New year, fresh start! January is the perfect month for setting goals and planning new initiatives and challenges for your school community. Don’t forget – initial EcoReviews are due the last Friday in January (January 31)! Use the 2019-2020 Certification Guide to help you plan out your certification success.
Check out the below suggestions from our Eco Calendar for inspiration. Are we missing something important? Email us at info [at] ecoschools [dot] ca and let us know!
Warm up with some winter campaigns
- Winter Walk Day is coming up on February 5, but don’t let that stop you from getting outside before then! Outdoor activities can be coupled with learning opportunities like a nature walk, nature scavenger hunt, and creating environmental artwork. Check out our Active Transportation Campaign Kit for help with planning.
- National Sweater Day is a big hit with schools! Turn down the temperature in your school by a couple of degrees, throw on a cozy sweater, and build awareness about energy conservation. Check out our handy resources for more info.
Come up with some #EcoResolutions
The EcoSchools program celebrates and encourages setting environmental goals throughout the year. The holiday break is a great opportunity to step back and reflect on yourself, your eco values, and the positive differences you can make over the next year. We’ll be sharing our team’s #EcoResolutions on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and we invite you to share yours too!
Some great #EcoResolutions we’ve seen include:
- Get creative: Student pledges using art, in which each student makes a resolution for an environmental issue important to them. Showcase these somewhere central and visible in your school, and check-in during Earth Month (April) to see how the pledges have gone.
- Watch your waste: Familiarize yourself with your local recycling and waste guidelines. What can be recycled? What can be diverted from landfill to serve another purpose, like building healthy compost from food scraps? What can be reclaimed, like parts from old electronics? Set goals for reducing waste, and challenge yourself, your class, and your community to meet them.
- Whole school goals: If you haven’t already, consider coming together as a school to make a 2020 goal such as eliminating lunchtime single-use plastics, walking to school each week, or holding monthly waste-free & lights-off lunches. Track, record, and share!
Green holiday tips
In November’s CertTips, we listed a number of actions, activities, and practices you can use to make the holiday season a more sustainable one. These included hosting a lights-out lunch, celebrating local and seasonal food, making sustainable crafts, and more. Read them here and let us know if you have any other great tips we can share.