With increasing concerns about the impact of human behavior on the environment, it’s no surprise that schools – given their institutionalized commitment to bettering the lives of our kids – are hopping aboard the sustainability bandwagon. Each year, more schools and classrooms are going green, prodded by rising energy bills, public health concerns and a general desire to adopt eco-friendly principles. Sustainability is a widely – and sometimes incorrectly – used term these days, but it is generally accepted to mean behavior that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their ultimate needs. Schools are exploring their options to be more sustainable on many levels by using sustainability as an integrating context for curriculum, community partnerships, and campus practices.

 

Walking the Walk

Transportation is a big piece of the sustainability puzzle. Unsustainable transportation consumes excessive amounts of energy, creates air and water pollution, harms human health, and delivers poor service for many social and economic groups – including children. Sustainable transportation consists of forms of transport that minimize emissions of carbon dioxide and pollutants; it includes public transportation, car sharing, walking, and bicycling.

Encouraging kids to walk or bike to school can provide financial savings to school systems and parents, help reduce parking and traffic problems, reduce pollution, and provide safety and health benefits for kids. Encouraging and enabling children to understand and utilize these modes of transportation is a critical goal for a school looking to be more sustainable.

 

And of course, one of the most basic things to remember is that kids will never be able to walk to school if their schools and homes are too far from each other. How and where we develop our land directly impacts our ability to walk and bicycle. Too many New Jerseyans need to burn a gallon of gas to get a gallon of milk because of few options besides the car for travel to stores, school, recreation and work. If we make sure that our communities allow for greater mixing of land uses, increasing densities, and focusing on bringing origins and destinations closer together, we can improve the accessibility of our community’s destinations and make sure that more uses are within walking distance.

 

Saving Trips and Money

Over half of all children arrive at school in private automobiles (2001 National Household Travel Survey, Federal Highway Administration.) In addition, parents driving children to school represent up to 25 percent of morning traffic (NHTSA 2003.)