#environmental school

Every year on April 22nd people from all across the world come together to celebrate Earth Day. Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, to raise awareness about air and water pollution. It’s evolved into a day where international grassroots activists raise social and political consciousness about the most pressing environmental challenges of the time.

To commemorate Earth Day, we’ve put together a few ways students can apply sustainability thinking to their daily lives and become better global citizens:  

1) Create a Community Garden

Community gardens are a smart and practical way to get a community to participate in growing local food. This alternative method of growing food can provide organic healthy fruits and vegetables that often are expensive and difficult to find in food desserts. Host cooking classes and community dinners using food from the garden.

2) Transform Into a Waste Free School

Many schools do not have recycling policies. Those that do don’t always enforce the policy. Students can collectively try to enforce policies by creating signs and making announcements that encourage students and staff to use recycling bins. Students can transform their schools into “Waste Free Schools” by also using plates, cups, and napkins made from recycled materials and using reusable utensil sets.

3) Swap or Sell Your Clothes

Clothing swaps and sales are a smart and efficient way to recycle clothing. The production of clothing uses a lot of energy in factories, transporting clothing, and producing the materials for the clothing. Recycling clothes by swapping or reselling encourages students to economically and environmentally conserve savings and energy. There are many thrift stores across NJ like Unique that sell already used clothes.

Student groups can have environmentally friendly fashion shows and fundraisers that use recycled clothing to raise awareness about how swapping clothes can benefit the community.

4) Host Green Movie Nights and Discussions

Movie nights and discussions are great ways for students to influence their community awareness on sustainability. Making sustainable education interesting and interactive can attract more participation in sustainable living. Invite speakers and have dinners created from food produced from your community garden.

5) Create Green Gadgets

Save electricity by making green gadgets. One example is a solar phone charger. DIY!

Supplies needed:

·      Mint tin container

·      USB Charging Circuit

·      AA Battery Holder

·      AA Rechargeable Batteries

·      1N914 Diode

·      Wire

Teenagers from all over the world are developing science projects into innovative technologies that can be used to make our communities more sustainable.

6) Shrink Your Footprint

Eating locally grown food, less meat, and non-packaged food reduces your ecological footprint. The production of meat uses a lot of energy and can be extremely hazardous. The transportation of meat and the transnational transport of food also causes a lot of smog.

Walking, biking, and taking public transportation instead of driving can also shrink your ecological footprint.

7) Become a Solar Powered School

School is in session during the day, the same time the Sun is out. Solar panels are a great source of energy for schools. The Sun can naturally power the school and provide electricity to brighten hallways and classrooms. Rather than using paper towels, a solar powered school can install hand dryers that can be powered by their solar panels.

8) Educate elementary and middle school students about sustainability

Teach younger students about sustainability. By teaching them you are transforming their lifestyles at a younger age. Launch programs where older students have the opportunity to teach their younger peers about sustainability. Learning about the subject from older kids will make sustainability cool and interesting! Older students can also serve as a mentor.

9) Get involved with local food communities

Visit, volunteer or work with local food communities. There are over 20 organic farms in NJ you can visit or maybe even volunteer with! There are equally as many community supported gardens and food coops in NJ that young people can work or volunteer with.

10) Get hands-on learning on the local energy

Visit self sustaining homes, wind farms, paper factories, power plants, waste management facilities and other local businesses and organizations that are helping our economy and society become more environmentally sound.

Sustainability education requires a balance of three critical factors—the environment, community and economy—which together encourage students to connect environmental advocacy principles to their everyday lives. For instance, a student who learns about climate change without connecting the warming sea to their local community’s food supply is learning about the environment without considering its sustainability impact.

At the Barack Obama Green Charter School, we teach our students what sustainability is conceptually, how it relates to environmental and social advocacy and how they can apply sustainability concepts to their daily lives. To teach sustainability, educators must do more than simply expose students to environmental issues relating to the preservation, restoration and the improvement of our natural environment. There are three key practices teachers and school leaders can employ to effectively teach sustainability:

1. Teach students to be “smart by nature” by ensuring they are experiencing the natural world as part of their curriculum at every grade level. Children living in urban and suburban communities are more closely connected to the community and economy than the environment. Thus, sustainability-oriented schools must consistently encourage students to go outdooengage with the environment. Students who are sufficiently exposed to nature are better able to recognize the implications of their lifestyle choices on the environment.

2. Partner with local organizations that expose students to grassroots sustainability movements. Heightened awareness of our society’s environmental crises can be daunting if students aren’t exposed to local movements where everyday people are driving sustainable change in their communities. Students are better able to recognize their agency and ability to take action after engaging in this type of experiential learning. Those who aren’t given sufficient opportunity to experience sustainability are more likely to become disengaged and unsure of their place in building a more sustainable future.

3. Transform classrooms into sustainability learning laboratories. The challenges students are exposed to when learning about sustainability can be daunting if they are not encouraged to exercise their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Engage students in class discussions and projects that encourage them to tackle sustainability concepts across a wide variety of disciplines.Throughout this process of project-based learning, students conduct analyses, engage in debates, collaborate and ultimately grow comfortable developing sustainability solutions that can uplift their community.

Now that you have a better understanding of what it takes to teach students to think and act with sustainability in mind, you can begin incorporating these practices to your classroom. Here are some additional resources that may help you in this process:

Facing the Future’s Curricula for Global Sustainability Education including lesson plans, teacher guides and more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s online clearinghouse of Sustainability resources for teachers

Environmental Sustainability programs, opportunities and competitions for students in the TriState area

Environmental and sustainability research tools for students

Share your ideas on teaching sustainability below!

--Steven King

Founder & Chief Executive Officer