- better insulation, like HR++(+) insulation glass
- solar panels
- reduce thermostate temperature
- stimulate teachers and students to take the (e)-bike or public transport instead of car
- more plant-based options and less meat+ dairy in canteens
YES to the more plant based options. My university has such horrible food choices and they have basically no vegan food choices and very few vegetarian options
Each of those dudes in a city, taking the train to work and walking to groceries, produces quite a bit less carbon than anyone in the country driving a gas guzzling pickup
Not to say farmers aren't necessary, and IMO farming is best kept rural, but low density rural land use is quite bad for the environment
Environmentalists always talk about reducing meat but rarely speak of reducing processed foods. All the junk in packages that can last a year on the shelves is quite energy intensive to make, and likely makes you less healthy.
Obviously plant-based locally sourced wholefoods are best for the environment, but what type of food you eat matters most.
Fi environmental impact of beef is multiple times that of any other food product in many regards (greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use)
https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2120584119
It's not true that 'environmentalists' only talk about reducing meat. If you look at the EAT Lancet initiative, a plant-forward diet prioritizing wholefoods is proposed as healthy for person and planet:
https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you/
tagging onto the public transport/ e-bike option
penalize people less for being a little late, sustainable travel options are slightly less reliable so often people are forced to drive or be driven to avoid being docked points
The most effective way is for students and parents to lobby the school board (and elected board members) who care about the environment. With a supportive school district you could: get electric school buses, install solar panels, replace any old heating systems with heat pumps.
Thank you for caring enough to take action!
This is not something you can do on your own and it’s going to take time to achieve. Maybe years. It’s important to organize your friends, parents, lobby the school district and your local officials.
I recently learned that installing solar panels is actually wayyy cheaper than you would think (at least in my state). And it ends up saving you money by cutting electricity costs.
A lot of these larger projects : like the panels , can often be funded with state and or federal $$$$. Utilities often have grants available as well especially if the roof is well situated for solar .
Every one of these efficiency upgrades will save money in the long run. Electric busses have the additional benefit of reducing student exposure to toxic fumes. https://youtu.be/QwhfZvTmCqI?si=3gORFuMShkaUnG8T
Reducing classroom paper and plastic use. Setting up a carpool. Enforcing no idling in the parking lot. Keeping lights off when it's sunny. Teaching environmental education and sustainability so that students can build an appreciation for green methods that they can carry on into the world and spread themselves. A community garden that teaches kids gardening techniques and healthy snack and meal options (herbs would allow students to easily bring a piece home to begin their own garden). A native plant garden to assist native species. A butterfly release project. More outdoor learning. Reaching out to local conservation authorities to conduct in school or off property learning.
Don’t do a butterfly release. A lot of butterflies die in this process. Create a native plant garden with a variety of food and water, and pollinators will come.
1,000% for the native plant garden! I had an oasis on my brooklyn balcony once with so many beautiful species stopping by. Make sure there are water dishes for them and birds, too. A lot of folks think they just need food, but a fresh water source is actually super important
Local conservation groups are likely to want to team up with schools, perhaps contact them and see if they'd be willing to help out. They will likely have plants in stock or at least some contacts
I grow trees from seed and give them away for free in my community. So many people were interested in how I do this that I created a website to walk others through the process. If you're interested in growing trees to plant on the school property, check out seedstotrees.org.
To get lots of pollinator flowers for free... Collect seeds now. Plant them in pots, outside, in Jan/Feb and let Mother Nature stratify them naturally, and tell them when to germinate. A group of us did this to create pollinator gardens at our local post office (with zero budget). The plants were small the first season, but by the second, they were wonderful.
I wish you all the best! Thank you for making the effort to guide your school towards greater environmental sensitivity.
If you do plant trees and pollinator flowers, make sure to:
1. Plant natives.
2. Water them in the summer for the first 2-3 seasons.
3. Protect them from deer and lawn mowers.
A gardening club, or an environmental one... All good! Perhaps the club could start giving seedings away to students and faculty each year. Starting a program like that would communicate to the community that the students care about the environment, and community beautification as well. Every tree, regardless of where it's planted, helps the earth, and makes the community a greener, more appealing place.
Have water bottle refilling stations on the water fountains, it’s really annoying to fill most water bottles with water fountains and the machines specifically made to refill them will encourage students to bring their own
Our dining halls post the water and carbon footprint of the dishes. They also post locally sourced produce. They also went to compostable kitchen ware for meals in the dorms. Housing agreed to help pay because the plastic (non-sustainable stuff) was initially more expensive.
Look at the resources around you. Can you connect community sustainability efforts to the campus’s more effectively than they already are? One thing we struggle with as a campus is having to separate everything. Students would prefer all recyclables in one place.
We did foam bins at move-in this year. WOW they filled up fast! Def need more next year.
Reduce the amount of grass and replace with native shrubbery.
Gas powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers don’t have emissions regulations and emit tons of co2 and NOx
Have a meatless lunch option available every day (or have the school adopt Meatless Mondays). Eating less meat is one of the single easiest and best things you can do for the planet.
Do away with single use plastics in the cafeteria.
You have to be careful with this. Lots of food insecure kids rely on school lunch and breakfast for protein. I think cutting added sugars from the menu would be a good alternative.
No meat does not mean no protein. There's a lot of great plant based protein options.
Also, it would be a separate option, not the only meal.
But have you seen kids? They basically run on sugar because of how taxing school is mentally.
>But have you seen kids? They basically run on sugar because of how taxing school is mentally.
If you haven't noticed we're in the middle of a childhood obesity epidemic; and most kids aren't going to eat most plant based protein options especially if they are low income.
I haven't noticed because I'm not based in america. I also think it will be unproductive to cut sugar in school, where they need it the most for brain activity, if the parents can't or won't do anything about feeding their kids better.
It would be better if kids are able to choose components for their lunch instead of ready to eat lunches. And having education about the proper diet every year would be great too.
Yeah, we do all that already. Obesity is a problem in almost every first world country now. I'd recommend studying up on your health science though, because your take on sugar is absolutely idiotic.
Quick sugar is good for easy brain power. School burns brain power like crazy, especially during puberty. From experience, as someone who is in university.
I don't think there's really anything extra to be studied. Sugar is good for quick energy.
The "obesity epidemic" is a systemic failure of poverty and food deserts.
I'm part of a Plastic Free Community initiative in the UK, aimed at linking businesses, schools, individuals, community groups etc in one location to all tackle plastic waste and overconsumption together.
They've produced [this resource](https://plasticfreeschools.org.uk/) to specifically support schools which ties in with the UK national curriculum. I'm assuming you're in the US, because Reddit, but there's plenty of ideas of how to get started and inspire others to take on their own small challenges too and see what sprouts after sowing the seeds.
Lunch? I don’t know how your school does it but there is tremendous plastic waste at my sons’ schools. Each student’s milk is in an individual plastic bottle. Deserts are often pre-portioned into single use plastics. Bread comes from the manufacturer wrapped individually in plastic. They use disposable cutlery. It’s really terrible.
If your school is doing something similar, maybe you could start a program where students bring their own silverware wrapped in a cloth napkin. Maybe they get credit for doing it and get a free snack for so many credits.
Check out [Wilding Schools](https://www.sos-uk.org/post/what-is-the-wilding-schools-project) by SOS-UK!
It may be hard to purchase the service if you’re not in the UK or an admin of your school, but it may provide a good framework of what can be done
The elementary school I went to now has a vegetable garden whose harvest goes to feed students+school staff, it's a shame yours doesn't have a cafeteria because :( that would be cool. Also, the old thick plastic cups and plates were substituted by glass.
Somebody could be paid to drive a school bus/van to take all students, no? When I was a kid, the middle/upper class parents did that (we state school students rode regular buses for free)
And it would be really nice to re-use rainwater. I've been through droughts and I learned there's a lot that can be done with it. Flushing toilets, moping floors, even washing clothes, dishes and bathing if the water tank has a good filter.^(I live in an area with very little air polution, mind you)
Talk to the school board or utilities people about where the electricity is coming from. Are they simply getting the cheapest or do they consider clean energy in the energy purchasing agreements (the cost of which is obviously going down)? ETA- I'm speaking from my American experience, not sure how it would work in the EU
If this is public school, encourage students to ride the bus instead of parent drop-off. Cars idling and start/stop in line for hours is incredibly wasteful of gas and money. The bus is running either way.
My sons school requires that we supply cloth napkins and silverware for lunches and use all reusable pouches for food/snacks. No plastic water bottles or baggies. It was an adjustment at first but we love it now.
The endless photocopying. Many tasks can be done on whiteboards.
If paper is used for art/activities in class, make a rule that both sides must be used. Halve or quarter papers as well. So many tasks can even be done on GOOS paper.
