All letters must be signed. Names will be published. (Letters sent via email will be taken to a student’s SRT for them to sign). Letters must not contain personal attacks against an individual and may be edited. Corrections and clarifications: The HiLite strives to correct its errors. If you notice any inaccuracies in this or past issues, please contact management2122@hilite.org.

GRACE GUO FRONT COVER DESIGN

@hilitenews @hilitenews @hilitenews

just a minute

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Tiny House, Big Help See components of tiny house, environmental aspects, benefits KENT FUJITA GRAPHICS

AIA, COMFYLIVING, IPROPERTY, ITINYHOUSE SOURCES

tiny tour Take a look at several components of environmentally friendly tiny houses Vertical gardens allow for more gardening in less space, which makes it convenient for tiny houses Price: $100

Greywater is any water that is not wastewater which allows reusing of water for plants and toilet flushing Price: $100

A second floor or loft allows for extra storage of miscellaneous items and adds more bedroom space Price: $0

Wheels allow for transportability and gives stable framework for tiny houses Price: $640

Solar panels can take solar energy and convert it to electrical energy for practical uses, and are better for the environment Price: $2,500 to $9,500

Composting toilets allow for human waste to be composted for microorganisms and reduces water usage Price: $1,400

HILITE.ORG

house comparison

by the numbers

See comparisons between traditional houses tiny houses

Tiny House U.S. Median Cost: $59,804 Average Home Area: 100 to 400 sq ft Electricity: 914 kWh/yr Gas Emissions: 2,000 lbs/yr

36% of the greenhouse effect is lowered with tiny houses

Traditional House U.S. Median Cost: $312,800 Average Home Area: 2,300 sq ft Electricity: 12,773 kWh/yr Gas Emissions: 28,000 lbs/yr

tiny is trendy Check out popularity of tiny houses in different states around the United States

55% of tiny house owners have more savings than the average American

7% of the

Very Popular

energy used in a traditional house can sustain a tiny house

Popular Fairly Popular

did you know? Over half of Americans have considered living in a tiny house

q&a

KENT FUJITA Q&A, PHOTO

How can you use your construction skills to help the environment?

“What I most like about construction is that I am able to build almost anything I want and I can actually use these skills when I’m older. I think these skills are really important when you’re an adult.”

What do you like most about construction? Sophomore Patrick Yoon

“I think I can utilize and create things or alternatives to things that we use in our everyday lives in order to minimize the impacts that our world has on the environment and climate change.”

Scan this to see how a family constructs and maintains a tiny house

perspectives

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Fair Game Hunting should be recognized as human right for indigenous, tribal people CHENYAO LIU COLUMN

people and then lobbying to get the Despite these victories, public n the environmental, move by the charges against the rangers dropped. opinion is still stacked against indig-ment hunting is a controverMany native tribes in these situa- numbers enous hunters. The San people won sial topic. One of the strongest tions have been forced to leave their their court case but are still refused anti-hunting arguments revolves ancestral land, despite most evidence licenses to hunt—and if they hunt around trophy hunting. Trophy claiming these tribes don’t damage anyway, they risk being shot at. Bohunting is the hunting of animals thousand animal populations. In fact, studtswana is one of several countries with solely for their head or pelt, conhunters and ies have shown indigenous a shoot-to-kill policy, placing a greater tributing to poaching. In trappers are hunters actually protect importance on wildlife than human response to this, the mascurrently animals, land and water. life. Despite a treaty protecting their sive conservation lobby employed in There have been rights, the Makah tribe has still been has passed legislation the United some victories for unable to hunt whales for decades that members claim States indigenous rights. thanks to legal battles against conserprotects parks and The case regarding vationists, with animal rights groups reserves, typically the San people calling this cultural practice “barbaric.” by implementing ultimately led to While conservation organizations long prison senthe overturn of do help protect endangered species tences for those MILLION the hunting ban in and enforce laws against poachers, caught hunting. Americans say the Central Kalahari their propaganda campaign has also I don’t support that they are Game Reserve becaused indigenous people harm. If people who go to consistent biodiversity! cause it violated the less public backlash was aimed at parks and hunt lihunters San’s right to life. indigenous people for their cultural ons, elephants and The Makah tribe have a treaty practices and more backlash was diother vulnerable animal species for fun, with the United States that allows rected toward the conservation lobby but the conservation lobby has gone them to hunt whales. International for their human rights abuses, we can too far; in essence they’ve made huntlaw is also supportive of hunting not only better preserve the environing out to be the enemy of environof Americans rights. The United Nations Declament, but also protect indigenous mentalism. To them, it doesn’t matter currently h ration on the Rights of Indigenous tribes around the world. that indigenous tribes have been forced oppose Peoples talks about “their right to out of their own land to make room The views in this column do not nechunting for the resources which they have trafor protected game reserves. essarily reflect the views of the HiLite sport ditionally used,” resources which One example of this is in Bostaff. Reach Chenyao Liu at cliu@ include the animals hunted. tswana’s Central Kalahari Game ReSTATISTA SOURCE hilite.org serve, a historic hunting ground for the San people. In 2006, nine San Do you think that hunting is ethical? who had been hunting antelope were shot at, arrested, beaten and detained for poaching in a nature reserve. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has “I think that hunting is a largely debatable topic. been accused of hiring park rangers While hunting can manage population, it can also who tortured and killed indigenous

17.2

11.5

56%

speak-up!

did you know? Texas leads the nation in number of hunters but it also has the largest area of hunting range. DEER ASSOCIATION SOURCE

destroy biodiversity and lead to imbalances in nature. I think there is a line that must not be crossed regarding hunting. When that line is crossed, ecosystems and environments can suffer, and that can lead to really dangerous chain effects. It really is a complex issue with a lot of perspectives to it.” Junior Pranavi Sambathur

HILITE.ORG

Heinous Hunting Large-scale hunting is threat to ecosystems, should be regulated MARISSA FINNEY COLUMN

The nature of trophy hunting means topic recently on social hunters tend to seek more exotic animedia and the news. mals. According to the Humane SociSome believe it is the largest issue ety bears, bobcats and mountain lions within environmental discussions, are some of the most common targets while others see hunting as merely of trophy hunting. Hunting endana harmless hobby. gered species is incredibly harmful However, this subject and can cause various rare is incredibly complex animals to become enand can’t be reduced dangered or extinct. down to a scary headAdditionally, speline you may have cific habitat degraencountered in dation and animal recent weeks. It extinction can be is important to traced to huntdefine different ing. One of the aspects of hunting, most popular exespecially when amples of this was discussing legislathe extinction of tion around it. passenger pigeons, animal rights! Several probwho were used lems surround indiextensively for comviduals hunting. First, there is the munication in both world wars. obvious concern around poaching NPR traced the complete exand trophy hunting. Poaching is tinction of this once-populous spetypically defined as the illegal huntcies to human over-hunting and ing or capturing of wild animals, over-exploitation. The extinction of and trophy hunting is hunting certain species can have cascading those animals for souvenirs. effects on the entire ecosystem, and Though there are restrictions on drastic measures should be taken to trophy hunting, it is still legal in the avoid these effects. Removal of some United States and a booming industry. species within an ecosystem can creunting has become a hot

Scan this QR code to read an article by the In Defense of Animals USA on why hunting is bad for the wellbeing of the environment

11 Check out this page to read a story on the AP Biology biodiversity project

MICHELLE WAN, JASMINE ZHANG SPEAK-UPS, PHOTO

“Hunting is unethical in most circumstances. It’s mainly done illegally and off season, and many animals that are killed by hunters are endangered species that are protected by laws, but many hunters continue to violate them. This type of illegal hunting is especially harmful for the environment. I would say that this illegal hunting is unethical.” Junior Sarah Dawood

ate less competition for resources, which can increase the population of other species, leading to a trophic cascade. This is extremely dangerous behavior to encourage. However, individuals are not exclusively to blame here. Hunting is not flat out bad for the environment. Small-scale hunting, such as the hunting conducted by many indigenous tribes, remains an integral piece of their identities, a main source of food and can even be essential to habitat sustainability. Additionally, according to North Carolina State University, the most popular animal to hunt is deer, which are overabundant in most areas. Too many deer can increase vehicle collisions along with a host of other issues. Therefore, individual hunting of overpopulated species does not fall under the umbrella of harmful hunting. Environmental activists often target the wrong communities by overall condemning hunting. When writing legislation for hunting, lawmakers must look to the intentions behind it and the real impact of specific types of hunting. In some cases, such as trophy hunting or companies who contribute to animal exploitation, stricter legislation is needed to avoid adverse effects on the environment. In other cases, such as indigenous tribes hunting or the hunting of overpopulated species, more freedom should be allowed regarding hunting. As with anything in the environmental movement, it is a more complex issue than it might h appear at first glance. The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Marissa Finney at mfinney@hilite.org

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All an Act Performative activism is unconstructive, prevents progress in movements SIRI SURAPANENI COLUMN

niqlo, h&m, and lulul-

emon are just a few name of brands who are taking part in sustainability initiatives, but the sustainability initiatives are just for show. This is to align with the ongoing movement to reverse the effects of climate change and tackle the depletion of natural resources. As more and more people have been engaging in activism, there has been an increase in companies to follow. Although this can be seen as a positive thing, this has inadvertently led to a rampant increase in performative activism hindering real activism from making an impact. Performative activism is activism that is not done because of one’s devotion to a particular cause but rather to increase a person’s social standing. With this comes an influx of individuals pretending to support this cause publicly and never doing anything away from social media. Specifically, companies like H&M are notorious for promoting eco-friendly products or lines in order to attract customers and to paint a falsified picture of their

sustainable clothing options but intentions. Many times consumthe clothing pieces end up not ers fall into the trap and purchase much different from their unproducts thinking they are ethiethical options. cally sourced and made. While At the end of the day, these brands gain traction, corporations will continue consumers are left tricked. to pretend to care about The problem is when environmentalism to avoid companies and even indibeing canceled and retain viduals promote environtheir customers. So, what mentalism as a trend making can we do to hold companies the cause itself lose imporaccountable? To start, it is tance in the mix. Whether it real or for show? our job as consumers to not be recycling, canceling fast fall into these devious traps fashion, the save-the-turtles and carefully choose where movement or reducing plastic use we purchase our goods. There are companies and individuals capimany sustainable options that are talize and promote the cause for a available instead. It is important to short period of time then quickly not give business to these compaforget about it. nies who pretend they care about Anecdotally, I have witnessed creating sustainable products and Scan this some stores provide both trash cans rather to companies who truly do. and recycle bins, often throwing QR code Then the attention can be turned both cans in the trash bin. On an to read an over to organizations that actually individual level, during the prime h article from strive to make a change. of the save the turtles movement people bought reusable straws and the Atlantic used them when it was trendy but The views in this column do not necesabout weeks later resumed using plastic sarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. straws. The list goes on with fast performative Reach Siri Surapaneni at ssurapaneni@ fashion companies promoting their hilite.org activism

putting on a face Amazon on Earth Day: “Take a look at all the way we are sustainable!”

