Archer’s Council for Sustainability is a group most Archer student have heard of. Whether they are presenting during Culture & Community blocks or hosting events in the courtyard, the board has a prominent role in the community. This year, the organization’s executive board is comprised of eight upper-schoolers: Grace Ryan (’25), Annie Altemus (’25), Gabriella Specchierela (’25), Kate Hanney (’25), Tavi Memoli (’25), Liv Karp (’26), Finley Vincent (’26) and Katia Thomas (’27).
The Oracle sat down with the board to discuss the importance of sustainability on campus and the club’s plan for this school year.
Why is it important that Archer has a council for sustainability?
Grace Ryan [GR]: Climate change is obviously such a pressing issue, and Archer’s a learning environment. I feel that our learning should reflect the current events and current problems our world is facing. I think it’s particularly important that we have a council for sustainability to address, within our small community, the larger problems that are also happening. What is our school if not a microcosm of the real world?
As a board, how do you define sustainability?
Katia Thomas [KT]: As a board, we define sustainability as practices we can implement into our society that could be used in practice, for generations and generations to come, without putting any natural resource in danger of getting depleted.
Liv Karp [LK]: I took a Parsons class over the summer for sustainable fashion, and they said that sustainability is something that should be able to last for generations. Generations will keep improving sustainability efforts until our Earth is healthier than it is right now.
What plans do you have to get people involved in sustainability?
[GS]: We want to have speaker panels.
Annie Altemus [AA]: We want to do another clothing swap.
Gabriella Specchierla [GS]: We’re launching the “Susty Scoop,” a monthly newsletter about sustainable events, news, on a both a global level and here at Archer, and volunteer opportunities to get involved in [sustainability]. That’s being released once a month.
[GR]: We run educational meetings. We are going to want to do a mixture of hands-on activities, general education on current events and general sustainable initiatives. Some hands-on things we did last year [was] we did a lot of gardening. We want to try and make our own reusable cups, have people decorate the cups and get them excited about using them across the street.
What goals does the board have for Archer this year?
[AA]: We want to make sustainability something that we don’t just teach people about, but that we can have people easily get involved with. And so we want to have activities that educate and spread awareness about sustainability, but also allow for opportunities for people to further what they do.
[GS]: We don’t want to be nagging people or getting them to do it. We just want to make it the only option.
[GS]: We want [sustainability] to be something people get excited about. We don’t want it to be a hassle or a reminder.
[LK]: We want it to be something that people do subconsciously.
