The Environmental Awareness Club (EAC) is off to another great start this year with many returning members and a lot of new ones, too. We learned that Simpson’s new organic garden, which we got up and running at the end of May last year, prospered over the summer thanks to Terry Hodge and Kevin Rice.

As hard as the boys worked, they did receive some additional help from a few non-EAC members. Thank you letters to those individuals were then sent around for each member to sign before being mailed off.

Since the approaching winter season means we won’t see much more food production in the garden until the spring, we will be spending this time concentrating on making compost bins to put in the garden in order to hopefully put some of Simpson’s food waste to good use. Four of our brave male members have volunteered to strut their stuff in four-inch heels for SARA’s “In Her Shoes” event during the football game at halftime on Oct. 23.

We had our first activity of the year on Sept. 17, which was our traditional twice-a-year, Highway 69 cleanup. We successfully cleaned up two miles of the highway in one afternoon. Future events include Saturday Oct. 1, in which EAC members will be taking a trip up to the Farmer’s Market in Des Moines where we can purchase fresh, healthy foods and support Iowa’s farmers.

On Oct. 14, EAC’s first movie showing this year will be at 7 p.m. in the Jordan Lecture Hall. The movie is called Green, and is about deforestation in Indonesia. For those of you who enjoyed showing support for Green Week last year by sporting buttons, keep your eyes and ears open because we will be doing those again this year.

Don’t forget, we meet every other Monday at 8 p.m. in the Carver science building, room 205. Our next club meeting will be on October 17th. Stay tuned for monthly updates on our club, and remember, it’s never too late to join!