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Tag: Urinetown

SAN MATEO HIGH SCHOOL FUNDRAISING

 

“Take that, California drought!” was San Mateo High School’s attitude when they initiated the Urinetown project back in January.

With the drought on their mind and a passion to change the future, students from both the theatrical production and Environmental Science class joined forces to create awareness and raise funds to retrofit the urinals throughout the school.

This is an incredible example of leadership within a community. Californians have been living through a major drought and it was only a matter of time for people to start fighting for a more sustainable way of living. This student run campaign in drought stricken region shows that sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Throughout the golden state, water districts have been encouraging residents and businesses to retrofit appliances, landscape offering rebates. However, it is not everywhere you are able to find such programs and cities need to be reminded that this is no longer an option. San Mateo does not have access to rebate programs and like fellow Californians, they have experienced first hand the severity of ongoing drought. Whereas in their case, the student body came together to help change. Students took lead of the future with hopes that city government will follow. Nothing short of amazing!

It all started with the Broadway musical, Urinetown. Followed by an Earth Day rally to generate more funds to retrofit all bathrooms in the school.

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IMG_2508IMG_2505Because of student initiative and partnership Falcon helped retrofit the remaining waterfed urinals to waterfree. Giving San Mateo’s students what they so desired from the start: a more sustainable environment for the school.

Part of being a B Corp is giving back locally and when communities come together to generate good, we can’t help but feel excited. This is what propels us to work harder everyday. When you have people making it their mission to conserve water for both ourselves and future generations, it all makes sense. We are using the power of business to do good, and are extremely happy it reached San Mateo High. #BtheChange

SAN MATEO HIGH SCHOOL’S URINETOWN

urinetown

For two weekends starting today, San Mateo High School’s Performing Arts will be presenting the hit Broadway play “Urinetown.” A musical satire of social irresponsibility, “Urinetown” is about a small city that has outlawed the use of private toilets due to an extreme drought with citizens paying for the right to use public restrooms. Taking inspiration from their classmates production, the Environmental Science students at San Mateo High are raising funds to install new environmentally friendly urinals throughout the school.The class took the idea of Urinetown to heart and, wanting to make sure it never happened in their town, will be raising funds during the performances for the purchase and installation of Falcon Waterfree urinals for their campus. One of the students stated, that “With California in a severe drought, I think it’s important for everyone to take action for water conservation. It’s inspiring to know that something we do, like improving our urinals, can save our state such a large quantity of precious fresh water.”

We are proud to support the students in this initiative as California Water Service in San Mateo is one of the only water utility companies in the area to not offer rebates for the purchase of waterless urinals. This is such a great initiative from the students. We always encourage people to think about saving water not just in their own homes, but in every aspect of their lives – and this is a great example!

The biggest waste of clean drinking water is found in the place that we spend as little as time in as possible, the bathroom. By installing water-efficient or waterfree urinals, San Mateo High School can save up to an average or more than 40,000 gallons of water per year/per urinal. With 33 urinals across its campus, the High School can save an up to 1,320,000 gallons of water a year. That’s a pretty impressive number, don’t you think?

“This project gives our students an opportunity to bring a lot of disparate ideas together. In Environmental Science we spend significant time with California’s drought and its consequences for the state’s ecology and economy,” said AP Environmental Science Teacher Miguel Appleman. “The musical Urinetown considers a vision of drought from a more artistic angle, with acting, music and dance.  The project gives students, many of whom are in the class and the show, the opportunity to look at both interpretations of drought, and then we sprinkle in a taste of activism, a bit of a civics lesson.  Here’s a problem, our overuse of water, and they can do more than just watch it happen; they can do something about it, and by bringing in more people, they can move things forward.

After all is said and done, we will post an update on the outcome of San Mateo’s fundraiser and how many urinals were installed in the school. Until then; happy Friday!