RelightNY

These days there's a lot of trendiness in going green. How do you feel about it?

Avery Hairston: This reminds me of Bruno, one of Sacha Baron Cohen's characters, and the things he says: ach, ach (meaning it's good), it's very trendy, and nicht, nicht (meaning it's not good). I would have to say that CFLs are very ach ach right now and incandescents are big nicht nicht. Jack Schlossberg: If a corporation sponsored us just to look good, that's still helping us. If someone is going green just to look trendy, they're still going green and helping out with the problem.

What does green mean to you?

Avery Hairston: Green means the environment. Daniel Bernstein: It's what's around us. Jack Schlossberg: Keeping the earth the way it's supposed to be. Peter Chapin: A better future. Taiki Kasuga: A clean earth. Brendan Harvey: Beauty.

What would you tell people who think that going green is really hard?

Will Pagano: If you think about the environment first, it's not even about giving things up, it's about doing things less. Peter Chapin: It's really not that hard to start living eco-friendly—just make a small change in your lifestyle. Avery Hairston: Ideally, we'd turn off all the lights and have no electricity and everything would be great, but unfortunately that's not the way life is. It doesn't take much to help the environment. Jack Schlossberg: You really don't have to give up anything, just change the way you do it. If you buy a more efficient air conditioner, then it's saving more energy than if you keep your old one. Taiki Kasugar: I heard about a family in New York City that was giving up almost everything for a whole year. They were not even using toilet paper. For a whole year! Peter Chapin: They rock. Taiki Kasugar: I commend them, but I wouldn't do that personally. Brendan Harvey: You can't expect people to do that. Peter Chapin: You don't even have to do that to live green. Maybe run your water less, turn off your lights when you leave home. Turn off your computer. It's really not that hard. Avery Hairston: It's the small things that add up. Will Pagano: The thing is, with CFL bulbs you don't have to change your whole life to make a difference. Stephen Todres: We were talking about how we're just average, mainstream kids and how we didn't need to transform everything we do and who we are. All we need to do is make some simple changes and that's what is great about this project. It's just changing a light bulb and that can make a big difference.

Aside from changing all of your incandescent bulbs to CFLs, do you have any other green habits?

Peter Chapin: I used to have my computer on and keep programs running, and now I've gotten into the habit of signing off before I go to sleep. I close all my programs and I actually shut off my computer and that saves hours and hours of energy. Taiki Kasuga: As well as that, I unplug the outlets because even though the device may not be on, having the computer plugged into the wall wastes energy. Daniel Bernstein: I turn off the lights when I leave the house. It's such an easy thing to do. Also I don't shower for as long, which saves water. Taiki Kasuga: I'm in the process of convincing my family to buy a hybrid. Will Pagano: And CFLs on top of that.

What else inspired all of you to go green?

Taiki Kasuga: A few months back Billy Parish, an alumnus of Collegiate, came and talked to us about what he's doing to save the earth and that's the main thing that inspired me. Stephen Todres: Knowing the effect, it's hard not to be moved to do something because global warming is just such a huge issue. Jack Schlossberg: I think part of it is the lack of motivation by the government so we really need to take it upon ourselves until they get the picture and start to do something. Peter Chapin: Our government is not even acknowledging global warming. They're calling it climate change. They're trying to dumb it down and I think that's just horrible because the public deserves to know what's happening. We all live on this planet and it's all of ours. It's probably the one thing we commonly share and we need to work together and we all need to be educated on how to fight global warming. Brendan Harvey: I read Crimes Against Nature by Bobby Kennedy and he shows that the government has so much incentive to keep the coal mines and the dirty factories because they are making so much money off this. It's almost unfair to everyone else and that's why we want to make a difference.

What inspired you all to take action?

Peter Chapin: I know this is a little cliché right now, but after seeing Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, it really opened my eyes to the problem that is global warming. That combined with Avery really taking the initiative, getting all our classmates together, and getting them to form this great project. I think that was the driving force behind this project. Avery Hairston: If you look at the EU right now and Australia, it's really great what they're doing. They're actually going to outlaw incandescent bulbs by 2010. They're going to make them illegal to purchase, illegal to install, and illegal for use. That's something the government here should do because making it illegal is such a huge help—it makes it so that you have to replace these bulbs. Will Pagano: It shows how efficient CFLs are and how good they are if the EU is going as far as to outlaw incandescents so that people use CFLs.

So would any of you ever date someone who didn't use CFLs?

Peter Chapin: Never. Will Pagano: No. Jack Schlossberg: God, no. Brendan Harvey: Well … Taiki Kasuga: It depends on her personality. Avery Hairston: I would date her and then I would tell her about them. I would educate her. And then after we broke up or if we got married she would be better for it knowing about CFLs. So I would date her, yes.