ALI PERSINGER GRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE

Also Amazon: Producing over 500 million pounds of trash per year

HILITE.ORG

Free Food Fallacy Dietary criteria in school lunches should be updated to students’ needs ARYA PINNAMANENI COLUMN

opt out of the free lunch program in school, choosing less lofty remember, my parents have alternatives. The program doesn’t been telling me to eat my make sense. Why should students whole plate and to not be wasteful have to pay if they opt to get because they pay a lot of money for only the main entree portion the food, or that some child without the fruit of in a distant country is veggie? There simply is starving and I am not. no reason to monetize This has resulted in less food than what only taking what meets the criteria. I need during After all, students’ meals and trying dietary needs not to waste and habits vary excess. However, widely from the free lunch athletes who need program has bigger portions to complicated that, vegetarians and as now wasting unwarranted waste vegans, who have food or spending different needs more money and everything in between. With becomes a choice. all this being said should the free To clarify, for a person’s school lunch program continue, it’s time lunch to be free it has to meet to make adjustments to it. certain dietary criteria, which Not only will this save money, it includes taking a fruit or a vegetable. may also help the environment by Without the fruit or vegetable, reducing the amount of food waste. a student’s lunch will not be Though the free lunch program is discounted. While in theory, this bigger than simply Carmel and requirement means students will adjusting the policy may be beyond eat healthier foods, in practice, CHS’s reach, we can at least make it ends up creating more food efforts to identify what fruits and waste as students take food they vegetables are actually being eaten. don’t want to eat. Certainly, the Then, we will not have to waste disproportionate number of money on food that will have no students taking fruit or vegetables choice but to be thrown away. h and not eating then skews the cafeteria’s production records. This The views in this column do not necin turn leads to more produce essarily reflect the views of the HiLite being ordered because of a staff. Reach Arya Pinnamaneni at distorted statistic. The problem is apinnamaneni@hilite.org not with cafeteria management or the students themselves but with the policy that is in place. Requiring students to take unwanted fruits or vegetables not only generates more food waste Read a story on how CHS is but costs the school more money. working to combat excess It costs the students who choose to food waste or

long

can

carbon criminals Check out the amount of carbon emitted in metric tons by these 5 US companies 1. VISTRA ENERGY

Produces 106,510,086 CO2 metric tons per year through their coal plants. 2. DUKE ENERGY

Produces 87,140,105 CO2 metric tons per year through their energy plants, petroleum/gas systems and waste. 3. SOUTHERN COMPANY

Produces 86,244,286 CO2 metric tons per year through their energy plants, petroleum and natural gas systems. 4. BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY

Produces 74,960,726 CO2 metric tons per year through their energy plants, minerals, and other chemicals.

5. AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER

Produces 70,044,545 CO2 metric tons per year through their energy plants.

KRUTI SUBBANNAVAR GRAPHIC POLITICAL ECONOMY RESEARCH INSTITUTE SOURCES

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News Briefs DARIUSH KHURRAM BRIEFS

ARJUN PUROHIT GRAPHIC

May 22

May 25

Orchestra Banquet in freshman cafeteria

CCS Last Day Of School

May 26

Graduation Day 2022

Aug. 1-4

MAY 2022

May 30

National Memorial Day 2022

Aug. 4 & 5

CHS Registration Make-up

Aug. 11

Aug. 19

Aug. 5-8

CCS First Day of School

National Photo Day

National Events

National Smile Day

GKOM Kick Off Sessions

School Events

May 31

CHS 2022-23 Year Registration

Key

AUGUST 2022

by the numbers

days of summer break before the 2022-23 school year

Aug. 26

National Dog Day

tree planting map Ryan is environmentally conscious and wants to plant trees to save the environment. If Ryan wants to plant a tree at each point at least once, find the shortest path that lets him plant a tree at every point, with the color of each line representing its length. Key: 1 meter 2 meters 3 meters 4 meters

HILITE.ORG

club spotlight

Green Action Club SIRI SURAPANENI Q&AS

q&a

RYAN ZHANG PHOTOS

GRACE BELT SUBMITTED PHOTO

Grace Belt, Green Action Club leader and senior What have you learned from this club? The people in the Green Action Club have taught me how important it is to look at other perspectives on why people care about the environment. I may care because of one thing, but everyone has their own motive for caring for the protection of the environment, and it’s really cool learning about them.

What is an interesting event the club has done? My favorite event of ours was when we visited West Clay Elementary or when we visited Prairie Trace Elementary and talked to the kids about climate change and did some hands-on activities with them.

Why should CHS students join this club? It’s a great opportunity to meet people who are just as passionate for the environment as you are and it’s a way to interact and influence your community and environment that you won’t get otherwise.

supplying saplings: Sara Standish and Ella Lipnik, Green Action Club members and sophomores, hand out a free sapling. This is a part of the 10,000 Trees in Carmel Campaign which aims to plant more trees in Carmel

q&a

DARSHINI SHANKAR PHOTO

Carey Anderson, Green Action Club sponsor What does the Green Action Club do? We really use that word “action”. We want our voices to be heard. We also have a group we would call the education group and they did a fabulous group at West Clay Elementary. They went and presented a whole unit. You also should know we have another area where those kids are working on the city level to understand how Carmel is bringing in solar energy.

What is your club’s biggest accomplishment? 10,000 trees: Carmel City Councilor Miles Nelson works with the Green Action Club to hand out 500 trees. Nelson sponsored this event.

Earlier in the school year, the same group of children (members of the Green Action Club) met with the mayor as well. They have been advocates for the Promise Project and the Carmel Green Initiative. I’m not sure if you were aware of all the outreaches this club has done but they have put their mark definitely on the city of Carmel.

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Plant A Garden Carmel Clay Public Library offers seed packets to all library cardholders RYAN ZHANG STORY, PHOTO

ree

seed

packets

are

available to all Hamilton County library cardholders at the Carmel Clay Public Library’s (CCPL) Seed Library, located at Merchants’ Square Main Library. The seed library started at the beginning of March and closes in fall or once the seeds are all taken. The seed library has a variety of flower, herb and vegetable seeds and visitors are able to take up to 15 packets of seeds. According to CCPL librarian Susan Wylin, the CCPL partners with Master Gardeners of Hamilton County to run the seed library and to provide seeds to the community. “We purchase the seeds and they use the library space and then they put the seed library in the library here,” she said. Shelli Broadbent, Hamilton County Master Gardener who helped implement the CCPL Seed Library said the program was started several years ago after she had noticed many other libraries implementing seed libraries. “We approached Carmel Clay Public Library six years ago now, with the idea of putting in a seed library,” she said. “We offered that Master Gardeners would take care

of it. So we have volunteers that fill the packets and we continue to keep the cabinet full for the public. And the library provides our envelopes and labels.” Broadbent helped implement the CCPL Seed Library because she believed the seed library was a great way to get the community to garden whether or not they had done it before. “Seeds like to be in a cool dark place and libraries are always at a steady temperature for the books, to keep the books in good shape, so it’s a good fit there. A library is the best public resource we have out there, so

seizing the seeds: The seed library is shown here. CCPL offers various herbs and flowers for library cardholders to use. The seed library opened in March. Junior Josie Paxton said, “The seed library introduces more people to gardening.”

(seeds are) just one more resource to have to have with that. And it’s been really well received.” Broadbent said, besides serving the community, seed libraries also help the planet. “It’s a great way to help the environment,” she said. “For one thing, if everyone just planted beans for the season, there will be that many less beans that we’d have to have shipped from wherever and which cuts down on gas.” Junior Josie Paxton who does indoor gardening said she sees the merit in the CCPL Seed Library. She said the seed library provides opportunities for people to try something new. “(The seed library) introduces more people to gardening, something that is really important. It could start a new hobby for someone and I think that’s really important,” Paxton said. Paxton said she advises CHS students to try gardening. “It doesn’t hurt to try. I think that’s super important,” she said. “Even if you don’t like it, at least you’re going to have some experience with it. It’s a good skill and a good hobby to have. I mean, anybody can do it. You just follow the directions on the seed packet, h that’s what I do.”

new life Take a look at the process of “germination”, or the sprouting of a seed after being planted

BYJU SOURCE MOODY HOMSI GRAPHIC

1. The seed is planted with sufficient water and nutrients

Radicle

2. The beginnings of the roots arise from the radicle

3. The aboveground plant begins to develop

4. The original seed shell wears off and leaves grow.

HILITE.ORG

Stayin Alive AP Biology classes participate in biodiversity project KATE LOPER STORY

ver the past weeks, ap

Biology students have been working on a biodiversity project in class. For this project, students used large mason jars to create a selfsustaining ecosystem that is either aquatic or non-aquatic. Students must keep this jar alive by using their knowledge of biology to create a balanced ecosystem within it. AP Biology teacher, Daniel Marble explained this project is extremely important. “Our last unit of the year is this ecology unit,” Marble said. “We try to come up with a project because we are a part of the project-based learning (initiative), which allows students to implement and understand all the aspects of the unit in one little jar.” This project coincides with the material being observed and learned during the course. The project requires students to use their knowledge of biology to a further extent than what they may normally do in the class. Marble said students must observe biodiversity in its natural form and understand specific aspects of the concept. Chloe Winn, AP Biology student and senior, said there is a lot for students to consider.

speak-up!

ALI PERSINGER PHOTO

“How ecosystems work and what’s in (them) will affect (them). So if you have too much diversity, there will be mass extinction. If you don’t have enough, nothing is going to survive,” they said. Marble said the project has been successful so far, however, it is too early to tell if some ecosystems will fail. He said, as students observe their projects over time, many will be surprised and informed about how critical ecosystems are. “(Students often) underestimate how good organisms are at decomposing things.” Marble said. “Probably in the next couple weeks some of our little jars back there are going to start to decompose because they don’t have enough oxygen to be selfsufficient.” Although the project has had its ups and downs for students, Winn said they have enjoyed it so far. Winn said the project has furthered their existing knowledge about ecology and has allowed them to explore it in their own way outside of a textbook. They said,“I think it’s really interesting just being able to see how you can put a lot of things together from your backyard, and seeing how it all goes together.”

side by side: Two mason jar ecosystems sit side by side. Students could choose to create an aquatic or non-aquatic ecosystem. Lourdes Bengero said students should consider creating an aquarium for this project.

Lourdes Bengero, AP Biology student and senior said she enjoys the biodiversity project. She said, “(My favorite part of this project is) collecting all the specimens because I did a lot of the collection of resources for my group.” Bengero said she learned many valuable lessons during this project. “(I) learned the lesson that less is more because we put too many things in our terrarium which h caused a lot of unbalance.

What did you think about the biodiversity project?

DARIUSH KHURRAM SPEAK-UPS, PHOTOS

“The biodiversity project was really awesome because of how much effort our teacher put in for a group project for high schoolers. Even though my group didn’t particularly do well on it was still a lot of fun, and I think more teachers should do projects that are more hands on and Junior give us a better learning Hamdaan Bhat experience.”

