Student Perspective: Schools have a Role in Creating a Hopeful Future
I’ve just finished my homework and turn on the television, click through to the news. Dark fumes and damaging fires overtaking an overcrowded city where the people struggle to reach shelter. More clawing doomsday tidings. I feel so powerless. Sometimes it feels hopeless…
As well as informing students about environmental issues, schools need to pay attention to their charges’ mental health and show them something besides the worst of the world. Schools bear the primary responsibility for young people’s education, and in a rapidly changing world, a big part of that education needs to include sustainability. It needs to include hope.
Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." Education can decide a country’s future. A school is one of the first and most important establishments that a child will be introduced to. It is important that it represents the ideals that we want to instill in them. Ideals such as education and proper behavior, yes, but also a commitment to the wider community. Many people think that means humanity, but it also means the natural spaces that we all share in our local environments. Schools can teach this to students from the beginning by being role models of proper care of the Earth.
Besides having a big impact on students’ psyche, sustainability in schools can create a huge tangible impact too. The total number of K–12 schools in the United States in 2020 was almost 130,000 (NCES), and there are millions of schools worldwide. In the UK, schools produced an average of 8.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2004, with even more produced in other greenhouse gases (Sustainable Development Commission). Reducing this number by even just 15% would be over a million tons saved in the UK alone.
Herbert Spencer, an early scientist/natural philosopher once said, “The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.” It is a school’s job to give students the education they need in order to act. Some kids are frozen: they think the only way they can support their environment is recycling every piece of plastic they own or living a completely carbon-neutral life, which are both very hard things to do. Schools can inform students of the power of direct and indirect action, and encourage students to act in whatever way calls to them, without getting hung up on the big, often intimidating, picture.
Today’s students need to understand environmental challenges so that as adults, they can help to solve those challenges. At school, they should get the opportunity to learn and be inspired by all the incredible ways people are already finding solutions. For example, Professor Kongjian Yu has created a solution to flooding that most students haven’t heard of: Sponge Cities. He created cities that work with nature, instead of against it. Permeable concrete absorbs water, allowing it to go into the soil, instead of building up. Restored wetlands make natural sponges as well as habitats for birds and fish (World Economic Forum, 2023). Another example of a nature-based solution is occurring in the Himalayan region of India. Due to rising temperatures and fluctuation in rainfall, springs in local villages are running dry. Rain doesn’t come often enough and when it does, it just slides off the dry soil without refilling the natural aquifers. The Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG) solved this problem by partnering with the community to dig trenches in areas where water is likely to penetrate the soil. CHIRAG has also educated the students in the region about this, ensuring that they wil be able to sustain this practice themselves in the future. One student named Bhummi Sammal said, “Due to the trenches [the women] have dug, the water table has increased. The earth has been able to absorb the water" (National Public Radio). Bhummi now not only understands the issue, she knows how to solve it.
One example of promoting sustainability in a positive way is Faith Bonagua, a recent student at the Philippine’s Santiago City National High School. She was a leader in her school, at the forefront of their many programs including tree planting, water valley rehabilitation, and the promotion of sustainable awareness. When describing the programs’ effect on students Faith said, “It takes away the eco-anxiety that may arise from the unwanted wheedling of sustainability of our surroundings; it affords us high hopes as one day more and more individuals join hand in hand to protect our one and only earth.” Faith Bonagua and this school exemplify the positive impact of sustainability in schools on local ecosystems, and also the minds of students themselves (government of the Phillipines).
As well as figuring out ways to reduce our own impact on the climate, we also need to plan for reducing the climate’s impact on us. Schools will have to deal with a lot of instability in the coming years as climate change intensifies. Ways to mitigate the effects of climate change can include patching vulnerabilities such as energy grid failures, providing support for students and families particularly affected, and making your school as self-sufficient as possible to continue the work of educating and protecting students. A way to start would be to look at the problems facing your specific geographic area and making your school as robust as possible in the face of those issues.
The Uaso Nyiro Primary School in Kenya is an inspiring example of the effect schools can have in their local communities. The school created an innovative rainwater collection system built into their architecture which collects almost 350,000 liters of water, protecting the community during droughts. The system was constructed using local labor and materials, providing a boost to the economy as well as environmental benefits, which include a built-in vegetable garden (pagesplacesandplates.com). The Uaso Nyiro Primary School looked into the specific regional difficulties of their environment and found a way to mitigate them, helping their entire community.
Every big change starts somewhere. One leader writing pamphlets to help educate her school. One vegetable garden. One person asking how they can do better. Every change, no matter how small, can have a huge impact. The problem of climate change is great and may seem insurmountable, but so does every great task until the impossible is achieved. However, if we don’t even try then it will definitely be impossible. When I walk down a hallway in my school, I want to see aspiration, not defeatism. I want an education that will inspire me to do something greater. I want a school that I can be proud of, embracing ideals that I can carry with me throughout my life.
Citations:
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Herbert Spencer. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herbert-Spencer
The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions (National Center for Education Statistics). National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). https://nces.ed.gov/FastFacts/display.asp?id=84
Plates, P. P. &. (2020, June 5). Six of the most sustainable schools in the world. PAGES PLACES AND PLATES. https://pagesplacesandplates.com/2020/03/27/six-most-sustainable-schools/
Sustainable schools: How santiago city national HS became one with nature. Department of Education. (n.d.). https://www.deped.gov.ph/2021/01/28/sustainable-schools-how-santiago-city-national-hs-became-one-with-nature/
United Kingdom. (n.d.). Carbon emissions from schools - sd-commission.org.UK. https://www.sd-commission.org.uk/data/files/publications/Publish_Schools_Carbon_Strategy.pdf
Wakefield, F. (2022, September 18). These are the greenest college campuses in the U.S. [2022 rankings] . EcoWatch. https://www.ecowatch.com/greenest-college-campuses.html
World Economic Forum. (2019). This man is turning cities into giant sponges to save lives | Pioneers for Our Planet. YouTube. Retrieved January 3, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U37gst79pGc.