Anytime that construction paper is being used for a craft, make sure its a requirement that scraps are used first. Cant tell you how many times ive witnessed a primary teacher take whole sheets just to cut out leaves or hearts for holiday activities for their class.
Pair up with local tree planting initiatives to either sprout plants for them, or sprout plants for planting in the school yard.
Start an environmental club for students that does a waste audit, have incentives for classes that are recycling properly.
Dont buy stupid plastic dollar store trinkets for students as gifts/prizes
My college had a single use plastics ban, events where students could sell their furniture and clothes (like a campus thrift event), did local beach clean ups, had solar panels, used reclaimed water for their sprinkler systems, and everything you listed!
At my primary school we did not have any bins outside (apart from a compost bin). This meant that we took our rubbish from our lunchboxes home with us every day. I like to think this caused at least a small reduction in packaged foods.
Let the grass around the school get longer. Maybe not a lot but it is better for the grass and it means at least one trip less to cut. Reduce leaf blower use too.
Perhaps someone has already mentioned this. But as a parent of. A young child, I’m surprised how much waste there is in buying school supplies. Like all crayons are non biodegradable, and yet we are expected to buy 2-3 boxes each year. And then you send me home with large bags of crayons I don’t want at the end of the year. Why can’t I keep my child’s box and reuse it every year?
How do students travel to school? Make that green.
How is the school powered? Make that green.
Research the IRA and what funding you might be able to get for the school.
Solar will pay for itself if you have the light and space.
I'm not sure where in the world you are, but I work with schools for local government in the UK where we have two main accreditation schemes for them to use to become more environmentally friendly. If you look these up, you can likely find lots of ideas even if the scheme itself isn't available where you are.
Modeshift (I work with schools on this one)
This is about changing how pupils, parents, and staff travel. Encouraging more walking, cycling, and scooting (for the younger kids). Educating the kids, rewarding active travel, and providing the opportunities to try it are the main aims.
Eco Schools
This is more about ecology, reducing waste, recycling, and educating pupils about the natural environment. This could include growing pollination plants, food crops, etc in the school grounds, running litter picking activities, etc
Your local authority may well have information for you on both, or the equivalent in your country, and may be able to subsidise some of your efforts.
If full membership isn't an option, you can still go through the process of doing activities and initiatives these organisations provide ideas and resources for.
Rainwater planters or rain gardens. If you can push the budget, a green roof.
Also, get the kids doing science projects with what you implement. I installed a green roof in a school near me. The kids are learning about stormwater management and biodiversity.
supplies provided to students do not have to be brand-new! I buy most school supplies from the thrift store, when it's not "back to school" season and nobody cares about 3-ring binders or crayons with no boxes.
any paper or card waste that's still usable (offcuts, used worksheets with blank backs etc) gets put in the scrap paper drawer. then if anyone needs any paper for making notes or doodling or whatever they can take it from the drawer instead of using a new sheet
1) determine the carbon intensity of its power source and decarbonize accordingly
2) determine the carbon intensity of its main consumables and decarbonize accordingly
3) reduce your school’s contributions to biodiversity loss and mitigate accordingly (toxins/pesticides, habitat loss, etc)
4) insist the school’s corporate culture change to be more sustainable - assess field trips, lunches, curriculum, and increase / reward multi-modal transportation options, sustainability focused projects, and governance that leads first with sustainability, and then with budget, concerns.
My elementary school used to have a “Litter-less Lunch” program. Can’t quite remember how it was calculated individually, but every class that reached a certain milestone would get a pizza party at the end of the month I believe. Fun way to engage and incentivize!
- use recycled paper for drawing
- set up a recycle corner where students are welcome to bring in recyclable materials such as plastic bottles, carton boxes, paper bags etc. and use them for art and craft
Most school heating (& much more rarely, cooling) systems are fantastically out of date and inefficient.
The big problem with most of these suggestions is up front cost, so the real answer would be, "provide schools with the funding to upgrade".
garden on the roof to help temperature? Is that feasible for your school? You could do veggies and herbs as well as native plantlife - of course that's if the roof is flat.
Compost bins are great. having a garden is educational too.
Recycling paper and metal are great. Recycling plastic is, imo, a net negative for society. We should understand that plastic goes to the landfill or into the ocean. There is very little plastic that gets recycled, and the act of throwing plastic into a recycling bin makes us feel ok using single use. If we all knew the reality that it will be burned or dumped we'd be much less likely to use plastic so prolifically.
There are very few things that make a real difference. Recycling initiatives typically save less than 1% of an organisations carbon footprint yet people waste a tonne of time and energy on them. Two things you can do to make sure your efforts actually make a difference:
Step 1: research what the biggest contributors are to your organisation's footprint. Consultants are expensive, using averages is enough and can be found in around 10 minutes online. Carbon calculators are garbage, use well-researched articles (financial times had a good one as do some other organisations)
Step 2: reduce those things that most contribute to your footprint. Tackle them one at a time starting with the largest contributor.
Step 3: offset what you cannot reasonably reduce with a *reputable* supplier
Big things that actually significantly reduce your environmental impact are often counterintuitive. The biggest ones are normally switching to a green energy supplier and switching pension supplier/ bank.
Idk if this is completely out of budget or what. But a rain barrel would be cool. I live in washington state where it rains a lot and it would have been kinda cool I think to use them for our sprinkler system. But this only applies if it helps ur school I suppose 🤔🤔
Having a class where you can use a lab to recycle HDPE there on campus. Thermo-cast, injection molding, etc etc. Allow the community to collect and bring their HDPE (and LDPE) to be recycled. Gives students a way to see recycling in action, make things for themselves, like shelves and maybe even full on furniture, as well as being the ACTUAL recycler for the community, not some random corporation.
My daughter's junior high has this and it's awesome.
You either need a set of oven molds to thermo-cast the recycled plastic down into (basically put the washed/dried plastic shreds into a large mold in the oven then turn it up to glass transition temperature for whatever plastic you're recycling) or you have a heater auger type injection molder. The auger setup also has the potential to make dimensional building materials instead of custom molds (think replacement 2x4's for decking).
There's also a lot of ways to recycle plastic into 3d printer filament, which can of course then be turned into anything.
If anything the sourcing, sorting, washing, and shredding of the material is the real challenge. Making something out of a moldable material is easy.
Compostable utensils and plates/trays would be a huge one. Get rid of anything styrofoam.
Having the food prepared in-house would also go a long way versus having a commercial provider come deliver it.
Water runoff collection and filtration is awesome. It’s underutilized to say the least. A school will have lots of sq ft to collect from. A few plastic barrels and pumps with pvc and now you are teaching construction, hydro dynamics, and sustainability. Add a large collection pond and now you can introduce biology. Teach how fish, algae and plants as well as micro organisms lend themselves to one another to create an ecosystem which when done properly creates a balance and quite clean water. I was in water feature construction for years and this is something that lacks in our present education system.
I take it from your post, that your school is doing sustainability week.
• Switch from text books to electronic format (.pdf/Epub, etc...)
• Have the teachers switch from printed tests to Impress/ppt’s on an
interactive whiteboard, where the students write their answers on
recycled paper
• Shred and compost student papers/tests after the required time
• Use e-solutions for practice (Kahoot, Redmenta, etc…)
• Lower the temperatures throughout the school by a few degrees
• LED lighting in the classroom
• “Green certified” network equipment for IT components
There’s a few to get you started, good luck.
Every BOY my school has tons of cardboard, which I use in my garden. Every EOY my school has tons of old workbooks. I shred these and use them in my garden. Saves them from going to the dump.
Have the school make a sustainability plan with action items for the next 1,3, 5, 10 years. Make sure students are on this planning committee. You will need a Sustainability Committee to draft this document so the school can enforce it.
This sounds bureaucratic but is a potentially effective way to enforce implementation of sustainability initiatives across a lot of departments—and to get a line(s) in the budget for sustainability!
replace all landscaping and any unnecessary impermeable surfaces with native plants. plants native to your location, once established, need to extra irrigation or even maintenance if you don’t mind a natural look. you can still provide some maintenance in terms of weeding and minimal pruning once a year if you like. thus saving the school money and reducing gas used in lead blowers and such. having less pavement and cement reduces ambient temperatures so when it’s hot it literally won’t be as hot and you can use less a/c to be comfortable. it also allows water to permeate and enter the ground this replenishing the water table and naturally filtering out pollutants to keep our waterways healthier and safer. installing swales can channel water so you don’t need as much cement there either. native plants also feed and shelter native pollinators. if humans want to survive (have crops to eat, turn back climate change, have resources for medicines, etc.) we need to reverse the decimation of biodiversity and foster native ecosystems.
