Small Green Projects for Schools Science for Sustainability Keele University
Raising money Go Green Day -holding a non uniform day! All children are invited to pay 50p and come to school in non uniform, if possible wearing something green. They will focus all their attention on climate change during Britain's 'green day'. The green day is designed to bring alive the connections between climate change and the built environment, through thoughtprovoking eco-themed activities. Taking part in Green Day is a great way to engage governors, staff, parents and students with issues of the environment. All the money raised could go towards Eco projects for the school. Cash For Clothing. A simple way of getting money for unwanted clothing! Companies will pay up to 50 pence a kilo. Maybe you would like to organise a collection for the school. The money you get can be used to help, buy equipment or fund an eco project at the school. Also your efforts will also have a positive impact on our environment and the carbon footprint. Recycool is the easiest way to recycle and raise money for your school. Recycling for cash not only helps your school raise funds but also benefits the environment too! Money is donated to your school for every empty printer cartridge, reusable mobile phone and PDA recycled - so the more you can collect, the more you can raise! Over 5,000 schools across Britain take part in Recycool with more than 400,000 raised so far! www.recycool.org
Sponsor an animal You may be surprised to learn that many of the prominent species whose existence we take for granted are under increasing threat with their very existence being threatened, in most cases due to the effects of mankind on their natural habitats but also through hunting, amongst other causes. While many species have been able to adapt to new conditions simply by moving their ranges further towards the poles, the study warns that this option is not available to other animals, such as polar bears and seals whose habitat is disappearing rapidly with the melting of Arctic sea ice. Letting each class or the whole school sponsor an animal can create enormous interest in the way humans are affecting animals on the planet. Having specific animals to focus on can create a great introduction to climate change and can open to doors to other curriculum subjects. As the polar ice continues to thin and weaken the natural habitat of these animals is becoming more and more treacherous, and as the ice breaks up they are forced to hunt further afield in order to feed themselves. This coupled with pollution from oil exploration and shipping means that the polar bear could be wiped out in the wild in around 30 years. Climate change will impact sea turtle nesting beaches, their reproductive habitat. With melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels, these beaches are beginning to disappear. The direct impacts of sea level rise include losing beaches, ecologicallyproductive wetlands and barrier islands. Another impact is an increase in nesting beach temperatures. Making links with zoos and schools in other countries is a great way to let children explore what s going on in the world. Global citizenship is an important part of education, children are interested and concerned about what is happening in the world, and in their lifetimes could make a difference to the inherited problems they face.
Wildlife garden Establishing a wildlife area provides many opportunities for extending classroom activities. If the pupils are involved in the creation and maintenance of such an area they learn to respect the hard work and skill necessary to produce and maintain an attractive environment. It should also give them a sense of pride and achievement and hopefully will encourage them to develop a life-long respect for the environment in general. Apart from the benefits to the school itself, some satisfaction can be felt that another small but safe habitat has been provided for your local wildlife! A wildlife area in your school grounds could be started including a pond and a variety of vegetation to encourage a wide diversity of species. Water from your school roof could be collected and used to water your school garden using a water but. Try using old tires for planters! They can be used on the playground or grass and can hold plants such as cherry tomatoes, peppers, flowers, herbs, and other compact plants. Let the children get creative and decorate the tyres! This idea is great for added colour and space to grow a variety of plants in smaller areas. Watching the world of birds through a bird box camera gives you an insight into the drama and action of nesting, watching eggs hatch and following the stories of the chicks as they venture into the world! You could also build a bug hotel like this one which will attract all sort of insects and will also provide vital food for birds. Put up a nest box give a bird a home Grow easy flowers from spring and autumn bulbs to summer blooms Feed the birds hang up a feeder or get a bird table Leave a wild corner leave a quiet area for wildlife Garden with native plants local plants should encourage local wildlife Plant shrubs a low maintenance way to encourage insects
Growing vegetables A school garden growing organic vegetables - these could even be used in cooking lessons, to sell to families or to eat during school dinners. Water from your school roof could be collected and used to water your school garden. This is a great way to help promote healthy eating but you are also raising awareness about food miles. Raised beds are perfect for children and have many advantages over gardening directly into the ground. Cultivation is raised a little off the ground so this is perfect for little ones, and for the adults there is generally much less bending to do. First put together a list of the vegetables you would like to grow then put them into groups and give them sections to look after. Letters written by children is always a great way of trying to secure building materials and seeds from external organisations. Also watch out for schemes that run that offer free gardening equipment to schools. Chose vegetables and fruit that can be easily grown and picked by the children. Tomato hanging baskets are a great idea if you have limited space to work with. Start on a small scale - don't be too ambitious and embark on a massive gardening project with your children. Wear old clothes - gardening has a high messy-ness factor that children love so maybe consider keeping some old clothes as gardening clothes. Keep it fun and let them do as much as possible by themselves- Give them their own small section in the garden or their own pots. Make sure "their garden" gets a decent amount of sun, otherwise nothing will grow and the children will be put off gardening.
