Green Schools Become Sustainable Schools: A Global Initiative

“Many schools are failing to prepare children on two fronts—by not providing them healthy environments in which to do their best, and by neglecting to integrate the environment into their curriculum, particularly in terms of outdoors learning and using the natural world as a teaching tool. A healthy school building is no small matter when nationwide asthma attacks result in 14 million missed school days each year and exposure to peanuts and tree nuts can prove fatal. Beyond eliminating allergens and chemical contaminants, schools need to better the conditions in which kids perform, offering more daylight (shown to boost test scores when glare and noise are eliminated), providing healthy meals, and cycling out stale air.” The Top 10 Green Schools in the U.S., The National Geographic Green Guide 2006.

What is a Green School?

A Green School improves education through hands-on, real-world, project based learning about the total educational environment (inside and outside the classroom). Components of a Green School may include waste reduction, energy efficiency, school gardens, or other frameworks that support a sustainable and healthy educational environment, and strengthen the school infrastructure by saving money on energy costs.

Green Schools incorporate a whole team of team of teachers, custodial staff, administrators, parents and students carry out the program at each school. These teams work together to teach and create systematic programs about conservation and generation, creating school-wide energy awareness, and taking the message home and into the local community. Activities and programs revolving around Green School themes are developed and integrated into the school curriculum and school culture. Students conduct research and learn to advocate for energy and environmental solutions.

What are the Benefits of Green Schools?

• Waste and unnecessary energy costs are eliminated through the institution of energy tracking and waste reduction practices – Green Schools can save up to 15 percent or more on school electric costs. Waste reduction costs are also significantly impacted.
• Student learning and leadership development – Energy efficiency and protecting the environment are hands-on, real-world topics that energize students and add meaning and excitement to academic learning. Student participants become involved in making presentations in the community, speaking to the media, and conducting energy audits.
• Integration with the curriculum – A wealth of Green Schools curriculum is being developed by local and national organizations, including lesson plans, CDs, activities, and professional energy-auditing kits that include tools such as light meters, infrared thermometers, and watt meters. Green Schools lessons can be interdisciplinary, integrate into a teacher’s regular curriculum, and are aligned with state curriculum standards.
• The Alliance to Save Energy reports that improved school staff relations and school morale are often unexpected benefits of the working partnership created between teachers and school facilities staff as these two different groups work together in a team to implement Green School activities. Protecting the environment and reducing energy costs and are causes that the whole school community can rally around.

This information was adapted from information provided by The Alliance to Save Energy. To view their excellent web site on Green Schools, please click here.

California Green Schools Initiative is Supported with Funding

In 2006, Governor Schwarzenegger supported and California voters approved Proposition 1D, making $100 million available for adding green elements to new school building plans. As more and more of California’s 1,000 school districts realize the benefits of building green schools, this administration will work to raise awareness so the legislature will take note and provide additional funding for their construction and operation.

Studies show that students attending green schools are healthier and more productive; five studies by Carnegie Mellon University found a 38.5 percent reduction in asthma rates in green buildings due to improved indoor air quality. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) also cites a 33 percent increase in the percentage of students testing at grade-level for reading and math after moving into a green school.

Not only do these schools improve the health of our children and their learning environments, but these schools also save money.

The US Green Building Council notes that high performance schools save an average of $100,000 per year in energy costs. If a typical school facility lasts 42 years, the math is simple: One school can save $4.2 million in its lifetime.

Click here for more information about the California Green Schools initiative.

Green Schools Resources

The Green Schools Initiative
http://www.greenschools.net/

The Alliance to Save Energy Green Schools Program
http://www.ase.org/section/program/greenschl
http://www.ase.org/section/program/greenschl/aboutgs

The Top 10 Green Schools in the U.S., The National Geographic Green Guide 2006.
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/115/toptenschools

Sustaining Learning in Green Schools
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/104/schools

The High Performance School Building Resource and Strategy Guide helps school planners ask the right questions of design professionals
www.sbicouncil.org

Rebuild America EnergySmart Schools
www.rebuild.org

National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
www.edfacilities.org)

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), established in 1999, offers guidelines and criteria for schools to rate themselves
www.chps.net

USGBC Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)
www.usgbc.org

The EPA's Healthy School Environments Page
www.epa.gov/schools

State of California Green Schools Program
http://www.green.ca.gov/GreenBuildings/schools.htm

Green Schools for Better Education, Stanford Daily Online http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/3/2/opedGreenSchoolsForBetterEducation

Green Schools 101
http://www.buildgreenschools.org/gs101/index.html