The Most Eco-Friendly Schools | Green Schools Around the World

Going Green

4 Apr 202105:42

Summary

TLDRThis video highlights the importance of sustainable education for future generations facing climate change and environmental challenges. It showcases three schools—Green School in Bali, Copenhagen International School, and Punahou School in Hawaii—that have adapted their infrastructure and curriculum to promote eco-friendly practices. These institutions empower students to take direct action, learn from nature, and understand their impact on the environment, aiming to create a greener and more sustainable future.

Takeaways

🌱 The video emphasizes the importance of sustainability education for future generations facing environmental challenges like climate change, deforestation, and pollution.
🏫 Schools and universities have a responsibility to lead by example and empower students to take direct action for a sustainable future.
📚 The script provides three examples of schools adapting their infrastructure, curriculum, and mission to promote a greener education.
🌳 The Green School in Bali uses its natural environment to teach children about sustainability, including growing their own food and learning within the world's largest bamboo structure.
🧘 The Green School also incorporates mindfulness and permaculture principles, encouraging creativity, entrepreneurship, and community engagement.
🔆 Copenhagen's International School is designed to teach children through its architecture, with 12,000 solar panels that supply over half of the school's energy needs.
🌞 Students at Copenhagen's International School learn about solar energy in their math and physics classes, monitoring the school's solar panels.
🏝 Punahou School in Hawaii has a long history of educating students to be socially responsible and environmentally aware, with a focus on sustainability in its construction and curriculum.
🚫 Punahou School aims to be net zero by 2025, taking steps to reduce water and energy consumption, food waste, and carbon emissions.
🔄 The school promotes closed-loop waste systems, such as converting green waste into compost or electricity, and educating students on recycling and conservation.
🌐 Incorporating sustainable education into the curriculum is an important step for schools worldwide, regardless of their ability to adapt infrastructure.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video sponsored by the Nick Mourne Foundation?
-The main focus of the video is to highlight how schools around the world have adapted their infrastructure, curriculum, and mission to provide a greener education and promote a more sustainable lifestyle for their students.
What are the key issues that future generations are said to face according to the video?
-The key issues that future generations are said to face include climate change, deforestation, and pollution.
What is the Green School in Bali and what makes it a pioneer in education?
-The Green School in Bali is an educational institution that emphasizes the importance of sustainability. It is a pioneer because it offers children the opportunity to learn from the natural environment around them, including growing their own food and learning within the world's largest bamboo structure.
What is the significance of the Green School's location and how does it influence its educational approach?
-Located among rice paddies and three volcanoes in Bali, the Green School's location influences its educational approach by emphasizing mindfulness, permaculture, and interaction with the land and community.
How does the Green School in Bali incorporate sustainability into its physical infrastructure?
-The Green School's physical infrastructure is made of bamboo and aims to be completely off-grid in terms of energy and water consumption. It uses on-site solar panels for energy and a single underground well for water, with composting toilets to reduce water usage.
What is the Copenhagen International School's approach to integrating solar panels into its design?
-The Copenhagen International School has integrated solar panels into its design by covering its building with 12,000 solar panels that supply more than half of the school's annual energy needs. The panels are angled to mimic water reflections from the sea, making them an attractive feature of the building.
How does the Punahou School in Hawaii demonstrate its commitment to sustainability?
-The Punahou School demonstrates its commitment to sustainability through various initiatives, including green waste recycling, reducing food waste, conserving water, minimizing carbon emissions from transportation, and aiming to be net zero by 2025.
What is the Punahou School's long-term goal regarding its environmental impact?
-The Punahou School's long-term goal is to be net zero by 2025, meaning it aims to balance its energy consumption with the energy it produces or offsets, thereby having no net impact on the environment.
How do the schools featured in the video encourage students to take direct action in their own lives for the greater good?
-The schools encourage students to take direct action by providing them with opportunities to implement or come up with their own initiatives, such as community recycling programs and waste management solutions, and by incorporating environmental education into the curriculum.
What is the importance of teaching children about sustainability from a young age according to the video?
-Teaching children about sustainability from a young age is important for the future of our planet because it helps normalize sustainable practices and ensures that the next generation is equipped with the knowledge and skills to address environmental challenges.
What is the video's suggestion for schools that may not have the budget to adapt their infrastructure entirely?
-The video suggests that even if budgets do not allow for complete infrastructure adaptation, incorporating sustainable education into the curriculum is an achievable and cost-effective way to promote eco-friendly practices among students.

Outlines

00:00

🌿 Green Education Pioneers

This paragraph introduces the concept of green education and its importance for future generations. It highlights the Green School in Bali, which was founded in 2008 and emphasizes sustainability. The school, inspired by John and Cynthia Hardy, encourages students to learn from the natural environment, grow their own food, and interact with the land and community. The school's infrastructure is designed to be off-grid, with energy coming from solar panels and water from a well. Students are taught about their environmental impact and participate in initiatives to offset their carbon footprint.

05:01

🏫 Sustainable School Infrastructures

The second paragraph discusses the integration of sustainable practices into school infrastructures, using Copenhagen's International School as an example. The school building, designed with a block shape inspired by shipping containers, is covered in solar panels that supply over half of the school's energy needs. Students learn about these systems in their math and physics classes. The paragraph also mentions global efforts to make solar panels more attractive, such as Elon Musk's solar roof tiles. It then shifts to Punahou School in Hawaii, which has been focusing on sustainability for over two decades, aiming to be net zero by 2025, and incorporates green waste recycling and other eco-friendly practices into its curriculum.

