Sustainability Initiative: Being Green

Student Level Green Team • Mustard Seed School • Hoboken, NJ •Emily Ford Sytsma

Image Credit: Abby Liu, https://www.mustardseedschool.org

Sustainability Is More Than Green❖ But environmental concern is at the

root of the sustainability movement.

❖ Sustainability means that “the things we need to survive – food, clean air and water, productive topsoil and others – are in decline because they are being used, exhausted or damaged faster than nature can regenerate them” (The natural step: Understanding the problem, n.d.).

❖ According to Paul Hawken (2007), the beginnings of the movement of millions working toward sustainability worldwide were a core of environmental groups.

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“Sustainability Is About Adaptability” (OneSTL, 2013, p. 2).

❖ “Everything starts with awareness” (The natural step: Understanding the problem, n.d.).

❖ With awareness, individuals or groups can make decisions that “protect and enhance the quality of water, air, land, and biodiversity in order to maintain a healthy population, economy, and ecosystem” (OneSTL, 2013, p. 90).

Image Credit: http://5starplr.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/green-kids.jpg

OneSTL: A Model Plan❖ After surveying the community, the

following environmental, or green, goals were identified in OneSTL: Many Communities. One Future:

1. Protect the quality of our natural resources and environment.

2. Plan for and invest in green infrastructure

3. Guarantee clean water for all citizens

4. Exceed clean air standards

5. Provide increased access to nature for all citizens

6. Promote municipal sustainability planning

7. Protect open areas (OneSTL, 2013, p. 91)Image Credit: http://blog.preservationleadershipforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/arch-rendering.jpg

Goal 3: Guarantee clean water for all citizens.

❖ St. Louis’ identity is highly tied to the rives and lakes in the region.

❖ Stormwater runoff and management is a huge issue facing the city.

❖ Emphasis is made in the area on rainscaping.

❖ Policies support early adopters of vision to impact at very local levels.

Image Credit: http://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/portals/0/documents/Public%20Services/Stormwater/SW%20images/DSCN0869.JPG

Goal 4: Exceed Clean Air Standards❖ St. Louis currently falls short of national

clean air standards, affecting the environment and also health of residents.

❖ An effort at public awareness is aimed at prompting change in transportation choices for the heavily populated area.

❖ Municipalities are encouraged to lead the way by monitoring municipal vehicle fleet, improving transportation alternatives, and education for residents.

❖ Regional commitment to clean air policies shows residents that sustainability is “‘the way we do things around here’” (The natural step: Understanding the problem, n.d.).

Image Credit: http://news.vanderbilt.edu/files/clean-air-fair.jpg

Goal 7: Protect Open Areas❖ A recent trend toward urban sprawl has

lead to “disinvestment and increased segregation in parts of the urban core, as well as development in the areas of ecological significance” (OneSTL, 2013, p. 19).

❖ HUD’s Livability Principles encourage investment in existing communities rather than pursuing new development (Six Livability Principles, n.d.).

❖ Protecting open areas “prevents the systematic physical degradation of nature and natural processes consumption” required to expand infrastructure (The Natural Step, n.d.).

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Goal 1: Protect the Quality of Our Natural Resources and Environment

❖ This is the goal on which the Sustainability Initiative will focus, specifically regarding the objective to develop a culture that understands and values regional and local sustainability (OneSTL, 2013, p.92).

❖ Unless there is a widespread culture that desires and values the sustained efforts required to move toward a change in the way we use natural resources, these goals may not transfer into the next generation.

❖ Strategies suggested by the OneSTL plan include conducting “robust citizen engagement” and promoting sustainability practices at local events, along with efforts at increasing partnership between agencies (OneSTL, 2013, p.92).

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Hoboken, NJ

❖ Like St. Louis, Hoboken is a city defined by its relationship with the river.

❖ Densely populated and overdeveloped, transportation and green space are key issues.

❖ OneSTL can serve as a framework for recommendations for sustainability policy.

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Proposed Sustainability Initiatives:

Student Green Team Mustard Seed SchoolInitiative 1: Found student level Green Team during December Mini-Term as a middle school elective that will transform into an after-school club in the spring. This group begins a process of explorations of local environmental issues and resources.

Initiative 2: After a process of discernment, this group undertakes awareness building campaign for school and community

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Rationale for Student Involvement:❖ The City of Hoboken participates in

Sustainable Jersey and has formed a municipal Green Team. According to City Planner, Chris Brown, this Green Team is open to partnering with schools.

❖ Several local Sustainable Jersey efforts, such as composting and plastic bag reduction, could be supported by the school and by families, meeting certification requirements for the city.

❖ According to Kokkarien and Cotgrave (2013), students who participated in hands-on environmental activities reported higher pro-sustainability attitudes.

Image Credit: Abby Liu, https://www.mustardseedschool.org

Students research and explore local environmental issues and then engage in the

Discernment Process❖ What do you value?

❖ What should be changed?

❖ What should be preserved?

(OneSTL, 2013, p. 58).

Possible Student-Lead Initiatives❖ After experimenting with classroom

vermicomposting, the students might lobby for a school-wide composting program.

❖ After meeting with Hoboken’s Green Team to review the business plastic bag survey, the students may sponsor a contest for local children to design a reusable shopping bag to be sold in local businesses and to school families.

❖ After participating in a hands-on Enviroscape activity with the Watershed Ambassador, students may create a campaign to reduce pollution in stormwater runoff.

❖ After meeting with city planners to learn about flooding issues, the students may plant and maintain a rain garden or rain barrels on the school grounds.

❖ After meeting with City Hall representatives to hear about the new local bike sharing program, students may organize a bicycle celebration to encourage families to cycle to and from school.

Image Credit: http://livegreenhoward.com/rain-barrel-adventures/

Possible Challenges

❖ Resistance from peers, families, and community to make changes in habits and practices

❖ Busyness and desire for convenience in families with two working parents

❖ Sustaining student energy

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Raising Up Leaders

❖ Students will serve as green role models for peers, parents, and school community.

❖ By addressing issues of awareness, students will, as Posner and Kouzes (2002) describe, inspire a shared vision for environmental concern and action.

Image Credit: Abby Liu, https://www.mustardseedschool.org

Resources❖ Hawken, P. (2007). Blessed unrest: How the largest movement in the world came into being,

and why no one saw it coming. New York: Viking.

❖ Kokkarinen, N., & Cotgrave, A. J. (2013). Sustainability literacy in action: Student experiences. Structural Survey, 31(1), 56-66. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02630801311304422

❖ Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

❖ The Natural Step: Understanding the Problem. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thenaturalstep.org/sustainability/understanding-the-problem/

❖ OneSTL: Many communities. One future. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.onestl.org/media/site/documents/reports/onestl_plan/OneSTL_FinalPlan-web.pdf

❖ Six Livability Principles. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Retrieved from http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/economic_resilience/Six_Livability_Principles