Ocean Art - There is Hope!

One of the most crucial steps Brentwood can take to become more ecologically friendly is to reduce its waste output. 

Reusing garbage was determined by the Environmental Advocacy class to be a creative and effective strategy. Voila, the Garbage Art Interhouse Competition.

First, the school’s Scuba team collected a wide variety of discarded trash from the ocean floor in front of the school. This ‘waste harvest’ including fishing poles, vapes, tools, glass, plastic, nets, and sunglasses. 

After receiving the trash, the Environmental Advocacy group cleaned, scoured, and divided it equitably among the brother-sister houses. This task required adaptability, ingenuity, and teamwork.

Each brother-sister house was then given ¼ of this garbage and the responsibility of creating the finest art they could in order to compete for "eco-prestige," as Mr Ganley put it - and Interhouse points. 

Cleo F, Hope ‘24 demonstrated her superior artistry by skillfully crafting a whale. She made a fantastic sculpture - see above - out of leftover trash and a few other ‘waste’ supplies. 

This challenge demonstrates that trash 1) needs to be reduced and 2) can and ought to be recycled into new materials - not dumped into the Pacific Ocean. This trash is what we see in the water now, and it can be harmful to ecosystems and wildlife. 

In recent years, huge NGOs like 4Ocean have begun making furniture out of garbage collected in rivers and oceans. So far they have been making beach chairs - which look wonderful in my opinion. 

Brentwood needs to continue to do challenges like this to educate our community on managing waste responsibly and reveal the beauty that can come from reducing and reusing it.

Nathan Carter, Rogers House Captain ‘24