“Woodpecker!” “Bluebird!” shouted students, attempting to guess the bird species projected on the Cochran Chapel screen. Thus opened David O’Neill’s Earth Day presentation at All-School Meeting (ASM) last Friday. O’Neill, president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society (Mass Audubon), shared anecdotes regarding his environmental work in his talk.
In his talk, O’Neill emphasized the universal importance of environmental stewardship, regardless of profession.
“Protecting nature is work that I find incredibly meaningful. No matter which career you go into and what you do, being a steward of nature, participating in its protection is important. I encourage you to do everything you can to be a part of the work that’s necessary to protect nature and all of its species in the future,” said O’Neill.
One story O’Neill recounted was about piping plovers, a bird species that was nearly driven to extinction. Mass Audubon worked to protect them, and the piping plovers have since begun to recover. Silvia Su ’29, a climate advocate herself, said the story resonated with her.
“His story about piping plovers makes me really feel in awe of the natural world and its ability to balance after being deprived. It also just makes me appreciate how other people work hard to achieve the same goals as me. Even though sometimes the environment is not the number one issue that’s in the headlines, there are always going to be people who are working to ensure sustainability,” said Su.
Despite the enthusiasm, some students questioned whether Earth Week spirit translates into everyday action. Frank Hu ’26 pointed to a paradox at the heart of campus life.
“Students at Andover probably generate more waste than the average person. Andover students in general, while they can be more conscious of topics such as environmental sustainability, the vast majority of us are pretty fortunate to have so many resources at our fingertips. That often means more consumption,” said Hu.
Karen Kennedy, Assistant Director of Athletics, was present at the ASM with her advisory. She commented on the importance of conversations regarding sustainability.
“I don’t think it’s just important in the Andover curriculum, because it goes well beyond Andover… It’s a global thing. It’s an important thing for all the residents of the planet, not just Andover… If we’re going to change the culture [here], it comes from you guys [students],” said Kennedy.
Phillips Academy Sustainability Coalition (PASC) Co-Coordinators Matt Robinson ’27 and Lisa de Boer ’26 introduced O’Neill. Robinson believed that O’Neill’s connection to the New England region strengthened the impact of his talk.
“He’s a good person for the school to invite because he is the director of a major local organization. The really key word here is local. A lot of times, our speakers come from far away and they don’t know the communities around and how our students can get involved. The fact that he was from around here was really important as to why he made a good Earth Day speaker,” said Robinson.
Bruce Ru ’28, who attended the lunch with O’Neill after ASM and is involved in PASC, shared his hopes that the entire school community would improve its sustainability habits.
“The big tension a lot of people are thinking about is if we adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, maybe our quality of life would decrease. To a point, that may be true. But there are many ways, like the most cliché things like turning off the tap when you brush your teeth. We’re taking steps towards the right direction. People care, but should care more,” said Ru.
Su echoed this sentiment, pointing to a gap between awareness and engagement with sustainability efforts across the student body.
“It feels like it’s more of everyone who’s in the PASC is really into sustainability and everyone else is just kind of ‘eh’ about it. It just feels like there’s not a general community involvement… I feel like people here definitely care. It’s just not such a central issue to how our school is built or something that the school is super focused on. It’s definitely something that everyone is aware of, but it feels like it could be in the spotlight a bit more,” said Su.
She continued, “I feel like having more programs or presentations on just reminding people what can be and can’t be recycled, just showing the general student population how composting works and what happens after you put your plate in the little conveyor belt in [Paresky Commons], just having those little reminders to be more aware of your environmental impact is also very important… Widening the array of speakers that are touching on environmental issues would be really cool.”
