Sustainability Commitments

four middle school students wearing gardening gloves planting seeds for starters outdoors with grass and trees in background

We believe climate change is one of the most pressing issues in today’s world, and Catlin Gabel is committed to being part of the solution.

 A cross-constituent group of teachers, staff, and students, known as the Green Team, develops ideas and practices to engage our community in becoming a more environmentally sustainable school. Current initiatives prioritized by the Green Team include:

  • Reinstating the campus composting program to capture food waste in The Barn. The kitchen began composting food scraps from meal preparation in 2023, and the program will expand to the main dining area in 2024.

  • Kicking off the Strategic Energy Management program through the Energy Trust of Oregon, with the goal of reducing energy use in key buildings and across campus.

  • Working closely with the Upper School’s Environmental Action Team to educate the campus community on these new initiatives.

The Environmental Action Team (EAT) is a student-led, faculty-advised club that focuses on a range of environmental projects in partnership with the school's Green Team and the school's student government, CGSA. A member of EAT holds a position on the CGSA as the sustainability coordinator to help increase the school’s sustainability efforts. Recent efforts by EAT include:

  • Maintaining Oregon’s first Tiny Forest, which was planted in 2022.

  • Organizing a swap of school-branded clothing during Homecoming to reduce waste.

  • Recycling hundreds of pens and whiteboard markers through the Staples Recycling Program.

  • Developing a sustainable purchasing policy for the school.

  • Auditing garbage and recycling receptacles in the Upper School and standardizing the bins in an effort to lower contamination of the school's recycling efforts.

  • Prepping a campus area to become a pollinator garden and aid native butterfly and bee species.