[LM_NET] HIT: GEN: Schools go green

[Toni Buzzeo <tonibuzzeo@TONIBUZZEO.COM>]

ORIGINAL REQUEST:
I was listening to HARVEST OF HOPE by Jane Goodall on audio this week 
(it's a wonderful book and I HIGHLY recommend it!).  It started me 
thinking about the efforts we are making in our schools to "go 
green." So what are KIDS in your school doing for the "green" movement?

RESPONSES:
About all we do is recycle paper.  Each room has a recycling box and 
the sixth graders come by every Friday to pick it up.  They put it in 
a container behind the school and the county picks up the container 
when it gets full.

***
Here's a link to what our Waste management program does in our school district
<http://www.iwma.com/programs-events/schoolbased-ed.html>http://www.iwma.com/programs-events/schoolbased-ed.html
 
Be sure to click on the newsletter for teachers to see how all the 
presentations are linked to state and national standards...

I know at my school we have a solar composting bin, we recylce 
EVERYTHING at lunch, have a school garden, have worms and all kinds 
of neat stuff.

Here's another link to a wiki that my friend, Richie Partington, is 
working on for Eco Literacy: We can change the World K-8

<http://ecoliteracy.pbwiki.com/>http://ecoliteracy.pbwiki.com/

I feel very fortunate to live on the Central Coast of California - 
San Luis Obispo...it's very "green" in more ways than one!

-Everything was provided for by a grant from our Integrated Waste 
Management company - solar panels, bins, recycle containers, field 
trips, assemblys, composter, garden plot, (we do have to worry about 
skateboarders coming in and destroying things, though - sad, but 
true). This was initiated by the County of SLO (don't you love our 
initials!) working with our school district so that they could 
receive a huge grant from the state of CA.
-Each class has a part of the garden where they weed, plant and 
harvest - we have 21 classes K-6. A lot of the garden, too, is native 
plants and foods that the Chumash Indians would have planted since 
that is part of our 3rd grade curriculum.
-6th graders are usually the ones who are in charge of the solar 
composter - they regularly go in and turn the compost, aerate 
(spelling?) and things like that.
-5th and 6th graders are also the ones at lunch time (both primary 
lunch and upper grade lunch) who make sure kids put all the food 
waste and recyclables into the right containers and then are 
responsible for getting it into the correct waste containers and into 
the right composting pile (moving the composting pile from one point 
to another and turning the compost, too)
- our school janitor is the one who is in charge of all the kids who 
do this and plays a very important/integral role in making it successful.
- a school assembly at the beginning of the year reminds kids about 
recyclying, water conservation, etc. with guest speakers
- student helpers receive Worm t-shirts as part of their service. 
They change student helpers every 6 weeks - there are about 8 helpers 
each time -  so that each 6th grader gets a chance to help before 
they graduate. We have between 48-55 sixth graders.


I tend not to go up there at lunch time (it's not pretty) because I 
have the library open. I will ask Mr. Scott those questions for 
you...he is so wonderful. Not only is he a great janitor, but he's a 
talented artist, too. He does "Clay days with Mr. Scott" and every 
kid in the school gets to do a pottery project with him and have it 
fired and glazed in the school kiln.
I think the kids move the food waste in the big orange buckets that 
the IWM company gave them. But again, I will have to ask. I also 
think there are different buckets for different foods...We are still 
on our spring break, so I will e-mail him those questions. I don't 
know when he'll get back to me.

***

With the impact of this dreadful drought (in Australia) hurting 
everyone whether they are in town or country, "going green" has just 
become the norm here and every school has something happening. The 
news bulletins and current affairs shows regularly have items about 
schools (often primary) who have created whole mini-wetlands 
environments by recycling water; who are growing all fresh veges for 
use in the school canteen (huge incentive to eat slim) who are 
raising chickens on their lunch scraps or have compost bins and worm 
farms and sell the products to parents.

Energy saving is just natural to them and words like carbon footprint 
and climate change and
sustainability are regular vocab now.  One of our biggest education 
publishers is about to launch an online reading initiative based on 
sustainability and I've been writing dozens of activities to
accompany books on the theme.  Huge interest in that.

But one of the best initiatives is by Blue Scope Steel who are 
donating a water tank a day to a
school for a year, so that will be 200 schools with the ability to 
harvest water. You can find out
more at 
<http://www.tankaday.com.au/>http://www.tankaday.com.au/   But many 
more than 200 have installed tanks, using P&C funds, fundraisers or 
local council grants.  It's really exciting, particularly to see that 
this 'going
green" is being driven by the kids through to their parents (who 
vote) and right up to the Prime
Minister who resifted Kyoto as one of his first duties after he was 
elected.  (He's actually in
Washington now.).  Coming from the bottom up means that habits become 
behaviours and will be sustained.

***
In the meantime, they're not learning how to read and 
write.  Nowadays the focus is on learning to be "social" and 
"green".  Whatever happened to traditional education when they 
learned something they could use in their lives and not be subjected 
to an educational philosophy where everything is done according 
(read--standards) to the state?

***
Actually, I'd argue that these Portland kids were doing a LOT of
reading and writing--and info literacy, to boot:

 >who won a 2008 eco-Excellence Award for his work with students on a
 >two-year worm bin composting project that resulted in a printed
 >how-to book. Kids researched ways for the school to reduce food waste.

***

I have to agree with Toni,
Those students were probably still doing all the reading and state 
testing they had done before, or more. You have  probably heard the 
term, "project based learning," where you learn by solving real world 
problems.  You actually apply learning to a personal situation. The 
students take ownership of the outcome and the learning has a lasting 
impact, unlike rote memorization. This project sounds like "pbl."

I am the sponsor of our middle school ecology club.  I started the 
recycling of white copy paper at our school, but I didn't initiate 
the ecology club.  An eighth grade student came to me and asked if I 
would sponsor an ecology club. I love the idea, but I have so many 
other professional and school projects going I don't feel like I can 
do the club justice in short after school meetings.
I applaud the teacher willing to change the outcome of standardized 
learning for his/her students. It takes twice the effort.


Best,
Toni


Toni Buzzeo, MA, MLIS <mailto:tonibuzzeo@tonibuzzeo.com>
Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year Emerita
Maine Association of School Libraries Board Member
Buxton, ME 04093
http://www.tonibuzzeo.com
R is for Research, illustrated by Nicole Wong (Upstart 2008) BRAND NEW!  

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