Getting Smart
by Tom Vander Ark
This post originally ran in Green Schools Catalyst Quarterly
Denpasar is a dense urban area on the south coast of Bali, where most of the four million inhabitants live on the 90-mile long Indonesian island. If you hop on a scooter and head north toward the mountains, about halfway to Ubud (of Eat, Pray, Love fame) and a kilometer off a narrow main street in the small village of Sibang Kaja, you will find Green School Bali (featured picture), a nonprofit independent international preK-12 school whose goal is to be the best model of sustainability education in the world.
Following a 2006 exit from the jewelry business, John and Cynthia Hardy conceived of a new kind of school. The Green School opened in 2008 with three rules: be local; let your environment be your guide; and envisage how your actions will affect your grandchildren. The holistic, open air, learner-centered school serves about 400 “green leaders” in preschool through high school.
The Green School may be the best model of sustainability education in the world, but this frequently visited off-the-grid bamboo school that relies on solar and hydro power is just one of ten examples of green schools growing green kids – young people with ecological awareness and design thinking skills. Read more…