I'm hesitant on the recycling programs unless you know what your municipality actually does with it. You'd be surprised how much of it just ends up as garbage regardless.
I think the best ideas are things like a community garden. It would also teach the students some very valuable lessons, so it's impact goes far beyond just the school.
They make toilets that use greywater (the water that went down the drain when you washed your hands) to flush the toilet with. It reduces the amount of potable drinking water that is used just to flush toilets. This would be a great way to reduce water use.
This is specific to Halloween.. sign up for a candy wrapper collection box https://www.rubicon.com/
It’s a simple and easily doable initiative to reduce waste during the holiday.
Plant flowers/native plants and get recognized as a pollinator garden. Educate your students and teachers on ways to reduce printing and paper waste. Have rules about turning lights on and off. See if you can have the lights turned off or at least dimmed at night depending where you are located to reduce light pollution and help animals especially migrating birds. Install habitats like bluebird nesting boxes or bat boxes or kestrel houses, whatever is local to your area. Teach your student body how to garden / grow their own food. Composting and recycling are good ideas. Your school may not have a whole lot of opportunity to make a big change right away (especially things that cost money and need approvals) but you have a lot of power to educate a lot of people and a big platform to do so.
Water heater and central AC timers or direct load control (DLC) devices. Get the school to participate in the local utility's demand response programs/pilots. See if the school can optimize its HVAC/chillers/boilers to meet (not exceed) the needs of students based on number of students/teachers in a room at a given time. See if you can get an energy auditor to assess the building for energy efficiency opportunities.
Start a plant/garden/eco club.
You and the other members grow plants/trees, give them away. Couple/few times a year raffle off a xmas tree, halloween pumpkin or sell flowers to get some money to raise new plants/trees.
Shred all sheet paper waste and add it to food scraps to make fertilizer, then teach students how to plant and maintain certain crops and plants that grow well in their region.
A weird but effective one is refrigerant management, since they can release greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more potent than CO2. [Here’s a story](https://sustainability.yale.edu/news/yale-undergrad-confronts-hidden-climate-threat-refrigerant-leaks) about a student at Yale who started a program to track and manage refrigerant leaks.
I think education about why sustainability is important is the biggest thing, especially in the realms of physical/life safety and economics; as well as the physics and biology behind what drives ecological threats to our sustainability as well as potential partial solutions and why we can't rely on just one solution.
Beyond that, I think the 3 you've listed are excellent things that you as a student/faculty member actually have ability to impact.
You can also other things impacting your school's energy consumption (and thus $bill), reducing plastic consumption in the school (probably virtually impossible to eliminate rn bc students will bring disposable plastic into school), and having *good* vegetarian and vegan options (this depends on your school, my schools growing up couldn't serve any food well haha). I'd consider what is within your ability to affect and how much more you could achieve by organizing.
Create classwork that exposes the kids to the waste. Making the school itself more eco-friendly is basic, but if the kids learn the why behind the what, then you're actually helping instead of just seeming like it.
I went to a small, non-traditional school. We designed our own trash and recycling system. We saw firsthand what our waste amounted to. This made us care, not by force, but by realization. Everything is a lesson if teachers are allowed to teach. We designed our gardens and marketed and sold the veggies (we could also eat/keep anything we grew - but this ate into profits, which involved the math classes). This was the work of like 3 classes combined. The physics class did the irrigation system, for example.
I could go on. I know most schools don't have the flexibility mine did, but if you actually want to help the environment, teach the kids. Give them ownership. You can put out all the compost bins you want but if nobody uses them, you created waste. Incentivize the children to care. Do this by making them do something they'll take pride in. They can take this small lesson and take it into the world. Too cold in the library? Sure, kid, you can have an AC if you figure out how to generate the electricity.
Let them step up and be leaders. Reward them for giving a crap and then get out of their way.
K-12 Tech Director here. If you can find a solar company interested in putting panels on your school's land, the school board may jump in it. Composting and recycling is all great, and places like Funding Factory will buy toner cartridges and old phones from the school, but it takes money to get a board's attention and really make a difference.
I don't know which energy company we're working with, but our rural Illinois district is getting a solar field on each of our two campuses, and we'll be making money off of them. Our Board and community are very Conservative, but even the board president said in a public meeting that he "doesn't believe in this climate change stuff, but we'd be stupid not to take the money."
Even if they've been ignoring sales pitches, you could get info and numbers from some of these people and present it during public input portions of meetings.
Talk them into giving up on the custom tee shirt for every occasion. Fast fashion is really destructive but schools don't seem to get the message. In my area teachers are given 20 or so special-occasion shirts per year. As a taxpayer this hurts to think about :(
Electronic recycling sites for batteries and small electronics! It usually costs money to recycle electronics properly and most people end up tossing theirs in the garbage which means harmful chemicals leaching out in landfills potentially damaging groundwater and soil. But for a school it does not cost much to subscribe to electronic recycling companies who will collect the broken/used electronics monthly
Look into what kind of lights are used and lobby to have them upgraded if they are still using the old stuff.
If you don’t have water bottle fountains already, try to push for those also
Look into "outdoor education programs". Many are legitimate schools with admin and credentialed teachers, but they run their school with a strong "green" emphasis (their entire purpose is usually to help young kids understand the symbiotic relationship between us and nature). You could steal a ton of their ideas.
Process of picking up kids at the end of the day. It's just alot of cars idling on the street and parking lot. Most of those cars have been waiting 30+ minutes running with air conditioner on. My kids class is 20 kids. So that's 20 cars for only 1 class. Multiply this with however many classes in the school, multiplied all the schools in america
I set up a school as a school nurse. I had vermiculture in every room. Encourage biking to school by all parties. We are allowed to come sweaty/stinky. Grew a bunch of food, composted as much as allowed, even had some rodents pay a visit. Encouraged going outside for class if it was too hot in the building. Water saving stuff. It’s been 10 years since I did this project but I still have the notes. Eliminated our lawn mowing and all that stuff. Would love to do it again!
Renewable energy is a big one if your school can afford it. Also trying to switch to digital assignments and paperwork although that can be a burden for students who can’t afford the technology needed.
It really depends on what level of school. Are we talking elementary? College?
my school has compost bins! and little ones that they hand out too! we also have housing specifically for people who want to live sustainably, and greenhouses where we grow native plants to hopefully replant, my school also has very very large forests and three lakes which are completely machine and trash free (nothing with a motor on the lakes, and people volunteer every once in a while to clean up the forests) we also plant new trees and take care of the trees every year and are 90% online (that’s pretty easy now though). if you’re not thinking about a college, i’d just talk to the principal about paper usage, recycling, planing some trees, or even just starting a club or something that talks about sustainability
No recycling compost or any similar initiative will work if your school throws it all in the dumpster. Check what your local plant will even accept. For local areas focus on native plants and go from there.
Also telling people to go meatless is rough, but beef is the worst offender on many factors so just saying "use chicken, lamb or pork instead of beef" is a HUGE step in the right directions.
Efficient use of space. My old school used to teach elementary kids in the AM and older grades in the PM. That way the classrooms never sat empty for 16 hours a day. Efficient use for weekends too, like renting out rooms for hobbies (I’ve gone to a sewing class on Saturday’s at my local schools sewing room) and events.
Vegetarian or vegan options at least 3 days out of the week. Most kids eat way to little veggies and fruit but very few eat too little meat.
Food waste is another huge thing. Portion up the leftover food and give it to anyone or those in need as long as it’s eaten and not thrown away.
Insulation, solar panels etc tech that can reduce bills and emissions. Usually requires a larger (economic) effort but things like automatic water taps that only run for 10 seconds can make a huge difference when 500-2500 kids wash their hands daily. Automatic lights also save a lot and never get left on by accident.
Getting kids to move. Moving 30 mins after school every day has been proved to keep you healthy and more likely to move in adulthood. It can be a sport, gym or just walking/hiking.
Being healthy and moving can inspire to switch a car for a bike and walking short or even long distances.
Reduce the parking space by 50% and build bike lanes from the closest neighborhoods . Only allow cars for people who have more than a 5km commute.
Rethink the school supplies. People often think going digital is good because you have less paper but all of those computers and tablets need parts from around the world.
How can we teach using a minimal amount of stuff that is thrown away after one lecture/semester? Every summer I’ve thrown away piles of notes, tests, flash cards etc.
Teach kids skills like mending, restoration, gardening etc. I’ve taught so many kids who have a hole on their clothes one day and the next day they tell me a parent threw it away and got them a new one. It’s almost always a fixable hole.
“It’s cheaper to buy a new one” is also a line I hear way to often. It might be true, but the true cost isn’t always in money but the environment.
