Put your school or college on a path to a low carbon future.
Going Green means making a long term commitment to reduce carbon emissions. That means both taking the action we can now and making sure that cutting carbon becomes an ordinary part of everyday life in the future.
To do this in your school or college, the Go Green campaign has two major steps.
Step 1: The Pledge — getting your Headteacher or Principal on board
This is the first and most important thing that you need to do. From talking to loads of people in schools, colleges and universities, we know that cutting carbon will be much easier if you get the person at the top signed up to the campaign. With the commitment of your Principal or Head it will be much easier to achieve Step 2 and Go Green.
To show they care about a low carbon future, ask your Head or Principal to sign the Go Green Education Pledge. All signatures will be listed on the People & Planet national website. Your school or college will get public recognition for doing something about climate change (it’s good publicity for them), and you can use it to get the school or college to take concrete steps to cut the carbs (it’s good for your campaign).
Step 2: The Go Green Goals — action to cut the carbon
Once you’ve got your Principal or Head to sign the Pledge, it’s time to put that commitment to good use. The Go Green Goals are the basic building blocks for any college or school wanting to continually improve its climate impact.
Go Green Goal 1: Set up a climate action group
The climate action group will oversee, plan and implement the actions which reduce the carbon emissions of the college or school. It’s essential to have a core group of people who take on the climate challenge and push the school or college to take effective action. The climate action group should include representatives from the student body, teaching staff and estates staff.
Go Green Goal 2: Cut your emissions
Clearly, all talk and no action won’t help us deal with climate change. There are some simple steps you can take to cut emissions (like, for instance, making sure everyone turns off lights and equipment), which can also save your college or school money. By taking action and measuring the reduction in emissions you can prove that tackling climate change really is possible.
Go Green Goal 3: Get everyone on board
Activities which raise awareness of climate change and promote changes in behaviour are central to getting all the students and staff on board. This could involve doing assemblies for other students, putting on events, or even getting climate change into lessons and courses.
Go Green Goal 4: Adopt a carbon reduction policy
A formal policy which commits the whole school or college to reduce carbon is a key step to long term action on climate change. The policy should incorporate the other Go Green Goals, making the climate action group permanent, setting targets for carbon reduction and laying out plans to achieve these targets, and committing to raising awareness in the whole school. The policy should also commit the school or college to working towards having extra staff capacity to manage environmental impact.