Green Dragons and Compost Program

Green Dragons was created about three years ago as DaVinci Academy’s conservation club by science teacher Ms. Cheyenne Herland when she noticed her students weren’t being respectful towards the environment, and she took it as her responsibility to fix the issue. Alongside math lab and science teacher Mrs. Brailee Saunders this year, her goal is to educate students to love nature and the environment.

They fulfill their mission by making our school more environmentally friendly. Every Monday after school they hold their meetings, which have included presentations from local science enthusiasts, t-shirts out of plastic bags, and organic lip balm from beeswax. This is also when they plan upcoming events and update on current projects. Some members also help out at the Ogden Nature Center.

Previously, the Utah Society for Environmental Education awarded our school the platinum award recognition, their highest one possible. That was during the first year of Green Dragons, when attempting to create an idle-free zone. Utah’s pollution was once compared to that of Beijing, which recently issued its highest level alert for smog, and turning your car off when waiting would improve the air.

However, at our last inspection, we were downgraded a level, to gold, because of Green Dragons themselves rather than our students. They focus so hard on making our school better that they never had time to record their achievements. For this year, Ms. Herland says she will make it a requirement for students to record events right after they happen. Platinum might come back!

Last year, they started a project to recycle aluminum cans, and made a friendly competition among the three grade groups (elementary, middle, high school) for a pizza party. Despite the signage, students have forever “mistaken” the disposals as trash cans and fill them with other recyclables and trash, and continue to. They are ONLY for aluminum cans, and putting other stuff in hurts your chances.

She has been planning on rolling out a compost program since she started the club. According to statistics, it saves an estimated two thousand pounds of fruits and vegetables, the only things compostable, from landfills each year. However, Ms. Herland was initially against the idea when she noticed students leaving trash around or even improperly throwing it into the recycle bin.

It wasn’t just the food, but also the trays, and not the Styrofoam ones.

It started out with great success and in the first week, there was forty pounds of compost from all three sections. Mr. Simon Post, a club member, or a cafeteria worker is usually present to enforce that students take time to sort through their meats, sandwiches, sides and beverages. For some, it has become a habit, but others are still throwing compostables into the trash and vice versa.

Note from author: I have witnessed everything in the compost bin, from dinner rolls, french fries, meat, PBJ sandwiches, and best of all: napkins. Green Dragons doesn’t want to sort through mixed leftovers because of your mistakes, and they SHOULDN’T have to. Please put only fruits and vegetables in the compost bin. If you can’t do that, don’t bother and just throw everything in the trash.

According to Ms. Herland, student attitude started to become positive after last year’s Earth Day assembly, where representatives from the Ogden Nature Center and WSU’s Energy Sustainability Club presented on the negative effects landfills and improper disposal of food can have on the environment. They also talked about the different ways to properly dispose of food, including composting.