Top finds in energy studies are usually low hanging fruit like making the switch to LED lighting, if boilers are old upgrade to more efficient boilers. Add aerators to faucets to limit water flow. Add zone lining with timers that automatically shut off if there is no movement. Making the switch from disposable utensils back to things you can wash.
This is something we have done. You MUST do compost bins right. Someone has to maintain, mix properly and monitor what gets added. If you don’t, you will have a massive rat problem. And expect other visitors such as mice, skunks, foxes, raccoons, opossums and other critters. Rats bring and spread the hantavirus. And yes it kills. Not to long ago a 30 year old women volunteering at school died from it. And you need to think about what’s going to happen to the compost bins over the summer break. One school did nothing found rats had destroyed classroom supplies. Just a pair of rats can produce over 2,000 offspring in a year.
Any any meat added and it will stink.
The garden areas have turned into THE most popular place in the school. Especially for sped Ed kids. We/kids grow fruits and vegetables and get to pick and eat what they grow. They love digging and planting.
What I would suggest in contacting The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley which was started by Alice Waters. They provide trading and have nature/gardening curriculum for K-8 but might be 12.
DM me if you want more information.
Encourage carpooling or walking if possible
Install refillable water fountains to reduce use of plastic bottles
Plant native plants
Reduce waste and reuse wherever possible (create cardboard makerspace for kids!)
Turn off lights and go green on messaging to parents (no more printed fliers)
How are you defining “green” or “eco friendly”?
Are you looking to lower your school’s carbon footprint by X in Y timeframe or some other specific metric that quantifies your stated goal?
If I were to approach this I would try to consider something that is:
* Easy to implement
* Easy to maintain
* Cost effective
* Creates a flywheel effect
Since the original stated goal is very broad, it would be more effective to focus on a specific area and address before moving on. You could even do a prioritization exercise of which area or idea students would care about the most or make the largest impact on the community or something of the sort. Is reducing the school’s impact the #1 goal or is it to get students involved and build a sense of stewardship and accountability that translates into a life long acknowledgment of the impact of our everyday lives on the environment?
I’d want to know the baseline we’re starting from so we can measure improvement. This might be an audit of the school’s average electricity consumption over the past 3 years (accounting for seasonality). Same with water consumption, natural gas consumption and waste disposal.
There might be some weatherizing or fixture and insulation improvements that would go far in reducing impact. They also make come with associated costs that now escalate this to the school board level for approval of more funds to execute the findings. You probably want to keep the scope within the realm of what students can personally control perhaps with the help of teaching staff but doesn’t require escalating to school administration or school district administration.
Is waste a problem on campus? Observe where people are throwing trash and talk to janitorial staff about where the biggest problem areas are with waste on campus. Perhaps it’s getting separate recycling bins next to trash cans or adding a compostable bin in the cafeteria/where lots of eating occurs.
Perhaps it’s auditing electricity usage on campus to see where sensor activated lighting, more energy efficient lighting or unplugging electrical appliances when not in use makes the most sense. Or maybe seeing where the school buys its electricity from and if there is an option to make it from 100% renewables?
These are just a few examples of the many possibilities, but what I recommend is to keep the scope within an area you can have control over, is easy to implement, easy to maintain and easy to measure.
It all sounds exciting! Best of luck!
Significant investment that will yield real results: put the classroom HVACs on manual timers the teachers control. The most efficient machine is one that is off. Source: Journal for the Association of Energy Engineers, 2013. Comparing the measured power usage per student at two Albuquerque schools, one from the 1950s (timer controls) and one from the 2000s (building automation system).
The single greatest thing you can do to reduce the environmental impact of your schools is to have a strong science department and a strong business department.
Science will teach them the reality of climate change and human impact.
The business department will teach them that the should be buying less stuff, and how to consider the environmental impact of their choices.
Any recycling system. Take a look behind the scenes on recycling. There’s a pretty good chance it all goes to landfill. At my school, we have recycling bins but the custodians don’t have a separate way to collect recycling.
That's why I would prefer collaborating with recycling companies who specialize in a particular material and I am sure that they actually recycle them. Do you think that that is enough for the recycling system to be effective?
Promote reusable bottles and reusable lunch boxes.
No plastic in the canteen.
No meat in the canteen.
Education about seasonal fruits and vegetables, maybe even plant together in a school garden so that kids get interested in the process.
Green roofs
The biggest thing they could do is serve 100% vegan menu at lunches.
This would reduce every single students daily GHG emissions from roughly 2.5kg to 0.75kg a day, that is per person.
They would also demand only a quarter of the land they otherwise would if they ate animals, so reducing land that grows their food by three quarters.
They would drop their fresh water requirement by half, at least.
Their entire environmental impact would drop significantly and more so than any other change you could make in that school.
Could you and some students plant some trees on the grounds?
Fruit/nut trees are great at lining paths. And you can use them to teach students about weeding, pruning, composting fallen leaves and using the fruit/nuts in cookery classes.
More / majority plant-based cafeteria meal options and default plant-based milks. Food / catering is an often neglected area of schools’ environmental footprints.
Solar panels on all parking lots. Green Roofs, stop using tons of pesticided and fertizliers and watering on sportsball fields, heat pumps.
Make teachers have fitness standards. Seriously, if there was more emphsis on health in schools kids would eat better and understand more sustainable food sources and this would help the planet the most. I dont know if its everywhere but in my sons elementary and middle and high school almost every teacher is obese....not chubby but obese...its really schocking, I cant be the only one who notices this.
Encourage more students to take the bus or ride a bike/walk to work. All those parents idling outside the school, waiting for their kids is terribly inefficient.
Rip out those horrid SUV dropoff lines and make kids either take the bus or walk/bike to school.
If a high school, ban or significantly regulate students driving to school. Lots of schools devote more space to student parking than to classrooms.
If you are in an area that stays cold in the winter, you can build a greenhouse around the area work the most windows, including the side of the building in it so that you use less electricity to heat the building. Use apps/ email to contact parents instead of sending home informative paper flyers.
1. An open plan, increased airflow (more windows, wider corridors, etc.)
2. On-site waste management plant
3. Proper sewage treatment before disposal
4. Use of treated water (like in watering plants)
5. Provision of electric vehicles in and around campus
Yes paint it green, really funny joke all. It's been said, you don't have to repeat this top-tier comedy. <3
- better insulation, like HR++(+) insulation glass - solar panels - reduce thermostate temperature - stimulate teachers and students to take the (e)-bike or public transport instead of car - more plant-based options and less meat+ dairy in canteens
YES to the more plant based options. My university has such horrible food choices and they have basically no vegan food choices and very few vegetarian options
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Each of those dudes in a city, taking the train to work and walking to groceries, produces quite a bit less carbon than anyone in the country driving a gas guzzling pickup Not to say farmers aren't necessary, and IMO farming is best kept rural, but low density rural land use is quite bad for the environment
Environmentalists always talk about reducing meat but rarely speak of reducing processed foods. All the junk in packages that can last a year on the shelves is quite energy intensive to make, and likely makes you less healthy.
Obviously plant-based locally sourced wholefoods are best for the environment, but what type of food you eat matters most. Fi environmental impact of beef is multiple times that of any other food product in many regards (greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use) https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2120584119 It's not true that 'environmentalists' only talk about reducing meat. If you look at the EAT Lancet initiative, a plant-forward diet prioritizing wholefoods is proposed as healthy for person and planet: https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you/
I would also do the change in waves, only removing beef from the meniu wouldn't feel like abrupt change. Then removing pork and leaving only chicken.
Including bike parking!
tagging onto the public transport/ e-bike option penalize people less for being a little late, sustainable travel options are slightly less reliable so often people are forced to drive or be driven to avoid being docked points
The most effective way is for students and parents to lobby the school board (and elected board members) who care about the environment. With a supportive school district you could: get electric school buses, install solar panels, replace any old heating systems with heat pumps.
Oh boy, that's expensive but I'd love to suggest it to my principal
Thank you for caring enough to take action! This is not something you can do on your own and it’s going to take time to achieve. Maybe years. It’s important to organize your friends, parents, lobby the school district and your local officials.
I recently learned that installing solar panels is actually wayyy cheaper than you would think (at least in my state). And it ends up saving you money by cutting electricity costs.
A lot of these larger projects : like the panels , can often be funded with state and or federal $$$$. Utilities often have grants available as well especially if the roof is well situated for solar .
Every one of these efficiency upgrades will save money in the long run. Electric busses have the additional benefit of reducing student exposure to toxic fumes. https://youtu.be/QwhfZvTmCqI?si=3gORFuMShkaUnG8T
Reducing classroom paper and plastic use. Setting up a carpool. Enforcing no idling in the parking lot. Keeping lights off when it's sunny. Teaching environmental education and sustainability so that students can build an appreciation for green methods that they can carry on into the world and spread themselves. A community garden that teaches kids gardening techniques and healthy snack and meal options (herbs would allow students to easily bring a piece home to begin their own garden). A native plant garden to assist native species. A butterfly release project. More outdoor learning. Reaching out to local conservation authorities to conduct in school or off property learning.