Junior Macie DeLillo

“The biodiversity project was good. It helped us learn more about how ecosystems function by themselves. Our group thought ours was going to be really successful at first, but after some time we noticed a lot of death and mush. Regardless, it was fun to work with a group and learn about ecosystems in an interactive way.”

entertainment

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Handmade Students craft clothes for sustainability to fight against fast fashion CHRISTIAN LEDBETTER STORY, PHOTOS

enior victoria simich has

always been in the hobby of homemade goods, be it making books with their grandma or sewing as a means of expression, however, their relationship with handmade goods changed when they entered eighth grade. Then, Simich said, they started thinking more about sustainability, environmentalism and other aspects associated with handmade goods. “I think part of it is a way to preserve historic trades, but also part of it is a way to stop buying fastfashion and fast goods and resources that are obviously not sustainable. And going about my practice in a sustainable way but also to learn as well. It’s an interesting route to like, the more you do things the more you learn,” they said. Simich said fast-fashion is one of their focuses for how unsustainable and exploitative the process

can be, with particular emphasis on the lack of appreciation of the ability of human hands. “We take advantage and we take for granted the ability (of ) human hands to produce work and there are garment workers in foreign countries that spend the whole day working on something that is at the end of the day (going to) be low quality,” they said. “In reality, humans are capable of so much more than some cheap garment that is (going to) go out of fashion in a month. So I think it’s really important to accept the value of homemade goods.” Senior Sophia Boller said she agreed with the importance of homemade goods saying it was fun to have a skill that others didn’t. “Even if that is just making hats it’s important to be able to do something instead of having to rely on companies,” Boller said.

by the numbers

36%

of Americans took on a DIY project to make their living space more enjoyable

65% of DIYers will pay more to get their hands on more sustainable materials

COMFY LIVING SOURCE

The speed of fast fashion companies touched upon by Simich is often a point of criticism for the industry. According to an article from Vox, fast-fashion company Zara typically introduces more than 20 different collections a year, with social media orientated ultra fast-fashion companies like Fashion Nova moving 600 to 900 new styles every week. This level of production leads the fast fashion industry to produce 706 million tons of greenhouse gases a year and, according to an article from the New York Times, exploitation of workers, as Fashion Nova was investigated by the department of labor in 2019 for underpaying employees. According to Tiffany Shannon, fashion and textiles teacher, the average American wastes a lot of clothing. She said via email, “The average American discards 85% of textiles (that are then placed) in the landfills or burned.” Simich said though sustainability hadn’t always been a factor when they started knitting 10 years ago, it has become a large focus in their work. “I am someone that likes to say I try to be very connected to the earth and people around me and relationships and connections and all that so I find that when I can live my life sustainably I find that it connects me more to that and I find that it makes me happy,” Simmich said. “But then also, it’s for simple stitch: Senior Sophia Boller stitches a half crochet for her hat. Boller said it was a fairly easy stitch once she learned it.

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leave it to the birds Learn how to make a bird feeder with recycled materials How to:

Materials/tools: s-hook

2) Puncture holes with awl and insert perch sticks

polyurethane glue bird feed 2-liter plastic bottle

utility knife awl perch sticks

the purpose of educating other people and, yeah, it’s on big companies. Big companies, big businesses are at the fault of pollution, but also, I think that as consumers we need to be mindful of what we’re doing. So that’s kind of important to me, consumer education.” And Shannon said consumers are being more conscious. According to Shannon, fashion has continued to evolve at a quick pace. A pace that also includes sustainability. “If you scroll on TikTok or Instagram, consumers are getting more creative with recycled garments by redesigning them to their preferences,” she said. Boller, who crochets, said that learning how to create and adapt clothing isn’t much of a commitment and uses YouTube to learn new techniques. “It does anger you at first because it’s a lot of trial and error and, especially for me, I’m left-handed and there’s only videos of righthanded people (doing) crocheting, so I had to learn everything backwards which isn’t that fun, but once you get the hang of it it’s not really hard at all,” she said. “It takes a bit of practice but again its nothing you really have to commit to so just try it. If you like it that’s great and if you don’t, well, you wasted five dollars.”

1) Attach s-hook to bottle cap with polyurethane glue

helpful hat: Senior Sophia Boller crochets a hat. Boller said the hat was an order from a friend that she had been meaning to complete. Boller makes items like these very frequently.

4) Slowly fill bottle with bird seed and hang

3) Cut feeding ports (1/4-1/2 inches wide) 1-2 inches above perches

Simich said that consumers are not at fault for pollution and shouldn’t be expected to “pick up the slack” of companies; however, that is not an excuse to continue harmful habits and consumers must be conscious of how their daily decisions impact the environment. They said, “At the end of the day the more people that are (practicing sustainability) the better we h are as a society.”

Total time: I hour Skill level: beginner GRACE GUO GRAPHIC THE SPRUCE SOURCE

“Even if that is just making hats it’s important to be able to do something instead of having to rely on companies.” SENIOR SOPHIA BOLLER

MAY 20, 2022

Racing with Fashion People should stop supporting fast-fashion companies with negative environmental impact, start supporting small businesses AVERY CARLISLE COLUMN

the products that the small busitarting in middle school nesses don’t have. Those factors, I would always see the girls in return, lead to more customers. posting clothing hauls from These struggling small businesses sites including Shein or Zaful and I then lose multiple customers to would get so jealous that they were the thriving environmentally unfinding the latest trends and getting friendly companies who take credit so many items for such a cheap price. for their work, which is unfair and Now I realize those cheap prices acshould be stopped. tually come with a bigger cost: the While some may realize the harm decline of our planet’s health. Not sites like Shein cause to people and only do these fast-fashion brands treat the environment, many others igemployees and consumers poorly, but nore those facts and only think of they are also one of the many these websites as places that causes of the environmensell affordable, cute and tal issues us and future trendy clothing. But generations have to fast-fashion brands deal with. produce mass Recently on amounts of items TikTok, I’ve for their customseen many small ers, this also means business ownunhappy, often uners complaining derpaid, employees that fast-fashion in large factories, a brands are stealdelay the slay lot of environmening their clothing tally unfriendly designs and ideas fabric dyeing, and excessive usage and trying to sell them as their of water because these factories use own. The fast fashion companies cotton as their number-one matesell these products for less money rial. Fabric dyes alone contain many since they have the large factories harsh chemicals that can pollute waand the cheap materials to make

by the numbers

15%

of fabric used in the garment production process is wasted

BILLION cubic meters of water were used in 2015 to aid the Fast Fashion industry

35%

of all microplastics are produced as a result of fast fashion EARTH SOURCE

terways instantly. The mistreatment and pollution of our environment’s water through fast-fashion companies will only increase the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere. According to an article by Princeton Student Climate Initiative (PSCI) titled “The Impact of Fast Fashion on the Environment,” if the fast fashion industry continues to be as popular as it is today, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to rise 50% within the next decade. An increase in greenhouse gasses will continue to affect the change in climate which will automatically affect our world and community’s health. As people support these affordable sites, they unwittingly also support the decline in Earth’s health. Buying from these companies and supporting them in any way will only contribute to the decline of our planet’s health, socially and physically. Even though the trendy items may be cheap, they are not coming from good places as the materials used and the factories making them only make the world a worse place than it already is. h

fast facts on fashion Take a look at effects, data of Fast Fashion 70% of clothing is donated to Africa from global donations

Of the clothing produced globally, 80% ends up in a landfill or incarcerated $24 Trillion is the estimated net worth of the global fashion industry (2016)

The average Ethiopian garment maker receives $26 a month

In 2014, over 100 billion garments were produced in America for the first time

2020 $31 billion

RILEY LAFERRIERE GRAPHIC CNN, STATISTICA SOURCES

estimated growth: global fast 2025 fashion market value $40 billion

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Public Life As public figures become more prominent in student’s lives, we should review their impact on environmentalism

ARYA PINNAMANENI COLUMN

hard to find the voices that matter 21st century many among all the noise. This only fursocial issues and reforms thers the savior narrative of somehave surfaced. Public one who is infinitely more privifigures, from billionaires to actors, leged acting as the main speaker for have spoken about these issues and an issue, which ignores the impact taken a stance on them. However, of those readily involved. with the incorporation of social This is especially true with celebmedia, their involvement may be a rity environmental activism. Clidetriment to social reform. mate change and the environment When public figures or celebare hot topics right now, with so rities address social issues in the many young people becoming inmedia, many social issues become creasingly worried about the future temporary trends. Social media is of their climate. Celebribuilt to hold your attenties often have a wide tion, allowing viewers influence, especially to switch between over a young audiwhatever they find ence which influmost interesting. ences the popular Although there culture arena. The are some successinfluence of this ful social media group of people advocates such as means celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio, to cater to most public figures acting activism need them, often by fall short when it showcasing a cercomes to activism. tain “care” for the environment. Simply posting about a social isHowever, the use of such activsue to build awareness has oversatuism, purely for fame purposes, esrated social media with that issue, tablished a narrative of “performagiving it much exposure momentive activism.” People get farther tarily. However, the value of the soaway from the root of the issue, cial issue is simply associated with and more misinformation is spread the celebrity endorsing it. Once through high-status figures who the celebrity moves onto a new fad, may not be completely educated on the issue loses its relevance despite climate change issues, but do have the many people who are still afa wide platform. fected by it, and the issue eventualIf celebrities or public figures ly becomes irrelevant in the public would like to support a social issue eye. Viewers soon get tired of interthey should first educate themselves acting and move on. It becomes a on it. If they then post on social memicrotrend not too different from dia they should do so over the course the trends of fast fashion. of a long time rather than momenCelebrity posting overshadows tarily this will cement the issue as a the advocates’ voices within these long-standing one that needs reform, movements who are more educated rather than a momentary trend. and experienced on current social As a viewer you should be aware issues. Due to the celebrities’ larger of celebrities posting about social sphere of influence, it becomes he

celebrity support Look at some celebrity-based organizations for climate change activism Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

Led by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, this organization has funded over 80 million dollars for over 200 projects around all continents and oceans. The Solutions Project

Actor Mark Ruffalo is one of the board directors of The Solutions Project. This project aims to bring clean energy and support climate justice. Ian Somerhalder Foundation

Actor Ian Somerhalder aims to use his foundation to empower people that can positively impact the environment. THE SOLUTIONS PROJECT, THE LEONARDO DICAPRIO FOUNDATION, THE AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION SOURCES KENT FUJITA GRAPHIC

Scan this QR code to look at some different celebrities who are climate activists

issues and firstly educate yourself. As well as finding more credible voices on the subject and hearing what they have to say. In doing so this helps the longevity of social issues and increases their relevance in h the public eye.

did you know? Leonardo DiCaprio is a public figure who has used his popularity to support efforts against climate change. He founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and is on other boards to stop climate change. WORLD WILD LIFE SOURCE

cover

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In environmentally cautious efforts, students increasingly use sustainable alternatives rather than single-use plastics, trash JILLIAN MOORE STORY

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not just water under the bridge Learn about water pollutants and how to prevent them Human pollutants: Pollutants originating from human behavior, frequently littered trash, waste and nonrenewable energy usage

Agricultural pollution: One of the most frequent pollutants, encompassing runoff and fertilizer contaminating water sources

ecently,

students

con-

sidering their carbon footprint have turned to a growing movement: sustainable alternatives to daily products. This means using ethically sourced, renewable products with low negative environmental impacts in their day-to-day lives, instead of singleuse plastics and nonrecyclables. Senior Maanya Rajesh, co-President of Green Action Club, said more people should become aware of sustainable alternatives and demonstrate their preference for green products by buying them. “It’s really important to know what you are consuming and where it’s coming from. Because of our purchasing power as consumers we can really control what’s in the market. Really being aware of what we are buying, that can allow sustainable products to enter the market,” Rajesh said. She is not alone in her view; AP Environmental Science teacher Tammy Keilman said people vote with their money when they buy sustainable products. She said, “The more people demand and purchase (sustainable products), the more those companies can grow and word gets out that’s what people are wanting.” According to freshman Aayush Singh, the breakdown of singleuse plastics in our environment

by the numbers

30.5

MILLION TONS of plastic containers and packaging are added to landfills yearly

53.9% of container and packaging waste and plastics were recycled in the U.S.

