The Go Green Initiative is helping to educate students, teachers and parents to be more environmentally conscious. As more schools go green, more students are being given the opportunity to learn firsthand about their impact on the world.
Going Green in Schools
In 2002, Jill Buck, the PTA Council President for Pleasanton, California became aware of the amount of waste that most schools generate each year. Paper, water, trash and utilities are used in enormous amounts by schools each day. After witnessing grassroots efforts that helped rid playgrounds of toxins, Buck began her own campaign to educate students, their teachers and caregivers about the effect they have on the environment, right in school.
The Go Green Initiative is a school program that teaches kids how their actions effect the environment on every level, and what they can do to reduce this impact. Through composting, recycling, educating and evaluating each activity that they do for the effect it has on their surroundings, students are learning to care for their environment in ways that will help shape their future.
Incorporating Green Living into Education
With teachers overburdened and not enough resources to accomplish the types of tasks and curriculum most parents would like to see, it may seem that going green is just one more thing to take away traditional learning. In fact, by incorporating a number of these activities into their day, students are able to learn in a more hands on method.
Composting allows students to experience ecology and biology along with waste reduction first hand. This type of learning experience can help drive sciences home in a more interesting and effective manner, by making them more relevant to the students' daily lives.
Through recycling, reducing waste and evaluating each activity students and teachers learn to make better use of the resources they have at hand. Additionally, by purchasing more reusable resources for classrooms, school districts may find this initiative can save money for other activities and learning methods.
Expanding the Program
Students are not the only ones who learn better ways to live in their environment; parents and teachers benefit as well. As students begin to learn the importance of recycling, as well as about steps that they can take throughout their day to reduce their environmental impact, they bring these lessons home with them. What begins in the school can soon be spread through the community, as parents learn from their children how to reduce their impact at home as well.
What may seem as some very simple steps can begin to add up when more people begin to participate. Since the program began in 2002, more school districts, cities and individual schools have begun to adopt the initiative. So what began as a single school taking steps to reduce its environmental impact, can become a way influence generations of people.
Getting the Go Green Initiative in Your Town
If you have school age children, or you are just interested in bringing the Go Green Initiative to your school district, you can begin by registering with the association. From there, you'll receive information on funding, resources and training that will allow you to begin to bring the initiative to your school.
Bring the program up at the next school board meeting, get students, teachers and other parents involved as well; the more voices that are heard, the more likely the program will be brought to your district. It's never too early or too late to begin to educate students, teachers and caregivers about the impact they are having on their surroundings. Bring green living into your lives through schools, and watch the results take hold.
