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Green Initiative
- 1. GIVE A HOOT, DON’T POLLUTE Providence Preparatory School’s Green Initiative
- 2. Providence Preparatory School’s Green Initiative HOW AND WHY?
- 3. FOUR OVERARCHING STRATEGIC TASKS Costs Risks Revenues Intangible Brand Value
- 4. WHY… OR WHY NOT? “Green Schools are the most effective agents for enacting significant positive environmental and educational change… It is now a method of choice for providing healthy, comfortable, and productive learning environments while saving energy, resources, and money” -Earth Day Network
- 5. COST EFFECTIVE 33% less energy 32% less water Increased Education Retention Student Empowerment Forward Thinking
- 6. HEALTHIER ENVIRONMENTS Improved indoor air- quality up to 85% 68% reported heating/cooling cost savings Popularity and Trendiness
- 7. Providence Preparatory School’s Green Initiative HIT THE GROUND RUNNING
- 8. 7 STEPS TO A GREEN SCHOOL Establish a Green Team Identify Key Components Adopt a Planet Pledge Conduct an Audit Create an Action Plan Monitor and Evaluate Progress Integrate Greening into the Curriculum Inform, Involve, and Celebrate!
- 9. Providence Preparatory School’s Green Initiative …AND ACTION!
- 10. CARBON FOOTPRINT • Calculate and measure • www.carbonfootprint.com •Plan to reduce footprint • Written assessment • Specific goals •Reduce the footprint as much as possible • Encourage alternative transportation • Offset carbon exhausts • Inhibit food travels
- 11. CLEANERS AND DISINFECTANTS • Utilize High Heat sources for sanitizing dishes • Ensure compliance with label directions • Adopt cleaning products that are approved for program • Omit: chlorine, ammonia, pteroleum, or synthetic fragrances • Screened and recognized by Green Seal, US EPA Design for the Environment, etc. • Collaborate with purveyors of similar discretions • Register with U.S. Communities Green Solutions • Strengthen local allegances • Cintas’s 5 “R’s” • Applied Industrial Technologies • AmSan-CleanSource-JanPak
- 12. ENERGY AND WATER CONSERVATION • Let the sun shine! • Purchase green tags, RECs, and emission offsets • Purchase sustainable energy • Energy Star and similar commodities • Condensate reclaim • Gray Water systems • Outdoor efficiency efforts • Rain water harvesting • Recycled water • Sprinkler system reclaim • Strategically place reminders of PPS’s water conservation efforts • In view of every sink to remind to turn off water • By utility sources to remind to be conservative with water
- 13. ZERO-WASTE FOOD AND FOOD PACKAGING • Reusable Serving Supplies • Sysco EarthPlus • BeGreen packaging • Implement a full-scale compost and recycle system • Perform a waste audit • Design a waste station that sustains all components • Implement appropriate composting strategy • Educate entire staff of waste strategy to prevent diversion and • Engage child/family involvement • EarthFarms • Provides a full-scale audit and training module • Services and recycles grease traps and waste • Pick-up minimum $60.00/wk PREFERABLE
- 14. EXPOSURE TO CHEMICALS FOUND IN PLASTICS • Work to omit plastic bags with food items except for cold storage • Increases excessive waste • Contain polythylene (LDPE) or polypropylene (PP) • Omit high-density polythylene or PP • Absolutely no single-us containers reused • Absolutely no DEHA • Absolutely no bisphenol A (BPA) or polycarbonates (PC) • Do not microwave, cook, boil, or heat foods or beverages in any plastic container, packaging, or wrap • Inhibit any inventory of products with recycling codes 3, 6, 7
- 15. RETHINK SCHOOL LUNCH • Update the Current Program • Family style serving • Healthy celebrations • Water initiative •Health and Nutrition Curriculum • Bring school lunch home • CSA’s • Local purveyors • Highlight seasonality • Nurture through variety •Empathize and Strategize for Specialty Diets •Ingredient Highlights
- 16. TEACH, LEARN, ENGAGE • Remain entirely focused • recycle site wide • Theme library • Involve Children • Grow it, Try it, Like it • Color Me Healthy • Encourage outreach beyond these four walls • Communications to families • Family and staff handbook • Demonstrations • Promotional materials • Community involvement • Activity Frequency
Editor's Notes
- 1.) PPS must cut operational costs and reduce environmental expenses- like waste handling or regulatory burdens- throughout the value chain 2.) PPS must identify and reduce environmental and regulatory risks within the school’s operations, especially in supply chains, so as to avoid costs and increase speed to market 3.) PPS must find ways to drive revenues by designing and marketing itself competitively in ways that are environmentally superior but also synchronize with the expectations and trends of our family’s interests 4.) The most successful strategy is to create intangible brand value, in that when a family identifies PPS it isn’t just the small bird or the intimate educational experience, but an overall corporate greenness as well. These strategies harness the profitability of the green wave, and ensure that everyone involved, Mom, Dad, child, and our bottom line, are all benefiting in a harmonious balance.
