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Green School
The entire Redwood Day School community – faculty, students, administrators, parents, and guardians – are working to foster environmental awareness and find ways to reduce the School’s environmental impact. The School's Sustainability Council and the Parents' and Guardians' Association's Green Committee are tireless advocates for finding newer, better, more impactful ways to reduce our environmental impact.
Some highlights of our work to be a cleaner, greener, and more environmentally sustainable school:
- The sixth-grade classrooms and the Middle School Multi-Purpose 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.”
- Our “Green Room” is a year-round repository of terrific classroom supplies that otherwisewould have been discarded. Faculty and staff “sh
op” for supplies in the Green Room before placing orders for new items. - Compact fluorescent bulbs have replaced incandescents in many areas throughout the School, cutting the electricity load to one quarter of its previous level in each case. Motion-sensing light switches have been installed throughout the campus to further reduce electrical load when rooms are unoccupied.
Other changes have been aimed at reducing waste and improving the school’s recycling and green waste collection:
- Drinks are served using large jugs and compostable paper cups rather than single-serving water bottles.
- Food waste is composted from Lower School classrooms and faculty lounges for the School’s garden. Waste Management collects all other green waste from RDS (e.g., lunchtime compost), significantly increasing the amount of the School’s waste that is diverted from landfill to compost.
- Waste-free Wednesdays encourage students to bring zero-waste lunches to school. Our coveted Green Glove Award is a real badge of honor to classes whose exemplary greening efforts truly go "above and beyond."
- Faculty lounges and many classrooms are stocked with reusable dishes to reduce the use of disposables. Each faculty and staff member has his or her own reusable plate, mug, cutlery set, and napkin.
- School event planners work to reduce our environmental footprint by carefully selecting compostable disposables.
