[SustainableTompkins] Sustainability in our local schools

[Elan Shapiro]

I'm re-sending this article by Dan Flerlage, 
because the link given last week 
(http://www.tompkinsweekly.com/    >>>> go into 
pdf format and click on page 5) was a little 
difficult to follow and the article is full of 
very inspiring local news that is known to very 
few people. In general, though, I support  using 
the standard netiquette being discussed as well 
as experimenting with the list changes being 
proposed.
Elan

PS We owe Gay Nicholson a big thanks for all the 
work she has done lining up these weekly columns 
on Signs of Sustainability for the Tompkins 
Weekly and Dan for taking the K-12 school system 
by storm with sustainability education during his 
sabbatical year.


>Sustainability in our Schools
>
>	During our annual "Light in Winter" 
>celebration, renowned NY Times journalist Andrew 
>Revkin spoke of his ongoing coverage of the 
>global warming issue. In the midst of an 
>exceptionally informative and entertaining 
>presentation, he said something strange. In 
>essence: "It has taken me years to realize that 
>all of the political dialogue and debate 
>concerning global warming, all of the ongoing 
>corporate decision making behind closed doors, 
>all of the international efforts to effectively 
>embrace these issues have very little to do with 
>our climate." The statement seemed fundamentally 
>wrong. Had he lost his train of thought and 
>misspoken? The room was silent. After a lengthy 
>pause, Revkin quietly offered: "It turns out it 
>really isn't about our climate at all, its about 
>the climate of our children and our 
>grandchildren." You could have heard a pin drop.
>
>	As we learn how to live more sustainably 
>and work to create the paradigm shift that we so 
>clearly need, we can sometimes forget to include 
>those whose futures stand most directly in the 
>balance. Beyond being informed of the issues 
>before them, this next generation needs to 
>become part of the dialogue, to be invited into 
>a thoughtful consideration of the roots of the 
>issues and the problem solving itself.
>
>	This installment of Signs of 
>Sustainability offers a glimpse into how our 
>schools are beginning to embrace the concept of 
>sustainability and to include young people in 
>the work ahead, a sampling of the opportunities 
>our local young people have to become more 
>informed, and perhaps more importantly, to 
>become involved.  Examples can be found at all 
>grade levels and in all of our local schools. 
>They are being initiated by teachers who 
>understand the importance of involving students 
>directly in this endeavor.
>
>	At the elementary level students are 
>getting involved in a wide variety of 
>activities. Most schools in the area are either 
>expanding or developing school gardens where 
>students grow and eat fresh, healthy foods.  One 
>example is the garden at Belle Sherman, where 
>Gail Shaw's students plant and tend onions, 
>potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, beets, 
>pumpkins, sunflowers, gourds, green peppers and 
>winter squash. Classrooms are vermicomposting 
>(composting indoors using red wiggler worms), 
>allowing children to witness the endless cycles 
>of decomposition and nutrient reuse. Susan 
>Thomas' first grade class at BJM is counting 
>worm eggs and juveniles, experimenting to see if 
>their harvested compost will help sunflower 
>seeds sprout faster. Janie Clark's class at 
>Caroline chooses an environmental topic each 
>year and does research to create a thematic 
>calendar. Profits from the sale of such 
>calendars as Endangered Places, Flagship 
>Species, and Energy Problems have already helped 
>protect wetland acreage along Fall Creek. 
>Caitlin Baxter's fifth graders at Enfield are 
>teaching the rest of the school about trash 
>reduction through a visual essay they created 
>and developing a plan for next year that will 
>include new school-wide composting and recycling 
>systems.
>	At the middle school level, teachers have 
>initiated projects that invite students to think 
>differently about their world, and to envision 
>solutions to emerging problems.  Cindy Kramer 
>has added a multi day lesson to her Industrial 
>Revolution unit focusing on the concept of 
>"legacy" wherein students are invited to answer 
>key questions such as: How will the next 
>generation need to think differently in order to 
>leave a more sustainable legacy for their 
>children? Jim Hodges' middle school class at the 
>Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School developed 
>a "Green Class Challenge" for children in grades 
>1-6 which helped them understand how to have a 
>positive impact on our global climate through 
>the choices they make every day in the classroom 
>and at home.
>Opportunities to explore how science and 
>technology can contribute to creative solutions 
>also abound at the middle school level.  Jeremy 
>Taylor's technology class instituted a 
>"Sustainability Index", providing new thoughtful 
>guidelines for their product design unit. Bob 
>Walters and Dave Buchner have involved their 
>Dewitt Construction Challenge group in the 
>design and manufacture of a virtually 
>indestructible composting bin crafted of local 
>black locust.  Students in a number of local 
>middle school classes have been investigating 
>the most efficient turbine designs for wind 
>powered generators as part of a newly created 
>traveling renewable energy unit. And then there 
>is the Solar Sprint, an annual competition where 
>students work to build and race the most 
>efficient solar powered model vehicle.
>	At the high school level, core curricular 
>shifts are underway and students are applying 
>what they know to create projects that have a 
>positive effect on our schools and our 
>community. Units comparing the impact of "Free" 
>vs  "Fair" trade on issues of equity and the 
>environment have become core components of some 
>global studies courses. A variety  of the area's 
>senior economics courses are embracing issues 
>concerning externalities and equity. A group of 
>students from LACS has recently converted an 
>auctioned school bus to run on veggie oil and 
>are using to support an ongoing collaboration 
>between Ithaca and the Akwesasne Freedom School. 
>Collaborating with Renovus energy, a local 
>energy company, a group of high school seniors 
>has worked for two years to create a proposal 
>for a relatively large scale (50 kW) 
>photovoltaic installation at IHS. This proposal 
>will be delivered to the board this month. 
>Another group is researching the economic, 
>health, educational, and environmental aspects 
>of the continued use of styrofoam trays in many 
>of our local lunch programs. In collaboration 
>with their work in other area schools, they are 
>petitioning the ICSD board to shift away from 
>the use of this product. One Senior Project led 
>to the creation of "Green Light", a program 
>where local schools can be used as 
>organizational hubs for the distribution of 
>compact fluorescent light bulbs, offering a 
>sliding scale to school families as a means of 
>embracing relative socioeconomic hardship. The 
>pilot version of this project resulted in over 
>1000 bulbs being distributedŠ..
>
>Pretty cool stuff!
>   
>	Our local school systems are also 
>beginning to look at how to coordinate 
>school-wide sustainability efforts.  Early this 
>year Jaimie Cloud of the Cloud Institute for 
>Sustainability Education spent four days in 
>Tompkins County working with school 
>administrators, teachers, and other local 
>educators on the basic tenets of sustainability 
>education.   As teachers have begun applying 
>these concepts to their work with children, a 
>county-wide group of teachers has coalesced 
>calling themselves Teachers for a Sustainable 
>Future. This group is made up of teachers and 
>other educators from local school districts, 
>colleges, and educational organizations. The 
>group will be meeting monthly throughout the 
>coming school year.
>
>	For more information or to get involved 
>in the Teachers for a Sustainable Future group 
>contact Dan Flerlage at 277-0538 or Tina 
>Nilsen-Hodges at 277-7807.
>
>Dan Flerlage is a teacher at the Lehman 
>Alternative Community School, currently on 
>sabbatical working on sustainability initiatives 
>in local schools. He apologizes to the many area 
>teachers and students currently involved in this 
>work who were not mentioned in this limited 
>article.         
>>



>>Dan Flerlage has a great column about the 
>>importance of early sustainability education in 
>>the "Signs of Sustainability" series in this 
>>week's of of Tompkins Weekly.
>>Check it out!
>>
>>
>--
>_


-- 
Elan Shapiro
Sustainable Tompkins Program Co-Chair
Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
Frog's Way B&B
211 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-275-0249

"We must be the change we want to see in the world"
	          Mohandas Gandhi