- A 2006 US Green Building Council Report showed that although green schools cost $3 more per square foot, but generated $74 per sq foot in benefits from energy savings, increased attendance, and teacher retention A Green school provides a payback often within only a few years due to energy saving alone. A green school typically utilizes 33% less energy and 32% less water. Combined with retentions in other operating costs that saves, on average, over $100,000 per year! Daylighting, increasing the volume of daylight in a building, better indoor air quality, and hands-on, experiential environmental curricula are linked to higher test scores. Elementary school students with hands-on experience in a school garden or an environmental education curriculum behave better in class and have better attitudes about school compared with control groups without such programs. Sustainability is about being good global citizens. By PPS providing students the tools to be innovators and giving them a healthy environment in which to learn and play, we are cultivating a generation of inspired, free-thinking, encouraging, leaders. In 2009, a meager 39% of companies measured cost savings directly from their green programs. That nearly doubled when in 2010 60% of companies measured direct savings from their implemented green program. Here we are, 2014, and roughly 70% of US organizations have successful green initiatives in place, not to include the subsidies, grants, and promotional values associated with these programs.
- Green initiatives have a proven track record of creating healthier environments. Obviously- it’s their key component. But on a micro level, a green initiative can greatly lessen injury occurrence and severity related to asthma and allergens. Asthma is identified as the leading cause of school absences nationwide, so while implementing a green initiative that has been reported as potentially improving indoor air quality up to 85%, it is not the future generations but our current staff and student body who feel the immediate relief efforts. Not to mention, 68% of US companies who emphasize a green program report heating/cooling cost savings. The green wave isn’t going far. In fact, more and more companies are adopting not only green initiatives, but incentives and core values that radiate through much of our daily marketing and media injestion. Popular programs: ridesharing, telecommuting, light sensors, hiring individuals with green skills and experiences, bicycle parking, recycling and paper reduction
- Or Eco-Committee: serves as the heart of the process, both organizing and directing activities. While the team is lead by a green manager, a full-time employee of PPS, the team should consist of a variety of stakeholds of the school environment- students, teachers, parents, vendors, and community members. Each school produces its own vision statement, setting out what it is the school community is striving to achieve. The Environmental Vision Statement, or Planet Pledge, needs to be displayed and recognized by the school community as a statement of beliefs and intents. Identify priorities for action by conducting a review of PPS’s environmental impact. Involve students in this work as much as possible, such as by assessing the impact of waste from school lunch. Calculating specifics is made easy with a carbon footprint calculator. Use the results to identify priorities where actions need to be made. It is important to set realistic and achievable targets to improve environmental performance so children and adults can take pride in tangible accomplishments in the short-term, as well as inspiring and challenging long-term goals. Think outside the hypothetical box and think of ways to integrate the wider community- opt to be the local drop-off for community supported agriculture boxes, get involved with clean-up or habitat restoration at nearby parks. Implementing policy resolutions and specific action items helps to engage everyone in supporting the initial Planet Pledge. The Green Team initiates monitoring and evaluating progress on the priorities in the action plan. It is important that these evaluations are measureable and quantitative, such as conducting a bi-annual audit to monitor levels of waste, recycling, and compost, versus the financial savings and/or costs. The information ensures not only progress towards the goals and targets outlined in the Planet Pledge, but also ensures that the action plan is consistent with the school’s development and on-going progress. Greening activities can be integrated into existing curricula to enforce and support the green initiative. Using the school as a hands-on laboratory and offering explorative opportunities in science, art, humanities, math, and electives offers real-world problem solving applications. There is no need to reinvent the wheel- something as simple as using recycables for an arts craft or regular interest in the gardens spark a child’s enthusiasm. Honor, celebrate, and communicate achievements to unify the whole school and strengthen community relations. Communication and rewards are key to spreading success and inspiring further action. A communication and publicity program keeps all shareholders informed of progress through classroom displays, newsletters, notices, or other outlets. Annual Earth Day celebrations can offer an opportunity to showcase actions taken by the school and bring together the wider community to celebrate.
