Sustainability Week 2021
Solebury School and the student-run Solebury Environmental Action Club (SEAC) aim to make sustainability an integral part of the Solebury experience by assuring that all initiatives related to sustainability are made with a coordinated effort. The goal of Sustainability Week was to educate the community about how to recycle correctly, introduce the community to terracycle, introduce the composting of biodegradable containers from the Dining Hall, and inspire the community with various speakers and presentations.
Tuesday April 6
Danni Washington is an ocean advocate, TV host, science communicator, and host of The Genius Generation, a podcast focused on young people behind incredible invention, entrepreneurial pursuit, and discovery using science. She shared that the ocean was such a big part of her life growing up in Miami and that witnessing the rapid decline of ocean health over the years has driven her passion to amplify simple actions everyone can take to protect our beautiful planet through science communication. Danni explained to students what a science communicator does and how to become a science communicator. She also emphasized that when thinking about ways you can help fight climate change to think globally and act locally.
Bea Becette ’12 discussed her work in sustainability, her career path, and internship opportunities at NatGeo. She is a writer/producer at NatGeo and the host of Kids vs Plastic, a kids series about plastic-free craft solutions. She has also developed a new YouTube channel, SmartiB, which uses today’s top hits to teach kids about the world around them! She emphasized that there are many ways to get involved in sustainability work.
Wednesday April 7
NPR journalist and former SEAC president Cooper McKim '12 talked about the skills necessary to report on environmental issues for local and national audiences. He covers energy and natural resources at Wyoming Public Radio and is also a part of NPR's Energy and Environment Team. Cooper recently launched a podcast, Carbon Valley which follows the race to develop an unlikely climate solution.
Bradley Gay is a project manager at Metcalfe Architecture & Design and one of the nation’s foremost experts in passive house building. Bradley directs projects of every scale, from residential renovations to college classroom and student housing projects including the Lancaster Housing Development at Villanova University, the LeBow School of Business at Drexel University, and the Northwest Campus Student Housing at UCLA. He explained how passive houses are built and what their benefits are, sharing that passive house buildings are designed and constructed to be highly energy efficient.
Thursday April 8
Ezra Thrush is the senior director of government affairs at PennFuture, where he leads the organization's policy initiatives and manages all legislative and executive branch relationships. He also serves as PennFuture’s chief lobbyist and external voice on policy positions, strategy, and relationships with decision makers. Ezra has worked extensively on state and federal issues, including storm water management, clean water funding, agriculture, forest retention, the Farm Bill, climate change, and water infrastructure. Ezra was joined by Katie Blume who is the Political Director for Conservation Voters of PA. She has spent over twenty years as an organizer and advocate for many social justice issues, including electoral politics and environmental issues. Together they talked about the role of environmental lobbyists and shared that internships are a great way to get your foot in the door if this is a path you're interested in, but there are also many volunteer opportunities to explore.
Friday April 9
Keziah Groth-Tuft '13 presented environmental (in)justice/environmental racism. She highlighted some current environmental justice lawsuits, pointing to two case studies: Cancer Alley, Louisiana, and Uniontown, Tennessee. She currently interns with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and is a research assistant for a professor looking at environmental justice work.
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