Teaching Sustainability as Habit

Written by Elizabeth Bekolay

"One of our goals as a school board is to introduce science into the elementary school classrooms in a hands-on way," says trustee Bill Darnell of the Vancouver school district. "As a gardener myself, I like the idea of a school garden."

At this moment, the majority of children in North America are in school. Each student is forming habits learned through example. These students are learning how to consume. Their parents begin the school year with the ‘back to school’ shopping ritual, each with a large list from the child’s school; 10 glue sticks (in 10 hard plastic shells), 10 Hillroy notebooks (lacking post-consumer recycled content), plastic markers, crayons, scissors, lunch kit (many vinyl or hard plastic), backpack, pens, pencils...and the list goes on.

Each student with their own supplies eliminates the need to share. Many of these educational products are over-packaged.We teach that this is alright, and even necessary, even though our landfills are growing exponentially, and our indulgent resource extraction is polluting water and air. We need to bring the message home, and to school.

We are very careful to treat each child as an individual with great creative promise. But are we robbing them of their true abilities? We set their exploratory framework with tools and expectations that we provide. What would happen if we provided opportunities to truly discover the world in its current state? What if each school became a true steward for the land it occupies?

A wetland restoration project could teach science, art, urban planning, physical education, math, and language arts, while engaging the children in an action they can be proud of. A community garden close to the school would not only be an excellent tool for building community, it would teach the children about food production, connecting them with good, local food and teaching them skills that should never be lost. None of these are new ideas, just really good ones that need constant recycling until they become reality.

The outdoor projects are very important in physiological ways as well. New studies indicate that certain bacteria in soil stimulate chemical receptors on our skin causing a release of serotonin in the brain. A natural antidepressant! It is time to get dirt under our fingernails. We must start showing the students how to live sustainably instead of telling them that this is what we must do.

Instead of enriching the world, all the creative effort of teachers and students in the current system is becoming a problem of waste and wasteful habits. Each year, children return to school with a backpack full of supplies for the year. Many of these supplies are from virgin resources. Many of the students’ creations will end up in the landfill within a short amount of time. Now multiply that image by the number of children attending school in the developed world. This is not sustainable. Is it necessary?

In schools we are developing habits. When children are taught to waste through action, it is much harder to change their behavior and attitudes through lectures. So what do we do? How do we exemplify sustainability? How can we change now to live full and vibrant lives while caring for the planet?

Sustainability is a word that is being thrown about at the moment. We know of its importance as a catch word, as an idea. To make something sustainable, we must make it whole. We must be a functioning part of an ecosystem instead of a disease upon our place and ourselves. To do this we must create a school where the input of materials becomes a circle, instead of the current linear use and disposal model. Following is a list of the possible initiatives and philosophical ideals that are possible for Sustainable Schools Projects:

Living the Lessons:
-Conscious curriculum that upholds a conservation ethic and reduces our impact. For instance, using less paper, and collecting paper for reuse from the commercial sector.
-Administrators need to lead in this regard, making sustainability a priority, equally important as teaching math and literacy. New teachers often drop the deep ethics they hold dear to learn the ropes and please the upper echelons of the educational world. Ecological ethics should be considered a valuable asset for the recruitment of new teachers.
-District School supplies could be bought with post consumer recycled content, eliminating the school supply list and the millions of liters of fuel used by parent shoppers on their ‘back to school’ frenzy. This would also eliminate some of the socio-economic discrimination between students based on certain school supplies. Parents could pay a fee to cover these costs.
-Sharing more, and using less.

School yard wildlife habitat gardens:
-Prairie, aspen parkland, wetland, depending on location (ecological rehabilitation).
-Observation of the seasons and local wildlife.
-Leadership in Reverence for place as part and parcel of being a sustainable teacher.

Community garden:
-Building community and food security by taking responsibility for the land used and occupied by the School District.
-Hands on learning about how things grow and the teaching of skills that should never be lost.
-There is scientific evidence now for the health and wellness benefits of digging in the soil. Soil bacteria (of which on a healthy prairie could be up to one billion or more per teaspoon) stimulate chemical receptors on our skin causing a release of serotonin in our brains, like a natural antidepressant. Children literally need dirt.
-Community harvest feast to build community and foster belonging.
-School composting program to reduce waste and teach about decomposition, soil ecology, and sustainable food production (what comes out of the soil must be put back in).

Farm to school nutrition programs:
-To reduce wasteful nutrient deficient lunches that are a plague on children and learning today. If we are going to truly educate children they must be receiving the proper nutrients for balanced brain chemistry. Diet is linked to many behavioral problems that could be avoided otherwise. In this way our society would benefit by raising individuals with less mental and physical health issues.
-A stronger awareness of and connection to the food they eat.
-In-school kitchens and dining areas for cooperative food preparation, enjoyment, and clean up.

Living Connections:
-Barn with livestock and a full-time grounds-keeper.
-Care and concern for other life taught through hands on stewardship.
-Curriculum objectives taught in the outdoor classrooms equally or more than in the indoor classroom.

Infrastructure and administrative improvements:
-Water conserving toilets and taps, or for the die-hard enthusiasts composting toilets.
Water shortages on the prairies, according to Dr. David Schindler, will be traumatic on our way of life. We must stop wasting to teach everyone how it can be done.
-Solar and wind energy technology.
-School supplies bought with post consumer recycled content as a rule.
-Green roof technology

Has anyone created a school like this? Yes! A sustainable schools project at Champlain School in Burlington, Vermont, connects children to place through farm to school nutrition programs, school gardens and composting, even a market garden run by youth at risk.

Many projects call themselves eco-schools and mini-farms. For example, Lord Roberts Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia teaches science, nutrition, and respect through the care of their school garden. Another Vancouver school, Grandview U'uqinak'uuh Community School, describes their school yard as a “living laboratory and a model of an urban ecological school yard.” There are many more schools around the world that are moving in this direction as well out of concern for food sovereignty, childrens' health, and sustainability.

For more information:
http://www.yorku.ca/ecoschl/gettingstarted.asp
http://www.farmtoschool.org/
http://www.execulink.com/~life/programs/security/psf.html
http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/10/21/green-roof-tops-nyc-school-come-see/
http://www.toronto.ca/greenroofs/incentive_applicants.htm
http://www.cityfarmer.org/Lordrob19.html