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ENV I RONMENTAL L EARNING
“As you’d expect in an area packed with innovative individuals and organisations, there’s no shortage of projects to help schools go that bit greener”
W
ith growing pressure to adopt a greener, more sustainable way of life, schools are
starting to rethink the way they do things. About time too, some would say. As large, busy organisations, schools are inevitably big consumers of resources. According to one source, UK schools could reduce their energy costs by £44 million and stop over 600,000 tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere without any adverse effects on pupils. As it is, if schools had to provide an energy rating the way home owners do, some might struggle. Photocopiers churn out pages by the thousand, burning up energy in the process, as do all those swish-looking whiteboards, while IT suites – another educational essential – often need dedicated air conditioning systems in order to keep cool. Even school dinners present their own tricky conundrum. Children can be notoriously picky eaters. Come lunchtime, many pile their plates high and eat very little. The result? Vast plastic bag-lined bins filled with leftovers. Their destination, all too often, is landfill, and on a grand scale. Each year, schools round the country generate more than 80,000 tonnes of food waste of which three quarters, or 60,000 tonnes, could be prevented. It’s a sobering figure, given that growing, cooking, transporting and dumping all that wasted food generates as much carbon as 80,000 cars. It doesn’t take an ecological warrior to conclude that
Schools can also apply to receive the precious gift of free compost made from food waste, delivered direct to the school gate and ideal for giving a nutritional boost to the fruit and vegetable gardens springing up in school playgrounds all over the place. Increasingly, change is being driven, managed and monitored by pupils themselves, encouraged by their schools. They aren’t just consulted about green initiatives at their schools but coming up with ideas of their own, and expecting them to be taken seriously and implemented. For schools seeking an Eco-Schools Green Flag award, pupil involvement isn’t an optional extra but a vital part of the
something’s gone awry with our approach to school waste. Many of these issues are increasingly being recognised and addressed. And as you’d expect in an area packed with innovative individuals and organisations, there’s no shortage of projects to help schools go that bit greener. One local council-organised waste management scheme gets the message across by arranging school visits to their nearest recycling centre, demonstrating that sustainability really matters. The children see first-hand that reducing waste and getting better at recycling benefits everyone at school and in the wider community.
CAMBRIDGE EDUCATION GUIDE
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