Those efforts complemented a major solar project unveiled at RE in May: a 111 kW array of 305 solar panels was installed on the Henry H. Anderson Jr. ’38 Gymnasium last spring. The panels are expected to annually generate a total of 160,000 kW of power, save more than $25,000 and offset a quarter million pounds of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of planting some 1,800 trees. They follow a much smaller installation of solar panels on the Hogan Building at the middle school in 2019.

The measures fit with the theme – Climate Solutions – of the school’s annual Ransom Everglades Climate Symposium, held last April for the sixth year. That event drew hundreds to the upper school campus and showcased some 300 student projects. It also included a keynote address by University of Miami professor and environmentally focused artist Xavier Cortada, featured an Eco Fair of sustainable businesses, and a zero-waste, plastic-free, all-vegetarian food court.  

RE’s Director of Environmental Sustainability Kelly Jackson opened the event and introduced Cortada, who joined her at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.   

“The theme of this evening’s symposium is climate solutions,” Jackson said on April 13. “Students are not focusing on the gloom and doom so much as on what can we all do – how can we solve the climate crisis. What actions can we take to bring awareness to the issue, reduce our carbon footprint, and make small impacts that add up to big changes.”

For the symposium, RE’s sixth graders produced interdisciplinary projects in the sciences and social sciences designed to ignite a social movement for climate action. Many seventh graders also created posters or projects, recycled art was displayed, and, for the first time, students in Breakthrough Miami participated. Upper school students in RE’s signature Marine Field Research class created research posters on topics of marine conservation. RE also celebrated some of its sustainability successes, such as a middle school, student-tended garden with native pollinating plants that has attracted butterflies and caterpillars.

In another effort, a student group has reached out to businesses in Coconut Grove to encourage the reduction of single-use plastic (the new Blue Grove Sustainability Consulting Scholar Program with Debris Free Oceans).

RE parents have consistently offered support for the school’s green efforts. Parents assisted with the solar panel installation and have helped recycle some 8,000 school uniforms since 2021.

In phase one of the school’s new composting program, SAGE Dining Services has been placing vegetables, salad bar remnants, fruit scraps and egg shells into the pink composting bins. SAGE also collects used cooking oil for recycling.  

“Everything helps,” Jackson said. “Reducing our environmental impact requires hard work and effort from all of us. It’s exciting to see the commitment of our entire school community. Together, we can make changes that will collectively help mitigate the effects of climate change and improve the health of our local environment.”