Going Green
There are few more pressing issues facing education, and humanity in general, than the environment. Us educators are a powerful bunch. We all know this, but when it comes to environmental activism our power manifests itself in an undeniably important way. At my school, well over 1,000 people come and go from campus on a daily basis. We have a serious carbon footprint as an organization. This footprint pales in comparison to the footprint that our students will leave on the world as they grow old. We can safely assume that most of our students will live for another 70 years, consuming and polluting as they go. We can also assume that our students, with the access that they will have to the world’s best universities and the opportunities that will open from there, will have considerable influence over others in days to come. Our environmental education has the effect of compound interest. By making our students good environmental stewards, we can have an exponential affect on shaping the future. Lowering the environmental impact of schools as organizations is critical to this education because it will teach students by example and set standards for the new normal. Any organizational efforts we can make to lower our environmental impact now is essential and any changes we make now will be small change compared to the vast impact education can have on our collective future.
