Lincoln Academy’s Climate Action Club to be on Sundance Channel

The Climate Action Club of Lincoln Academy will be featured in an upcoming segment of “Big Ideas for a Small Planet,” a new series that’s part of Sundance Channel’s environmental programming, “The Green.”

 

There was quite a bit of excitement around the school and in town on Monday and Tuesday of this week, with a film crew from Los Angeles filming members of the club on campus and off.

 

On Monday, the crew was up bright and early to meet Chloe Maxmin, a junior and founder of the club last year, coming to school. They followed her around for a bit and then later, filmed her and another club member, Sara Komorowski, collecting batteries from different classrooms to be recycled. Recycling batteries, establishing recycling bins, reducing idling of school buses, learning how to do energy audits and starting a campaign to help local merchants eliminate using plastic bags are some of the projects the club has been involved in.

 

The film crew even went to the local transfer station to film members taking the batteries there. Later, the club, which numbers about 20 students, had a meeting at which they talked about plans for reducing plastics in the cafeteria. Then they silk-screened their logo onto canvas bags they would be bringing to town on Tuesday to deliver to merchants.

 

Andy Mullin, Lincoln Academy‘s Assistant Head of School, was interviewed in front of the school. He said he hoped the Climate Action Club would continue and “maybe spread to other schools in the area.”

 

“The school is very proud of these students,” he continued. “They have taken a huge initiative about something we all need to take an interest in. They started in the school, with initiatives like reducing school bus idling and computer energy consumption with what’s called local cooling. And now they’re going out into the community to help exact some positive change.”

 

On Tuesday morning, the crew went to Nobleboro to film at Chloe’s home. Though the film segment will be about the club, film producer Kyung Sun Yu said the focus will be on Chloe.

 

“The story we’re doing on Chloe will be one of three about different innovators, as we call them, in a segment entitled ‘Community,'” Yu said. “Chloe will be the only young person of the three.”

 

The producer said it was “wonderful” to visit Chloe’s home, “because we could see how her environmentalism is something she lives. The whole family is very environmentally conscientious, with solar panels on their barn and wind power to help generate power.”

 

Chloe’s mother is Shoshana Zuboff, a retired Harvard Business School professor and currently a columnist for Business Week. She’s also co-authored a book, “The Support Economy,” with Chloe’s father, James Maxmin, a former CEO for Volvo in England and an international business consultant.

 

In addition to interviewing her parents, the film crew took shots around the farm and also of Chloe blogging on the Climate Action Club’s website.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, the crew followed club members into town to distribute the canvas bags to merchants. They stopped at Renys, the Maine Coast Book Shop and Café, and Big Dave’s, all who’ve been supportive of the club’s efforts.

 

The interest of the Sundance Channel in the Climate Action Club arose from the club’s winning of an award this summer from Youth Venture and Earth Island Institute to attend an “environmental boot camp” at the University of Florida. Three members, including Chloe, participated in the three-day workshop on sustainability.

 

Producer Yu said she wasn’t sure when the segment would be aired, but she said it wouldn’t be ready until after this season. When The Lincoln County News finds out, it will be sure to publish the tim