Mark your calendars! Green Apple Day of Service is September 24th this year. Looking for event ideas? Here are some great ways to:
- Make an impact on the environment
- Support health and wellness at school
- Advance environmental and sustainability literacy.
Make an Impact on the Environment
What can you do to sustain the world we live in? Measure your impact through kWh energy saved, gallons of water saved, pounds of waste kept out of the landfill, and square feet of wildlife habitat restored or created.
Create or Tend a School Garden
There are many reasons to maintain a garden at school. Gardens teach students about the important role of land in our lives: providing wildlife refuge and habitat, growing vegetables and fruit for instruction or cafeteria use, and providing places to divert water from storm sewers.
Reduce Energy Use
Did you know that buildings consume approximately 39 percent of the energy and 74 percent of the electricity produced annually in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Assess School Lighting
Did you know that buildings consume approximately 39 percent of the energy and 74 percent of the electricity produced annually in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Reduce Water Use
According to the EPA, each year more than 1 trillion gallons of water pass through our sink faucets in the United States. How and where is water being used around your school?
Put Rainwater to Use
According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, during an average rainstorm more than 700 gallons of water run off the roof of a typical home. That’s enough water to take 17 baths or 58 showers!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Schools throw away a lot of trash, most of which goes to landfill. But what if some of the items we send to the landfill could go elsewhere instead? Almost half of school waste is organics like food and yard cuttings and around 30 percent is paper—we can do better!
Communicate Your School's Sustainability Values
Signs and murals are great and public ways for a school to show its commitment to healthy and sustainable learning environments.
Celebrate Success
If you’ve recently completed a great project at your school, show it off to your school community in an open house. And if you’ve already taken huge strides toward becoming a green school, apply to be recognized as a Green Ribbon School!
Change a Light, Change a Life (EnergyFocus)
Energy Focus believes that better lighting makes for better learning, and because of their passion for lighting they will donate LED lighting for 50 special needs classrooms in 50 schools across the metro New York City and tri-state area.
Team Up for Greener Schools
Shaw Contract Group has teamed up with Green Apple Day of Service to support your efforts to transform a local school. Check out our list of project ideas below and get started leading the effort in your community.
Support Health and Wellness at School
How can your school be a positive influence on student and teacher health? Measure your impact through minutes of physical activity, servings of fruits and vegetables eaten, and reduced grams of sugar served.
Measure improvement to your school's environmental health by assessing school cleanliness, taking steps to improve lighting quality, evaluating indoor air quality through CO2 and humidity, and demonstrating decreased absence due to respiratory illness.
Fun and Fitness in the Neighborhood
Physical activity can come in all forms and at any time of day. Promote the health of students and staff by providing fun opportunities for active commuting and learning.
You Are What You Eat
The attention that school lunch food has been getting lately is beginning to change the way parents and school staff look at the food we give our kids. You can get the movement started and keep it going with a little extra attention at the beginning of the year.
Create or Tend a School Garden
There are many reasons to maintain a garden at school. Gardens teach students about the important role of land in our lives: providing wildlife refuge and habitat, growing vegetables and fruit for instruction or cafeteria use, and providing places to divert water from storm sewers.
Assess Indoor Air
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, people spend 90 percent of their time indoors, where pollutant levels can be from 2-100 times higher than outdoors. Help improve air quality at a school near you.
Clear Out the Clutter
We don’t always think about it, but dust comes from our clothes, our skin, and various other items we use during the day. It also, importantly, contains dust mites and cockroach dander (yes, it’s true!) that can be very harmful to breathe, especially to kids with asthma or other respiratory problems.
Train Custodians on Green Cleaning
Green cleaning protects health and promotes better learning environments, reducing environmental hazards that negatively affect childhood growth and development. Training custodians on effective cleaning processes is essential for helping schools keep kids healthy, in school, and achieving at their highest potential.
Raise Awareness of Outdoor Air Risks
We’re surrounded by air, but we can’t always see when it’s dirty. Protect children from air pollution, especially those with asthma, with EPA’s School Flag Program by kicking of the program in your school.
Celebrate Success
If you’ve recently completed a great project at your school, show it off to your school community in an open house. And if you’ve already taken huge strides toward becoming a green school, apply to be recognized as a Green Ribbon School!
Communicate Your School's Sustainability Values
Signs and murals are great and public ways for a school to show its commitment to healthy and sustainable learning environments.
Change a Light, Change a Life (EnergyFocus)
Energy Focus believes that better lighting makes for better learning, and because of their passion for lighting they will donate LED lighting for 50 special needs classrooms in 50 schools across the metro New York City and tri-state area.
Team Up for Greener Schools
Shaw Contract Group has teamed up with Green Apple Day of Service to support your efforts to transform a local school. Check out our list of project ideas below and get started leading the effort in your community.
Advance Environmental and Sustainability Literacy
How can you progress the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that students need to prepare for green, 21st century careers? Measure your impact through minutes of class time allocated to sustainability concepts or through an assessment in the form of student work, written exam, or pre/post survey.
Educate for Environmental and Sustainability Literacy
While we can draw upon experiences of the past to help us solve the problems of today and tomorrow, the reality is that the solutions may not yet exist. All people will need to learn their way towards a sustainable human future. Education is therefore central to a sustainable future.
Connect your classroom with sustainability leaders
Can't do field trips all the time? Don't have access to professionals around the world? Bring the workplace or college campus to your classroom by attending one or more of these live sessions leading up to Green Apple Day of Service. From virtually touring a sustainable kitchen to hearing from college students about what prepared them best for post-secondary, create moments of discovery for every student.
Reduce Energy Use
Did you know that buildings consume approximately 39 percent of the energy and 74 percent of the electricity produced annually in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Assess School Lighting
Did you know that buildings consume approximately 39 percent of the energy and 74 percent of the electricity produced annually in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Reduce Water Use
According to the EPA, each year more than 1 trillion gallons of water pass through our sink faucets in the United States. How and where is water being used around your school?
Put Rainwater to Use
According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, during an average rainstorm more than 700 gallons of water run off the roof of a typical home. That’s enough water to take 17 baths or 58 showers!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Schools throw away a lot of trash, most of which goes to landfill. But what if some of the items we send to the landfill could go elsewhere instead? Almost half of school waste is organics like food and yard cuttings and around 30 percent is paper—we can do better!
Fun with Fitness in the Neighborhood
Physical activity can come in all forms and at any time of day. Promote the health of students and staff by providing fun opportunities for active commuting and learning.
You Are What You Eat
The attention that school lunch food has been getting lately is beginning to change the way parents and school staff look at the food we give our kids. You can get the movement started and keep it going with a little extra attention at the beginning of the year.
Create or Tend a School Garden
There are many reasons to maintain a garden at school. Gardens teach students about the important role of land in our lives: providing wildlife refuge and habitat, growing vegetables and fruit for instruction or cafeteria use, and providing places to divert water from storm sewers.
Celebrate Success
If you’ve recently completed a great project at your school, show it off to your school community in an open house. And if you’ve already taken huge strides toward becoming a green school, apply to be recognized as a Green Ribbon School!
Communicate Your School's Sustainability Values
Signs and murals are great and public ways for a school to show its commitment to healthy and sustainable learning environments.
