Schools are a microcosm of the city. They share the same environmental problems – waste, air quality, energy inefficient buildings, carbon emissions etc.
Just like the city, schools are constrained by space, money and time. And in a school, just like the city, there are diverse interests that aren’t always aligned.
But, at the scale of the school, the seemingly daunting sustainability challenges of the city become addressable – they show up at a scale that students can get their arms around, in a system that’s easier for them to influence, on a timeframe in which outcomes are more quickly apparent.
So rather than just being a place where students learn about sustainability problems, schools are an ideal context in which to model sustainability solutions and cultivate eco-literacy.
The campus can be a living laboratory. And if we get it right on campus, schools can show the city how it’s done.
Schools can show us the sustainable future we want.