Making Our School Systems Eco Friendly

The Earth is our home, so why don’t we take care of it and preserve it? Most people think that they can’t make a difference as just one individual in a world of over 7 billion people, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Anything from being a vegetarian, which highly reduces the amount of water used and byproduct created when farming animals, to carpooling to school helps combat global warming. By convincing my English class that global warming is an important issue that we are facing today and will face in the future, I hope to get them to take their own initiatives to reduce their footprint on our planet Earth.

As a nation, we have to look at what the future would be for our children, their children and the generations ahead. We can start with participating in recycle programs, investing in clean energy and ways to reduce destruction of our forests." Without Americans constant need to consume, the environment would have plenty of time to replenish the resources it provide us." "NIEHS Environmental Coloring Book." National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an official government website for Kids. 02 Apr. 2009 .

The eco-schools programme offers environmental education that benefits the pupils by developing the skills in them that will help them live a morally responsible life.

"Save the Planet," "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," "Go Green." Quotes like these have become a commonality in today's age. We all are familiar with the large efforts to help preserve the environment. In "Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments," Thomas E. Hill Jr. sums up his essay by stating, "The point is not to insinuate that all anti-environmentalists are defective, but to see that those who value such traits as humility, gratitude, and sensitivity to others have reason to promote the love of nature" (688; par. 4) This excerpt provides the thesis behind Hill's argument. The author found that

The environment is important to protect considering that people live and breathe in the atmosphere it provides. Investing time in activities that protect the environment hasn’t always been a priority, but as greenhouse gas emissions, the use of energy, and other harmful impacts on the environment increased, individuals began to speak up on what should be done. As the world’s population continues to grow exponentially, the impacts society produces will in turn continue to increase unless something is done about it. Although the idea of an environmentally sustainable community has remained on the minds of the concerned public throughout the past decade, as companies and universities became more invested in the idea, new ways of taking action and implementing policies were developed and pursued.

I have always admired my Grandfather, Harold Miller who, for as long as I can remember has taught me the meaning of environmental sustainability. He played an active role in establishing the electric vehicle car program across North Carolina. His goal of educating students and improving the environment was fulfilled by establishing an electric vehicle program in high school. He did so because he believed that the younger generation needed to be shown an alternative way of transportation before the environment is irrevocably destroyed. The book Electric Dreams, details the story about Harold and Douglas Miller (my father) and how they made a difference. It show-cases how a determined group can make a positive impact on the environment

(claim of value) The United States’ educational system does little to promote “green” living or to enforce environmentally-friendly policies within the school system. Within the local educational system that I am part of, this fact is apparent. Glen Allen has prepared me to start living a “green lifestyle” only by means that I have

My proposal to make Blue Valley West a more environmentally conscious school is to end the use of paper towers in the bathrooms and fully replace them hand dryers. This measure would help the environment through helping to reduce paper waste, reduce the germs in bathrooms, as well as saving the school money in the process.

Bronfenbrenner’s (1977, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1994) ecological theory suggested that child (human) development occurs for the child within the context of various environments. These environments, or systems, are influenced from within and between other environments. The individuals within each system influence each other through various transactions that occur between them.

There has been much debate about the environmental sustainability since the 1970's-1980's after the Green Revolution took place to ban harmful chemicals used in pesticides. Recently in today's era what's constantly in the news is global warming and the decimation of species from human's neglectful actions towards nature, which brings up the idea if colleges should incorporate environmental sustainability into their curriculum to educate the student population about the effects of human impact onto the environment. Although people like Peter Woods and Rachelle Peterson argue that environmental sustainability inhibits the success of colleges as the education is costly and environmental sustainability is just an ideology, others such as David

College campuses across the nation have taken action to participate in the Reduce, Recycle and Reuse initiative to help make their campus a better and more environmentally safe. The program encourages recycling in communities, schools and work place. Through this proposal I plan to implement the program “Let’s Go Green” at Savannah State University. This program would challenge the faculty, students and the university itself to implement eco-friendly activities into day to day operations or everyday lives.

When I was five years old I began school. In Kindergarden we learned basic things like letters, numbers, and how not to be fully engulfed in flames. For some reason, 2004 was the height of anti-fire education in Missouri and before I knew how to tie my shoes I knew that if I ever was ablaze, to cover my face, fall to my knees, and roll back and fourth. This is what my institution placed serious value upon and because I was a student of that institution I also placed serious value upon it. The same idea must be applied to a university's teaching of environmental sustainability. This is discussed in David Orr's "What is Education For?" Through choosing a curriculum a university chooses what it places value onto, by making the environment a priority it showcases to the future generations that environmental wellness is an important responsibility for them to take ownership.

Since students in grades 3 through 5 typically learn better by incorporating all three learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) into their daily classroom work, instructors for these grades may find it easier to create and design lesson plans. Including sustainable development on a basic level into the curriculum at this age is generally not difficult because science and reading classes have usually touched on the subject of recycling or the environment. A simple, low-cost activity would be for students to make reminder plates for light switches and thermostats in their homes or schools (see Appendices A and B). This lesson allows students to be creative in designing the reminder plates and it allows them to teach their families and friends about conserving energy. Another easy, low-cost activity that can actually be done in all grades is creating bird feeders from milk cartons (see Appendix C). This lesson teaches students how to take already developed materials and reuse them to create something new. Students can also learn about how solar energy supplies more than just sunlight and heat to our planet by making solar sweet tea right in the classroom (see Appendix D). This lesson calls on students’ observation abilities and allows them to express their findings in their own words. The class may

This essay will review two significant environmental experiences I have encountered exploring the influences of these my life and how these have altered my view on what is environmental sustainability. An examination into these two experiences will follow into reviewing my perspectives on environmental sustainability and how these two experiences influenced this. To conclude a discussion on my role as a teacher and how this will impact myself when in the classroom.

This report is designed to investigate the rationale behind teaching Education for Sustainability (EfS) in early childhood education, through investigating the relevant issues and concept of sustainability in relation to the pedagogies and principles of early years education. The initial part of this report will focus on three issues of sustainability, all falling under the greater sustainability concept of waste management. The report will then go on to articulate the role and importance of EfS in early years principles and pedagogies. Finally, some teaching strategies for teaching EfS will be outlined.