Environmental Science Students Explore Marin Sanitation Programs

The day started with a guided tour around Redwood Landfill (thank you Alisha McCutcheon!), learning about composting, sanitary landfill practices, and the new methane capture effort that not only keeps this powerful greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere but also generates electricity on site! The second stop was in San Rafael, at the Marin Resource Recovery Center run by Marin Sanitary Service, where students learned (thank you Izzy Parnell-Wolfe!) about waste management and then donned hard hats to be guided through their trend-setting recyclables sorting facility. These students already knew Izzy as the friendly face who has been helping MC move forward on our composting and recycling program. The third and final stop of the day was just down the street, at the Central Marin Sanitation Agency, also known as the sewage treatment plant, where students were walked and talked (thank you CMSA staff!) through the facility from start to finish. 

By the end of this day, students learned where "away" really is, what the back-side of a throw-away culture looks, smells, and feels like. APES parent Jay Mulligan (Ella, '19) said "I thought the trip was a great idea. Very practical tie into what they are studying."

The entire faculty and staff has spent the past year and a half focusing on Pope Francis' Laudato Si (a must-read, really), and the APES students not only read it over the summer but have been connecting it to their work throughout the year.