Recently, there was news of the strong likelihood of a crisis occurring earliest by 2040 due to global warming. Students at Liberty, including myself, have taken the initiative to prevent a crisis, even on a smaller level. As the school year is just beginning, students are already making a difference at school. Over the summer, I, along with another Liberty senior, Vivek Adury, volunteered with the Trail Tenders of the Lehigh Valley as National Honor Society officers.

We began by hiking on the trails at Sand Island and picked up trash and recycling that were left in the bushes and trails. After several outings, Vivek and I found a common trend in finding fishing lines along the canal. Though nearly invisible, fishing lines pollute nature and harm wildlife. Emily Freudenberger, our Trail Tender advisor, spent over an hour carefully cutting fishing line that had strangled a baby goose. She speaks about her experiences: “...it breaks my heart to see animals hurt because someone else who was using these great resources got lazy or didn’t know that they were endangering others by leaving stuff behind – in this case, their discarded fishing line.” As strong advocates for the environment, we wanted to work alongside Liberty’s Greater Responsibilities Among Students for Sustainability (GRASS) club to begin an initiative.

The Fishing Line Awareness and Disposal Initiative aka FLADI was planned by me, Adury and Freudenberger. We presented our project idea to the Bethlehem Parks Department, received approval, and are now applying for grants to eventually construct monofilament receptacles by hand. These receptacles would be an efficient and environmentally friendly way that fishermen could dispose of fishing lines. By placing several receptacles along the Sand Island trail, our hope is that the number of fishing lines disgarded decreases, just in time for the fishing season in the spring.

As an advisor for a student-led initiative, Freudenberger said, “The most effective way of fighting the impending global warming crisis is to learn about your leaders and whose interest they are really serving – their voting record as your chosen representatives will speak for itself. If they are not acting in your interest, vote them out.”

To instigate this, Adury led the voter registration drive at our school for the past two years. Adury and other students that are a part of High School Democrats of America and NHS at Liberty were trained by the New Voters organization to properly register their peers. With the midterms coming up, Adury wanted to register as many eligible students as possible. Last year, for the primary elections, Adury registered 251 students and this year, for the midterms, Adury registered 61 students.

Ultimately, we are the next generation and each action will impact the world we live in. Adury said, “It’s important that we register eligible students so we can fight for a better tomorrow. The point to have a voter registration drive was to make registration as convenient as possible.”

It is important that we take full advantage of our resources and rights as citizens. Among the other organizations and clubs that Liberty offers, National Honor Society, High School Democrats of America, and GRASS have especially been active and making impacts which can in turn change the outlook of our country.