Sustainability in schools

Community Leadership

Schools are at the heart of communities and have an ability to show leadership in sustainability. Leadership in sustainability can take many forms:

• Home – students become “agents of change” empowered to change their own, and their parents’, actions and values towards sustainability. Refer to Learning for Sustainability for links to programs and advice on integrating sustainability into school curriculum.
• Other Schools – provide demonstration to other schools and institutions on the practical implementation of sustainability. Refer to Case Studies & Networking for examples.
• Community – improve relations and contacts by taking on projects within the community such as a recycling program or using projects as a catalyst for regeneration of degraded environments. Refer to Local Government & Authorities for examples.

Leadership can also provide benefits when seeking to attract students to the school, particularly as people are becoming more aware of the environmental issues facing the next generation. The UK’s Stern report stated that “Climate change is the world’s biggest market failure.”  The next generation will need to learn from these mistakes and there is no better place to start than at school.