Unwrapped Earth

The past few weeks have felt dense – not necessarily louder than before, just fuller. More conversations, more ideas taking shape, more reminders that sustainability work doesn’t only live in big projects or polished outcomes. A lot of it happens in meetings, in questions that linger, in noticing systems you didn’t see before.

Energy You Don’t See (Until You Look)

Back at school, Project Green has continued to implement our compostable cups initiative, but we’ve also recently started something new, something completely different: energy conservation. Now looking at sustainability through a completely different lens, my motivation for reaching out to my school’s facilities team earlier this year to better understand how students could get involved with the existing sustainability initiatives that were happening behind the scenes has allowed for our club to get involved. Based on my first conversation with them, several meetings transpired focusing not only on ideas, but also on things that could potentially happen.

Within these meetings was the start of an idea called a Plug Load Survey. The objective of this survey is to determine the usage of devices used at the school that continue to utilize electricity while they are not being actively used (e.g., computers, printers, vending machines, lab equipment, etc.). Some of these devices remain plugged in overnight, during weekends and during long breaks. With assistance from Cenergistic and our school’s facilities team, we hope to categorize and/or evaluate energy waste via the results of the Plug Load Survey.

One of the things that I appreciate about this project is its focus on data collection and the fact that it is not a “loud” project or a campaign that relies on posters and other forms of advertisement to make people aware of the program. It is about educating individuals on energy waste and for individuals to become aware of and accept that energy waste is a form of waste as well.

Listening to the Sound That Surrounds Us

In December, I attended another meeting of the Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative, but this one has stuck out to me. This meeting featured Save the Sound, a local nonprofit organization that works to protect Long Island Sound through the collection and analysis of water quality samples from more than 200 Long Island Sound beaches, with the results of the analysis used to assign grades to the water quality of each beach based on the level of bacteria present and overall environmental health. It is astounding to know that millions of beachgoers are swimming in the same water that has been continuously sampled, studied, and protected and defended, and the work has been going on behind the scenes since before many of us were born.

What really struck me was not only the science of Save the Sound but also the way that it appeared to connect all the issues impacting the Long Island Sound. Wastewater, stormwater runoff, lawn fertilizers, flooding, and climate change are all related and interconnected in many respects. One of the proposals discussed was providing financial incentives to homeowners to reduce the amount of impervious surfaces around their homes – driveways, patios, and anything else that may prevent water from soaking into the soil—since stormwater runoff is one of the primary sources of pollution in the Long Island Sound. I found it refreshing to realize that environmental protection can sometimes start with small, simple changes rather than large-scale, dramatic policy changes; in fact, at the December meeting, the group spoke about policy and how communities can help shape policy at the local, state, and national levels and what they can do to help their local communities, including helping with local decision making, and the far-reaching effects of every local decision made by the community. I felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend the meeting and to get to meet some really passionate collaborators doing really important work to protect the Long, Island Sound and its ecosystems. I was the only student in attendance at this meeting.

Learning With (and from) Other Young People

Throughout the month of December, I continued my weekly meetings with the Youth Steering Committee of the Climate & Resilience Education Task Force. One of our recent meetings was a very interesting one – we were joined by Dr. Diane Pataki, Chief Scientist for the National Wildlife Federation, who spoke about her own journey through science, academia, and non-profit organizations, showing that careers in climate change are not limited to a single road; instead, there are many paths that one can follow and all of them can lead to success.

Dr. Pataki focused on how important solutions and communication are in the world of climate change. She explained how there are significant differences between misinformation and disinformation, as well as some ways that fear-based methods of messaging could be detrimental. Working in the field of climate change is not simply about being able to present research and statistics to support an idea, but rather about establishing mutual understanding and trust, creating clear and concise messages, and building bridges with others to ensure successful collaboration.

Finding Nature in Unexpected Places

Over break, I visited the New York Botanical Garden and saw the Holiday Train Show. Miniature trains weaving through detailed replicas of New York landmarks, surrounded by living plants – it was playful, but also strangely profound. The exhibit blends engineering, design, and ecology in a way that feels accessible and joyful. It reminded me that environmental spaces don’t always have to feel serious to be meaningful. Sometimes wonder is what draws people in first.

Where I Am Right Now

Junior year has been intense. Submitting my independent research project in early December felt like finally setting something heavy down – a huge relief. With that weight lifted, I’ve been thinking more about what I want to return to: volunteering, community work, and finally making progress on the digital walk book for the trails at the local environmental center. I’ve visited Sheldrake again recently, and being back there reminded me why I wanted to work on that project in the first place – making nature feel more accessible, especially to people who might not know where to start.

I won’t pretend I’ve had time for everything I love. But this break has been restorative. Time with family. Movies that linger after the credits roll. Sitting at the piano again, creating music without a deadline attached. Reconnecting with parts of myself that sometimes get pushed aside during the school year.

I’m still learning how to balance ambition with rest. Still figuring out how to care deeply without burning out. But right now, I feel grounded – attentive to the systems around me, and to myself.

And that feels like progress.

Looking Back

Looking back on the year, I see patterns I didn’t notice in the moment. At the start of 2025, I was driven mostly by curiosity – learning the science behind sustainability, exploring different paths, and trying to figure out where I fit. Over time, that curiosity turned into action: research, community meetings, school initiatives, and conversations that pushed me to think beyond individual projects and toward systems as a whole. I started noticing how the same questions show up at every scale – in classrooms, in schools, in towns, and in the natural spaces that surround us. Somewhere along the way, sustainability stopped feeling like something I did and started feeling like something I carry with me. As this year comes to a close, it feels less like an ending and more like gathering momentum – taking what I’ve learned, the relationships I’ve built, and the habits of paying attention, and carrying them forward into whatever comes next.