Energy Awareness Looking at how pupils could improve their own energy saving habits in school and also extending this to the wider community. Educate everyone in your school about how to save energy around the school and the renewable options available by making posters to put up. You can cut your school's energy bills by up to 20% for free. These top tips could make a real difference to your running costs. Heating Heating accounts for more than half of a school s annual fuel use. Keep this spend under control with the following measures: Keep it closed. Keep windows and doors closed when the heating is on. If it gets too hot, adjust the thermostat or individual radiator controls rather than opening windows and losing the heat. Know your building. Find out how long it takes for your school to heat up in the morning and cool down in the evening. Then adjust your heating so it doesn't come on too early or turn off too late. Lighting Electric lighting accounts for 20-25% of a school's total energy bill. So it makes sense to make the most of natural daylight: Daylight is free. Don t light areas where daylight is sufficient or rooms that are empty. Studies show pupils are more productive working in natural daylight. Encourage pupils and staff to turn off lights when leaving a room. Fit energy saving light bulbs. Lighting costs can be reduced by up to 75% by replacing standard light bulbs with energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs. Get pupil s involved. Appoint pupils as energy monitors to inspect rooms and switch off lights at the end of lessons and break times. The whole school could be involved in making poster to encourage each other to turn lights off and switch off electrical equipment. Electrical Equipment In many cases electricity accounts for 20% of the energy used in schools, but 50% of the energy costs. To reduce these costs: Switch monitors off. When computer monitors aren t in use, switch them off. PC monitors account for almost two-thirds of a computer s energy consumption. If left on 24 hours a day, a computer can cost 25 a year to run. Multiply that by the number of PCs in your school - it soon adds up! Better still, use standby saver products to turn off the peripherals when the PC is turned off.
Composting Composting at school is a fun way to learn about nature while also reducing the amount of organic waste that the school sends to landfill. An added bonus is that students can actually get to see the end result of their efforts their finished compost being used on their school s grounds. Compost is the end product of the composting process. Composting is a cheap, effective and environmentally friendly method of producing compost from various materials such as food waste and grass into usable fertilizer. Build a compost system outside near the cafeteria and provide clearly labelled collection bins for non-meat food scraps from student lunches and cafeteria cooking waste. Place one each, conveniently located, for cooking staff and for students. The scraps bin accessible to the general student body should be small and of a unique shape and colour so that it doesn't look like somewhere to dump rubbish, and it should also be placed very conveniently next to a main cafeteria rubbish bin so students with a lot of other things on their minds can easily sort their lunch waste without really thinking about it or making a mess. Fun compost bins for schools! Kitchen waste and garden waste (ideally shredded) is loaded into the Rolypig`s mouth and drops into the first compartment. Then a week later when the kitchen waste bucket is full again, feed the Rolypig again but this time to make room, roll the Rolypig in the direction of the arrows on the body. Fantastic way to compost your kitchen waste. Continuous flow and NEVER fills up. www.rolypig.com Give a complete demonstration-the demonstration will be able to teach volumes to the children. Seeing the actions in real time will also eliminate most of the doubts and they will be able to present their questions as you do your demo. Let kids do the most and interfere only if necessary-the main purpose for educating them on composting is to have them equipped with the skills they need to be able to do composting themselves. Discuss benefits from the start so that kids can know the real need for composting- If the children are oriented from the outset that what they are doing has great significance, they are more likely to cooperate and do the tasks cheerfully.
Recycling Recycling Batteries! Try to encourage recycling of used household batteries to reduce the amount of batteries entering the waste stream. In the UK we currently throw away over 600million batteries every year the legislation states that by 2012 at least 25% by weight of all household batteries put on the market for the first time in the UK need to be collected for recycling and this target increases to 45% by 2016. This is a very challenging target as the current collection rate in the UK is estimated to be between 3-4%. Visit this website for more information on how your school can request a battery collection box which can be collected for free. http://www.erp-batteries.co.uk/schools/. Paper Recycling. Not surprisingly, the main material thrown away by schools is paper, which makes up at least quarter of their waste. Contact the recycling officer at your local council and ask them to provide your school with a paper recycling bin or equivalent. Then, set up a system of paper collection from each classroom which can be taken to the main recycling bin at the end of each day or week. -Set up a paper collection scheme for each classroom by making paper only boxes for the children and teachers to put used paper in. -Make sure they are clearly labelled and placed in an obvious place. -Involve pupils by allowing them to create posters and bright labels for the recycle bins. -Have class competitions on who can recycle the most