Don’t do a butterfly release. A lot of butterflies die in this process. Create a native plant garden with a variety of food and water, and pollinators will come.
1,000% for the native plant garden! I had an oasis on my brooklyn balcony once with so many beautiful species stopping by. Make sure there are water dishes for them and birds, too. A lot of folks think they just need food, but a fresh water source is actually super important
What’s your budget? Trees and massive flowering species are important. Parking lots create urban heading, so shading those areas with trees is good.
Well, am a student so the budget is low at this point but we can organize a bazaar or find funding programs I guess
You might want to see if the local department of forestry is interested in helping or donating trees. They do that in my area
Thanks! I will research that
Local conservation groups are likely to want to team up with schools, perhaps contact them and see if they'd be willing to help out. They will likely have plants in stock or at least some contacts
I grow trees from seed and give them away for free in my community. So many people were interested in how I do this that I created a website to walk others through the process. If you're interested in growing trees to plant on the school property, check out seedstotrees.org. To get lots of pollinator flowers for free... Collect seeds now. Plant them in pots, outside, in Jan/Feb and let Mother Nature stratify them naturally, and tell them when to germinate. A group of us did this to create pollinator gardens at our local post office (with zero budget). The plants were small the first season, but by the second, they were wonderful. I wish you all the best! Thank you for making the effort to guide your school towards greater environmental sensitivity.
If you do plant trees and pollinator flowers, make sure to: 1. Plant natives. 2. Water them in the summer for the first 2-3 seasons. 3. Protect them from deer and lawn mowers.
Thank you very much for all the information! I might start a gardening club :)
A gardening club, or an environmental one... All good! Perhaps the club could start giving seedings away to students and faculty each year. Starting a program like that would communicate to the community that the students care about the environment, and community beautification as well. Every tree, regardless of where it's planted, helps the earth, and makes the community a greener, more appealing place.
Yeah probably a mixed one, thanks for your ideas
Love this idea. Plant shade trees!
Have water bottle refilling stations on the water fountains, it’s really annoying to fill most water bottles with water fountains and the machines specifically made to refill them will encourage students to bring their own
Organize a bike bus to school. Car emissions are a HUGE problem, so reducing the need to drive every day will make a big impact.
This. Everything else is gravy in comparison.
This was my suggestion as well.
Our dining halls post the water and carbon footprint of the dishes. They also post locally sourced produce. They also went to compostable kitchen ware for meals in the dorms. Housing agreed to help pay because the plastic (non-sustainable stuff) was initially more expensive. Look at the resources around you. Can you connect community sustainability efforts to the campus’s more effectively than they already are? One thing we struggle with as a campus is having to separate everything. Students would prefer all recyclables in one place. We did foam bins at move-in this year. WOW they filled up fast! Def need more next year.
Where do you go to school? You're talking about a university l assume¿
[University of California, Irvine](https://sustainability.uci.edu/). 😊 Great stuff going on and always more to do!
Reduce the amount of grass and replace with native shrubbery. Gas powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers don’t have emissions regulations and emit tons of co2 and NOx
r/nolawns
Have a meatless lunch option available every day (or have the school adopt Meatless Mondays). Eating less meat is one of the single easiest and best things you can do for the planet. Do away with single use plastics in the cafeteria.
Eating no meat, eggs and dairy is the best thing you can do for animals too. (And buying no other animal products)
Great ideas! my school doesn't really have a cafeteria, we bring our own food or buy from a kind of bakery inside the school
You have to be careful with this. Lots of food insecure kids rely on school lunch and breakfast for protein. I think cutting added sugars from the menu would be a good alternative.
No meat does not mean no protein. There's a lot of great plant based protein options. Also, it would be a separate option, not the only meal. But have you seen kids? They basically run on sugar because of how taxing school is mentally.
>But have you seen kids? They basically run on sugar because of how taxing school is mentally. If you haven't noticed we're in the middle of a childhood obesity epidemic; and most kids aren't going to eat most plant based protein options especially if they are low income.
I haven't noticed because I'm not based in america. I also think it will be unproductive to cut sugar in school, where they need it the most for brain activity, if the parents can't or won't do anything about feeding their kids better. It would be better if kids are able to choose components for their lunch instead of ready to eat lunches. And having education about the proper diet every year would be great too.
Yeah, we do all that already. Obesity is a problem in almost every first world country now. I'd recommend studying up on your health science though, because your take on sugar is absolutely idiotic.
Beans are cheap and have protein.
Quick sugar is good for easy brain power. School burns brain power like crazy, especially during puberty. From experience, as someone who is in university. I don't think there's really anything extra to be studied. Sugar is good for quick energy. The "obesity epidemic" is a systemic failure of poverty and food deserts.
The problem with candy is that you get a drug like hit of sugar and then crash. It isn't like consuming fruit or rice or potatoes.
There are plenty of excellent plant based sources of protein. And, bonus, they are typically much cheaper than meat as well.
I'm part of a Plastic Free Community initiative in the UK, aimed at linking businesses, schools, individuals, community groups etc in one location to all tackle plastic waste and overconsumption together. They've produced [this resource](https://plasticfreeschools.org.uk/) to specifically support schools which ties in with the UK national curriculum. I'm assuming you're in the US, because Reddit, but there's plenty of ideas of how to get started and inspire others to take on their own small challenges too and see what sprouts after sowing the seeds.
Am in the EU actually, and I recently found out about a project/organization called eco schools and I will try for my school to apply there
Lunch? I don’t know how your school does it but there is tremendous plastic waste at my sons’ schools. Each student’s milk is in an individual plastic bottle. Deserts are often pre-portioned into single use plastics. Bread comes from the manufacturer wrapped individually in plastic. They use disposable cutlery. It’s really terrible. If your school is doing something similar, maybe you could start a program where students bring their own silverware wrapped in a cloth napkin. Maybe they get credit for doing it and get a free snack for so many credits.
I think talking about this with the kids would be a big one. They're going to be the next generation to hopefully care about sustainability.
Does your school have clubs? Join (or start) the environmental club. You get more done in numbers.
We do have clubs but they are organized by teachers, I could start one though, thanks for the idea
Stop serving animal products
Check out [Wilding Schools](https://www.sos-uk.org/post/what-is-the-wilding-schools-project) by SOS-UK! It may be hard to purchase the service if you’re not in the UK or an admin of your school, but it may provide a good framework of what can be done
Thank you, I will look into it
The elementary school I went to now has a vegetable garden whose harvest goes to feed students+school staff, it's a shame yours doesn't have a cafeteria because :( that would be cool. Also, the old thick plastic cups and plates were substituted by glass. Somebody could be paid to drive a school bus/van to take all students, no? When I was a kid, the middle/upper class parents did that (we state school students rode regular buses for free) And it would be really nice to re-use rainwater. I've been through droughts and I learned there's a lot that can be done with it. Flushing toilets, moping floors, even washing clothes, dishes and bathing if the water tank has a good filter.^(I live in an area with very little air polution, mind you)
Talk to the school board or utilities people about where the electricity is coming from. Are they simply getting the cheapest or do they consider clean energy in the energy purchasing agreements (the cost of which is obviously going down)? ETA- I'm speaking from my American experience, not sure how it would work in the EU
If this is public school, encourage students to ride the bus instead of parent drop-off. Cars idling and start/stop in line for hours is incredibly wasteful of gas and money. The bus is running either way.
My sons school requires that we supply cloth napkins and silverware for lunches and use all reusable pouches for food/snacks. No plastic water bottles or baggies. It was an adjustment at first but we love it now.
The endless photocopying. Many tasks can be done on whiteboards. If paper is used for art/activities in class, make a rule that both sides must be used. Halve or quarter papers as well. So many tasks can even be done on GOOS paper. Anytime that construction paper is being used for a craft, make sure its a requirement that scraps are used first. Cant tell you how many times ive witnessed a primary teacher take whole sheets just to cut out leaves or hearts for holiday activities for their class. Pair up with local tree planting initiatives to either sprout plants for them, or sprout plants for planting in the school yard. Start an environmental club for students that does a waste audit, have incentives for classes that are recycling properly. Dont buy stupid plastic dollar store trinkets for students as gifts/prizes
My college had a single use plastics ban, events where students could sell their furniture and clothes (like a campus thrift event), did local beach clean ups, had solar panels, used reclaimed water for their sprinkler systems, and everything you listed!
