When it comes to the environment, what steps can schools take to make a difference?
Schools can reduce their environmental impact beyond just going paperless by educating and implementing greener practices. To help you minimize your school\’s carbon footprint and teach your pupils about sustainability, we\’ve compiled a list of five easy green activities you can do right away.
1. Waste-Free Lunches:
In the United States, about half of all school-aged children get their breakfast and lunch from the cafeteria. Thus, wasted food and one-time-use lunch containers account for a considerable portion of the trash generated by educational institutions. While recycling might theoretically solve this problem, in practice only 29% of recyclables are actually recycled. Plastics have a restricted lifespan and can only be recycled 7-9 times before the fibers are destroyed.
Students can take the lead in reducing trash from the cafeteria by organizing a \»litterless lunch,\» in which everyone is required to bring their own reusable food storage, water supply, and eating utensils. Offering free lunch on the last Friday of each month to students and employees who bring their own reusable containers is one approach to kick off the changeover and generate excitement for the project. Students can be encouraged to bring their own lunches in reusable containers by offering a small discount (say, 25 cents off) as the school community adjusts to the idea of litterless lunches.
Meatless meal days can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from meat production, and working with a local farm vendor can help cut down on transportation-related emissions in the lunchroom. Get the lunch and nutrition staff on board with the idea of meatless meal days by brainstorming kid-friendly vegetarian alternatives like chickpeas, veggie burgers, and tofu. Choose a day of the week (maybe Monday) to have your meatless lunches, and promote them as an opportunity to try something new and exciting. Start your farm-to-school partnership by asking nearby merchants to supply your institution with in-season fruit and vegetables once a month in exchange for publicity for their farms.
2. Environmentally-Friendly Instructional Materials:
Young people tend to focus solely on the here and now. Therefore, it may be hard for some kids to grasp the gravity of environmental issues and develop a genuine concern for the future of the planet. Children are at a prime age for learning and habit formation. There are concrete ways in which green behaviors and environmental awareness can be brought into the classroom:
To reuse and recycle –
Reducing waste by actively recycling classroom supplies and demonstrating other waste-reducing practices (such as turning off the water while washing hands)
Eco-friendly creations–
Using found objects (such as newspapers, magazines, and cardboard) in new ways
Field outings as a learning tool –
Learning more about the various ways in which members of the community care for the environment by visiting sites like recycling centers and farms.
Assignments –
Using projects (like a class garden) to get kids invested in and making green choices.
Children can learn a lifelong appreciation for the environment if they see adults acting sustainably and make an effort to adopt these practices themselves.
3. Reliable Change:
Clothing gets stained, torn, and too small for kids quickly. As a result, many parents opt to buy their children\’s clothing from stores that specialize in fast fashion. The apparel sector is responsible for between five and ten percent of all manmade pollution. The creation of even a single article of clothing requires enormous amounts of resources; for instance, one pair of jeans requires over 10,000 liters of water and 40 chemicals.
Despite concerns about fast fashion, there are reasonable options for parents shopping for children\’s clothing. Try organizing a sustainable clothing swap or donation drive once a month or once a year. Kids are encouraged to bring in their gently worn garments so they can trade with their peers.
You can set your own guidelines for the clothing swap; for instance, if you bring five items of worn clothing, you can exchange them for five others. If you\’re looking for a fun and inexpensive way to bring people together, consider hosting a clothing swap. Similarly, students can organize a donation drive, in which gently used items (clothing, shoes, toys, etc.) are collected and given to a local organization in need.
4. The Struggle of Commute:
Twenty percent of the world\’s carbon dioxide emissions come from automobiles. Most students live within walking or bicycling distance of their schools, making it simple to reduce car emissions and boost air quality by commuting. In addition to helping the planet, sending kids on foot or two wheels to class has been linked to improved health and academic success.
Start a commuter program at your school by coordinating safe, adult-led bike and walking routes for students. An alternative is to hold a \»commuting challenge,\» in which employees and students compete for monthly awards for the most commutes made without the use of a private vehicle. As an added incentive, winners could receive things like gift cards to local running stores, bike locks, helmets, or even whole new bicycles. You can discourage students and faculty from driving to school by raising parking fees in tandem with the growth of your commuter program. With the money you save on parking, you may invest in more bike racks for your commuters.
5. Shut Off :
K-12 It\’s shocking that American schools spend $6 billion year on energy costs, which is more than they spend on computers and textbooks combined. Saving just 10% would result in annual savings of $65,000 per school. Upgrades to classroom furnishings, new athletic equipment, or the hiring of extra teachers are all possible outcomes.
Turning off computers, lights, and projectors while they\’re not in use saves money and helps the environment. To get the whole school on board, you should provide a concrete goal with obvious benefits, such as \»If everyone turns off the light when they leave the room, we will have enough energy savings to upgrade the gym.\»