Changing the environment is no small task, but the National Art Honors Society has devoted itself to this important cause. N.A.H.S. is showing its devotion to the environment by undertaking a project to buy stainless steel water bottles for every student and teacher at Arcadia High School. Reaching this goal is not going to be a walk in the park, so the W.A.T.E.R. project (Watch Arcadia Transform Earth’s Resources) will be a fantastic effort and a beacon of hope for the environment in the Arcadia community.

            This project does not just reach Arcadia; its third phase will affect the world. The first phase is to buy stainless steel water bottles with an Arcadia High School logo. This will cost about $5,000 dollars. The average American uses about 28.3 gallons of bottled water a year. Since plastics take between 200 and 400 years to degrade into the environment, recycling or not, using plastics at all would be a fantastic alternative. The second phase is to purchase and install a new filtration system so Arcadians will want to drink the water here. The final phase is an ongoing process to get filtration systems and water to third-world countries through an organization called Potters for Peace.

            Potters for Peace is an organization based in Bisbee, Arizona, that was founded in Nicaragua in 1986. Every day, 5,000 children die because of unsanitary water. Potters for Peace travels around the world teaching communities how to create a ceramic filter that can be made cheaply. These filters eliminate 99.88 percent of the harmful agents in drinking water.

            All in all, knowing that a high school club can devote itself wholly to such a good cause demonstrates  all that \ we can do to help the environment, and the world community greatly. This club portrays the ideas and the drive that come from high school students and their mentors, incredible people like Ms. Share.