GREEN SCHOOL GREEN LEADER’S ENVIRO MISSION JANET SHAW, a Year 5 teacher in Upper Primary, is the new head of the Saltus Green Team, a group of teachers, parents, students and Saltus staff that promotes environment-saving habits and projects. She speaks about the challenges and plans ahead in 2011. What are the main goals/ideas of the Green Team this year, and how does the team plan to achieve them? Our goal every year is to foster awareness of environmental conservation among both staff and students. As a school community, we want to help build a sustainable society within Bermuda. We also aim to foster a strong sense of citizenship and leadership among participants which will spread outside the School into the wider community. Our long-term goal is to work towards “Green School” accreditation when it becomes available in Bermuda, following the Irish schools’ “Green Flag” award system. Elliot Primary is carrying out a pilot scheme based on a sevenstep programme. The first step is to set up a committee, the second to examine CHARLES ANDERSON S3 and S4 students mapped their environment, planted seedlings and created posters to remind their peers to recycle during afterschool Eco-Club sessions with teacher and Green Team chair Jan Shaw last term the School’s environmental impact to identify specific targets for action and improvement (this is still in progress), and the third step, which we have begun, to select a specific target we think is achievable. We decided on trash-reduction for this year. We plan to hold a trash audit in the Upper Primary department the week of April 25 to celebrate Earth day (April 22). This will be spearheaded by parent dana Spurling. Have parents and students been supportive of green efforts so far? Parents have been very supportive. Younger students generally are very supportive and enthusiastic; possibly because they are still assisted by parents (e.g. trash-free lunches). This enthusiasm wanes somewhat as the kids get older, which is why we need environmental consciousness to become a habit. What are the challenges to setting strict green goals in a School environment? Getting everyone on board! It is particularly difficult with three different departments. A large, open campus means lots of areas to monitor. There are different lunch styles: SGY students, for example, can order delivery food items, and eat in different areas. Other clubs use the Field—raising the issue of trash disposal. Afterschool functions also need to encourage people to recycle. What in-house initiatives have already been implemented to make the School greener? ‘If children adopt an environmentally-conscious lifestyle now, they will take it into adulthood in the workplace and in their own lives’ 8 S A LT U S M A G A Z I N E