University School has goal of ‘environmental stewardship’

By Sam Watson
Press Education Writer
swatson@johnsoncitypress.com

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Going green would be useless without lasting implications, so University School is taking a ground-up approach by involving students in its efforts to develop environmentally sounder practices.

“We’ve tried to do it from the bottom up where students are leading the activities and staying interested in everything we are doing,” said second-grade teacher Kelli Barnett, program coordinator. “We’re doing environmental education as we go.

“We could go out and build a compost bin and put up a sign and say this is what you’re going to put in it, but we’re leading students through learning about the best way to set that up and why.

“Our goal is to build environmental stewardship, and we want to do it bottom up rather than top down. So much in education tends to go top down, but we’re trying to let students lead us through this process.”

As the K-12 laboratory school at East Tennessee State University continues its evolution as a signature school for math and science, students and faculty members have set a goal of becoming a “Green School,” a state designation recognizing environmental education and conservation efforts.

An initiative of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Office of Environmental Assistance’s Tennessee Pollution Prevention Partnership or “TP3,” the Tennessee Green Schools Program asks schools to develop successful pollution prevention practices in:

• natural resource conservation

• solid and hazardous waste reduction

• environmentally preferable purchasing

• awareness among students, staff, parents and the community.

TP3 recognizes schools in four stages of commitment — prospect, pledge, partner and performer — reflecting progress in green initiatives. This term, University School has reached the second level and is working toward the third.

Alongside a core faculty group composed of representatives from each grade-level group, members of the Student Government Association have been involved in organizing projects and enlisting involvement from other students.

Groups of students have visited the local landfill, a recycling center and a gardening facility and worked on a composting system for the school’s grounds.

“I think it’s important because we can be more aware of it to use later on in life,” said sophomore Ashley Tipton, who volunteered to work on the Green School program as 10th-grade representative on the SGA. “I think we just want to put back into what’s going on in our world.

“That’s one reason I wanted to volunteer on the Green School Committee — I wanted to help.”

Students began the process by conducting an inventory of school’s environmental impact.

“They have to find out things like what kind of lights we use and what we do with those bulbs when they’re finished,” Barnett said. “They have to find out questions like that about every component of our building and our school — things like what kind of paper we use, what we do to reuse paper.

“It’s really extensive, and it’s taken a long time.”

Once that inventory was complete, the school used the information to create a school plan for projects to improve the school’s environmental profile in five categories: water conservation, energy conservation, reduction and reuse, recycling and harmful chemicals.

To reach the partner level, a Green School must complete one project. University School selected recycling and set out to create a school-wide effort to collect materials. Paper bins went into every classroom and office, and plastic and aluminum recycling receptacles went into halls and other key locations. The school had recycled aluminum cans for several years, but plastic bottles were a new venture.

Since ETSU’s Clemmer College of Education operates the school on campus, the Green School program linked up with ETSU’s campus-wide green effort, which also kicked off last spring, principally in recycling.

“We have been lucky to have taken on this at the same time ETSU has taken on its recycling efforts,” Barnett said. “It’s been coincidence that it worked out simultaneously, but this had made it so much easier.”

To earn Green School status, University School will have to develop successes in the four other categories.

“We have groups who are already focusing on that and are coming up with ideas,” Barnett said.

And the education efforts may be taking root. Tipton said several of her peers have taken University School’s green ideas into their homes.

“A lot of the lower grade levels are, as well as middle and high school,” she said. “I think a lot of people have taken interest. I know some people in my class started recycling their newspapers at home and bottles and aluminum cans.”

Convenience helps ETSU see GREEN - Campus initiative proves to be big hit

A little convenience has gone a long way for East Tennessee State University’s campus green program.

Since launching the initiative last spring, organizers have found that little publicity was necessary for students, employees and others on the campus to participate in recycling and other “Blue and Gold Make Green” efforts.

“It’s been overwhelmingly positive,” said Micky Morton, an ETSU graduate student and leader in the green program. “I’m so excited to walk down the hallway or go outside and watch those people give that second thought before they go to a trash can. They actually go to a recycling bin.

“It gives me chills every time I see it.”