3.1

MILLION TONS of glass containers, including beer and soft drink containers, recycled in 2018 EPA SOURCE

and the negative effects of storing waste can be seen indirectly in a lot more places than overcrowded landfills or oceans. He said the science behind climate change often connects phenomena to each other in ways we might not notice, for example disposable waste and skies with less visible stars than ever. “We already know about global warming and all that stuff. But think about even things many people wouldn’t even think about, like light pollution,” he said. “Astronomers are finding it increasingly hard to find places to put their ground based telescopes because you need a truly dark night sky and there are only a few places in the world where you can actually get that dark of a night sky.” According to an environmental psychology study published in not so sus: Many products, such as those to the right are made with sustainable materials. Freshman Aayush Singh warns against taking this at surface level due to greenwashing. MAGGIE MEYER PHOTO MADDIE MISTERKA PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

November 2020 by Frontiers in Psychology, teenagers are more inclined to value environmental behaviors such as recycling, purchasing sustainably marketed products and travel in more environmentally friendly ways. These values were evaluated as significant to one’s “personal norms,” causing environmentallyconscious individuals to consider sustainability as a more serious issue than others. Following this notion, Rajesh said she would advise people to spend more money now to reap the environmental benefits later. While her thoughts on using government spending to prevent light pollution seems like a monumental process, students should be aware that buying reusable grocery bags,

Nonpoint source pollution: The most difficult type of pollution to locate and address because it comes from no distinct sources and having varying levels of contamination. Typically this pollution is blamed on the runoff of pipes and stormwater. Surface Water: 60% of water used is surface water and nearly half of the surface water sources are polluted to the point of being deemed unfit for swimming fishing and having unfit nutrients to support life

straws, water bottles and more might not only save their money, but in addition, their individual actions could also contribute to creating environmental change. “(Sustainable products) are getting to a point where we’re also going to see higher prices for things, so often sustainable alternatives can be more expensive. But it’s really important to invest in those types of things, because even though the upfront cost of, let’s say buying a water bottle, might be more than just a plastic water bottle, in the long run you’re going to save a lot of money,” Rajesh said. “I think a big thing (in promoting sustainability) is social media,”

MADDIE MISTERKA GRAPHIC NRDC SOURCE

30 Read a story on everyday school waste within the caferteria and how students work to decrease the environmental footprint

Keilman said. “If you pay attention, I’ve been seeing a lot more sustainable products being advertised and trending, and I think that’s a great indicator people are looking for ways to improve their (environmental) footprint.” However, companies can use greenwashing to describe products as good for the environment when they actually have a negative impact. Environmentalist Jay

a major (micro)plastic problem Learn about how we consume microplastics The average number of microplastic particles found per gram/liter/cubed m Bottled Water

94.37

Beer Air Tap Water Seafood

32.27 9.8 4.24 1.48

Over time, one plastic bottle breaks down into 10,000+ microplastic particles

The average person consumes between 74,000 CHENYAO LIU GRAPHIC and 121,000 microplastic particles per year GREENMATCH, STATISTA SOURCES

Westervelt coined the term greenwashing, also known as green sheen, in the 1980s, after observing hotels left signs asking patrons to reuse towels, claiming the hotels wanted to save water, whereas in reality, the hotels practiced many wasteful environmental actions and by reusing towels the hotels saved money and labor for the company. Singh said greenwashing is most easily avoided by doing research on the company’s policies. Many “green” terms are loosely defined, so he advises customers of these products to take sustainable marketing labels with a grain of salt. “It’s most important to do your research (on a products and a company’s practices) because a lot of people will just buy anything that says, ‘We are sustainable,’ when in reality it could be .00001% sustainable or maybe not even at all more sustainable,” Singh said. “So really, the most important thing is just to do your research to see what are the most sustainable and helpful objects, products and stuff.” Rajesh said food products can also have disastrous environmental impacts, though people don’t think about it often. She added vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian diets, or even choosing not to eat meat on a certain day of the week, can

M AY 2 0 , 2 0 2 2

>> print from food intake.

greatly reduce one’s carbon foot-

“Vegan meats, vegetarian meats, there’s a lot out there. And even if that’s not something you’re really interested in, you never have to go cold turkey or completely make a switch. But just making a conscious effort of eating and making an effort to monitor that and be aware of what you are consuming (is important),” she said. Keilman said she agreed many modern food products can harm the environment, and pointed out the waste that comes with packaging; Keilman herself uses a Soda Stream to avoid wasting plastic bottles. She also said using reusable containers for food can help the environment by eliminating food waste, because people can save leftovers and avoid using disposable containers. “We compost, and we recycle, and we do all that,” Keilman said. “I have recently purchased a bunch of silicon bags, so we have completely gotten rid of all plastic, single-use plastic. That was a very big move because (people normally) don’t realize how much it’s embedded, grabbing that Ziploc bag or that piece of foil.” Singh said a good way to use less disposable plastics is to buy sustainable options at lunch, or bring food in reusable containers. He said the waste (these products) produce should be a factor in students’ decisions when it comes to school lunches and packaging.

“Personally, I’ve tried to stop using plastic when I get food at lunch. Normally, I used to get just the little plastic baggie of carrots and I’ve tried to get less of the plastic items at lunch because I realize that buying those every single day leads to much more waste than if I just brought my lunch or used the items that weren’t single use plastics in the lunch line,” Singh said. Rajesh agrees, adding harmful environmental practices disproportionally affect minority demographics as well as affecting our air quality. She said avoiding meat is a great way to reduce one’s personal environmental impact. “When you’re shopping there are a couple different icons you can look at on products (to see if they have met different sustainability and safety tests),” Rajesh said. “A lot of ‘sustainable products’ are fake products or don’t have official licensing, so checking your products is really important

Scan this to watch a TED Talk by environmentalist Hayley Higdon on the “zerowaste lifestyle” and hear her tips on becoming more sustainable

to (be more environmentally conscious with your purchases).” Additionally, Rajesh said she recognized there are issues surrounding how products, specifically food products, are produced. She said, “A lot of these fast food chains—and where they’re sourcing their meat—it’s from very bad conditions that put a lot of methane into the environment, which is (around) 10 times worse than carbon dioxide. A lot of times those are also disproportionately affecting minority communities, people of color.” Singh said the air pollution mentioned by Rajesh is especially an issue in other countries. Moreover, 42% of U.S. adults, according to a survey by Pew Research Center in Jan. 2022, believe global climate change should be a top priority for the Biden administration. “If you just look in a random place in maybe New Delhi or Beijing, you’ll see something with a

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Climate change is all around us. You can just look anywhere and see the effects of (our actions on the environment).

did you know? In 2015, the United Nations outlined 17 “Sustainable Development Goals” for nations to achieve by 2030 to improve the environment as well as acknowledging poverty, health and education of individuals to strengthen the possibility of a sustainable future UNITED NATIONS SOURCE

999 score for the global carbon scoring, for how much carbon is in the atmosphere, which is considered hazardous. Not even unhealthy, hazardous,” Singh said. “Climate change is all around us. You can just look anywhere and see the effects of that.” As intersectional environmental activist Leah Thomas said, “We can’t save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people, especially those most often unheard.” Keilman agrees, stating that preventing climate change re-

quires a global effort. She said she wanted Carmel students to pay attention, take action and make changes to their individual actions in order to help the environment to the best of their ability. She said she recommended bringing lunches, using a reusable water bottle and buying shampoo and conditioner in bars instead of plastic bottles. Singh said while we should hold ourselves accountable for our carbon footprint, we must also take action to stop environmental harm at the source, by demanding green policies from big companies. “I think it’s more transparency about the policies that companies do. So if you just have a company doing everything by themselves, not letting the public know, then they can do a lot of shady things that are really bad for the environment without any repercussions,”

(no)rganic: In order for produce to be deemed certified organic, the produce has to have been grown on soil that has had zero prohibited substances applied for at least three years prior to harvest. The prohibited substances are synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Also, 3 out of 4 conventional grocery stores have organic produce. USDA SOURCE

tests aren’t just for school kids: Depending on the type of food being produced, different requirements are needed. For meat and poultry requires the animals to have living conditions accommodating their natural behaviors, like being able to graze on a pasture, `and fed 100% organic feed.

FRESHMAN AAYUSH SINGH he said. “So really letting the public and the government be able to have at least somewhat of an insightful view on what the companies are doing will greatly help sustainability and really force the companies to use sustainable practices.” Rajesh said the transition to sustainable products is a long process for most students. Just replacing disposable items with renewable ones over time, participating in meatless Mondays or refusing to buy clothes from unsustainable companies like Shein can have a big impact on the movement to keep our planet safe and clean. Rajesh said, “It can be really overwhelming at first, but just try to choose one aspect of your life and make that as sustainable as possible. Let’s say I’m going to decide that I’m going to focus on my clothing, try to make that as sustainable as possible. You don’t have to go sustainable overnight, or become zero waste overnight because that’s really hard to do. But start at a small portion and eventually you can try to build on that, and really make a huge difference.” h

student section

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Green Thumb Students, teacher enjoy benefits of gardening

EDDIE SUN STORY aswat

una,

amateur

gardener and sophomore, said he enjoys gardening as a fun hobby. “I got into gardening from my grandparents; at a young age, I would help them garden everyday during summer for hours at a time,” Una said. “After those fun experiences with my grandparents I decided to do it with my family every year and time we could. We planted many vegetables in our backyard and flowers in the front yard.” Una said he gardens at least twice a year with his family and finds gardening very peaceful and fun. “I feel happy when I garden. It reminds me of my grandparents as they are not living with me,” Una said. According to GreenMatters, gardens are important to the planet because, despite being humanmade, they represent a natural environment. Plants in gardens take in carbon and release oxygen. The roots of these plants stabilize the soil and filter water. Junior Natasha Tikhomirova said she got into gardening out of curiosity and continued because she enjoyed it. “I got into gardening because one day, I wanted to plant an apple tree. I thought it would be a good idea because, in the long run, you can save money,” Tikhomirova said. “However, I only thought of that during the winter, and didn’t think I could get a tree that would survive the cold. So, I had to wait for spring. During that time, I did a lot of research, which led to me wanting to get more plants, like flowers, vegetables, and some other fruit trees.” Tikhomirova said there were many positives to gardening.

by the numbers

55% of American households engage in gardening

80%

of people grow their own fruits and vegetables GARDEN PALS, GLOBAL NEWS WIRE SOURCES

NATASHA TIKHOMIROVAVA SUBMITTED PHOTO

“When it comes to gardening and the environment, there are some really positive benefits (to it). For example, concerning the environment, you can plant something like a tree, or a lot of different other plants, that can produce oxygen. Although you will only help in reducing little carbon dioxide in the air and putting out more oxygen, a little goes a long way,” Tikhomirova said. “Also, another benefit to the environment is the compost of different materials. While making a compost pile, you can decrease the amount of waste you throw away in the trash daily.” Kara House, AP Environmental Science teacher, said gardening is a beneficial hobby and good pastime that anyone can enjoy.

