With the help of newly installed electric meters in each dormitory and efforts by students, faculty, and staff to enhance campus-wide awareness of energy conservation, George School is participating for the second consecutive year in the National Green Cup Challenge. Scheduled from January 25 through February 22, 2010, the challenge is run by the Green Schools Alliance and represents the first and only student-driven interscholastic energy conservation challenge. The program invites all schools—public, independent, day, and boarding—to measure and reduce their electricity usage in order to conserve resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nationwide, 213 schools are participating in the challenge this year.

George School’s participation has been organized by the school’s Environmental Stewardship Steering Committee (ESSC)—a group of George School students, faculty, and staff who encourage sustainability efforts on campus—and by TERRA, the school’s chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition. Participating schools aim to work together to achieve a collective energy reduction of at least 7 percent. In addition, at the conclusion of the event, schools will be recognized individually and on a regional basis for energy reduction, determined by percentage of improvement compared to last year, total savings, and usage per student or square foot.

Each week during the challenge, physical plant project manager Marlin Stroh will read the school’s electric meters and enter the data into the Green Cup Challenge website. George School students accompanied him on the first reading and will join him again for the final reading.

Members of the ESSC and TERRA have scheduled a number of environmentally conscious education efforts and events to take place during the challenge, including “Dinner in the Dark” each Wednesday night in the George School Dining Room; tray-free dining; a power blackout in Marshall Center, a building that houses student activities, on February 6; and the production of public-service announcements about conservation, which will be shown at all-school assemblies.

ESSC member Bryce Miller, a sophomore from Holland, Pennsylvania, said of the challenge, “It is representative of the steps we need to take in order to create a more sustainable planet.” Another ESSC member, senior Caitlin Brimmer of Yardley, Pennsylvania, said, “The challenge gets everyone involved and aware of what needs to be done in order to work in harmony with the earth.”

Led by Joe Ducati of CulinArt, George School’s Food Service Department will produce “Dinner in the Dark” meals with as many locally produced food items as the season permits. Dinners in the dark save energy not only through their minimal lighting, but also through a food production process that reduces energy use. Food for the meals is prepared during the lunch period, when the cooking equipment is already turned on. This allows the equipment to be turned off six hours earlier than usual.

The school community will practice tray-free dining throughout the Green Cup Challenge, a measure which is expected to save 1,500 gallons of water each day by eliminating the need to clean trays. Embraced by many universities, tray-free dining also reduces the amount of chemicals used for dish washing. In addition, the practice has been shown to reduce food waste because it encourages people not to take more food than they can eat.

Efforts to educate the school community about conservation include meetings that the ESSC co-chairs—science teacher Kathy Coyle and English teacher Thomas Soper—held with student leaders in each dormitory. The meetings addressed various ways that residents can conserve energy, such as turning off lights and unplugging appliances when they are not in use, using less water, keeping windows closed, turning the heat off during the day when rooms are not in use, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, and changing computer settings to energy-saving modes. Now that each George School dormitory has an individual electric meter, dormitory residents can develop a greater focus on their energy consumption.

Awareness of the challenge has been promoted visually across the campus. A green banner on Marshall Center reads, “Let’s go even greener for the Green Cup Challenge.” Students have affixed stickers bearing an energy-conservation message, “Mind the lights,” next to light switches. The phrase is a clever play on George School’s motto, “Mind the Light,” which reflects Quakers’ belief in the presence of the Inner Light—that of God within each individual. In addition, TERRA member Anna Baker created various signs about the Green Cup Challenge.

“I am looking forward to the activities the school is putting together,” said Anna, a senior from New York City. “What is awesome about the Green Cup Challenge is that everyone on the campus is involved with the challenge, even if they are not aware of it, because it is about how much energy we use as a community.”

ESSC member Andrea Lindsay, a junior from Yardley, Pennsylvania, added, “It is a great opportunity to bring a sharp focus to what we are doing as a Quaker community for environmental stewardship. It brings attention to what we have already been doing right in addition to what we can do to improve our energy consumption in the future.”

About George School
Founded in 1893 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), George School, a rigorous coed boarding and day school for grades nine through twelve, educates students from twenty-one states, thirty-four foreign countries, and a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and economic backgrounds. Through its commitment to diversity and the Quaker values of equality, integrity, and peacemaking, George School inspires students to be led by their own truths while respecting and appreciating opinions and beliefs different from their own. George School was one of the first schools in the United States to implement an International Baccalaureate diploma program. For information about admission, please call 215.579.6547 or visit http://www.georgeschool.org.