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Bellevue School District students, staff outline Earth Month plans and daily sustainability actions
Summary
Students, teachers and a community member on a Bellevue School District podcast described Earth Month activities — including a ‘Turn Off the Lights Day’ campaign — and urged daily actions such as recycling, carpooling and energy conservation while the district works to implement a sustainability policy adopted in April 2023.
Students, staff and community members on a Bellevue School District podcast described upcoming Earth Month activities and urged everyday actions to reduce energy use and waste.
Randy Lutzenberger, a Bellevue High School social studies teacher and co-chair of the district sustainability design team, said the committee recently convened a follow-up meeting that included facilities, nutrition services and operations to measure progress against last year’s goals. "We are a district that has been cutting edge in terms of the work over the last 2 decades," Lutzenberger said, and he noted the district adopted a sustainability policy in April 2023 and is now working on implementation plans.
The recording includes student leaders from Bellevue High, Interlake High and Odom Middle School who described how others can get involved. One student explained that the sustainability committee accepts applications on the district website, and another urged simple changes at home and school: "One super important thing to do is recognizing, like, really obvious things, which we can cut down," said Arif Prakash, a junior and member of the Earth subgroup.
The episode highlighted specific Earth Month programming: campus cleanups, a garden planting day, a district "turn out the lights" day, a chance to track personal impact and a "take action day." The podcast also described a pilot campaign at Bellevue High called TOLD (Turn Off the Lights Day), coordinated with the nonprofit Sustainability Ambassadors, in which common-area lights such as those in the cafeteria and hallways were turned off for a day to reduce building energy use. A committee member described TOLD as a visible example that "we can be sustainable and there are some areas where we don't need to use lights."
Podcast participants said the committee also discussed the district’s waste stream and encouraged better sorting of recycling, yard waste and garbage as an ongoing, daily practice. Lutzenberger said the city of Bellevue presented a transportation-focused program cited in the recording as "Vision 0," and framed student safety and transportation alternatives as central to reducing emissions.
Community member Vicky Salazar praised student leaders on the committee and said she sees "our future sustainability leaders" in the room who will carry district ideas into college and beyond.
The episode closed with the hosts and guests agreeing to update the community after Earth Month with a follow-up recording.
