Toaxnoes Spring 2011 Final2.indd - Nichols School

As part of their presentation,Caroline Fenn ’12, Donata Lorenzo’11 and Paige Dedrick ’11 sing“Under the Sea” with modifiedlyrics to get their message across.Saving the World,One Water Bottle at a Timeby Paige Dedrick ’11In March, three Nichols students – Paige Dedrick ’11,Caroline Fenn ’12 and Donata Lorenzo ’11 – participatedin the Plastics Are Forever International Youth Summit inLong Beach, California. The symposium, sponsored bythe Algalita Marine Research Foundation, was attendedby prominent scientists and environmentalists, such asCaptain Charles Moore and Ed Begley, Jr. The summitalso served as a forum for the student groups to fully developtheir own plans for fighting against the plastic epidemic, andto prepare to implement them in their communities. TheNichols students’ project, Plasti-Gone, aims to eliminatesingle-use plastics from Nichols School and schools likeours around the Great Lakes.All images are courtesy of Algalita Marine Research Foundation.When I boarded the plane for Long Beach, I had a mental pictureof what would comprise a “plastics symposium.” I expected to seepictures of albatrosses dead from plastic consumption and turtlesmangled by plastic rings. There definitely were a few of those, butthey are the very real result of our actions, and perhaps we shouldsee those images to fully appreciate what we are fighting against, butthey can be unpleasant and alienating. What I had not expectedwas to be greeted by a quintessential California surfer dude whohad literally convinced thousands of investors to alter one smallcorner of the world. I had not expected to be told that being anenvironmental superhero should be energizing and satisfying.“Do this work only if you can love it,” Dr. J. Nichols compelledus. It was a common theme throughout the weekend. I neverimagined that people whose work is so important could so easilylaugh at their own shortcomings. J. Nichols, who is easily amongthe most inspirational speakers I have ever heard, gave most of hisspeech lying down on stage, telling us horrifying nightmare-storiesabout his early days of public presentations. Later, when our groupwas called upon to present our plan to the symposium, we couldrelate to his recollections of heavy blushing and sweating palms.We quickly learned that the first order of business if you hope tomake a positive change in the world is to conquer stage fright.I knew by the end of the first speech that my expectations of adoom and gloom conference were the antithesis of the seminar Iwas attending. Instead of dispirited environmentalists, exhausted34 Nichols School