Any theory of sustainable development must be grounded in an understanding that the human economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the natural environment.
—Bullitt Foundation
The Sustainable Schools Project
A Professional Development Program that will transform elementary and secondary school ecologies by reviewing school resources and operation, the school community can be renewed from curriculum to landscape.
The Sustainable Schools Project prepares for the future by re-imagining and re-designing classroom, school, and community ecologies to be contributors to abundance, health, vitality, and long-term durability.
New this year, this project will guide schools and districts to review and revise their practices in terms of their environmental impact. Engagement must be fully democratic, participatory, critical and whole systems-minded, and inclusive of local and cultural perspectives.
Our approach speaks of nested ecologies rather than a single ecology of anything. Any single ecology is multi-part in nature and internally indivisible so that longevity and reproduction is ensured. The essential elements are physical, bio-environmental, and human-cultural.
Global Source will offer community workshops to introduce the opportunities and challenges of sustainable school practice and operations. Global Source will continue to work with selected pilot schools.
The Sustainable Schools Project is grounded in the belief that schools can design and use applied curriculum to deliver:
• Integrated Systems for successful low-energy living:
• Food & Water & Low/Zero Waste Systems
• Green Construction, Facilities, and Materials & Appropriate Technologies
• Biodiverse Internal and External School Landscapes, Healthy Settings in All Aspects
• Sustainable Economic Systems • Cooperative Teaching & Learning & Living Systems (for all ages that are culturally rich and personally fulfilling)
With benchmarks of benefit to gauge school performance, such as:
• Resource Abundance (low-cost, high-value, sufficiency and sharing); in human, bio-environmental, and material forms
• Economic Stability & Flexibility (generating and conserving wealth)
• Expanding Diversity in Ecosystems and Cultural Perspectives
• Ecological Design Demonstrations (showcasing a low-impact, high-performance school facility that is educational, beautiful, healthy and fun)
• Curricular Relevancy for students, families and communities (ensuring that education lasts a lifetime, while meeting current needs).
Major Topics Covered
• Organizing Principles for Transforming our School Ecologies
• Resource abundance
• Economic Stability & Flexibility
• Ecological Design • Curricular Relevancy (for schools and communities)
• Promoting and Protecting Cultural Democracy
• Enriched and Revitalized learning in all dimensions of human potential and fulfillment
Professional Development Objectives
• To explore how networks and organic processes found in nature can inform our human endeavors and relationships.
• To examine how diversity contributes to the health of the whole system and is not simply a source of conflict.
• To look at the why and how, seeking actions that go beyond identifying what is happening or missing.
• To envision individual schools and districts playing an active role in evaluating their local needs and resources and developing projects and priorities for sustainable practices as part of classroom curricular activities.
• To initiate a cycle of thinking and acting in ways that are healthy and enduring, in order to reduce the ecological footprint of schools
• To integrate sustainability education into existing curriculum and school culture. To build stronger bridges between classroom and community through best practices in teaching and learning.
• To work as a professional learning community, and to gain understanding from lively and critical professional dialogue and discourse with a broad range of voices from education and the larger community.
Recent Developments
A team from our Sustainable Schools Project at Breidablik Elementary (Poulsbo, WA) was invited to present at the Annual EEAW Conference, November 20, in Wenatchee, WA. Global Source Project Director, Jon Garfunkel, Antioch University project advisor, Jonathan Scherch, and Breidablik Elementary teacher, Gail Davis presented: “A Journey Towards Becoming a Sustainable School”, which focused on the origins of this pilot project and lessons learned during our first two phases of development and growth. For more information on the EEAW Annual Conference, visit: http://www.eeaw.org/. |
Learn About Our Pilot Program With Breidablik Elementary
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