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Teaching

School-wide Ideas and Projects

Here is a list of 10 ideas for those environmental enthusiasts who want to take proactive steps at their school. Some of these activities involve small groups, while others require the participation of the whole school. All of the school-wide activities will work well as Earth Day events. If your school is not cooperative, you could also approach your town office and/or CIR with your plans. Whatever you choose, you will be helping to bring about more environmental awareness among your students, teachers and the local community! So get out there and take some action!

Design an environmental self-introduction.
Tired of the same old introduction? On the verge of reinventing yourself? Spice up your self-intro by giving it an environmental focus. Show and tell students what you as an individual do for the environment. Go over the major environmental problems in your country, and the actions that your country has taken to improve the situation.
Start an Environment Club.
Announce your plan, post a sign-up list. Arrange a meeting time once a week with interested students. Talk about environment issues, plan school projects/events (see below), make weekly "environmental tip" posters to educate the rest of the school. Don't forget to ask students what they would like to do!
Start a composting project.
Correctly composting food scraps and yard waste reduces the amount of garbage that is otherwise burned, thereby producing fewer global warming gases. Get approval from your school to contact your town office for a composter and assign students to monitor the project (an easy addition to cleaning time duties).
Start a reuse project at your school.
It takes much less energy to reuse a product than it does to make a new one. Start a school collection of old jars, containers and anything else you think the school could use.
Organize a school-wide cleanup.
Organized cleanups are common in Japan, so it should be fairly easy to convince your school to allow you to do one. Invite local journalists to attend, and/or publicize your results in the PTA or town newsletter.
Hold a "Garbageless Lunch Day".
This idea is for high schools only, since school lunch is served at junior high schools. Invite students and teachers to participate in a one-day garbageless lunch to see how much garbage they can collectively reduce. Beforehand, write a notice or announce at a school assembly exactly what you want them to refrain from using (waribashi, paper cups, cans, plastic bags, disposable bento boxes, etc). Count the number of garbage bags used at cleaning time and compare the total number to the total on a regular day. Publish your results.
Organize a "Switch it off Day or Week".
See if your whole school can go without electricity for an entire day or week. Hold an assembly or perform a play in front of the school in order to teach them about why reducing our energy is so important.
Organize a tree planting day.
Tree planting is an opportunity to connect physically and emotionally with your surroundings and learn a lot about the environment. At the same time, you will be creating a local "carbon sink" and saving energy. The right trees planted next to the school building can help to shade classrooms in the summer or act as windbreakers that block cold winds in the winter. Contact your town conservation office to help you chose the appropriate tree species for your area.
Organize an anti-idling campaign.
With permission from your school, designate the front of your school as a "no idling zone". People who leave their engines on in the area will be asked to turn them off. Make posters with a class or environment club to educate the school on the harmful environmental effects of idling.
Naturalize the gardening club.
This idea is based on the assumption that your school has a gardening club. If it doesn't, start one! To naturalize the school's gardens, you will need to do some background research with the students. Research some local perennial wild flowers, flowers with unique environmental effects (e.g. flowers that soak up a lot of carbon dioxide), flowers that need little water, etc. Also, if the gardening club uses chemical fertilizers and pesticides, look into what is available organically. Let others know about your school's "environmental garden".
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