Educating Today for a Greener Tomorrow

When approaching this project I wanted to make sure it was related to my field of
study and could be helpful to me as a future educator. I am currently enrolled in Drexel
Universitys Teacher Certification Program (PK-4) so I will be working within schools
and I will have the opportunity to educate young children about environmental concerns
and issues. I wanted to find out what some teachers and public schools are currently
doing to address the issues of sustainability and environmental awareness in and out of
the classroom. My inspiration for this project began with an article that I found on
www.greenschoolsalliance.org. A science teacher, Geoffrey Selling, wrote the article,
about a school located not far from where I live. Geoffrey Selling, along with the help of
students at Germantown Friends, led a school wide initiative to reduce the amount of
waste accumulated during school lunch periods. This school has a 5th grade
environmental action club that selects a project or a goal each year. The students
themselves determine the problem by surveying the campus and school community.
Trash that was being improperly recycled and litter, were of their main concerns. The
students developed and implemented a plan, No Waste Lunches, to not only reduce the
amount of trash that was being brought to school in home-packaged-lunches, but also the
amount of garbage and trash that was produced in the cafeteria.
Mainly the students who were part of a 5th grade science club led the project but
all grade levels participated. It was their job to find a problem and create and implement
a plan to address it. I loved the idea of addressing environmental awareness through
hands on projects where students not only learn about things they can do to help the
planet but also construct ways to implement what they are learning. These types of

projects build a sense of community and demonstrate to students that if they all work
together, they can create change. This project not only affected the decisions and actions
of the students, but it also spread on to teachers and out into the local community. These
students were able to affect and educate an entire community about how important it is to
limit the amount of garbage they produce by using reusable containers and water bottles,
by re-using bags and carrying lunch containers that can be washed and reused. Instead of
using things that are disposable, students discovered that reusable items are the best way
to reduce waste. These students were environmentally concerned and informed and like
the article stated on their way to becoming environmentally effective citizens.
I was able to relate the article about No Waste Lunches to an article I found about
Maryland public schools. In 2011, Maryland became the first state to pass a law
requiring students to be environmentally literate as part of a high graduation requirement.
Geoffrey Selling stated that as the No Waste Lunch project continued over the school year
that the urgency of participating receded a bit at times. This reminds us how hard it is to
change the behavior of people, to keep them motivated and really make a long term or
permanent change in their lives. When I found out that Maryland requires students to
learn about environment concerns and issues in order to graduate from high school, I
thought that this was a wonderful way for public schools to enforce environmental
literacy throughout the curriculum leading to high school and graduation, eventually
creating citizens who are dedicated to making environmentally conscious decisions
(permanently). If we constantly educate our students about the importance of taking care
of the environment and have them recognize problems in their own communities and
create initiatives to address these problems, this can be a great start to creating a

generation of individuals who will be environmentally respectful and active to keep the
environmental movement ball rolling.
I wanted to see what schools in other areas of the world were doing to promote
environmental concern and sustainability as well. I found a video on YouTube about a
school in Sydney, Australia, where students are learning how to create sustainable schools
for a better future. These students are planting gardens, growing food, recycling waste
and making a big difference on the impact they have on their environment. The school
has several initiatives they use to promote ecological awareness like Waste Free
Wednesdays, fruit and vegetable composting, paper recycling and the planting of a native,
veggie, and fruit garden. The school looks at sustainability issues with their students and
creates innovative ways for them to apply what they have learned for example; they use
rainwater tanks and compost bins to provide the necessary resources for their three
different gardens. Initiatives and projects like these show students not only the
importance of sustainability issues and environmental concern but also like I stated
above, the importance of working together to achieve bigger goals. These students are
learning that they can make a difference and as a community and that they can make a
bigger difference together.
I have found that although there are some motivating tools provided by the
United States and other countries that encourage schools and school districts to teach
environmental literacy and even award those schools for their efforts like the Green
Ribbon Project, that the most important people involved in making deicsions about how
children and future generations receive and apply information about sustainability are our
teachers. It is the teachers who are creating school initiatives to teach students about

things like conserving energy, conserving resources by using rainwater tanks to water
schools gardens, using compost bins to naturally fertilize, about using items that are
reusable to reduce waste and how to recycle. As a future educator it is my responsibility
to show young children the importance of respect, respect for one another, respect for the
environment and respect for the one and only earth we have all been given to take care of
so that it can continue to produce the resources that we need to live happy, healthy and
prosperous lives.
I enjoyed reading about some of the ways public schools are addressing
environmental issues and feel more confident knowing how many resources are available
to schools and districts to help teachers educate students about things they can do to make
their schools more eco-friendly and more sustainable. I have gained ideas and inspiration
through this research that will help me to engage students and motivate them to
participate in activities and constructive approaches to taking care of the environment.
Young children need not only learn about recycling, reusing and reducing but they also
need to be engaged in innovative practices, thats why these school wide initiatives are so
important. The picture that I chose to represent my artifact illustrates young preschool
aged children applying what they learned about the three Rs to an actual project. They
created a piece of art (a robot) out of trash they had collected including empty water
bottles, newspapers, cereal boxes, scrap paper, etc. The students in Sydney not only
learned about sustainability but also applied what they had learned by creating and
maintaining gardens, using rainwater tanks to water them, and using fruit and vegetable
scraps for compost to naturally fertilize their soil. Through my research I learned the
importance of having students physically involved in all aspects of creating projects that

will reinforce their knowledge and application of environmental awareness and

sustainability. This will enforce reapplication of skills and knowledge in the future by
making lessons in sustainability and ecological awareness much more meaningful and
memorable.
Resources
Selling, G. (2010, August). No waste lunches: An environmental action club project.
Retrieved on April 17, 2015 from http://www.greenschoolsalliance.org/no-wastelunches-environmental-action-club-project
Waverly Council. (2014, April 1). Sustainable schools- kids growing a better tomorrow
[Video file]. Retrieved on April 18, 2015 from
https://www.youtube/watch?
v=sT3LtIW4t44
Cpl. Bricker, T. (Photographer). (2012, April). Lanell Mayberry and some of her prekindergarten class pose with their recycling project Rachel, a full sized robot
made entirely of recyclable products at Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow's
Child Development Center, April 27. The class constructed Rachel while being
taught about the importance of the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. [Digital
image]. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-120427M-PG598-001.jpg
Koebler, J. (2011, July 18). Maryland to require environmental literacy for graduation.
[Web log]. Retrived from http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-schoolnotes/2011/07/18/maryland-to-require-environmental-literacy-for-graduation