🌱 Promoting Eco-Friendly Education

The final paragraph stresses the urgency of adopting eco-friendly teaching methods in schools for the benefit of our planet. It acknowledges that budget constraints may limit infrastructure changes but argues that incorporating sustainable education into the curriculum is feasible and cost-effective. The paragraph calls for the support of school boards and governments to make environmental education a fundamental part of children's learning experiences. It concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content and anticipates the next video in the series.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Sustainability

Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain a certain process or state without depleting resources or causing long-term harm to the environment. In the context of the video, it is the core principle guiding the educational practices of the schools discussed, emphasizing the importance of living in a way that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Examples from the script include the Green School's focus on permaculture and the Copenhagen International School's use of solar panels.

💡Education

Education is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, and habits. The video highlights the role of education as a foundational element in shaping the future of society. It underscores how schools are adapting their curriculum to include environmental awareness and action, preparing students to face global challenges such as climate change and deforestation.

💡Curriculum

A curriculum is the planned subjects and learning experiences that students receive in a school. The script discusses how school curriculums have evolved over time and the necessity for current curriculums to include education on sustainability. The Green School's curriculum, for instance, integrates learning from the natural environment, while Punahou School's curriculum includes initiatives on recycling and energy conservation.

💡Green School

The Green School is an educational institution in Bali that serves as a pioneer in sustainability education. It was established by John and Cynthia Hardy and emphasizes learning from the natural environment, mindfulness, and permaculture. The school's infrastructure, such as the world's largest bamboo structure, and its practices, like planting bamboo shoots to offset carbon footprints, exemplify the school's commitment to sustainability.

💡Permaculture

Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered around simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. The video mentions that the Green School emphasizes the principles of permaculture to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship among its students, which includes learning to work with the land and the community.

💡Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and engaged in the moment. The script describes a daily practice at the Green School where teachers and students stop for a minute of silence and introspection, which is a form of mindfulness that contributes to healthy development.

💡Off-Grid

Off-grid refers to systems that operate independently of the main power grid. The Green School aims to be completely off-grid in terms of energy and water consumption, utilizing on-site solar panels for energy and a single underground well for water, demonstrating a commitment to reducing reliance on external utilities.

💡Copenhagen International School

The Copenhagen International School is highlighted in the script for its innovative design that incorporates solar panels as an integral part of the building's structure. The school's 12,000 solar panels not only supply energy but also serve as an educational tool for students learning about renewable energy in their math and physics lessons.

💡Punahou School

Punahou School is an institution in Hawaii that has a long history of fostering socially responsible and ethically aware citizens. The school's commitment to sustainability is evident in its efforts to reduce water and energy consumption, manage waste, and educate students on environmental issues. Its goal to be net zero by 2025 is a testament to its dedication to environmental stewardship.

💡Net Zero

Net zero refers to a state where the amount of greenhouse gases produced is balanced by the amount removed from the atmosphere, effectively having zero net impact on the environment. Punahou School aims to achieve net zero status by 2025, indicating its efforts to minimize its environmental footprint.

💡Eco-friendly

Eco-friendly practices are those that minimize harm to the environment and promote sustainability. The video calls for more schools to adopt eco-friendly ways of teaching, such as incorporating environmental education into the curriculum and adapting infrastructure to reduce resource consumption, as seen in the examples of the Green School, Copenhagen International School, and Punahou School.

Highlights

Children are the future, and education is the foundation of society, with an evolving curriculum shaping each generation's knowledge, skills, and values.

Schools and universities have an obligation to lead by example in educating students about sustainability amidst pressing global issues like climate change.

The Green School in Bali serves as a pioneer in sustainable education, teaching children about the importance of living in harmony with the environment.

Founded by John and Cynthia Hardy, the Green School offers hands-on learning experiences with the natural environment, including growing and eating their own food.

Students at the Green School learn within the world's largest bamboo structure, emphasizing mindfulness and permaculture principles.

The school encourages students to take weekly initiatives, such as community recycling programs and waste management solutions.

A daily one-minute silence at 2pm is practiced at the Green School to foster introspection and healthy development among students and teachers.

The Green School's buildings are designed to be off-grid, with energy use supplemented by on-site solar panels and water conservation measures.

Students are taught about their individual environmental impact and participate in planting bamboo shoots to offset their carbon footprint.

Copenhagen International School's building is designed to teach students about sustainability, with its block shape inspired by shipping containers and solar panels mimicking water reflections.

The school's 12,000 solar panels supply over half of its annual energy needs, integrating renewable energy education into maths and physics lessons.

Efforts are being made globally to make solar panels an attractive architectural feature, as seen at Copenhagen's International School.

Punahou School in Hawaii has been shaping socially responsible and ethically aware citizens for over 180 years, with a strong focus on environmental stewardship.

Punahou School aims to be net zero by 2025, with extensive steps taken to reduce water and energy consumption, and minimize waste.

The school incorporates green waste recycling and composting, converting waste into valuable resources like compost or electricity.

Punahou School's curriculum includes education on recycling, water conservation, reducing food waste, and promoting sustainable transportation.

Incorporating sustainable education into school curriculums is crucial for fostering a generation that values and practices environmental responsibility.

While infrastructure adaptation may be budget-constrained, integrating environmental education into the curriculum is an achievable and impactful initiative.

Encouraging school boards and governments to prioritize environmental education is essential for a sustainable future.