STUDENTS HOPE TO CONSERVE WATER DURING THE APRIL HYRO-CUP COMPETITION
By Olivia Bee ’10
News Reporter
Choate Rosemary Hall has prided itself on “going green” over the last two years. Through two Green Cup challenges and many measurements of food waste this fall, the school has been making an increased effort to reduce its carbon footprint. The Green Cup challenge this year earned a President’s Day, and the tray-less day in the dining hall was more successful than anyone could have hoped. Yet Choate is never satisfied, so once again this Spring it will be hosting the Hydro Cup, in essence an inter-dorm challenge meant to conserve water, running for three weeks starting April 25th.
Last year marked the inauguration of the Hydro Cup Challenge. Everyone awaited it with anticipation. It turned out to be a great spin-off of the Green Cup for water instead of direct energy conservation.
Water is abundant at Choate: the community does not always take into consideration how much it uses because it knows that there will always be more. Most Americans forget that in many countries around the world, water is very hard to come by. People walk miles just to get a few pails of water that they will make last for a few days. But here, in America, people need do no more than turn on a faucet to have access to water. They do not have to work to make it hot—they turn the faucet towards the warm side. The Hydro-Cup Challenge comes into play as Choaties begin to think about these issues.
The Student Council, Sustainability Committee, Students Against Climate Change, and Environmental Action Coalition worked closely together to organize the Hydro Cup last year. They also worked with Facilities and Services in order to figure out a way to measure the amount of water used by each dorm. They proposed incentives in order to motivate the students. They introduced the Hydro Cup to the Choate Rosemary Hall student body at an all-school meeting to inform students about the logistics: how the water would be measured, the reasons behind the challenge, and what students should do to conserve.
To kick off the Hydro Cup, Student Council members gave student hints to help conserve water such as taking shorter showers and turning off the faucet while washing one’s face and brushing one’s teeth.
“Most dorms took it very seriously. Others fooled around a bit, and their water levels ended up rising,” said David Lam ’09. Overall, the Hydro-Cup was a success: despite a few minor flaws, it went according to plan. The larger dorms such as Hill House, Memorial House, and Archbold found conserving more challenging. The smaller, senior houses emerged victorious. Lam speculated, “They probably didn’t take showers!”
This year’s Hydro Cup promises a few minor adjustments. It will last three weeks and will begin on April 25th. The incentives this year will be a bit different. After the success of the Green Cup, organizers are investigating the idea of incentives for the whole community to participate that go beyond the prizes for the winners of the inter-dorm competition. Those involved are also trying to figure out a way to get day students more involved. “Though a minority, they are still part of our school,” said Student Council President, Katie DeFusco ’09.
Ms. Linhorst-Homan, one of the faculty heads of the Hydro Cup competition, has high hopes for it. “It was good last year,” she stated, “but water is a hard thing to conserve.” She mentioned that the conservation of water is more difficult to visualize than the turning off of lights. Ms. Homan is environmentally conscious and is interested in educating the community about environmental issues. She has aided nearly every type of environmental competition at Choate. Lizzie Needham ’09, a student who has been environmentally active at Choate and a co-president of the Environmental Action Coalition, grew up on a nature preserve and loves the outdoors. She hopes to bring the green mindset to Choate with force. “It is my hope that one day people around the world will be green every day without having to think about it,” she commented.
With different incentives and more people involved, the Hydro Cup has the potential to help the school become even greener. The students anticipate the challenge.