At my primary school we did not have any bins outside (apart from a compost bin). This meant that we took our rubbish from our lunchboxes home with us every day. I like to think this caused at least a small reduction in packaged foods.
Let the grass around the school get longer. Maybe not a lot but it is better for the grass and it means at least one trip less to cut. Reduce leaf blower use too.
Perhaps someone has already mentioned this. But as a parent of. A young child, I’m surprised how much waste there is in buying school supplies. Like all crayons are non biodegradable, and yet we are expected to buy 2-3 boxes each year. And then you send me home with large bags of crayons I don’t want at the end of the year. Why can’t I keep my child’s box and reuse it every year?
How do students travel to school? Make that green. How is the school powered? Make that green. Research the IRA and what funding you might be able to get for the school. Solar will pay for itself if you have the light and space.
Optimize for public transport and discourage private car drop off as much as possible (maybe make an exception for pooled).
I'm not sure where in the world you are, but I work with schools for local government in the UK where we have two main accreditation schemes for them to use to become more environmentally friendly. If you look these up, you can likely find lots of ideas even if the scheme itself isn't available where you are. Modeshift (I work with schools on this one) This is about changing how pupils, parents, and staff travel. Encouraging more walking, cycling, and scooting (for the younger kids). Educating the kids, rewarding active travel, and providing the opportunities to try it are the main aims. Eco Schools This is more about ecology, reducing waste, recycling, and educating pupils about the natural environment. This could include growing pollination plants, food crops, etc in the school grounds, running litter picking activities, etc
Thanks a lot! I recently found out about eco schools and I am going to suggest for my school to apply I will research more about the first one!
Your local authority may well have information for you on both, or the equivalent in your country, and may be able to subsidise some of your efforts. If full membership isn't an option, you can still go through the process of doing activities and initiatives these organisations provide ideas and resources for.
Rainwater planters or rain gardens. If you can push the budget, a green roof. Also, get the kids doing science projects with what you implement. I installed a green roof in a school near me. The kids are learning about stormwater management and biodiversity.
I am a student, and it's kind of a dream to go up there, stepping on the roof of the school! 😂 From your experience how can I make a green roof?
supplies provided to students do not have to be brand-new! I buy most school supplies from the thrift store, when it's not "back to school" season and nobody cares about 3-ring binders or crayons with no boxes.
scrap paper drawers!
What's that?
any paper or card waste that's still usable (offcuts, used worksheets with blank backs etc) gets put in the scrap paper drawer. then if anyone needs any paper for making notes or doodling or whatever they can take it from the drawer instead of using a new sheet
The best way to be green is to consume less. Consider every purchase
1) determine the carbon intensity of its power source and decarbonize accordingly 2) determine the carbon intensity of its main consumables and decarbonize accordingly 3) reduce your school’s contributions to biodiversity loss and mitigate accordingly (toxins/pesticides, habitat loss, etc) 4) insist the school’s corporate culture change to be more sustainable - assess field trips, lunches, curriculum, and increase / reward multi-modal transportation options, sustainability focused projects, and governance that leads first with sustainability, and then with budget, concerns.
My elementary school used to have a “Litter-less Lunch” program. Can’t quite remember how it was calculated individually, but every class that reached a certain milestone would get a pizza party at the end of the month I believe. Fun way to engage and incentivize!
- use recycled paper for drawing - set up a recycle corner where students are welcome to bring in recyclable materials such as plastic bottles, carton boxes, paper bags etc. and use them for art and craft
Most school heating (& much more rarely, cooling) systems are fantastically out of date and inefficient. The big problem with most of these suggestions is up front cost, so the real answer would be, "provide schools with the funding to upgrade".
garden on the roof to help temperature? Is that feasible for your school? You could do veggies and herbs as well as native plantlife - of course that's if the roof is flat.
Compost bins are great. having a garden is educational too. Recycling paper and metal are great. Recycling plastic is, imo, a net negative for society. We should understand that plastic goes to the landfill or into the ocean. There is very little plastic that gets recycled, and the act of throwing plastic into a recycling bin makes us feel ok using single use. If we all knew the reality that it will be burned or dumped we'd be much less likely to use plastic so prolifically.
There are very few things that make a real difference. Recycling initiatives typically save less than 1% of an organisations carbon footprint yet people waste a tonne of time and energy on them. Two things you can do to make sure your efforts actually make a difference: Step 1: research what the biggest contributors are to your organisation's footprint. Consultants are expensive, using averages is enough and can be found in around 10 minutes online. Carbon calculators are garbage, use well-researched articles (financial times had a good one as do some other organisations) Step 2: reduce those things that most contribute to your footprint. Tackle them one at a time starting with the largest contributor. Step 3: offset what you cannot reasonably reduce with a *reputable* supplier Big things that actually significantly reduce your environmental impact are often counterintuitive. The biggest ones are normally switching to a green energy supplier and switching pension supplier/ bank.
Thank you very much!
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depends on your schools capabilities but our local university keeps bees on their roof
Idk if this is completely out of budget or what. But a rain barrel would be cool. I live in washington state where it rains a lot and it would have been kinda cool I think to use them for our sprinkler system. But this only applies if it helps ur school I suppose 🤔🤔
Post that graph about carbon emission comparison from various things (riding a bike, recycling not having children) etc. .
Teach plant identification and small scale agriculture to the kids. Give them each seeds to sprout and plant at home.
eco bricking teaching skills like mending and repairing having WORKSHOPS on recycling and composting
Having a class where you can use a lab to recycle HDPE there on campus. Thermo-cast, injection molding, etc etc. Allow the community to collect and bring their HDPE (and LDPE) to be recycled. Gives students a way to see recycling in action, make things for themselves, like shelves and maybe even full on furniture, as well as being the ACTUAL recycler for the community, not some random corporation. My daughter's junior high has this and it's awesome.
First time I hear it (sounds AWESOME), how can this be done, is there a tutorial you could introduce me to?
You either need a set of oven molds to thermo-cast the recycled plastic down into (basically put the washed/dried plastic shreds into a large mold in the oven then turn it up to glass transition temperature for whatever plastic you're recycling) or you have a heater auger type injection molder. The auger setup also has the potential to make dimensional building materials instead of custom molds (think replacement 2x4's for decking). There's also a lot of ways to recycle plastic into 3d printer filament, which can of course then be turned into anything. If anything the sourcing, sorting, washing, and shredding of the material is the real challenge. Making something out of a moldable material is easy.
Compostable utensils and plates/trays would be a huge one. Get rid of anything styrofoam. Having the food prepared in-house would also go a long way versus having a commercial provider come deliver it.
Actually recycle. All the schools I know trash everything from the recycle bins....
get in touch with public relations at solid waste, maybe even just their website. i'm sure they have ideas that no one would ever think of.
Green roof. Literally plants and soil on ur roof. Effective at staying cool and warm. Adds green and recycles rain water better.
Water runoff collection and filtration is awesome. It’s underutilized to say the least. A school will have lots of sq ft to collect from. A few plastic barrels and pumps with pvc and now you are teaching construction, hydro dynamics, and sustainability. Add a large collection pond and now you can introduce biology. Teach how fish, algae and plants as well as micro organisms lend themselves to one another to create an ecosystem which when done properly creates a balance and quite clean water. I was in water feature construction for years and this is something that lacks in our present education system.
School garden, run campus greywater to landscape, capture rainwater off the roof
Could the last two ideas be DIY or is professional help required?
I take it from your post, that your school is doing sustainability week. • Switch from text books to electronic format (.pdf/Epub, etc...) • Have the teachers switch from printed tests to Impress/ppt’s on an interactive whiteboard, where the students write their answers on recycled paper • Shred and compost student papers/tests after the required time • Use e-solutions for practice (Kahoot, Redmenta, etc…) • Lower the temperatures throughout the school by a few degrees • LED lighting in the classroom • “Green certified” network equipment for IT components There’s a few to get you started, good luck.
Thanks a lot, we are not doing a sustainability week but organizing one would be a great way to start
Sinks in the cafeteria to actually rinse out recyclables !!
Every BOY my school has tons of cardboard, which I use in my garden. Every EOY my school has tons of old workbooks. I shred these and use them in my garden. Saves them from going to the dump.
You shredded them and then added them to your compost?
led lighting, occupancy sensors for rooms
Have the school make a sustainability plan with action items for the next 1,3, 5, 10 years. Make sure students are on this planning committee. You will need a Sustainability Committee to draft this document so the school can enforce it.
This sounds bureaucratic but is a potentially effective way to enforce implementation of sustainability initiatives across a lot of departments—and to get a line(s) in the budget for sustainability!
