By Nick Yates, ISB Communications
Published on Thursday, April 18, 2024
A single Earth Day isn’t enough for the International School of Beijing (ISB)! As the world prepares to mark the annual day of support for environmental protection on April 22, ISB students and staff have organized Earth Month.
The several weeks of activity are designed to further raise awareness of sustainability issues and inspire more green leaders in the student body and ISB community. With a long-term plan managing the school’s impact on people and the planet, ISB is a pioneer of sustainability in international schools.
ISB students of all ages are enjoying Earth Month activities in the classroom and educational visits to the school’s rooftop garden and soccer field-sized expanse of solar panels. Other initiatives for Earth Month include the following. ISB community members, please check the ISB Weekly newsletter and other school communications for full details.
ISB’s first Sustainability Summit
On April 27, the Green Impact and Vision High School clubs will hold the first Sustainability Summit at ISB. They’ve invited Grade 8-12 students from other schools to participate and share their environmentally focused projects. Themed “Climate and Waste,” the Summit is a great opportunity to exchange ideas on how to address climate issues.
Community data gathering exercise to inform sustainability tips for families
Parents are encouraged to get involved, make positive change, and learn along with their children by using tools like this or this to assess the environmental impact of their daily lives. ISB has circulated a short survey for parents to complete after they’ve used the tools. Staff will collect data from the survey and later present actionable items for families to lower their carbon footprints.
Earth Hour
Earth Hours are marked by buildings turning off non-essential lights for 60 minutes to save energy. ISB is turning off hallway lights between 8:00 am and 9:00 am. Don’t worry, it’s being done in a way that maintains safety for students and all community members
Themed clothing
Elementary School students are coming to school dressed in certain colors, corresponding to the theme of their learning, once a week. It’s a bright reminder of environmental issues. Knowing that garment manufacturing is a big contributor to climate change and waste, ISB has stressed to Elementary School families that they should not be buying new clothes for these occasions.
Biodiversity exhibition and guest speaker
The High School Birdwatching Club has organized a photography exhibition for all campus visitors to enjoy. It features photography and sightings of rare birds by students and staff, information on Beijing’s impressive biodiversity, and a guide to identifying birds. The Birdwatching Club also brought biodiversity expert Terry Townshend to school for a talk open to students and the wider community earlier today.
Sustainability speech contest
The local Ecology and Environment Bureau has invited ISB students to participate in a speech making contest on the topic of nature and sustainability.
Fourth ISB Sustainability Impact Report
The school will also publish its fourth Sustainability Impact Report in May, providing an update on ISB’s progress in this area. You can read the first three ISB Sustainability Impact Reports here.
Paola Alonso, ISB’s Sustainability Manager, said, “We started on this sustainability journey at ISB in 2018, when we made the transformative decision to create a long-term plan and set targets for what being sustainable should involve for the school and our wider community. Since then, ISB has become a leader in this vital mission for the world. We are regularly asked for advice by other schools and organizations globally – and we’re happy to give it because we are in this battle for the future of our planet together.
“As with all our initiatives in this area, ISB students are the main drivers of Earth Month, coordinating events and raising awareness among their peers. Earth Month is helping us take our work in sustainability to the next level.”