How to Go Green: School Teachers
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 10.14.08
Photo credit: Image Source/Getty Images
School teachers, listen up! This is a call for help. You are one of the first lines of defense in the environmental movement. In a few short years, the upcoming generation will decide the fate of this planet. And when it comes to how to teach children science, math, and geography, you're the best at it. The interdisciplinary skills they learn today will be the planet-saving skills they enlist tomorrow. Now, we know that's a lot to bear on your shoulders, so we've put together a guide that will help you in the classroom -- and outside it, too.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to help children develop a connection to the environment, through both learning and experience. We know that most of you went back-to-school in September, but we have it on good intelligence that some teachers may have spent their summers traveling and golfing, rather than working out lesson plans. We certainly don't take issue with that, and with the Go Green Initiative's annual Earth Summit -- a national conference focused on going green in the classroom -- taking place in Syracuse later this month, it's a perfect time to start planning some eco-activities for your students. Enter our handy cheat sheet to going green for school teachers.
Photo credit: Hill Street Studios/Getty Images
Top Green School Teacher Tips
Connect the Dots
Instilling a sense of connectedness to nature and the environment -- be it a forest, field, or urban landscape -- is essential to helping fledgling TreeHuggers care about the world around them. To teach your students about global issues such as climate change and endangered species, look to local issues such as recycling, storm-water runoff, or air pollution. Making it personal and connecting it to your community (click the links to learn how) makes it real.
Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
Carbon and environmental footprint calculators help us see how much impact we have on the world around us. If everyone in the world lived like we did, we'd need five planets worth of resources to sustain life as we need know it! Using these online tools as fun games can really drive home the point of what kind of impact each of us has. Learn about your environmental footprint and check out some of our favorite carbon footprint calculators. Then create a plan to reduce your group footprint.
Start a Zero-Waste-in-the-Classroom Policy
School-wide recycling is a brilliant move...but implementing can be tougher than teaching long division to an eight-year-old. If your school isn't recycling at-large, start a classroom-wide policy of "zero-waste." Set up recycling bins (teachers, students, and parents can volunteer to be responsible for removal), audit how much rubbish is created in a day. Sorting trash (it doesn’t have to be gross) will help kids understand how much waste they are creating in a day, and where it's all coming from. Challenge kids to pack zero-waste lunches by using reusable bottles, containers, and satchels, rather than disposable ones. Competing with another classroom to see who can reduce their waste output most is a great way to create healthy competition and less waste.
These are but the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to ways for school teachers to go green. We've got more tips for a greener classroom and greener teaching, plus 15 projects for green school teachers to help pass along the green word. It's all in our guide for How To Go Green: School Teachers over on Planet Green; while you're there, be sure to check out our guide for How to Go Green: Back to School, How to Go Green: Dorm Rooms, and all of the guides for How to Go Green.
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
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- Grow Your Own Organic Wheatgrass
- Was "Green" the Most Overused Word of 2008?
These are great resources and ideas for teachers! For those of you interested in other things that you can do in the classroom, you can check out Earth Day Network's suggestions: http://ww2.earthday.net/greeningschools.
Best,
Raquel