“It’s not easy being green….” These are the wise words of Kermit the frog. Like Kermit, the Green Club works extremely hard to stay green. Through many different projects and activities, Green Club strives to lead Mercy to be their absolute best when it comes to keeping the planet green.

“We try to do as much as we can,” said Andrea Elmore, Mercy junior and leader of Green Club, “but there is only so much we can do. Everything else is up to the students of Mercy.”

Many things the Green Club manages to do go unnoticed.

“A large part of what Green Club does is managing the recycling in the school,” said Elmore.

They try very hard to get people to recycle as much as possible.

“You may not realize it, but if each person were to recycle their plastic water bottle or recycle their paper, rather than throwing it away, we could cut down on the trash at Mercy by a huge percentage,” said Elmore. Recycling bins are scattered around the school and collected as they fill up.

Green Club focuses mainly on finding practical, alternate ways for girls to save the planet. One popular way is purchasing a reusable, plastic water bottle. Getting a reusable water bottle not only helps the planet by reducing waste, but also can be beneficial to your health.

“Carrying around a cute, reusable water bottle promotes healthy hydration habits. Water is so good for you, but often goes unnoticed. For athletes especially, it is important to stay hydrated to reach maximum performance.” said Carmen Compton, Mercy junior and leader of Green Club. Green Club is also looking for a way to reward girls with these reusable water bottles by making their access to ice-cold water quick and easy.

“In our last meeting, we discussed the possibility of getting water bottle filling stations for around the school. Mercy girls, right now, always have to go to the cafeteria to get ice cold water for their bottles. With these filling stations, girls would be more inclined to bring a reusable water bottle and, I believe, Mercy would produce much less plastic waste.” said Compton.

“I am so glad I am a participant in Green Club,” said senior Annie O’Connell. “The meetings are so much fun and I always learn so much.”

At Green Club meetings, members get to do an activity, and participate in a discussion applying that day’s focus to keeping the world green.

“Last meeting we made organic body scrubs using a few simple ingredients like brown sugar and vanilla extract,” said O’Connell. “It was really fun, and I loved hearing all the different ways I [could] help the environment.”

Each year, the Green Club adopts an animal from the World Wildlife Foundation. The money donated helps to conserve wildlife and endangered species. This year, the club adopted a sea turtle, which they named Stanley. In previous years, they have adopted animals such as a snow leopard, a beluga whale, and a red panda.

Although being green can take a lot of extra effort, Kermit the frog got it right in saying, “When green is all there is to be/ It could make you wonder why/ But why wonder why wonder/ I am green, and it’ll do fine/ It’s beautiful, and I think it’s what I want to be.”