- Carbon footprint: a measure of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by PPS. Generally includes: electricity and gas used in the facility, commuting or driving methods used by staff and purveyors, water resources, etc. Emphasize importance of having a written plan- and, of course implement this plan. Include realistic and possible actions to lower carbon released into the atmosphere. For example, support the use of public transportation through financial contribution and/or schedules that accommodate the use of public transportation, or, partner with alternative charging station subsidies and look to offering docks for hybrid cars. Not every plan is limited to the site; off-site actions taken by staff and families have effects as well in regards to reducing carbon emissions associated with the program’s overall operation. Encourage staff and families to use pedestrian, bicycle, and public modes of transportation. Food transportation also builds depending on the distance that one ingredient can travel. The key here is to identify the leaks, and get creative in finding permanent and reasonable accommodations.
- Water and energy efficiency has become a feature of habit with the technologies installed throughout the school. High efficiency fixtures coupled with “water-” and “energy-sense” fixtures are wonderful options and considerate installations that force conservation efforts regardless. If I forget to turn off the light, the “energy-sense” fixture will remember for me! But that doesn’t mean we are finished by any means. America’s schools spend more than $7.5 billion annually on energy- more than they spend on textbooks and computers combined. A day lighting design is capable of providing up to 90% of a classroom’s needed illumination, even after the use of light shelves, roof monitors, lourvers or screens to avoi direct glare. By providing daylighting elements into the standard classroom, PPS can provide effective and beneficial lighted spaces greatly reducing the overhead of the school’s budget from reduced artificial light and reduced cooling loads due to the lower internal heat gain. Renewable energy certificates (RECs) are units of carbon offsets that may be bought or traded. Carbon offset refers to the purchase of a share in a project that leads to the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions; it is almost a trade for the emissions we do set off in exchange for the development of a solar- or wind-power development. There are also options that focus on carbon reduction, such as agricultural methane and landfill gas captures. Sustainable energy is energy that as limited negative impacts on human and environmental health AND can be in constant supply for future generations. Air conditioning condensate can be captured and reused for non-potable water applications or even integrated into a gray water system. A gray water system collects and redistributes water discharged as waste from lavatories and clothes dryer (other than that discharged by kitchen and toilet resources). The water is first filtered and then redirected to non-potable purposes, such as irrigation or toilet flushing. The water system suggested by NC’s green school initiative draws out some extensive calculation, dwindling down to a simple answer: outdoor potable water use should be at least 50% less than that esteemed by the 2012 North Carolina Building Code. That being said, there are numerous, low cost, low hassle, ways to greatly reduce our dependency on potable water for outdoor sources. Automatically control operating times for irrigation systems by moisture sensors rather than timing reduces silly mistake of water the lawn in the midst of a rain shower. Additionally, specifying appropriate times of year when new landscaping efforts should occur and introducing drought resistant vegetation can greatly reduce water dependency. Tactics such as burying spring flowers as seeds before winter mulching can also intercept that additional service scheduled to plant those same plants- only matured. If 133,000 schools switched to recycled paper, they could save over 6 million trees per year
- On average each school lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. According to the US EPA, by shifting to a waste-free lunch PPS can save an average student over $250 a year. Implementing an all-inclusive waste diversion strategy lessened Charlotte Latin’s total dumpster weight by 40% With over 20% of global carbon emissions originating from the global food system, greening our food supplies and program will greatly reduce PPS’s carbon footpint. Further assists with community outreach and organic marketing. Earth Farms has engaged numerous schools with community gardens and soil donations to enforce child/family involvement.
