L-R: Michelle Lee, Allison Light, and Julia Withers getting ready for the freecycle event. Photo courtesy of Miramonte Environmental Club

On Saturday, January 9, Miramonte and Campolindo High Schools invite students and the community to a "freecycling" clothing swap event. "In a clothes swap, people bring stuff they don't want anymore and can find 'new' stuff," explains Allison Light of the Miramonte Environmental Club, "people will be charged a $5 entrance fee and leave everything they don't want and walk away with everything they do want." The event will be held in the Miramonte cafeteria from10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The idea was hatched at Miramonte. The members of the Environmental Club were looking for ways to revive the club. "Last year the club was led by a senior; it had a few members and many of the activities were carried out after school," remembers Allison Light, one of the club's three officers, "this year there are about 25 students who participate regularly and we conduct our meeting every other week at lunch time."

A critical objective of the Miramonte club is to increase students' awareness of recycling. The freecycle is a way to have fun while recycling and raise some money for the club in form of the $5 nominal fee. They had no problem enrolling Campolindo in the campaign. "When Miramonte contacted us, we thought that it was a good idea for the two 'rival' schools to join their effort," says Tina Curiel of the Lorax Club, Campolindo's student environmental group, "there will probably be other events, sometimes we will compete for a green objective, but this time it is a way to be connected around an environmental cause." For the freecycle event, Curiel says that people should bring gently used clothes for swapping, but could even pass along more worn out garments that could be used for crafts or other indirect purposes.

Miramonte is planning to use the money collected to acquire better recycling bins. That will be a first step in what appears to be an uphill battle. "Due to budget cuts, Miramonte doesn't pay its janitors to collect the recycling," explains Light, "last year, the AP Environmental Studies teacher assigned a couple of her teacher-aids to collect the recycling, but this year she doesn't have those helpers. Our club is trying to figure out a system that will solve this problem, but it's not simple."

Members of the club contacted the Leadership teacher and the principal, but so far they have not found a solution. At Campolindo, the students take turns bringing recyclables to the recycling centers. The fact that the two centers in Moraga and Lafayette are now closed will not make their lives easier (see article on page 13 ). "No one has stepped up yet," says Light, "but we hope to talk to the administration and teachers in 2010 and find a solution."