green school
Many members of the Redwood Day School community – faculty, students, administrators, and parents – are working to foster environmental awareness and find ways to reduce the school’s environmental impact.Some examples:
- The 6th grade classrooms and the Middle School Multipurpose room won the 2008 Savings by Design Energy Efficiency Integration Citation by the American Institute of Architects California Council (AIACC).The buildings, designed by Mitchell & Riera Architects, LLP, were recognized as buildings of “only a few” which “achieve a rare combination of superlative design and creativity, environmental sensitivity, and innovative energy efficiency solutions.”
- The RDS Parents’ Association (PA) established a Green Committee to promote, through direct action as well as through education, the wise stewardship of the Earth’s resources by the Redwood Day School community.
- Gardening teacher Barbara Jerabek has set up a “Green Room” where she collects and sorts classroom supplies that otherwise would have been discarded.Faculty and staff then “shop” for supplies in the Green Room.
- Drinks at most events are served using large jugs and paper cups rather than single-serving water bottles.
- Barbara Jerabek collects food waste from lower school classrooms and faculty lounges, and composts it in the school’s garden.
- In addition, Waste Management now collects green waste from RDS, significantly increasing the amount of the school’s green waste that is composted.
- Faculty lounges and many classrooms are stocked with reusable dishes and cutlery, reducing the use of disposables.
- Event planners and the PA Green Committee are working together to reduce the environmental footprint of the disposables used at school and PA events.
- All of the light bulbs in the Gallery are now compact fluorescent rather than incandescent bulbs, cutting the electricity load to one quarter of its previous level.