Student Zone - Green School Audit
The Green School Audit consists of ten sections with four to nine questions each. High school students are in charge of interviewing school officials, compiling information, and then comparing their results with other schools. The goal of the Green School Audit is to determine best practices, encourage students to think about the impacts they and their schools make on the environment, and results in changes that protect the environment and children's health.
- Introduction, Instructions (pdf, 688k)
- Sections 1-5 (pdf, 181k)
- Sections 6-10 (pdf, 162k)
Environmental Education
Academics are an important realm in which we consider the greenness of an institution. Environmental education helps students to become more aware of and involved in environmental issues that need to be resolved; it helps student to become well-rounded individuals.
Link: To obtain more information on environmental curricula please visit the Eco Education web site at: http://www.ecoeducation.org/ and the EPA Teachers Teaching Center Curriculum Resources at: http://www.epa.gov/teachers/curric-index.htm.
Energy and Utilities
Since high schools use a great deal of energy, they have the potential to make a large impact on energy issues in the community by being environmentally-conscious. Now is the time to start conserving energy and reducing pollution. Save energy and help us clean up the environment and reduce detrimental health effects.
Link: To read a success story behind the Park View Middle School in Rhode Island that became more energy efficient by changing their lighting system please visit Rebuild America's web site at: http://www.rebuild.org/sectors/SectorPages/sol_center.asp?MktID=2. To read other success stories visit: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/greenschools/pdf/gsActivity.pdf (pdf, 82k) and find out how The School District of Janesville took an aggressive path to energy reduction.
Politics
If you want to be viewed as an environmentally conscious individual, it is important that you become more active at your school and in the surrounding community. This is the arena to push for environmental consciousness in the areas of conservation of resources and sustainability as well as innovation.
Link: Become more active as a school or an individual by getting involved in community service activities in your neighborhood. For sample projects visit the EPA Community Service web site at: http://www.epa.gov/highschool/community.htm and read their Service-Learning Education Beyond the Classroom Report at: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/general/educate/svclearn.pdf (pdf, 934k).
Solid Waste Management
Solid waste management can impact the environment in a large way, specifically by either adding to the landfill dilemma or supporting recycling markets. Responsible actions by both school management and students are necessary.
Link: To find out how Stonington High School in Pawcatuck, Connecticut, improved their recycling program and rose recycling awareness in other schools visit http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/general/educate/svclearn.pdf (pdf, 934k).
Also, read the EPA's report, Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, to find out information on what happens to our trash, and to learn the latest facts and figures on solid waste generation, recycling and disposal in the United States. Access the report at: www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/msw99.htm. To find out more information visit: http://www.epa.gov/highschool/waste.htm.
Dining Services/Cafeteria
Dining services serve many people each day. Everything that goes into the service has an impact, and at high volumes this adds up to a significant amount of material going to waste or to waste diversion. It is also important that people become aware of where the food that they eat comes from and whether the people that grow and produce this food are being treated in a fair manner.
Link: To find out more information on Sustainable Dining Programs please refer to the programs at Yale and Stanford Universities, and Middlebury College. All three of these schools have success in running and maintaining sustainable cafeterias. To learn more about how you can take part in promoting locally grown food and justice in the agricultural sector please refer to the Food First web site at: http://www.foodfirst.org.
Landscaping and Grounds
The school grounds are a visible testament to a school's environmental commitment and the degree of importance placed upon aesthetics. It is important that best management practices as well as resource conservation techniques are followed in landscaping. People need to be cautious about amounts of fertilizers that they use on their lawns, amounts of water that they spend on watering lawns, and types of mechanisms that they use to control water runoff from their lawns.
Link: If you want to find out more about tips on saving water through landscaping please visit the EPA website at: http://www.epa.gov/owm/water-efficiency/landtips.htm. To read some success stories on landscaping and water conservation in different states please refer to the Department of Energy Smart Communities Network website at: http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/efficiency/water/wesstoc.shtml
Printing and Paper Services
Does your school have a double-sided printing policy, does it use recycled content paper, are students and teachers cautious about what kind of paper, and how much paper they use? It is really important that when buying paper we make the right choices and buy paper that has some recycled content in it, or that is made out of alternative materials or FSC-certified wood. It is also important to know the health and environmental repercussions of paper production.
Link: Carnegie Mellon University was able to implement policies at their school to improve paper consumption process, and to start consuming only recycled paper. To find out more please visit their website at: http://www.cmu.edu/greenpractices/examples.htm
Purchasing
Your purchasing decisions might have a great impact on the environment. For example, if you only buy paper that is made out of virgin fiber, you need to be aware of the fact that you are contributing to logging of virgin woods. Purchasing recycled products decreases the manufacturing process and therefore reduces the environmental impact of products. Buying non-toxic materials will help you to decrease water contamination and therefore reduce health risks that you and other people might face. So, next time you buy something, think of where it came from and what it has been made out of.
Link: To get more information on how you can help to save the environment as a consumer please visit the EPA web site on Environmentally Preferable Purchasing at: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp/.
Transportation and Parking
The transportation system in and around a school has the potential to release a large amount of pollutants into our atmosphere, as well as congesting the road systems. The availability of parking on campus either encourages or discourages driving to campus as a means of transportation. There are better and cleaner alternatives to bus and automobile transit, primarily single occupant vehicles, and policies can be implemented to make these alternatives real. One alternative is to use buses that run on environmentally clean fuels, or to prohibit bus idling at schools. The other way is to implement a carpooling rule. And yet another thing that could be done, is putting bike racks on campus to promote biking.
Link: To find out more information on School Bus Diesel campaign please visit the Sierra Club web site at: http://northstar.sierraclub.org/schoolbus. Visit the same web site to read the Sample No-Idling Policy and to learn about school bus and car maintenance tips that will help to keep the environment clean.
Mercury Free School
Mercury is a toxic element, known as a persistent bioaccumulative toxin (PBT). When mercury is released into the air as a vapor or absorbed through the skin, it can cause direct health problems. Mercury can also leak into the environment through air emissions or improper disposal and transform into a poison that contaminates fish. When humans or animals consume the contaminated fish, they become contaminated. Mercury contamination can cause learning and behavioral disorders in children in utero development and into a child's early teens. Therefore, it is important that schools are free of mercury and that there is action going on trying to reduce mercury emissions into the air.
Link:To learn more about mercury reduction initiatives in Minnesota, please visit the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's web site at: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/mercury.html. You can also obtain information from the Sierra Club's web site at: http://northstar.sierraclub.org/campaigns/air/mercury/index.html
To see the questions on the Audit or to print out an audit to complete at your school:
- Introduction, Instructions (pdf, 688k)
- Sections 1-5 (pdf, 181k)
- Sections 6-10 (pdf, 162k)
SUMMARY OF MINNESOTA 2003-2004 GREEN SCHOOL AUDIT RESULTS (pdf, 113k)
MINNESOTA 2003-2004 GREEN SCHOOL AUDIT RESPONSES (pdf, 139k)
After Sierra Club intern Anna Sumnchenko compiled the green school audit results for 2003-2004, the Sierra Club North Star Student Group met and decided to puruse a campaign to encourage their schools to purchase post-consumer, recycled, unbleached paper. For more information on why this campaign is important and what is going on, click here.
In addition to paper use in the schools, the group found energy issues particularly interesting. For more information, click here.
A complicated but important issue that the group found important was water use. To learn why, click here.