EVERYDAY IS EARTH DAY
We have a line in our Green School song – “Everyday is Earth Day.” We sing it all the time. But when April 22nd comes around each year, our school community does everything possible to demonstrate our values as we educate for a sustainable future. At Green School Bali, we have celebrated Earth Day every day this week – with ‘planting’ days, trash walks, low tech days, ride to school events, free Bio Bus rides, and a massive global celebration at the end of the week.
Schools should be places where we learn, share and celebrate – and there’s probably nothing more important to celebrate than our little blue and green rock in space. At Green School Bali, celebrating our connection to Earth is important across the school year; from Green Studies programs, growing and cooking food from our gardens, Environmental Science units, thematics classes based on SDGs, student and class projects that have a positive impact on the environment, the animals that we care for on campus, our commitments to using less energy and generating less waste, the Bio Bus program (school buses that run on used cooking oils), our oceans programs, the High School service trips (all around Indonesia) … the list goes on and on.
Whole school curricula could be designed based on our connection with nature.
This connection isn’t something we should need to focus on – humans ARE nature. Unfortunately, in the concrete cities and in the cyber-worlds we have created, there is a need to reconnect with our natural environments. And, that’s our responsibility as educators.
Days, like Earth Day, are important to bring the spotlight on what is important to us. We do a Peace Walk on International Day of Peace. We hold an ‘Oceans Festival’ at the beach on World Oceans Day. On International Women’s Day, our High School students (alongside teachers and parents) create and perform a production called ‘Voices’. Just as everyday is Earth Day, every day should also be Peace day, Oceans day, Social Justice day, Diversity and Inclusion day.