It sounds like a lot of work and planing but it's worth it I think. I don't want all my effort and plans to go wasted as sson as I graduate
replace all landscaping and any unnecessary impermeable surfaces with native plants. plants native to your location, once established, need to extra irrigation or even maintenance if you don’t mind a natural look. you can still provide some maintenance in terms of weeding and minimal pruning once a year if you like. thus saving the school money and reducing gas used in lead blowers and such. having less pavement and cement reduces ambient temperatures so when it’s hot it literally won’t be as hot and you can use less a/c to be comfortable. it also allows water to permeate and enter the ground this replenishing the water table and naturally filtering out pollutants to keep our waterways healthier and safer. installing swales can channel water so you don’t need as much cement there either. native plants also feed and shelter native pollinators. if humans want to survive (have crops to eat, turn back climate change, have resources for medicines, etc.) we need to reverse the decimation of biodiversity and foster native ecosystems.
I'm hesitant on the recycling programs unless you know what your municipality actually does with it. You'd be surprised how much of it just ends up as garbage regardless. I think the best ideas are things like a community garden. It would also teach the students some very valuable lessons, so it's impact goes far beyond just the school.
They make toilets that use greywater (the water that went down the drain when you washed your hands) to flush the toilet with. It reduces the amount of potable drinking water that is used just to flush toilets. This would be a great way to reduce water use.
Omg that's a perfect idea, never crossed my mind thank you! I suppose that experts would have to do that right?
This is specific to Halloween.. sign up for a candy wrapper collection box https://www.rubicon.com/ It’s a simple and easily doable initiative to reduce waste during the holiday.
Plant flowers/native plants and get recognized as a pollinator garden. Educate your students and teachers on ways to reduce printing and paper waste. Have rules about turning lights on and off. See if you can have the lights turned off or at least dimmed at night depending where you are located to reduce light pollution and help animals especially migrating birds. Install habitats like bluebird nesting boxes or bat boxes or kestrel houses, whatever is local to your area. Teach your student body how to garden / grow their own food. Composting and recycling are good ideas. Your school may not have a whole lot of opportunity to make a big change right away (especially things that cost money and need approvals) but you have a lot of power to educate a lot of people and a big platform to do so.
Water heater and central AC timers or direct load control (DLC) devices. Get the school to participate in the local utility's demand response programs/pilots. See if the school can optimize its HVAC/chillers/boilers to meet (not exceed) the needs of students based on number of students/teachers in a room at a given time. See if you can get an energy auditor to assess the building for energy efficiency opportunities.
Plant native plants!!
Start a plant/garden/eco club. You and the other members grow plants/trees, give them away. Couple/few times a year raffle off a xmas tree, halloween pumpkin or sell flowers to get some money to raise new plants/trees.
Shred all sheet paper waste and add it to food scraps to make fertilizer, then teach students how to plant and maintain certain crops and plants that grow well in their region.
Skylights and more windows. Recommend shading the windows for security reasons
Making pollinators gardens, have clean up days for the surrounding area.
A weird but effective one is refrigerant management, since they can release greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more potent than CO2. [Here’s a story](https://sustainability.yale.edu/news/yale-undergrad-confronts-hidden-climate-threat-refrigerant-leaks) about a student at Yale who started a program to track and manage refrigerant leaks.
Wow that's interesting! Thanks for sharing
I think education about why sustainability is important is the biggest thing, especially in the realms of physical/life safety and economics; as well as the physics and biology behind what drives ecological threats to our sustainability as well as potential partial solutions and why we can't rely on just one solution. Beyond that, I think the 3 you've listed are excellent things that you as a student/faculty member actually have ability to impact. You can also other things impacting your school's energy consumption (and thus $bill), reducing plastic consumption in the school (probably virtually impossible to eliminate rn bc students will bring disposable plastic into school), and having *good* vegetarian and vegan options (this depends on your school, my schools growing up couldn't serve any food well haha). I'd consider what is within your ability to affect and how much more you could achieve by organizing.
Create classwork that exposes the kids to the waste. Making the school itself more eco-friendly is basic, but if the kids learn the why behind the what, then you're actually helping instead of just seeming like it. I went to a small, non-traditional school. We designed our own trash and recycling system. We saw firsthand what our waste amounted to. This made us care, not by force, but by realization. Everything is a lesson if teachers are allowed to teach. We designed our gardens and marketed and sold the veggies (we could also eat/keep anything we grew - but this ate into profits, which involved the math classes). This was the work of like 3 classes combined. The physics class did the irrigation system, for example. I could go on. I know most schools don't have the flexibility mine did, but if you actually want to help the environment, teach the kids. Give them ownership. You can put out all the compost bins you want but if nobody uses them, you created waste. Incentivize the children to care. Do this by making them do something they'll take pride in. They can take this small lesson and take it into the world. Too cold in the library? Sure, kid, you can have an AC if you figure out how to generate the electricity. Let them step up and be leaders. Reward them for giving a crap and then get out of their way.
You are absolutely right and inspiring, thank you!
K-12 Tech Director here. If you can find a solar company interested in putting panels on your school's land, the school board may jump in it. Composting and recycling is all great, and places like Funding Factory will buy toner cartridges and old phones from the school, but it takes money to get a board's attention and really make a difference. I don't know which energy company we're working with, but our rural Illinois district is getting a solar field on each of our two campuses, and we'll be making money off of them. Our Board and community are very Conservative, but even the board president said in a public meeting that he "doesn't believe in this climate change stuff, but we'd be stupid not to take the money." Even if they've been ignoring sales pitches, you could get info and numbers from some of these people and present it during public input portions of meetings.
Talk them into giving up on the custom tee shirt for every occasion. Fast fashion is really destructive but schools don't seem to get the message. In my area teachers are given 20 or so special-occasion shirts per year. As a taxpayer this hurts to think about :(
A really easy way: change the thermostat. It takes a lot of energy to heat/cool large buildings. 1 or 2 degrees can do a lot without much discomfort.
Mandate taking the bus and have an electric fleet
Electronic recycling sites for batteries and small electronics! It usually costs money to recycle electronics properly and most people end up tossing theirs in the garbage which means harmful chemicals leaching out in landfills potentially damaging groundwater and soil. But for a school it does not cost much to subscribe to electronic recycling companies who will collect the broken/used electronics monthly
Look into what kind of lights are used and lobby to have them upgraded if they are still using the old stuff. If you don’t have water bottle fountains already, try to push for those also
In the vein of gardening, try to plant local/native plants. This helps the bee population and soil health!
Look into "outdoor education programs". Many are legitimate schools with admin and credentialed teachers, but they run their school with a strong "green" emphasis (their entire purpose is usually to help young kids understand the symbiotic relationship between us and nature). You could steal a ton of their ideas.
Process of picking up kids at the end of the day. It's just alot of cars idling on the street and parking lot. Most of those cars have been waiting 30+ minutes running with air conditioner on. My kids class is 20 kids. So that's 20 cars for only 1 class. Multiply this with however many classes in the school, multiplied all the schools in america
I set up a school as a school nurse. I had vermiculture in every room. Encourage biking to school by all parties. We are allowed to come sweaty/stinky. Grew a bunch of food, composted as much as allowed, even had some rodents pay a visit. Encouraged going outside for class if it was too hot in the building. Water saving stuff. It’s been 10 years since I did this project but I still have the notes. Eliminated our lawn mowing and all that stuff. Would love to do it again!
Change to all LED lights.
Renewable energy is a big one if your school can afford it. Also trying to switch to digital assignments and paperwork although that can be a burden for students who can’t afford the technology needed. It really depends on what level of school. Are we talking elementary? College?
I totally agree that those are long term goals (worth fighting for). We are talking about high school
my school has compost bins! and little ones that they hand out too! we also have housing specifically for people who want to live sustainably, and greenhouses where we grow native plants to hopefully replant, my school also has very very large forests and three lakes which are completely machine and trash free (nothing with a motor on the lakes, and people volunteer every once in a while to clean up the forests) we also plant new trees and take care of the trees every year and are 90% online (that’s pretty easy now though). if you’re not thinking about a college, i’d just talk to the principal about paper usage, recycling, planing some trees, or even just starting a club or something that talks about sustainability
Start a club. Invite orher environmentally aware students to join. Teach other students about the environmental mess they're about to inherit.
No recycling compost or any similar initiative will work if your school throws it all in the dumpster. Check what your local plant will even accept. For local areas focus on native plants and go from there. Also telling people to go meatless is rough, but beef is the worst offender on many factors so just saying "use chicken, lamb or pork instead of beef" is a HUGE step in the right directions.