“One benefit of gardening would be that we’re sourcing (food) locally, so that’s reducing all sorts of things including transportation costs, packaging, shipping, etc. Environmentally speaking, buying local stuff is better because we are reducing emissions and having control over knowing exactly where our food comes from,” House said. Tikhomirova said gardening is a way for her to decompress and enjoy nature while also improving the environment. “I garden as much as I can,” Tikhomirova said. “During the weekends, I always find time to garden, but during the week, it’s up to how busy I am in school. I find (gardening) very enjoyable, as it is a relaxing hobby.” h

garden girl: Junior Natasha Tikhomirova poses in front of her self-made garden. Tikhomirova said, “I got into gardening because one day, I wanted to plant an apple tree. I thought it would be a good idea because, in the long run, you can save money.”

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GAC to the Future Members of Green Action Club address ever-changing environment, climate change MARYAM HAFEEZ STORY

unior gracie belt, one of the

co-President’s of Green Action Club (GAC), considers herself an environmental activist. “I’m one of the founding members of Green Action Club,” Belt said. “We created the club to create a place where students who care about the climate are able to connect and work together.” According to Belt, students in the club work on numerous projects to help the environment. “At Green Action Club, we work to educate our community and produce local change in our community’s environment,” she said. “We collaborate with local groups and politicians to try and further our goals for the climate. We aim to educate others about the climate emergency and take action to slow the climate crisis.”

RYAN ZHANG PHOTO

Ella Yates, member of GAC, said she agreed with Belt. “GAC members join projectbased groups within the club, like community outreach or tree planting, which allows them to make a difference in an area of sustainability that interests them,” Yates said. “(We) aim to actively spread awareness and promote change in our community to have a positive impact on the environment. We encourage members to have their voices heard and interact with leaders in the community.” Yates said the variety of initiatives taken by GAC allows the club to have an important impact. “Because of the different groups within the club, GAC represents many different parts of environmental activism. GAC organizes several events and programs

grow trees: Sophomore Sara Standish picks up a tree sapling Green Action Club was giving out tree saplings as a part of city councilor Miles Nelson’s 10,000 Trees in Carmel Campaign. “This year, I’m proud to say that GAC helped hand out 1,000 tree saplings to members of the community as part of Miles Nelson’s 10,000 Trees in Carmel Campaign,” Ella Yates, member of GAC and senior, said.

throughout the year like Trick-orTrash or Lights Drive. This year, I’m proud to say that GAC helped hand out 1,000 tree saplings to members of the community as part of Miles Nelson’s 10,000 Trees in Carmel Campaign.” she said. Belt said she was inspired to become an environmental activist after learning about the severity of the climate crisis. “I first got interested in issues about the climate in middle school when I learned about how dire the climate crisis truly is. The threat climate change poses on our future really inspired me to be more active in my own community.” she said. Belt said that she has been able to find a community of like-minded peers at GAC. “I love being able to connect with so many different passionate individuals,” Belt said, “and talk to them about why they care about the climate crisis.” According to Belt, GAC is making a difference in the community. “We make a difference by inspiring others to join our cause and help the earth with us,” she said. “Community action is stronger than individual (action) and I think we’re able to be more effective in progressing towards our goals together.” For Yates, seeing the real-world impacts of her and her co-members’ work is the most rewarding aspect of being in GAC. “My favorite thing about GAC is feeling so rewarded when I can see mine and my peers’ hard work create concrete changes that will have a lasting impact on our world,” she said. “This club is truly great if you want to make a difference and have a fun time doing it.” h

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Shift to Thrifts Students, teachers consider environmental implications of thrifting

LORNA DING STORY

by the numbers

has been thrifting since she was three years old. Thrifting, which first became popular during the Great Depression, is the process of shopping at stores that sell secondhand clothing. “It’s basically buying clothes that people don’t want anymore or upcycling. When we started thrifting, it was because we used to be kind of poor so we needed thrift clothes, but now we just do it because it’s a habit,” Hu said. Hu said thrifting is not only a cheaper way to buy clothes, but it is also more environmentally friendly. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of clothing thrown away has doubled from six million tons to 13 million tons in the past 20 years. Hu said, “Thrifting really has a positive impact on the environment because you’re not buying new materials, and you’re giving clothes that would’ve been thrown away by its original owner a new life.” Advanced Fashion teacher Judy Fisher said she agreed with Hu. However, she said thrifting is not a flaw-

less solution to the amount of textile waste people produce. “The good part of thrifting is that it prolongs the life of a fabric and it allows the person who thrifted it to not be buying something new,” Fisher said. “The negative is that, eventually, it still becomes part of our trash that gets thrown away and the garbage that is piling up in the environment everywhere that may or may not disintegrate over time.” Similarly, Junior Olivia “Liv” Pishkur said it can be easy to overbuy clothes when thrifting. “Although thrifting is beneficial (for the environment), overbuying is still (something people should be careful about),” Pishkur said. “Especially because everything is so cheap, it’s easy to buy a lot of stuff all at once and you don’t wear it six months later and it’s sitting in your closet and you end up getting rid of it again.” To avoid overbuying, Hu said people should be more mindful of buying what is necessary and set certain limits. She said, “Pick out five pieces that you like and try them on, see which one you like the most and

humans of CHS

What are your summer plans?

ophomore christine hu

Senior David Janeczko “I plan on going to my girlfriend’s parents’ wedding in June, and then later this summer we’re going to Florida with my family where my sister is staying, and then getting ready for my freshman year at Purdue Fort Wayne, and moving in and buying all the specific things I need for my dorm. I think we’re going to Clearwater, Fla., it will be really nice.”

16%

of Americans shop at thrift stores every year

thousand resale, consignment, and Non For Profit resale shops in the United States

20% of the retail price is taken down every 30 days NARTS.ORG SOURCE

pick two to avoid overbuying. Make sure to look through everything because you might not always find something you like at first glance.” Pishkur said she shared Hu’s views. She said people often overlook how much time it takes to thrift. “One time, my mom was running errands and I was like, ‘Okay, I kind of need new clothes so just drop me off,’ and she texted me two hours later and asked if I was done, and I told her, ‘Almost,’” Pishkur said. “(It takes time) because you have to see if there’s staining or if there are rips or trying to find your size and stuff.” Fisher said many students will alter the garments after thrifting; however, she said there are challenges that come with altering clothes. “A lot of my students will change (the clothes they find) and either update the fashion, make it fit them better, or (create) a different style out of the garments. But let’s say it’s something that has several buttons and you want to match a button, but you may not be able to find a similar button, so then you have to consider the cost of buy-

Freshman Savneet Dulay “So I have two jobs, one at Indiana’s Humane Society and then the job that I already have as a server. I am also going to be taking two classes. I am going to retake Algebra 2 semester one and do summer PE. I am not really going on vacation.”

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trash to treasure Learn about items you can buy at thrift stores where to buy them

CAROLINE JUST GRAPHIC GOODWILL, GOOGLE MAPS SOURCES

Carmel may be big but you can easily find thrift stores near you. The most popular: Goodwill at 1122 Keystone Way and Amanda’s Exchange at 715 East Carmel Drive. Go shop clean!

While most people associate thrift stores with clothing and shoes a lot of stores also have furniture on sale too. Chairs, tables, lamps, sofa’s and more can be found inside various thrift stores

ing all new buttons to put into that too,” Fisher said. Despite these challenges, Hu said she encourages people to go thrifting and donate clothes to thrift stores. “When people thrift, they always think it’s old stuff and it’s not always good quality, but if you look hard enough, there’s actually pretty nice stuff. I have this sweater that I really like and it’s from the ‘90s or something,” Hu said. “Other than thrifting, we also donate our clothes to thrift stores when we grow out of them. In-

32 Read a story on page 32 about the Green Action Club’s climate action plan, their current progress on the project and their hopes for the future

Of course, fashion can be found inside a thrift store. Clothing of any size, shape, or value are hidden within the hangers. Thrift shopping for clothes is cleaner, cheaper, and easier

stead of throwing clothes away, other people in need can wear them.” On the other hand, Pishkur said thrifting is more of a personal choice. “Thrifting is not for everyone, but if you are trying to save money and benefit the environment and you’re not grossed out by other people owning clothing before you, then that’s something people should do,” Pishkur said. “It’s easy, it’s convenient, and it definitely helps people give their clothes for a different purpose other than throwing it away.”

Ultimately, Fisher said people should be more mindful of what happens when they throw away old clothes and consider thrifting as an alternative option. Fisher said, “I think when consumers become more aware of what happens to their actual fabrics after they’ve discarded their garments, they start to think, ‘Oh, that’s one more piece that’s going into our trash pile that is going to hurt the Earth. I would rather buy something h better for the environment.’”

HIBBA MAHMOOD, MATTHEW DU SPEAK-UPS, PHOTOS

Sophomore Lily Perkins

Junior Matthew Wagner

“Over the summer I am going to California for two weeks and I’m going to do a lot of surfing and hanging out on the beach. After that I am probably going to go somewhere in Wisconsin to visit family. I am very excited to travel and get to experience warm weather and not worry about school. ”

“I plan to play hockey, get a job and have fun up at the lake with my friends. I plan to hang out with my family and jet ski at Lake Wawasee, and volunteer with my friends in order to get community service hours. I am excited to hang out with my friends and just chill outside in the warmth.”

feature

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Suburban Sprawl Students, city officials discuss effects of suburban expansion on environment

SAM HAWKINS, ROYCE BROWN STORY paradox of modern life

is how many people move away from cities to come closer to nature. Often, those people end up moving into suburbs, where space is more abundant and properties encompass more land for grass, trees and gardens. This phenomenon of spacing is called “suburban sprawl,” and, ironically, it often has negative environmental effects. Carmel, which has been named the top city in America to live in by several organizations in recent years, has consistently received positive ratings from both locals and visitors alike. However, as more people move to Carmel and the climate crisis continues to worsen, Carmel’s leaders are working to address the city’s growing environmental footprint. One side effect of suburban sprawl is the widening of roads to accommodate a growing population. Marianne Cadio, architecture intern at Studio M, Carmel Mayor’s Youth Council (CMYC) member and senior, said big roads that characterize suburban areas like Carmel cause a plethora of issues. “So I find that large roads tend to encourage not only faster driv-

CHENYAO LIU PHOTOS

ing which can cause more accidents, but because they’re so large, they increase the number of cars that will take those roads, causing not only air pollution, but noise pollution,” Cadio said. “Bats, for example, have trouble finding their way home because of the noise pollution caused by huge roads.” Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said the issue of suburban sprawl is nothing new in America. “Well I think it’s important to look at (suburban sprawl) in a historical context,” Brainard said. “We’ve built cities that were walkable for thousands of years and then finally in 1946, months after World War II, for the first time over 25% of all households owned a car. So we started to then, for the last 75 years, design our cities for cars and not people.” Brainard emphasized city design as a major component to a successful city. “Everything goes back to city design,” he said. “There’s a shortage of workers today. How do we compete against places with mountains, oceans and better weather? Well, you do it through building beautiful cities. Because if you don’t, the

