What does it mean to "go green"?

To go green doesn’t mean chaining yourself up to a tree in the path of a bulldozer to protest deforestation. It’s not just the act of recycling. Going green means making a conscience effort to take care of our environment, our Earth, our planet. It’s the action a person or persons can take to reduce the harmful effects on the environment through consumer habits, behaviors, and lifestyles. So, what can you do? It can be as simple as turning off lights when leaving a room, taking your lunch in a reusable bag, recycling, take shorter showers, ride your bike more, wash clothes using cold water, growing a garden or buying food from local farms. Whatever you do, leave the least amount of footprints so that future generations can enjoy the natural beauties our planet has to offer.

What is your ecological footprint? click here to find out.

Changing to a Waste-free Lunch Program

Creating a waste-free lunch program in a school district takes planning and devotion. To establish a new program a district should consider the following:

• The school should decide that waste reduction in their lunch program and in their district is a priority


• Begin with a focus on lunch and snack waste reduction


• Educate students, teachers, and parents where our school trash ends up and how individuals can reduce the amount of trash we generate


• Encourage the use of reusable containers (drink containers, food containers)

Once the decision has been made to move towards lunch and snack waste reduction the following website will be very helpful to implement your plan and help maintain its sustainability:

http://www.nrdc.org/greensquad/intro/intro_4.asp

Teaching Green: Sustaining the Global Community

As we think about being more aware of our footprint within our towns/cities and schools, it is essential to understand that we are all connected. As we reflect, we realize the ripple effect of our actions upon the local, state, national and world community. While watching the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth, it became evident that we truly are a single pixel within our universe. What curriculum (planned and unplanned) demonstrates our laziness toward global sustainability? Are we teaching by example? How will we lead?

Community Service- An issue of reciprocity...

Dartmouth, Massachusetts has for the second year in a row lost override voting. We are in the lower bracket per-pupil expenditure rate in our state. Art programs are being cut. Fees have been instituted to participate in activities and sports. Currently, the school community feels it is in a state of under-appreciation. Starting the 2007/8 school year under this umbrella of dark clouds was nothing shy of depressing, but situations are relative. For example, in comparison to students in other districts, counties and states we, in comparison are in a far more "comfortable" position. This was made evident when viewing the Spike Lee documentary, When the Levees Broke; A Requiem in Four Acts during the MCLA Leadership Academy in the summer of 2007. What struck me most was not just their need for help, but how little we were reminded of their need in the media. It seemed to me that helping New Orleans to rebuild was necessary, not only for the people of NOLA, but also for the volunteer students of Dartmouth High.
I started the planning of a "voluntourism" trip to New Orleans in the summer of 2007. The plan involved taking a group of 42 students and 8 adult chaperones to help rebuild (via Habitat for Humanity) parts of New Orleans in greatest need. I could never have guessed the experience I was nurturing for both students and adults... We built floor systems, installed siding, trim, painted, primed and caulked. We also worked with the Animal Rescue of New Orleans (ARNO), helping out with daily tasks usually done by local volunteers- cleaning, bathing the animals, feeding both the on-site animals as well as filling the "feeding stations" for homeless animals. Every night, during dinner, I heard stories of joy, sadness, exhaustion and sheer exhilaration.
These 50 people gave up their April vacation week to hop on a bus for 24 hours (in each direction) to help others. They completely forgot that they were the school that didn't get the big override. They became life-long community service members. As I said above, sometimes our judgment of the situation we find ourselves in can be inverted when it is put into perspective. These volunteers will never forget the friends they made in New Orleans, or the way they view community on a larger global scale.
Here are some helpful links to start the journey to help our friends in New Orleans:
http://www.rockfound.org/about_us/news/2007/0125levees.shtml
www.habitat-nola.org

Early Efforts to Going Green: One District's Tale

In an effort to support green schools and thus sustainability, my district kicked off a going green campaign beginning with a school-wide showing of An Inconvenient Truth followed by posters to highlight ways students can make a difference. (For Teacher Resources for An Inconvenient Truth: Click Here) Beginning in school, students launched a school-wide recycling program through their Environmental Class. Recycling bins were delivered to each teacher with a listing of what can and what cannot be recycled. Once a week students empty the recycling bins during their class. Teachers were also encouraged to join in the spirit of conserving energy by keeping shades down to block window draft in the winter, shutting off lights when they leave the room, and shutting down computers when they left for the day. An energy manager keeps us on track with updates of our efforts to conserve energy as well as reminders for long weekends and vacations and tips to use at home. Periodically, the energy manager checks classrooms and rewards teachers conserving energy by giving them a smiley face that can be entered into a monthly drawing for a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks gift card. Teachers who need to focus more of their efforts on going green are given a frown face. The district also gets involved as all in-house correspondences and important documents are conveyed via email. Future efforts for going green will be led by the 2008-2009 Environmental classes.

Blog's Mission

This blog will provide a platform for both the discussion and exchange of ideas to promote eco-awareness within our school communities. To achieve such an end, tools will be made available through links and discussions that will aid the development of systems of sustainability.