Going Green
As this article is being written, I am in Indonesia working with the second largest university there on a curriculum for environmental management. Throughout the rest of the world, school systems are forging ahead with the international environmental management system accepted worldwide by following the standard, called ISO 14001.
Although U.S. schools have made strides in being environmentally responsible, most have not taken the important step of following an actual environmental management system that is accepted in 140 countries as the route to proper environmental compliance and performance improvement.
When we are trying to make real, concrete and significant positive changes to how a country treats and improves the environment, it makes sense to work within the schools. When children are taught from the beginning the best practices from around the world, it becomes part of who they are. As they are the ones inheriting this world, they ought to know how to care for it, and they should also know that the adults in their lives care about the future as well. Since they spend 180 days a year for at least 13 years in the school system, it only makes sense that the schools instill these values.
At the university level, when young adults are making their first truly independent choices and are out on their own for the first time, there is a tendency to begin to see the world as it really is (good or bad) and want to make positive contributions to society. Colleges should have all the means in place to properly educate and care for these students on an environmental level and give them every option to further improve the world they are entering into as adults.
In Japan, there is a program called The Kids' ISO 14000 based on ISO 14001. Under the pilot program begun in 2000, children participate in an operating principle of environmental management called the "Plan, Do, Check, Act" cycle. This program is so different from what we see in most U.S. schools, where children are merely told what they should do.
Students in Japan are active participants in planning and setting goals for environmental performance. After they have "planned," they must "do" — implement the changes that they have decided on. Then they must "check" — monitor and measure their achievements so that they have concrete numbers supporting what they have done. Finally, they must "act" — review the results and learn from any mistakes that have been made in order to begin the cycle again with planning.
Through this program, the children are not the only ones who learn. Parents are also active participants, thus leading to further reduction in waste, water and electricity use and whatever other environmental goals have been set by their children.
The program reports increased environmental awareness among 80 percent of the children who participated and 60 percent of their families, revealing the effectiveness of environmental education of adults by children. There's also been a 10 to 15 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions per household.
One survey showed that children who had participated were committed to reducing the number of plastic bags used at supermarkets. The program has also been found to be effective in combination with other areas and school subjects, such as nature study and conservation, with environmental themes even being incorporated into drama classes.
Since participating children require the cooperation of their families in implementing the program in their households, communication within families has also been found to have increased. One Japanese city is using the program in its efforts to reduce crime by young offenders because it believes that improved communication within families removes one of the factors that can drive young people to criminal activity.
Businesses and local government agencies in Japan have taken a keen interest in The Kids' ISO 14000. Reaching their employees and citizens in their homes, it complements, reinforces and even multiplies their own efforts to build environmental awareness.
As a parent of students in elementary school, high school and college, I would like to see ISO 14001 implemented at all levels in the U.S. scholastic system so that there is a continuous improvement of environmental responsibility for my children.
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Bill Goss is the owner of Quality Systems Consulting Group in Amesbury. His Web site is www.merrimackvalleygreen.com. If you have any questions regarding Going Green, send them to merrimackvalleygreen@comcast.net and he will answer them in upcoming columns.