KRUTI SUBBANNAVAR PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

by the numbers

52%

of Americans describe their community as suburban AMERICAN HOUSING SURVEY SOURCE in between:

In this drone photo, suburban houses are spread out with lots of space in between. This pattern has resulted in a rapid expansion of suburbs into rural land.

best and brightest employees will go somewhere else, then our companies won’t be able to expand here, we won’t be able to attract new companies and eventually the city will start spiraling downhill.” That design, according to Brainard, includes providing ways to reduce automobile traffic. For example, to attract more people, Brainard said that Carmel has significantly increased walkability and bike paths. “We have built about 250 miles of bike paths now,” Brainard said. “So even in large subdivisions (within the city), people can ride their bikes downtown.” Emily Slade, also a Studio M intern, CYMC member and senior, said she agreed with Brainard and said Carmel has started working toward increasing walkability. “Carmel right now is promoting the idea that you can easily get from your house to work to groceries, and you never really have to use a car. You can kind of see that in Midtown with the new apartment complex right next to Kroger, and then there’s a bunch of office buildings,” she said. “It makes it easier to live without a car on a day-today basis. I know that I generally do use a car, but I wouldn’t have to, because I do live so close.” According to Brainard, the city also puts certain requirements on developments to address environmental issues. “When a developer proposes a new neighborhood, part of our process is having one of our urban foresters looking at every tree and requiring developers to plant, in most cases, hundreds of trees,” he said. “Go look at IU North Hospital and you will see literally hundreds of trees on the property simply because the city required it.” Additionally, Brainard said the city is establishing more green spaces.

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green space Take a look to see what suburban sprawl looks like in Carmel and how it impacts the environment. Due to the increasing popularity of suburbs, more are built every year, pushing these communities further away from the city.

Due to high demands, many things are standardized (such as home plans for communities), leading to use of more chemicals to make products quicker and pleasing.

As communities go further away from the main cities, many people depend on their automobiles to travel short distances, which increases the carbon footprint.

As cities expand into rural areas, they start pushing forests further away to make space for homes and communities to be built.

Lawns pose a huge problem as they cause a lot of chemical run off into rivers and require meticulous care. The usage of lawn mowers lets off increased carbon as well.

BRITANNICA, THE ORGANIZATION FOR WORLD PEACE SOURCES

“We’re acquiring as much green space as we can, particularly in the urban areas,” he said. “We are expanding our Japanese Garden right now. We also bought four buildings and tore them down and are turning it into a green space in the denser area of downtown.” Cadio said she acknowledged how the city has taken action to preserve the environment. However, she said there is still room for improvement. “(Brainard) is very much into being environmentally conscious… but that doesn’t change the fact that the suburbs can be very bad for the environment,” Cadio said. “But I do think the city is doing good things for the environment.” Environmentalism and suburban sprawl can be affected by architecture. Slade and Cadio said multi-family and multi-purpose buildings are a large part of Studio M’s work in Carmel. “(Mixed-use development) is basically where you have apartments and condos in the top level

(of a building) and business on the bottom, which is the main goal of Carmel right now, to build up the downtown area and create more multi-family so that they can increase the walkability of the area,” Slade said. “I’m actually really happy to be doing that.” On the other hand, given suburban residents’ current dependence on cars, Cadio said, “the more stories you have in a building, the more parking spaces you’re going to need.” Additionally, Cadio said businesses, more than families, are very much concerned with using solar energy. However, environmentally-friendly building materials can be more expensive, which deters businesses from using them, according to Slade. Overall, Slade and Cadio both said they feel Carmel is moving in a more environmentally conscious direction. “If you want to change (things), definitely attend city council meetings; they’re open to the public,” Cadio said. “It’s really easy to find

by the numbers

50% of household greenhouse gas emissions are emitted by suburbs in the United States

93%

of households in the U.S have the ability to own at least one car THE ZEBRA, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOURCE

out their schedule, just go to the Carmel city government website.” Furthermore, even if individuals can’t personally end suburban sprawl, Slade said people can help counteract its effects by walking and biking as much as possible. Brainard said that although Carmel will move to a more environmentally conscious city, changing the suburbs completely is not the solution. Instead, Brainard proposed improving the developments that already exist is the best way to tackle environmental issues that affect Carmel citizens. “I think as we continue to develop this country, we need to think about neighborhood nodes, access to neighborhood centers, better bike paths and better traffic planning,” he said. “It’s not so much that we will redo what we built the last 50, 60 or 70 years. It’s thinking about when something is going to be built on, how can we do a better job at it than h we did in past years.”

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Waste Not Student, staff discuss implications, solutions to school food waste LORNA DING, ARYA PINNAMANENI STORY

fter buying her lunch

on a daily basis, sophomore Nancy Zhang said she noticed a disturbing amount of waste in the trash cans. “Every day, I see unopened food or just half-eaten food in the trash as well as tons of plastic waste in the trash,” Zhang said. “I’ve seen full vegetable containers thrown away as well as three-fourths of an entree being thrown away. I’ve basically seen everything been thrown away at least once, which is a huge problem because greenhouse emissions are rapidly increasing and climate change is obviously occurring.” What Zhang observed has been seen across the country. According to a study at Penn State University, American school cafeterias produce more food waste than other developed countries with food waste ranging from 27% to 53% of total food served. In fact, custodian Louise Bracken said the school has continued to produce an alarming amount of waste in cafeterias. “There’s always been substantial food waste in the cafeterias,” Bracken said. “It’s always been lots of whatever they’re cooking that day. We always see a ton of sandwiches, pizza, pretzels, foods, salads—you name it (and) it goes in the trash.” Zhang said she thinks the school’s requirement to include at least one vegetable or fruit for a free lunch has exacerbated the amount of food waste. “When people take things that they don’t want to eat (in order to get a free lunch), they’ll likely throw it away. I’ve seen whole fruits and vegetables just thrown away in the trash without even being touched,” Zhang said. Food service manager Holly Huepenbecker-Hull said while cafete-

ZOE TU PHOTOS

When people take things that they don’t want to eat, they’ll likely throw it away. I’ve seen whole fruits and vegetables just thrown away in the trash without even being touched. SOPHOMORE NANCY ZHANG ria workers try to minimize the food waste produced, there are challenges. “We keep production records every day of everything that we make, and we write down the number of everything we have, everything we have left and if it’s a Blue Day or a Gold Day. The next time we go back to that same lunch we look to see how we had left over or if we were short,” Huepenbecker-Hull said. “That’s our first initial step to try to reduce waste is we first look at the numbers. We do the best we can, but obviously, without students ordering meals it’s kind of a guess.” Previously, Huepenbecker-Hull said the school had programs for composting to reduce the school’s food waste. Huepenbecker-Hull said, “Composting is something we would like to start back up again, but ever since COVID, we just haven’t had the staff to do it again. It generates a little extra work for us just because we have to separate (compostable items) and then a company called Earth Mama would come to pick the compost up.” Other than composting, the school implemented a food rescue program, where students could donate unopened packaged foods. Zhang said she hopes the school will reintroduce the program in the future.

wasting away: Sophomore Nancy Zhang throws away her trash after lunch. “We need to implement policies and ideas at our school to reduce food waste and protect the environment,” she said.

“I think the school should place emphasis on saving leftover food or donating it. I think they should implement something like the (food rescue program) and tell people about it because a lot of people don’t know that it used to exist,” Zhang said. Bracken said there was a decrease in food waste when the food rescue program was in place. Bracken said, “There was less food thrown away when we had the

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composting 101 Learn how to decrease food waste by composting What can I compost? Green material are fruit or veggie scraps, coffee grounds, loose leaf tea and more

1 Set up a compost bin on well-drained soil, near a water source

2 Add brown material (rich in carbon) and green material (rich in nitrogen) in alternating layers

Brown material are oatmeal, crushed eggshells, wood chips, nut shells and more

3 Keep the compost

moist, but not too wet

What can’t I compost?

4 Mix the compost once every week, providing aeration

program. I wish we could donate it all to the homeless people because there’s a ton of food in each of the three cafeterias getting wasted. It seems like we could be doing something better to help.” Despite the benefits the program offered, Huepenbecker-Hull said the program was discontinued due to lack of interest and other logistic issues. “Some kids didn’t participate because it could only be packaged items. Even if it is packaged and we could give it to the program, we ran into storage issues,” Huepenbecker-Hull said. Ultimately, Zhang said students can be more conscious of what they’re buying at lunch. “If you’re buying a lot of open food that will need to be thrown away, then maybe look at your tray and make sure you can finish everything on there. If you have food on there that is pre-packaged and that you don’t have to finish immediately, instead of throwing it

5 As the materials

breakdown, the pile gets warmer and darker

6 When the soil is dark

with no remnants of waste, the compost is ready!

away, just take it with you in your backpack,” Zhang said. Bracken said she agreed with Zhang and said she hopes students will be more aware of the amount of food waste they produce. “I don’t know why (students) throw it away. If they’re not throwing it away, they’re throwing it in the cafeteria at each other,” Bracken said. “But I would tell (students) to eat what they buy and make sure their eyes aren’t bigger than their stomachs.” While Zhang said eliminating food waste would be difficult, she said it is still important to increase awareness of the amount of school food waste. “We’re polluting the landfills and the ocean by using so much plastic packaging and wasting so much food. Carmel should really try to encourage students to not throw away as much food,” Zhang said. “We need to implement policies and ideas at our school to reduce food waste and protect the environment.” h

Don’t compost dairy products, fish, meat, whole eggs, onions, citrus peels, cooking oil and animal waste

CHENYAO LIU GRAPHIC PBS, BOTANICAL PAPERWORKS SOURCES

cooking it up: Greyhound Cafeteria manager Lori Vohs prepares and sets up fruits and vegetables to prepare for lunchtime. Vohs said she prepares servings for students making sure there is an adequate amount of food while limiting the amount of food waste at CHS.

