Sustainability

At FGCS, sustainability is at the heart of our curriculum and our school practices. We were proud to earn designation as an Oregon Green School in our first year in recognition of our conservation efforts. We’re even more pleased to be helping students develop as committed stewards who are helping care for the world with the things they do at school, at home and in the community.

Sustainable School

FGCS teachers and staff share a passion for the sustainability that is visible throughout our school. Our school secretary spearheads many of our sustainability efforts and is working to earn certification as a Master Recycler. Several of our teachers are certified in permaculture, an approach to designing human communities and agricultural systems that mimics the relationships found in nature. Another teacher leads a Roots & Shoots club focused on projects to help animals, people and the environment. Other teachers, staff and community serve on our Green Team to help guide and foster sustainable school operations. The work of all these individuals inspire and supports these practices at FGCS:

Waste Management

Every classroom is outfitted with recycling, composting and garbage receptacles, and students are trained to use them. Most food waste goes into our school compost pile in the Sunflower Garden or The Backyard garden, while mixed paper fills a big green dumpster in the parking lot. We know from parents that students not only use these practices at school, they share what they’ve learned at home. Recent surveys show that nine out of 10 students promote sustainable practices at home.

We ask families to reduce waste in student lunches by using reusable, rather than disposable, containers. Our official school-lunch program is almost waste-free: we compost fresh fruits and vegetable waste, 'donate' other food waste to a local pig farmer, recycle milk cartons and serve on reusable plates. We do have to throw away paper napkins! Students are encouraged to bring their own reuseable plates for Pizza Tuesdays and we ask families to bring their own plates or cups to school-wide functions where food is served.

Purchasing

Our Green Team has established parameters for purchasing materials that minimize our carbon footprint. We make every effort to make sure that all purchases made with school funds are as ecologically sound as possible. We purchase paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled materials whenever possible and avoid harmful chemicals in cleaning products.

Reusing Materials

Recycling is an important part of waste management at FGCS, but, whenever possible, we try to find new uses for items before sending them on to the recycling center or landfill. We turn waste paper into note pads and reuse it in art projects. When our former landlord razed the garage behind our building to create space for modular buildings, a crew of staff and volunteers took it apart board by board to salvage all of the useable wood and rock. These materials can now be found in raised beds and garden paths in our gardens at the school grounds and on land donated for our use near FGCS by Woodfold Marco Mfg.

Students as Stewards

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines stewardship as "the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care." At FGCS, stewardship of the school environment is a shared responsibility that includes students as well as adults. At the end of the day, all students participate in cleaning their classrooms. They take out the recycling, garbage and composting. Their care for their school was evidenced in a school clean-up event last year, at which more than 50 volunteers, including many students and their parents, spent a Saturday at school cleaning, painting and working in the garden.

Out & Abouts and school projects often include service learning components, through which students contribute to the care of our community and the local environment. Service-learning projects have included removing invasive plants from a local Metro property, painting a mural on a wall that was the target of graffiti, creating interpretive signs for Fernhill Wetlands and helping landscape at a local non-profit organization.

​Sustainable Community & Home

1. 1.Tips for Living Sustainably at Home 1. Use water more efficiently: Water is a limited resource and limiting it within your household is a cornerstone of sustainability. Rain barrels are becoming a popular way to collect and reuse rainwater for purposes like gardening. Conserving water in the home by taking shorter showers or even fixing a leaky faucet also can make a difference.
2. Compost: Turn over a new leaf and return your yard waste and kitchen scraps to the earth as organic matter. 
3.  Seek earth-friendly packaging: Look for products that minimize packaging or use packaging that can be recycled.
4. Buy local, embrace organic: Support local farmers and sustainable agricultural practices buy purchasing local, organic food whenever possible. Farmers markets are a great source of fresh, local produce. Encourage supermarkets to stock more organic, locally sourced products on their shelves.
5. Go to seed: Take 'local and organic' a step further and plant your own vegetable garden. Gardening provides fresh air, great exercise and a sense of satisfaction in growing your own food. You don't need a lot of land to garden - even apartment dwellers can grow lettuce, tomatoes and other crops in containers. Buy some seeds and get started!
6.  Bike or Walk: Getting places under your own power, whether with wheels or just a sturdy pair of shoes, yields benefits to your health and the environment. Get your kids riding and walking early, and they'll develop life-long healthy habits that help the earth.
7. Re-recycle: Recycling is nothing new and most people have been recycling in some form for years. But recycling can be taken to another level, going beyond obvious and traditionally recycled items like soda cans or newspaper to the smallest of waste materials, from plastic straws to the paper straw wrapper. Most clothing and other household items can be given an extended life through donations to Goodwill, foster child clothes closets or other agencies.

Share Your Sustainability Ideas with Others

The news about global environmental challenges can be daunting and the information about living more sustainably can be overwhelming. It's easy to feel that individual action isn't important. At FGCS, we're working to help students develop into active citizens who will be prepared to tackle the challenges of a rapidly changing world but we also believe that the small actions we all take every day do matter. If you are interested in living more sustainably at home, at work and in your community, watch this space in coming weeks for ideas for getting started. To share an idea, e-mail Karen Torry.