First Fall OASIS Meeting via Zoom with guest speaker Brian Dunbar
On October 21, 2021, 41 participants joined virtually for New Jersey Schools OASIS’s Sustainability Group first fall meeting featuring guest speaker, Brian Dunbar, Executive Director of the Institute for the Built Environment and Professor Emeritus at Colorado State University. Dunbar’s theme “Creating a Culture of Hope” embodied two big ideas: Whole School Sustainability and Regenerative Future.
Whole School Sustainability Framework
The Whole School Sustainability framework, as seen above, includes three different broad categories: physical place, educational programs, and organizational culture. Within each category, the three subsections are broken into more discrete categories. Dunbar recommended that schools focus on a few of these categories that align with their school’s mission and practices.
Dunbar shared real life examples to illustrate his point. For instance, Fort Collins’ Rocky Mountain High School (RMHS) reduced their energy consumption by 50% through their “catalytic communication.” RMHS’s principal, maintenance team, and students collaborated to change behavior and reduce their energy use.
His second concept, “regenerative future,” explores how we can rethink our relationship to the Earth and build a healthy ecosystem that interconnects the environment, society, and economy.
Dunbar shared an example of an educational center in Nepal (Purano Jhangajholi) where administrators engaged in active design and regenerative practices, while rebuilding their school after a devastating earthquake. The school hosted events to incorporate local wisdom, agricultural practices, generational learning, and the students’ needs in the project.
Illustration of the Purano Jhangajholi Education Center in Nepal
Dunbar then engaged participants to create a “postcard from the future” envisioning a sustainable future for their school. Participants had a broad range of ideas. For example, Kari Lloyd, 6th Grade Science Teacher, Melvin H. Kreps Middle School, created a “Yes We Can Garden '' postcard imagining a school garden compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for an outdoor learning space.
Science Teacher, Kari Lloyd, sharing her “postcard from the future”
Sustainability Director at St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School, Sam Mason, created a postcard that focused on “green” metrics to motivate students to change their behavior.
Dunbar concluded with a vision of hope, “Let’s teach our current and future students to create conditions conducive to everyday life. The environment around us provides us with examples of many self-sufficient systems. Through communication, regeneration, hope, and innovation, there is reason to believe that the best is yet to come.”
Article by Hannah Riegel (Boston College ‘22), Sustainability Intern, Boyer Sudduth Environmental Consultants.