Morton and other members of Initiative for Clean Energy helped launch Blue and Gold Make Green by conducting presentations for ETSU President Paul Stanton and various campus groups in hopes of bolstering recycling efforts by including plastic and aluminum. The administration bought in and provided funds to start the campus green program.

Projects have included larger recycling collections, a free bicycle checkout system to reduce motor vehicle traffic, the addition of hybrid vehicles to ETSU’s fleet and a pilot green project in ETSU’s newest dormitory, Governors Hall.

Recycling bins for paper, plastic and aluminum were placed in offices, classrooms and hallways. The school also hired a recycling coordinator, worked with Johnson City’s recycling pickup program for efficiency and used work study students to help implement the recycling effort.

“We’ve just really been going out there and pushing the educational aspects of it,” said Kathleen Moore, ETSU’s manager of landscape, grounds and athletic facilities. “We’re really trying to educate the students on how to recycle and the necessity for it. We can make sure that (the city) can handle all the increased paper, because we are seeing quite a bit more paper that we are recycling without really doing a lot of advertising.”

The impact also was reflected in the plastic recycling effort. In about 1 1/2 weeks, ETSU collected nearly 1,000 pounds of plastic bottles. Moore considered the figure staggering given how little each bottle weighs.

“I mean that’s a lot of plastic,” she said.

Along with impacting the environment, organizers expect Blue and Gold Make Green to make a dent in operating costs.

“It was $65,000 a year just to throw away our stuff,” said Frank Sowokinos, the newly hired recycling coordinator. “So, the benefit, aside from the planet and just publicity for the university, is to take that and cut (costs) in half. It’s direct, immediate savings to the university.

“We’re still working on it, but that’s kind of a goal of mine. I’d really like to cut down that down as much as possible and see some direct dollars and cents.”

Sowokinos recently rode with a city crew as it collected materials and gained a greater appreciation for the volume of recyclable waste out there.

“The idea that this stuff would just go to the landfill just blows my mind,” he said. “I knew it was big, but I had no idea how big.”

For the pilot dorm project, Governors Hall residents received personal recycling bags allowing them to drop off newspapers, magazines, phonebooks, cardboard cereal boxes, soft drink cartons, aluminum cans and recyclable plastic in outdoor receptacles.

Each room was provided with a 32-ounce bottle of “green” utility cleaner, refillable once per semester, to replace chemical solvents with an environmentally friendly substance.

Residents also were asked to turn off lights and appliances when not in use, as well as to use compact fluorescent light bulbs that use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times longer than standard incandescent bulbs.

Green organizers also have been pleased with campus efforts to reduce fuel use and emissions from motor vehicles. The free “yellow bike” program has been rather popular. To borrow a bike to travel across campus, students register for the bikes and sign a safety statement before receiving a key, lock and a bike.

At least two bikes are checked out every day, and they have been spotted all over campus, as well as locations in the immediate area. ETSU could use more bikes, and organizers prefer one-speed and three-speed versions over more complicated bikes for ease of use and maintenance.

Word of mouth and visibility has been enough to get the yellow bikes rolling with little publicity.

“We really didn’t want to do too much until we had more (bikes), because what if we have 30 people over there and they’re fighting over four bikes?” Moore said.

ETSU staff and faculty members also have been logging a lot of miles on hybrid vehicles during off campus. The Toyota Priuses have averaged more than 50 miles per gallon, saving on fuel consumption.

“The Priuses have been going out the window,” Moore said. “Again, we haven’t advertised them, either. We haven’t done anything to promote it yet. It’s still very, very popular.”

Next spring, ETSU students will be asked to vote on a green fee to fund more sustainability projects on campus. Possible uses include wind and solar energy projects, more vehicle purchases and energy lot purchases from the Green Power Switch program.

Moore said the fee also could help install such environmentally sound components as flooring from renewable sources and energy-efficient lighting when ETSU builds new facilities. When budgets are tight, she said, such expenditures sometimes fall by the wayside.

The Tennessee Board of Regents has capped green fees at $10 per semester per student.

“This is something that every student should want to do,” Morton said.

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