Private schools across the country are finding innovative ways to reduce their carbon footprint, lower energy costs, and teach their students about sustainable living. Many independent schools are members of the Green Schools Alliance, or GSA, a network of over 1,900 schools around the country and the world. The GSA was launched on Earth Day in 2007 to respond to Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative asking New York City institutions to reduce their carbon footprint by 30%. Later that year, at a conference at the Allen-Stevenson School in New York City, 46 independent schools gathered to think about global climate change and how they could remedy the problem. The GSA was launched with the support of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and other local and national partners. The goal of the alliance is to reduce each school’s carbon footprint and to use the cost savings from reduced energy usage to teach students about how to live more ecologically conscious and environmentally sustainable lives.
Member schools are finding creative ways to reduce their energy use. For example, Riverdale Country School in New York built a playing field made out of a synthetic substance composed of cork and coconut fiber. While this substance has been used on other fields, Riverdale is the first school to use the synthetic substance on a full-sized field. The new field should save 2 million gallons of water a year and eliminate the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
At Riverdale, as at many schools, students and administrators are working hand-in-hand with innovative maintenance staffs to think about how to reduce their carbon footprint and how to save money at the same time. Part of the GSA curriculum involves facility managers working alongside students to monitor energy use and to figure out how to reduce it. For example, Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut installed 692 solar panels, the largest solar array of any private school in Connecticut. The former sustainability director worked with students to research the best solar array. The solar panels reduce carbon dioxide emissions as much as the planting of 30,000 trees would. In addition, the solar energy generated from the array costs 30% less than energy from the utility company.
At California’s Midland School, students learn sustainability inside the classroom and on the 2800-acre campus. Students must work to garden a plot on the 8-acre organic garden, and they also work alongside a professional solar technician to build a PV (or photovoltaic) system that converts sunlight into energy; each system contributes 3% of the school’s total annual energy.
Private schools’ sustainability programs extend to the dining hall. Across the country, many private schools have private chefs who dish out gourmet food. Downing grass-fed beef at Friends Seminary in New York and two varieties of squash at Calhoun, also in New York City, students at these schools are eating locally grown, environmentally friendly food.
The schools are offering these gourmet meals in part to help make their students more aware of how their food choices affect the environment—and the students’ health. At Calhoun, a Chef named Bobo, formerly a student at the French Culinary Institute, even teaches a class on cooking and plans to teach a class next year on the politics surrounding food. Other schools also offer classes on food production and on the importance of eating locally grown produce.
To pay for these environmentally friendly meals, schools are trying to reduce waste. Many schools have also eliminated trays so that kitchen staff can dedicate their time to preparing food—not to cleaning extra dishes. Some schools also have greenhouses to produce their own food. Their eco-friendly menus allow private schools to find another venue—in this case, a tasty one—to teach students about the importance of food politics and safeguarding the environment.