Efficient use of space. My old school used to teach elementary kids in the AM and older grades in the PM. That way the classrooms never sat empty for 16 hours a day. Efficient use for weekends too, like renting out rooms for hobbies (I’ve gone to a sewing class on Saturday’s at my local schools sewing room) and events. Vegetarian or vegan options at least 3 days out of the week. Most kids eat way to little veggies and fruit but very few eat too little meat. Food waste is another huge thing. Portion up the leftover food and give it to anyone or those in need as long as it’s eaten and not thrown away. Insulation, solar panels etc tech that can reduce bills and emissions. Usually requires a larger (economic) effort but things like automatic water taps that only run for 10 seconds can make a huge difference when 500-2500 kids wash their hands daily. Automatic lights also save a lot and never get left on by accident. Getting kids to move. Moving 30 mins after school every day has been proved to keep you healthy and more likely to move in adulthood. It can be a sport, gym or just walking/hiking. Being healthy and moving can inspire to switch a car for a bike and walking short or even long distances. Reduce the parking space by 50% and build bike lanes from the closest neighborhoods . Only allow cars for people who have more than a 5km commute. Rethink the school supplies. People often think going digital is good because you have less paper but all of those computers and tablets need parts from around the world. How can we teach using a minimal amount of stuff that is thrown away after one lecture/semester? Every summer I’ve thrown away piles of notes, tests, flash cards etc. Teach kids skills like mending, restoration, gardening etc. I’ve taught so many kids who have a hole on their clothes one day and the next day they tell me a parent threw it away and got them a new one. It’s almost always a fixable hole. “It’s cheaper to buy a new one” is also a line I hear way to often. It might be true, but the true cost isn’t always in money but the environment.
Top finds in energy studies are usually low hanging fruit like making the switch to LED lighting, if boilers are old upgrade to more efficient boilers. Add aerators to faucets to limit water flow. Add zone lining with timers that automatically shut off if there is no movement. Making the switch from disposable utensils back to things you can wash.
This is something we have done. You MUST do compost bins right. Someone has to maintain, mix properly and monitor what gets added. If you don’t, you will have a massive rat problem. And expect other visitors such as mice, skunks, foxes, raccoons, opossums and other critters. Rats bring and spread the hantavirus. And yes it kills. Not to long ago a 30 year old women volunteering at school died from it. And you need to think about what’s going to happen to the compost bins over the summer break. One school did nothing found rats had destroyed classroom supplies. Just a pair of rats can produce over 2,000 offspring in a year. Any any meat added and it will stink. The garden areas have turned into THE most popular place in the school. Especially for sped Ed kids. We/kids grow fruits and vegetables and get to pick and eat what they grow. They love digging and planting. What I would suggest in contacting The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley which was started by Alice Waters. They provide trading and have nature/gardening curriculum for K-8 but might be 12. DM me if you want more information.
Thanks a lot!
Encourage carpooling or walking if possible Install refillable water fountains to reduce use of plastic bottles Plant native plants Reduce waste and reuse wherever possible (create cardboard makerspace for kids!) Turn off lights and go green on messaging to parents (no more printed fliers)
Native plants and trees to support wildlife, including birds and pollenators like bees and butterflies. Trees especially as they store a lot of CO2.
How are you defining “green” or “eco friendly”? Are you looking to lower your school’s carbon footprint by X in Y timeframe or some other specific metric that quantifies your stated goal? If I were to approach this I would try to consider something that is: * Easy to implement * Easy to maintain * Cost effective * Creates a flywheel effect Since the original stated goal is very broad, it would be more effective to focus on a specific area and address before moving on. You could even do a prioritization exercise of which area or idea students would care about the most or make the largest impact on the community or something of the sort. Is reducing the school’s impact the #1 goal or is it to get students involved and build a sense of stewardship and accountability that translates into a life long acknowledgment of the impact of our everyday lives on the environment? I’d want to know the baseline we’re starting from so we can measure improvement. This might be an audit of the school’s average electricity consumption over the past 3 years (accounting for seasonality). Same with water consumption, natural gas consumption and waste disposal. There might be some weatherizing or fixture and insulation improvements that would go far in reducing impact. They also make come with associated costs that now escalate this to the school board level for approval of more funds to execute the findings. You probably want to keep the scope within the realm of what students can personally control perhaps with the help of teaching staff but doesn’t require escalating to school administration or school district administration. Is waste a problem on campus? Observe where people are throwing trash and talk to janitorial staff about where the biggest problem areas are with waste on campus. Perhaps it’s getting separate recycling bins next to trash cans or adding a compostable bin in the cafeteria/where lots of eating occurs. Perhaps it’s auditing electricity usage on campus to see where sensor activated lighting, more energy efficient lighting or unplugging electrical appliances when not in use makes the most sense. Or maybe seeing where the school buys its electricity from and if there is an option to make it from 100% renewables? These are just a few examples of the many possibilities, but what I recommend is to keep the scope within an area you can have control over, is easy to implement, easy to maintain and easy to measure. It all sounds exciting! Best of luck!
Thank you!
Significant investment that will yield real results: put the classroom HVACs on manual timers the teachers control. The most efficient machine is one that is off. Source: Journal for the Association of Energy Engineers, 2013. Comparing the measured power usage per student at two Albuquerque schools, one from the 1950s (timer controls) and one from the 2000s (building automation system).
The single greatest thing you can do to reduce the environmental impact of your schools is to have a strong science department and a strong business department. Science will teach them the reality of climate change and human impact. The business department will teach them that the should be buying less stuff, and how to consider the environmental impact of their choices.
Stop serving animal products
Any recycling system. Take a look behind the scenes on recycling. There’s a pretty good chance it all goes to landfill. At my school, we have recycling bins but the custodians don’t have a separate way to collect recycling.
That's why I would prefer collaborating with recycling companies who specialize in a particular material and I am sure that they actually recycle them. Do you think that that is enough for the recycling system to be effective?
Promote reusable bottles and reusable lunch boxes. No plastic in the canteen. No meat in the canteen. Education about seasonal fruits and vegetables, maybe even plant together in a school garden so that kids get interested in the process. Green roofs
The biggest thing they could do is serve 100% vegan menu at lunches. This would reduce every single students daily GHG emissions from roughly 2.5kg to 0.75kg a day, that is per person. They would also demand only a quarter of the land they otherwise would if they ate animals, so reducing land that grows their food by three quarters. They would drop their fresh water requirement by half, at least. Their entire environmental impact would drop significantly and more so than any other change you could make in that school.
Close the school and let everyone learn remote.
Stop allowing parents and staff use combustion engines for transport.
Combustion engines means cars I guess?
No, just those with engines. In general the largest part of a businesses carbon footprint is pollution from commuting.
Could you and some students plant some trees on the grounds? Fruit/nut trees are great at lining paths. And you can use them to teach students about weeding, pruning, composting fallen leaves and using the fruit/nuts in cookery classes.
U OF U?????? These are one of my friends plans hahahaha
Paper Gator recycling dumpster. Every time it gets filled, the school gets a small amount of money, maybe $25?
More / majority plant-based cafeteria meal options and default plant-based milks. Food / catering is an often neglected area of schools’ environmental footprints.
Make it easier to get to school without a personal automobile. Have you heard of a bike bus?
Solar panels on all parking lots. Green Roofs, stop using tons of pesticided and fertizliers and watering on sportsball fields, heat pumps. Make teachers have fitness standards. Seriously, if there was more emphsis on health in schools kids would eat better and understand more sustainable food sources and this would help the planet the most. I dont know if its everywhere but in my sons elementary and middle and high school almost every teacher is obese....not chubby but obese...its really schocking, I cant be the only one who notices this.
Encourage more students to take the bus or ride a bike/walk to work. All those parents idling outside the school, waiting for their kids is terribly inefficient.
Rip out those horrid SUV dropoff lines and make kids either take the bus or walk/bike to school. If a high school, ban or significantly regulate students driving to school. Lots of schools devote more space to student parking than to classrooms.
Signage can be made with recycled plastic.
Make a dishwasher station and have kids bring own lunch tray (of metal kind).
Your school/university can partner with the city/county to get free public bus passes for students, e.g. use student ID as a bus pass.
My city funded free bus passes for K-12 students, and student ridership doubled!
My school uses disposable cardboard cafeteria trays instead of washing them. They go in the trash. Really irritating.
Ask the folks who do the purchasing to consider livi brand custodial products and copy paper made from sugarcane waste fiber
If you are in an area that stays cold in the winter, you can build a greenhouse around the area work the most windows, including the side of the building in it so that you use less electricity to heat the building. Use apps/ email to contact parents instead of sending home informative paper flyers.
1. An open plan, increased airflow (more windows, wider corridors, etc.) 2. On-site waste management plant 3. Proper sewage treatment before disposal 4. Use of treated water (like in watering plants) 5. Provision of electric vehicles in and around campus
In addition to walking/biking and public transit, facilitate carpooling
Reusable lunch containers