Greenland is melting…
Dear Families,
The New York Times reported recently that Greenland is melting.
On Monday, December 10, grades 9 through 11 participated in “Environmental Action Day” planned and implemented by Kai Furbeck, ‘10 and Gabe Cook, ’10, with the help of club advisor, Tim Cooper. The day began with a screening of two episodes from National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth. The two episodes, “The One Degree Factor” and “Troubled Waters” emphasized the link between events across the globe, and how those events affect us all. In “The One Degree Factor,” an increase in one degree has contributed to the evaporation of Lake Chad, which now creates the dust, which is responsible for the increase in asthmatic children in the Caribbean. That dust also carries an airborne virus that may be responsible for killing the coral reefs in the Caribbean. “Troubled Waters” touched on the toxicity of our drinking water especially in areas that are surrounded by farmland.
The connection between events is exactly what our students needed to realize, that things that happen to other people, ultimately affect us here. In the afternoon, students participated in a variety of workshops, one of which was given by Margaret Hoffman, parent of Jane Sternbach, Class of 2007, on Green Food, one presented by The Earth Institute at Columbia University on Polar Regions and another presented by the Global Roundtable on Climate Change on monsoons in India.
Many students met with me after the day to discuss what the school can do. One student recommended that the school pledge to join “Change a light, Change the world” program, and take the time to have high school students educate lower school students on the issues related to sustainability. Already, most of our students carry a “Red is Green” water bottle thus eliminating their use of paper cups, the faculty has agreed to use mugs instead of paper cups for coffee, and the high school has moved to providing printed grades and comments by request to save reams of paper every year. The students and the school is motivated in this cause, even though much of what we do we may not see the results of in this lifetime.
Have a happy holiday season,
Ruth
• The school’s calendar can be accessed by clicking here.
• For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
Updates and announcements:
From the LREI Family Handbook….Gifts to Teachers: If your child wants to give his or her teacher a gift at winter break, the end of the year, or any other time during the year, a homemade gift or drawing is welcome and appreciated. A group gift from parents and children in the class may be given at the end of the school year. It has been our experience that individual gifts, though thoughtfully intended, may be misinterpreted by the children and, consequently, we discourage this. Thank you for your awareness and cooperation.
1. Community service volunteer opportunity: The Hudson Guild has need of volunteers on Tuesday, December 25, from 9:30am to 1:30pm. Please contact Joseph Barretto at 212.760.9803 or email jbarretto@hudsonguild.org to sign up before attending. This is a popular volunteer event so call early!
2. Please join us for the LREI Winter Concert on Tuesday, Dec. 18th at 6:30 p.m. at the Charlton Street PAC.
3. From the Community Service Committee: Please view the calendar of events.
4. Please take a look at the following letter from the LREI Lesbian Gay Straight alliance (LGSA) announcing the upcoming Visibility show.
5. For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.
6. LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). NYC-PIA provides parenting education, information and a communications network to help parents prepare their children and teenagers to cope with social pressures and to make sound choices towards a future free of alcohol and drug abuse. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2007-2008 calendar. You can also access their website at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.