- Check your produce and local food supply; your sure to find countries across the world bringing “fresh” ingredients you wouldn’t have suspected: Apples from Asia, citrus from Mexico and South America, blueberries from Chile. On average that bit of green you squeeze next to those meats and potatoes travel roughly 1500 miles from farm to plate. Not only do those conditions of travel add wear and tear on the nutritional components and variety of produce offered, but it issues enormous quantities of carbon and pollutants into the environment.
- 1.) Environmental themes, concepts, and Green School Projects are at the core of how staff and administration think about curriculum and building operations. Even training should be used as intentional opportunities to build on green school capacities, while core components should be systemactically inclusive whether it is introducing numbers by counting seeds in a fruit or vegetable, or maybe doing potato stamps as a craft, schools should utilize the components throughout their daily regimine. Strategies can be implemented across the board, such as reusing classroom supplies beyond just crayons and markers. By spreading the expense of thematic resources, and combining teacher’s efforts for themed curriculmn, a library can ensure items and activities are being reused for as long as possible. Even broken or scraped items can be fun and inventive for “I Spy” collaborations or mosaic motifs. 2.) Children should be involved in developmentally ways. While Pre-K children learn about the whys and the hows regarding the importance of water conservation, two’s and three’s can learn the basic importance of turning off the faucet to save water. And our loving toddlers learn that turning off the faucet is the last step in handwashing. PPS has made some astounding strides to ensuring time in nature, but in being consistent and encouraging when it comes to growing gardens with harvestable vegetation without the use of synthetically derived chemicals can demonstrate the lifecycle and complete system when it comes to the foods we eat. 3.) The Grow it, Try it, Like it! Program is a wonderful stepping stone for preschool aged children to get an introduction not only into local produce, but into the life cycles and sciences regarding these familiar crops. Collaboration between kitchen and classroom can ensure that children are exposed to their lesson through avenues and courses beyond the classroom door. 4.) Compounding those efforts with the Color Me Healthy initiative will enhance the curriculum for older toddlers and enticing participation from parents and families at home. The key to success here is to pilot communication and organic marketing so that there is a heads up for any shift in family interests or upcoming trends. 5.) PPS should turn outwards in sharing and inspiring within the community how and what is being done to go green. Rather than placing an emphasis on marketing tactics or brand development, focus, instead, on the importance of honest and intimate communication and networking. If PPS is truly invested, then there should be not doubt or hesitation. Hold the doors open for non-school community members and volunteers, wiling to be engaged actively and regularly support students and teachers. By valuing community input there is a broader base of expertise and resources available to further embellish learning projects and lesson plans. 6.) Of course, as with any habit, the green initiative isn’t a monthly commitment. This is a daily focus on driving measurable results and participation from the entire support system of PPS. The biggest measure of success comes from the combined efforts of everyone involved; by educating and monitoring one another there is verification that everyone involved matters, boosting overall confidence and morale, but also, it lessons the strain on any one presence who is designated to verify the level of compliance.