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Pinky Promise Students call for implementation of Carmel’s Climate Action Plan CHENYAO LIU STORY

very

often,

julien

Doty, member of Green Action Club (GAC) and junior, stops by the Panera Bread on Rangeline Road. Though most students go to Panera to eat and relax, Doty goes for a different reason. Doty is one of many students involved with GAC’s political outreach group, advocating for climate action on a local level. Recently, the group has been meeting with city council members to advocate for a climate action plan in the city of Carmel. “What surprised me (about meeting with the Carmel City Council) is just how genuine it is,” Doty said about the meetings. “We met up at Panera with a city councilor and just talked about climate change. I think that’s really cool. It

definitely is an interesting means of communicating and talking about political issues and challenges with our local representatives.” According to Leslie Webb, president and co-founder of Carmel Green Initiative (CGI), this is not the first time CCS students have called on the city council to address climate change. Webb said CGI’s youth advocacy program, the Promise Project, is composed of many students from GAC, all calling on community leaders to keep their promise to protect the future for youth. “We passed the climate resolution (in) 2017 and we started working two years before that (in 2015),” Webb said. “(The Promise Project) was started by a 17-year-old high school student, Maddie Adkins. The goal then was to get the climate resolu-

Scan this QR code to read the full story of Carmel’s Climate Action Plan on the HiLite website’s Feature section

tion passed. It was a unanimous vote in 2017 and since then, the city has conducted a greenhouse gas inventory and that was finished in 2019. It tells you where the emissions are coming from (in the city). The next step is to develop a strategy for reducing carbon emissions. And so, that’s the goal of this Promise Project too, to make sure that our city establishes effective plans to reduce carbon emissions.” Maanya Rajesh, co-President of GAC and senior, said she, Doty and other students have met with many city council members to advocate for the climate action plan. Having seen a draft of the plan, Rajesh said she believes the climate action plan would be beneficial for the entire community and appeal to many different interests.

promise planning: Maanya Rajesh, Green Action Club (GAC) co-President and senior, reviews her notes before meeting with Carmel City Councilor Tim Hannon. Rajesh and other members of GAC met with members of the Carmel city council to advocate for the passing of a climate action plan, set to be voted around May 16. CHENYAO LIU PHOTO

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“I think its versatility is probably the best part about it, and why we think it really has a chance in passing is because it really appeals to different types of people,” she said. “Everyone has their own reasons for wanting the climate action plan. One of the counselors mentioned that some people want sustainability for the business benefits and others want it for the environment and their future. I think the plan does a really good job of appealing to all of those different aspects.” Doty said he believed it is crucial to have a piece of legislation binding the city to improving the future. In agreement, Belt said she believed the climate action plan was necessary because individual actions won’t reduce carbon emissions at a meaningful level.

roundabout city

140

roundabouts are in Carmel

growing hope:

Sophomores Ella Lipnik and Sara Standish give away free tree saplings as a part of the 10,000 Trees in Carmel Initiative. This event, held at Midtown Plaza, was organized by the Green Action Club. RYAN ZHANG PHOTO

“If you look at the biggest things that are influencing climate change, a lot of the time it’s things that are out of the public’s hands,” she said. “There are things that can’t be solved. (For example), emissions by a private company. Creating caps on those is something that can’t be done from an individual level and has to be done from a political (level). The government has (the) power and has the ability to stop these from a grander scale. And then once we have slowed down climate change from larger things that are out of control of the public’s hands, we can then put more focus on how individuals solve this. Individual actions can only do so much until we get them to a grander scale.” Doty said another important aspect of the climate action plan was its implementation at the city level. “I think the more we’re all engaged at a local level, the more we can address climate change where it immediately affects us,” Doty said. “When we all are engaged on a local level, we’re, in a sense, cooperating to address this at the global scale…I think doing that at a local level is the very first step to addressing climate change as a whole.” Beyond the plan itself, Doty said he has learned a lot about local government. He said he believes it’s crucial for young people to understand civic processes to be more informed citizens. “Having knowledge of how our government works can help us be better participants in this demo-

The more we’re all engaged at a local level, the more we can address climate change where it immediately affects us. JUNIOR JULIEN DOTY

cratic system and (be) more engaged. When citizens are more engaged in the democratic system, it’s more effective. I think it is important (to get involved), especially starting at a young age,” he said. Rajesh said she agreed with Doty’s views, but was also disappointed. “I don’t think we should have to do this,” Rajesh said. “Like, our job is to go to school, it isn’t to have to go and sit in on these meetings and the city council. But unfortunately, in the current state of our world, there’s so many people who don’t believe in climate change and other people who believe in climate change, but then aren’t taking the necessary actions to combat it. And so I think for us, we really realize that this is our future and when the government doesn’t do its job, or even when people who are older than us don’t do their jobs and aren’t really protecting (the world), it kind of falls into our hands. I don’t think it’s something that we should have to do, but unfortunately, it’s h something that we are doing.”

Learn about current initiatives that Carmel has done to be more environmentally friendly

With solar panels being installed, the amount of carbon emissions being released will lessen do to decreased fossil fuel use

THOUSAND solar panels in Carmel

1.8 MILLION

Traffic flows better in roundabouts leading to less gas emissions in to the environment leading to sustainability

dollars are saved in utility bills

SIRI BYRISETTY GRAPHIC NY TIMES, CITY OF CARMEL SOURCES

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Creation Care Students, activist are inspired by religion to improve environment, engage in activism

SUMEDHA KOTA, CLAIRE HE STORY enior

luca

kim,

who

identifies as a Christian, said she believes there exists an important intersection between Christ and the environment. According to Kim, faith has helped her connect with the Earth. “Church is a super-important part of my life,” Kim said. “I really found a community there, and going back and establishing myself in the faith helps me see so many issues that are going on in my life and in the world in a new perspective. That includes issues with the environment.” Many individuals like Kim have found a connection to environmentalism through their faith. Organizations like the Evangelical Environmental Network, the Episcopal Church and Interfaith Power and Light were formed to engage religious communities in environmental stewardship. Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light (HIPL), an Indiana chapter of the national organization, recently launched its Thriving Faith Communities Initiative, encouraging Indiana congregations to reduce their energy consumption by 25% by 2025. Elsa Barron, a community organizer with HIPL, said it is also normal for young people to struggle with their faith and its connection to their everyday beliefs. “I initially grew up in a pretty conservative evangelical church community where there wasn’t a lot of conversation about environmental issues at all,” Barron said. “A lot of it had to do with the connection of environmentalism to science, and there was this overarching fear of science jeopardizing the faith.” However, people like Kim said there is room for environmental action within the faith.

CHENYAO LIU PHOTO

earth enlightenment Take a look at specific teachings from Bible that connect to environment

Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to serve it and preserve it.” Genesis 1:28 “God blessed [man] and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”

Jeremiah 2:7 “I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.” Leviticus 25:23-24 “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.”

MARISSA FINNEY, YICHEN LIU GRAPHIC GENEVA COLLEGE, LEARN RELIGIONS SOURCES

“My church affiliation really believes in the idea of ‘creation care,’ and looking after everything that God gave us, which includes the environment. So there is definitely an established area for environmentalism within the church, but we just need to look for it,” Kim said. Barron said she agreed, and said her personal experiences changed as she branched out of her local community and learned more about “creation care.” “I went to college and studied biology, but at the same time I was in this theology class where I read a theology by Pope Francis, called ‘On Care for Our Home,’ which talked about the importance of caring for our collective environment. This was an epiphany, which brought sci-

ence and its relation to environmentalism and the faith into coexistence with each other,” she said. The term “creation care,” referenced by both Kim and Barron, was first coined in the early 2000s, and is closely related to the religious belief that one must care for God’s creation. According to HIPL, every major religion includes a mandate to care for creation, allowing people of all faiths to be united to protect the environment. Kim said she felt inspired by creation care ideology. “It helped me realize that there is not only one understanding of God,” Kim said. “Personally, I believe it is important to protect what God gave us, which includes the environment, and it is important to work with the

climate confrontation: Elsa Barron, community organizer with Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light (HIPL) and Christian, speaks at a climate rally in the Indiana Statehouse. Barron said, “The good work that is happening through things like creation care is still good work, and it is important to continue it.”

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others who are a part of that environment to take care of it.” This idea is shared by those of other faiths as well. Sarah Alhaddad, a junior who practices Islam, said that mannerisms of her faith project the same ideals. “I’m a Muslim, and because of that, there kind of an emphasis in Islam that as humans on this earth, we’re here to take care of the earth and the heavens, which are said to be even more important creations than humans themselves,” she said. “And because of that, we’re kind of seen as caretakers—or I guess you could use the word ‘custodians’—to make sure that the earth is being treated properly.” Barron said although faith can be extremely diverse, it is important to show unity in the face of issues like the climate crisis which threaten the shared environment. “I think there is a wide range of opinions, but there is also a huge community of people who care about this issue, which I saw first hand through my work,” Barron said. “I went to the U.N. Climate Change session this past

year and had the chance to work with all these amazing organizations to propel our interfaith goal of climate justice, this time on a global scale, as we fought to ensure that smaller nations are equipped with the ability to maintain environmental codes in the face of an increasingly industrialized world.” According to Alhaddad, these aims of environmental protection, including Barron’s goal of climate justice, can also be achieved by taking more everyday measures, such as the ones which are present as a result of her faith. For example, Alhaddad said in her daily life, in accordance with her Muslim faith, she ensures that she consumes only halal food, which is prepared in humane ways. “Environmental care is very emphasized in the Quran—and there’s a lot of verses about it, like over 200 verses—in our religious text about taking care of the earth and the responsibility humans have to do that. And I guess it just kind of deepens that responsibility and that ‘I really should do this,’ you know,” Alhaddad said.

Kim, Barron, and Alhaddad said they agreed the concept of creation care is an important directive for younger generations to continue. “The environment is already so unstable,” Kim said, “with difficulties raging in every part of the world. A massive movement such as Christianity, which is present in every region of the world, has the ability to unite people and lead a charge against environmental destruction.” Barron said she has seen how much creation care unites young people. “Even in youth centers like Notre Dame, there was this campus-wide initiative to make the theme for the 2021-2022 school year, one about environmental action and creation care,” Barron said. “That just goes to show how many students on campus petitioned on a united front for this theme, so that even the dean would see it as an important initiative. Young people everywhere do care about this, and it is important that we continue this initiative beh cause of how uniting it is.”

Scan this to visit the Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light website, and learn more about creation care and ways to get involved in the community.

sports

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Out of Steam Students investigate impacts of sport racing on environment AUSTIN GUO STORY

indianapolis

500,

taking place on May 29 this year, is one of the largest sports events in the world, attracting millions of visitors to Indianapolis. Annually over 300,000 spectators converge on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) on race day to watch the race. However, with an event of this scale, there are bound to be environmental issues stemming both from the cars themselves to the sheer number of spectators descending upon the IMS to watch. According to senior Connor Lathrop, who has attended the race annually for over a decade, some of these issues ar simply part of having so many people in one area for one event. “There are obviously a lot of people and there is a lot of trash and food

LUKE MILLER PHOTOS

used, but it’s not much different than any other big event,” Lathrop said. “A lot of people also drive to the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals, and they also use up trash in those events. So there’s a lot of consumption at the Indy 500, but it’s just like other big events.” But despite these issues, there are numerous initiatives, both within IndyCar and the wider community, to make the race and driving in general more sustainable. Lathrop said he admired the innovations that have happened in motorsports and their broader applications into regular vehicles. “The cool thing about the cars is that they’re testing out new technologies that one day will hopefully be in one of our cars,” Lathrop said. “I saw this thing where

by the numbers

96%

of car sales are carbonemitting diesel and petrol models

4.6

METRIC TONS of carbon dioxide emitted by a standard passenger vehicle per year ESPN SOURCE

the programs used for planning in (Formula 1) made it into airports, which is really interesting because motorsports is the breeding ground for innovation.” Sophomore Oliver (Ollie) Rosewell, who maintains an interest in cars and has worked frequently with his own car, said the innovations that come with improving performance have also made IndyCars more efficient. “The way it takes gasoline into energy, it takes fuel from the fuel tank and injects it into the air intake. It uses usually a 14-to-1 air (to) fuel ratio, so it’s not much fuel compared to how much air it takes in. It fast and furious: Sophomore Oliver (Ollie) Rosewell works on the engine of his car. He said he works on his own vehicle frequently.

