The Cascade High School Environmental Sustainability Club has a tradition of hosting representatives from local organizations that focus on the environment or sustainability practices at brown-bag lunch events. Through these presentations and the knowledge shared by the speakers, the club hopes to educate members about sustainability in the local communities and to raise awareness about environmental issues at the local and global level.
This year, Mike Wyant of the Icicle Chapter of Trout Unlimited explained Trout Unlimited’s efforts in conserving and restoring the local fish habitats, and James White of the Chelan County Public Utility District shared about energy resources and consumption in Chelan County.
One Sustainability Club member shared a highlight from the first presentation, given by Mike Wyant.
“I really liked his talk about bringing back salmon to the three rivers he mentioned. I thought it was really important, and it shows that his group and company had a significant part in that, which I thought was really cool,” said Elliot Tiegel (10).
Wyant also shared a community clean-up volunteer opportunity for Sustainability Club members, in which several students took part.
“Volunteering for Trout Unlimited turned out to be a fun experience. It was nice to be outside, meet some new people in the community and clean up the valley, all while gaining volunteer hours,” said one of the participating students, Trail Heyl (12).
The second speaker, White, also explained a student opportunity pertaining to sustainability, which is called Young Energy Champions. The program is an opportunity for high school students to earn both $20 per hour and high school credits while working to reduce the energy consumption of schools and commercial businesses throughout Chelan County.
One student, Savanna Rowles (12), shared her thoughts on the opportunity: “I think that the program seems like a great way for students to take an active role in the community and in supporting sustainable energy."
White used the presentation opportunity to describe energy consumption and resources in Chelan County. He explained how dams, such as the Rocky Reach Dam, provide hydroelectricity at a low cost. He elaborated with the statement that the county only uses approximately 25% of the produced power and is then able to sell it to other places, such as Seattle, which in turn lowers the cost of the electricity for Chelan County Residents.
White’s presentation included several diagrams and graphs, which displayed the energy usage of the county as a whole, and also of Cascade High School individually.
Caden Peterson (12) explained his thoughts on the graph that displayed the school’s energy consumption: “I thought it was interesting how much power the school uses, even when no one is here, like at night and over the weekends. I did not really realize that the school uses energy even with nobody here. I also thought that it was interesting how it is [White’s] job to cut down on the amount of energy usage.”
In addition to sharing about energy sustainability, White explained how, with a special burner, it is possible to turn waste into a charcoal that can be used to fertilize plant soil. The charcoal serves simultaneously to help with water and nutrient retention in the soil, and to store carbon in the soil, where it can potentially stay for thousands of years.
The club plans to host speakers from the Cascadia Prescribed Burn Association, the North Central Washington Audubon Society, and the Wilderness Society later this year.
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