You have learned that the Passport to Sustainability is Educating Green, planning, building and operating Green. So now, I ask the question: have you taken a Recess and made the decision to Green your educational facility? Now is the time for you to graduate.
"...The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change..."
Carl Rogers
It's time to change. The best place to spark that change is in the classroom. Sustainability is a choice, a way of life. As we learn, we implement the teaching into our lifestyle or the education is futile. As you Graduate Green, you will realize that this is only the beginning. Progress is being made daily to help individuals become greener and live a more socially responsible lifestyle. We have an opportunity to continue to learn, we have a chance to embrace new options.
"...I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. All reforms which rest simply upon the law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements, are transitory and futile.... But through education society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself with definiteness and economy in the direction in which it wishes to move.... Education thus conceived marks the most perfect and intimate union of science and art conceivable in human experience..."
John Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed, 1897
As you graduate, I offer additional Greenie Tips for your Educational Facility, Daycare Center or Classroom:
1. Incorporate "upcycling" art projects.
Encourage students to bring in items ready for the waste stream to be used in art prjects. Example: egg cartons, styrafoam peanuts, boxes, cans, etc.
2. Set up a class website.
Explain the importance of saving paper and allow students and parents the option to download information via the website.
3. Send out grades online.
Continue to save paper by emailing transcripts for students and parents willing to go paperless.
4. Use both sides of paper.
5. Organize outside cleanup days in order to promote recycling and neighborhood cleanup.
Contact Rafyah Lumb of NaturallyNeat Cleaning to have her organize a cleanup project for your students.
Phone: 215-667-7446.
Source: X-ray technician Schools. (2008). 30 Go Green Tips For Teachers in the Classroom.
http://www.x-raytechnician
schools.org/30-go-green-tips-for-teachers-to-introduce-to-the-classroom/
Now fellow students, alumni, teachers and faculty, I encourage you to reflect on this educational journey and seek progress in your building planning. In your existing facility, I encourage you to implement changes, the option benefits you and everyone utilizing your facility. For additional information on Green Operations, Building and Incentives, contact Felicia Middleton at:
P: 215-776-8795
Email: uagreenie@urbanaestheticsdesigns.com