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converts that into horsepower to move the car,” Rosewell said, adding, “You can either take away drag, which means there’s less work the car has to put in to go a certain speed, (or) the engine you can use forced induction to push more air into the car, and that can give you more power without using that much more fuel.” While the heavy traffic that comes with driving to the event also causes issues, spectators have found ways to both reduce emissions and save time. Lathrop said he carpools with family and relatives to save emissions, while others have chosen an alternative: bicycling with the “Bike to Indy 500” program. “‘Bike to the 500’ is one of the 500 Forward Community Engagement initiatives of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The idea came from watching the bumper-to-bumper traffic on race day and thinking, “There must be a better way to get to the race,’” Damon Richards, executive director of Bike Indianapolis, said via email. “Lots of people were already biking to the race, but they had no good place to park their bikes while attending the race. Many of our regular riders have stated that they had stopped attending the race because of the traffic difficulty until this option became available.”

However, aside from the environmental benefits, Richards said the event was also simply a fun way to travel to the race while circumventing much of the traffic. Richards said, “It’s designed to be a safe and fun way to get to the greatest spectacle in racing. Certainly removing potentially hundreds of idling cars from our streets that morning has a real, measurable environmental benefit, but in this case, that’s a side benefit of traveling by one of the most fun forms of transportation. The goal of this event is to demonstrate that bicycling is an option for transportation as well as fitness and recreation.” In a similar fashion, Rosewell said environmental concerns have been secondary in his decisionmaking with his own cars and he wishes to incorporate more of it into his future thinking. “I feel like electric technology is going to be a big part of cars in the future,” he said. “Obviously, fossil fuels aren’t sustainable and we know that, so figuring out how to personalize electric vehicles in the future, because you can’t work with things like exhaust or intakes or anything to the engine.” “Personally, I would say (what motivates my decision-making is)

step on the gas: Sophomore Oliver (Ollie) Rosewell gets in the driver seat of his car. While his car is gas powered, he still said he should consider the carbon emmisions that come with working on cars and how they impact the environment. Rosewell also said that some challeneges come with electric vehicles, like lack of personalization; where he cannot work on anything involving the engine.

just what I get out of it, whether it be more power or different looks. I would also say money is another big one, which is obvious,” Rosewell added. “I would say that I have thought about the environmental impacts before, but I don’t think I’ve thought about them enough. I should have thought about them more on some choices I’ve made.” h

did you know? INDYCAR recently announced that starting with the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear in June, all 26 NTT INDYCAR SERIES cars will be transported by trucks that are fueled by renewable diesel gas, which significantly reduces travel-related emissions. INDIANAPOLIS 500 SOURCE

race waste Taking a look at types of waste accumulated at the Indianapolis 500 ALI PERSINGER GRAPHIC INDYSTAR SOURCE

Items that are commonly left after the Indy 500 Approximately 50,000 lbs of trash are picked up after the race, most of this trash is leftover food containers and cans

Every IndyCar uses approximately 115 gallons of fuel on race day

M AY 2 0 , 2 0 2 2

Too Hot to Handle Athletes discuss their concern of extreme heat during their seasons DARSHINI SHANKAR STORY

ue to climate change-

global temperatures are increasing. According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, Earth’s temperature has risen 0.32°F per decade since 1981, with 2020 being the second warmest year to date. This increase in temperature is affecting athletes, globally and at this school, as they adjust schedules to accommodate extreme heat. Athletics Director Jim Inskeep said athletic teams at this school have begun many practices to ensure safety when training in extreme heat. Inskeep said, “Frequent water breaks, shortening of practices, ice bath tubs for submersing individuals on site, additional timeouts during contests are just some of the methods used when excessive heat conditions are present.” Brooke Ye, cross country runner and junior, said that her team uses water breaks and morning practices as methods to train when temperatures are higher than normal. “When it’s super hot, we always run on Monon south because there are multiple water fountains for us to take breaks at and stay hydrated,” Ye said. “We also have morning practices in the summer to avoid the afternoon heat.” Although many teams have had morning practices for years in the summer due to flexible schedules as well as heat considerations, Ye said the women’s cross country team also trained during the morning for a week during the school year. “There was a week towards the end of August when it was as hot as it was in the summer. For that week, our coaches decided to switch to morning practices, like what we had in the summer, because it was

stop the heat! Take a look at body parts affected by heat stroke, how to prevent these adverse effects Brain: symptoms include brain malfunction and fever

Kidneys: causes dehydration which leads to low blood pressure and decreased kidney function

Heart: increase risk of cardiovascular disease and heart failure

Muscles: Rhabdomyolysis which causes pain resulting in decreased movement

How to prevent heat stroke - wear sunscreen - notice the temperature - stay hydrated - stay in the shade - wear loose fitting clothes

EVA GLAZIER , NATHAN HUANG GRAPHIC CDC SOURCES

around 20 degrees warmer in the morning,” Ye said. Suragh Shrianandh, men’s tennis player and junior, said although the tennis team did not adjust practices much to accommodate the heat, there were some modifications to matches,—including more water breaks for the players during the match. “We have matches delayed for rain, but not for heat. We’re expected to play through it. They give us extra breaks by making the changeovers longer,” Shrianandh said.

by the number

94%

of heat related deaths occur in the months of May to September with most cases reported in July CDC SOURCE

Pertaining to athletic contests, Inskeep said some cross country meets have been canceled or modified due to heat. Inskeep said, “It is rare to see athletic contests canceled due to extreme heat, but cross country meets have been canceled due to excessive heat or the event modified with number of races or the time in which the event would start.” Ye said this past year, during one cross-country races, rules and expectations for athletes changed to accommodate the heat.

working hard: Junior Brooke Ye runs in a cross country meet during the 2021 season. Ye said the heat can be very intense during meets and that it is important to stay hydrated.. OLIVIA MCKEE PHOTO

“I also saw some girls trying to drink water while we were running. That meet, our expectations of ourselves were different too. No one was really trying to (get a personal record). We were all just trying to do the best we could to finish in that heat.” JUNIOR BROOKE YE “We had this one meet at (the) Northview (Cross Country Course) and it was over 90 degrees that day. And my race was even at noon, so it was incredibly hot by the time we were running,” Ye said. “But they let spectators throw water at us while we were running to cool down. I also saw some girls trying to drink water while they were running. That meet, our expectations of ourselves were different too. No one was really trying to (get a personal record). We were all just trying to do the best we could to finish in that heat.” Shrianandh similarly said that the expectations his coaches and teammates had changed when the weather became unfavorable due to extreme heat. “Especially when it’s hot, the expectations of us change,” Shrianandh said. “The only expectation we have is to stay on the court and do the best we can despite the heat.” Many of these precautions exist due to past instances where extreme heat has been harmful to athletes. In 2005, a high school crosscountry runner from Illinois named

Kelly Watt died of multiple-organ failure precipitated by heat stroke. Watt had a disorder called exertional heat stroke, meaning exercise overwhelmed his body’s ability to cool itself and led to further complications in extreme heat. Similar incidents have occurred in recent years. Last August, Drake Geiger, a football player in Nebraska, passed away after collapsing due to heat during practice. With these occurrences considered, Ye said she considers extreme heat to be a real issue that requires additional precautions to be taken by athletes. Ye said, “I think coaches and (administrators) in charge of running our meets have taken good efforts to adjust our practices and races to extreme heat. But there definitely is some concern with climate change that could require more changes to future athletic protocols.” Protocols exist at this school for occurrences of extreme weather, such as storms during practices and events. However, there are currently no guidelines for cancellations in instances of extreme heat. Inskeep said much of that decision remains up to coaches. Inskeep said, “Unlike severe weather, extreme heat can be predicted and informed decisions made in advance of an event beginning. Severe weather decisions are a combined discussion between athletic trainers, event managers, and administrators. Coaches are typically not able to watch the weather when the contest begins. However, when it is a practice date instead of a contest date, more decision making is on the shoulders of the coaches.” h

did you know? On average, 9,237 U.S. high school athletes experience time-loss heat illnesses annually CDC SOURCE

15 minutes of fame

MAY 20, 2022

Shoe Shrine Q&A with junior Brandon Trinh on shoe collection, collecting refurbished shoes MICHELLE WAN Q&A BRANDON TRINH SUBMITTED PHOTOS ALAN HUANG, MICHELLE WAN GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION

What inspired you to start shoe collecting? The main thing that inspired me to start collecting was the interesting designs, and wanting to expand my wardrobe. I also thought that it would be something that I would enjoy. I like collecting and looking at shoes because I think it is a little boring to wear the same shoes everyday. Although, I used to do that, and it is a very easy conversation starter.

How do you decide what shoes to collect? Everyone has different tastes in shoes, so it is hard to generalize what a normal shoe collection would look like, but I would say that many people would own 2-3 shoes: one being a pair of Air Force 1s, a pair of Converse, and perhaps a pair of Ultra Boosts. I am always looking at leaks of new shoes on Twitter, and entering raffles for shoes.

What are the challenges of collecting shoes?

The main challenge is trying to find shoes for a good price. As the retailers only release so many shoes, and there is a higher number of people who want the shoes than there are shoes, there is bound to be a problem. The outcome of this problem is reselling. This leads to shoes that retail at $170 going to $200+ right after release, even if they are not that hyped up. If they are hyped up, they can go upwards (by) $400.

by the numbers

300 38% POUNDS 30 of shoes that MILLION pairs of shoes are thrown away each year

are thrown out end up in landfills

of CO2 is produced with the production of one shoe

THESHOEINDUSTRY, EPA SOURCES

HILITE.ORG

Retail: $160 Paid: $200

gallery walk: Brandon Trinh walks you through collection of the most meaningful shoes in his collection.

WALMART, NIKE SOURCES

BRANDON TRINH SUBMITTED PHOTOS

Retail: $300 Paid: $275

Retail: $719 Paid: $210

My favorite in my collection: Air Max 1 Patta Noise Aqua

The most expensive in my collection: Jordan 10 OVO

What type or brands of shoes do you try to focus on? I typically focus on Nike, Jordans and Yeezys, although I would like to start getting some New Balances, as I really like what they are doing in the sneaker community with their (collaborations), and use of high quality materials. (Currently) I have (collected) twelve pairs of shoes.

Do you see yourself doing more with shoe collecting in the future? Yes I do, because it is something that I enjoy. As long as I am smart with my spending, I should be able to keep collecting. I think that it has increased my fashion sense, and has gotten me a couple compliments.

Brandon Trinh lays out his collection of shoes. According to Trinh, he has collected twelve pairs of shoes.

The most comfortable in my collection: Yeezy 700v2 Cream

What advice would you give to someone who’s interested in shoe collecting? I would tell people to try not to pay outrageous amounts for shoes if you don’t have the funds, and do not be afraid to buy used shoes, as you will end up wearing them anyway. Places I would recommend are the r/SneakerMarket (on Reddit), eBay, and local sellers. I would try to avoid StockX and Goat as they have pretty high fees for authenticating and shipping. It is also important to be able to authenticate shoes by yourself, and you can learn to do that just by looking videos up online.

Scan this to view the Reddit thread r/SneakerMarket