Mural advocating against climate change and pollution. 

Photo credit: Jackson Anderson

One of GCDS’s main goals, written in the school mission statement, is to make students “ready to embrace opportunities and challenges in a world of rapid change,” and a core aspect of that aim is nature and sustainability. Both the Stanwich and Old Church Road campuses have implemented green infrastructure and instilled environmental awareness into classrooms, but the scope and future of these programs is constantly evolving. 

Dr. Barratt, the Upper School Sustainability Coordinator, generously offered to elaborate on the school’s initiatives. She started by explaining that sustainability at GCDS is divided into and managed in three lenses: the environmental, the social, and the economic. The environmental lens encompasses conservation and school/environment interaction, the social lens comprises sustainability education and activism, and the economic lens deals with the practicality of a sustainable strategy.

Bee hives, in front of the school, are a home for pollinators, cared for by the GCDS beekeeping club  

Photo credit: Bridget Day

What GCDS excels at most, according to Dr. Barratt, is environmental sustainability; “We’re using alternative energy, we’re trying to cut down on our waste… we work on cutting down on the resources that we use in our teaching… we have a lot of ways we reduce water usage… we have all-LED lighting to cut down on the amount of electricity that we use… we have a state of the art HVAC system… on the other campus we collect rainwater, and we use that to water the fields.”

A wall sustainably made of wood felled on the construction site of the GCDS high school  

Photo Credit: Bridget Day

Regarding the social lens, volunteerism and climate action are handled by five different sustainability coordinators (in the Elementary, Middle School, Upper School, and the French Farm) who are working to better integrate sustainability and education into the school curriculum.

 Ultimately, the goal of emphasizing environmental issues is to get students to act as activists outside of the classroom. To Mr. Lehn, a 9th-grade Biology teacher, the EarthRise club embodies this goal: “EarthRise is a club for environmental activism, used to educate, raise awareness, and act on environmental issues, both in intra-school and inter-school initiatives.”

Mr. Lehn discussed how principles of sustainability are presented in the curriculum. He says the 9th-grade environmental innovation project could be improved by having the “EarthRise [club] take on a mentoring or partnership role for the ninth-grade biology class, so that an idea that has great potential actually has legs.”

Plants growing under Ella’s LED lights in a hydroponic system for a science project.

Photo credit: Carolina Deus 

Economically, making the school sustainable might be expensive now, but will benefit GCDS in the long run. Dr. Barratt says “There’s a lot of expenses that GCDS has incurred to be the type of educational facility that was walking the walk and talking the talk.” 

Chef Stein also aims to be sustainable while balancing the budget, trying to cut the burning of fossil fuels by limiting shipping; as he explains, “I choose local products – it’s not about choosing local and seasonal, it’s about shipping – ‘Can I order avocados from Ecuador?’ Of course, I can. However, it would be better to order asparagus from New Jersey.”

However, there are still steps to take, such as getting the school on green energy, organizing green volunteer opportunities, and recovering from the environmental damage wrought by the coronavirus. As Dr. Barratt notes, “there were a lot of things that were in place [before COVID], like not allowing single-use plastic into the school and not allowing single-use silverware … because it just creates so much trash, but that all went by the wayside … I’m hoping that some of those looser restrictions will become tighter again … where we fall short a little bit is the extracurriculars and athletics … we could try to work on having a storage closet so that there could be a little bit more reuse, purchasing some more reusable items, I think everyone’s in favor of that, but it was the pandemic that put a stop to it.” 

If you have any suggestions or questions regarding sustainability, feel free to contact Dr. Barratt.