In an effort to prepare the Academy for Global Citizenship's students to make decisions that benefit themselves, the planet, and future generations, Environmental Sustainability Education is imbedded within our curriculum, guides our daily practices and is glowingly evident throughout our school culture.

The Environmental Sustainability Education program has four main goals, each of which is supported by the curriculum and classroom practices.

{1} We will foster a kinship with nature.

• Every year students will assist in designing, planting, maintaining, and harvesting our school's organic garden.
• Each classroom participates in vermi-composting. Students feed and care for the worms, and they recover the composted material for use in our outdoor organic garden and indoor greenhouse.

{2} Students will see the relationships between animals, plants, and the environment.

• Every grade engages in studies about pollution, climate change, water conservation, renewable energy and endangered species.
• Organic farmers will visit the classrooms throughout the year and field expeditions have been planned to local farms to explore food production and sustainable practices.

{3} Students will think long-term.

• Classrooms will investigate natural resources and alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power, and their impacts on sustainable development. Students will monitor the output of our school's own solar panels on a daily basis as form of authenticating their learning.
• Students investigate from where our food, clothing and other consumables originate, and explore their choices in a way that is environmentally responsible on a local and global scale.
• This spring students began their participation in climate change research as their Sustainability Teacher, Mrs. Megan Ellis, joined a research team on the Arctic's edge.

{4} We will grow our ecological knowledge.

• Everyday in the cafeteria and in the classroom students separate their waste into compost, recycle, and waste bins in conjunction with exploring the implication of our choices throughout the curriculum.
• Students will learn about the natural rhythms of nature, while learning about natural and unnatural changes.

Resources:

Environmental Kids Club

Kids for Saving the Earth

Environmental Children's Books

Ideas to do at home:

• Begin once-a-week family dinners by candlelight.
• Join a community gardening cooperative.
• Prepare your child's lunch with reusable containers.
• Begin a vermi-compost bin in your kitchen.
• Create a walk or bike-to-school club.

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