Ten Easy Ideas for Greening Your School
July 26, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Green Living
Green schools should be the norm not the exception, but sadly green schools are currently the exception to the rule. If more parents and students advocate for green school changes it can make a real difference. There are little and big steps you can take to ensure your kids have a green education experience. Some changes you can make on your own while other require many families and administrators to jump on board. Try one or all of the following to help create change…
- Only buy eco-friendly and non-toxic school supplies.
- Pack a waste-free lunch all year long.
- If you child eats lunch at school advocate for organic and healthy school lunches.
- If you’re buying your kids new school shoes this year recycle your kids old shoes at Nike who will grind them down and use them to make new school running tracks, playground mats, basketball courts and more.
- Try a green school fundraiser or two this year – About My Planet has a two part series; Raise Money with Green Fundraisers that can help you to get started - read part one and part two.
- Get your school involved in landscaping options that are healthy, educational, and earth-friendly.
- Explore why green school remodels and newly built LEED schools are healthier for your kids.
- Consider walking, biking, or car-pooling to school this year.
- Learn how to reduce all aspects of waste in your school.
- Advocate for green education topics in the schools and don’t leave your kids’ eco-education solely up to their school; like sex-ed, green is something you should also be discussing with you kids, even if it is covered at school. See some schools who are incorporating green topics into the curriculum.
What are your local schools doing to create change? Are you advocating for changes that matter?
[image via stock.xchng]
I’ll suggest something that would really save money in the schools = no toilet paper at all. Install bathroom bidet sprayers in all the toilets and all they’ll need is a small towel(or single paper towel)to dry off. It’s cleaner, cheaper (yes for those who just have to object to everything water is cheaper than toilet paper!), it’s better for the environment and it has health benefits. After they try it, like most people, they will like it. As Dr. Oz said on Oprah: “if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn’t wipe it off with paper, would you? You’d wash it off” This is a logical, doable and simple way to save allot of money and actually improve the students hygiene. But of course like all new ideas people will find countless silly and inane objections, that is the way of things. Theses sprayers are available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.comI installed mine myself, easy.