Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
By Ethan Maday, Bluedot Institute
The Santa Barbara Middle School Environmental Action Club started small, but with a big idea. There were just four of us, but we wondered: What if we help plan a curriculum for the school?
First, I made a very bold — and very negative — presentation to a group of teachers and students, talking about the terrible state of the Earth and making the case for having an environment club and a curriculum. I now realize the way to go about convincing people is with a positive, inspirational presentation instead of doom and gloom.
When our club was approved, our group of four started by using the software Canva to try to create a cause/effect graph depicting the connections between environmental problems and solutions and the chain reactions between them. Originally intended as something to bring our group together, it morphed into a month-long process of discussions, research, and confusing ourselves.
We eventually succeeded in planning a more specific unit now taught by the teachers in our 6th grade environmental science class. The curriculum, centered on the movie Kiss the Ground, teaches students about the importance of compost, sustainable farming, and more about regenerative agriculture. One of the teachers who helped us, Erica Singer, absorbed it into her classes. After reading the end-of-unit reflection done by the 6th graders, I realized how much they had learned through our curriculum and how much it had opened their eyes to some major problems around us. It also made us realize how much more work we had to do to continue the momentum.
Over time, our numbers slowly grew, and our passionate group of activists helped shape the club’s focus and approach. Now, we focus on our “Sustainability Spotlight,” a weekly email highlighting a sustainable tip or product for students, faculty, and parents.
Our current group of seven students is especially passionate about recycling and compost. This semester, we’re supporting and adding momentum to the school goal of a zero-waste campus. In addition to our green energy production (solar panels), a sustainable kitchen that composts, our sustainable garden, and our regenerative landscaping, we are building more recycling stations for aluminum cans, coordinating the addition of more compost bins to collect food scraps, and dreaming up more ways to lower our environmental impact.
Did you know?
- You can compost a lot more than just uneaten fruits and vegetables. As in most places, Santa Barbara’s industrial compost facility accepts meats, any food waste, paper (with or without ink), paper napkins, plates, utensils, and more. Our club is working to expand composting access across the school, especially into bathrooms, where some paper towels can be composted.
- Aluminum cans can be recycled infinitely, and recycling one can save between 70% and 95% of the energy that would have been used to manufacture a new one. Our school cafeteria sells around 6,000 canned beverages per year. That’s around 200 pounds of aluminum to be recycled into 150 aluminum laptop casings, 125 cooking pots, 18 signposts, or another 6,000 aluminum cans! We collect the aluminum cans and take them directly to the recycling center, streamlining the recycling process.
When you are throwing something away at your house, think about it. Maybe you could start composting at your home or collecting your aluminum cans for your local recycling center!
Ethan Maday is a part of the Bluedot Institute, a sister organization to Bluedot Living. The institute is a nonprofit dedicated to helping students hone their skills as climate leaders and communicators and supporting students and their teachers doing local, solution-oriented work that addresses the environment and climate change. Ethan is an active member of the Bluedot Institute’s virtual Monthly Firesides, where students plan events and actions for Earth Day and hear from inspiring speakers. He is also part of Bluedot Institute’s student journalism program, learning the craft of environmental reporting and writing.
Know of someone who should join the program? We’d love to hear from them. Find out more at bluedot-institute.org!
