C-104 is where Downey High’s Eco Club met on Wednesday, April 18 after school to discuss their plans for Earth Day and plan their Bolsa Chica State Beach Clean Up Day.
“It [Earth Day] means a lot to me,” Eco Club Secretary Yurgen Gonzalez said. “We can celebrate everything that the Earth has given us: nature, land, plants, and more. People don’t really appreciate [the planet]; they knock trees down just to make more malls and they don’t actually notice it’s there and helping them live.”
Their Earth Day plan was simple: to meet at the orchard behind the S building and draw a symbol of the Earth and other nature-esque images. All members of the club were invited to this project on Sunday, April 22.
Brother and sister Ashley and Steven Clemens are active members in Eco Club and do their part to keep the Earth healthy, but they cannot do it alone.
“We get to promote good environmental ideas with Earth Day,” freshman Ashley Clemens said.
Some tips for going green involve recycling more, using filtered water so plastic bottles are produced less, using candles with fragrance to conserve energy and to prevent CFCs from getting in the atmosphere, and the most favored: riding bikes instead of cars.
Along with the excitement of Earth Day is the enthusiasm the club has for their new shirts. An intricate design of the Earth, the recycling symbol, and a mixture of blues and greens, Eco Club worked together to come up with the design.
“We get to show off our Eco Club pride.” Steven Clemens, 11, said, “We get to advertise Eco Club as well to get students involved.”
The Bolsa Chica Clean Up Day, on Saturday, April 29, is the only other event Eco Club is involved with, other than the Keep Downey Beautiful Project, which is every third Sunday of the month. Sign-ups were continuous throughout the meeting and did not end there. The club board members are trying to get as many to go as possible.
As they ended the meeting with a pledge to keep the Earth looking beautiful and clean, the excitement in their voices all rang true.
