TJ alumna Sophia Ward wheels her recycling bin out to the curb. Teaching Denver Public Schools students how to build environmentally friendly habits at home is an important aspect of the DPS Sustainability Team's stewardship endeavors. photo by Ava Ward.
The Denver Public Schools’ Sustainability Team is working around the clock to build a cleaner and cooler future for its students.
What does 8:00 a.m. look like around the world? For Bangladeshis in their capital city of Dhaka, it looks like millions of citizens stepping outside to breathe in air replete with toxic sulfur dioxide from the country’s brick-building business. For Germans in the eastern state of Saxony, it looks like giant bulldozers destroying the medieval village of Pödelwitz so that the mining company MIBRAG can dig up the coal that lies beneath the historical town. For Americans in Boston, it looks like sitting in a morning traffic jam packed with gas-guzzling vehicles adding to the six million metric tons of greenhouse gases annually produced by the city. For students in Denver, however, 8:00 a.m. looks like thousands of students attending schools that are slowly but steadily becoming paragons of environmental friendliness. As the world crumbles under the weight of climate change and resource overuse, the DPS Sustainability Team is developing programs and procedures to assemble an environmentally-conscious district.
“We have a ton of buildings and a lot of students. That has a really big impact on the Earth,” explained Adam West, the district’s Project and Efficiency Specialist. “We have a big opportunity to make changes and influence the next generation of people living on the planet.” West focuses on making district projects like new buildings and major renovations more sustainable. From the energy use of the entire school system to the air quality in individual classrooms, West ensures that DPS is maintaining healthy conditions for students, staff, and Mother Nature.
School facilities are also monitored by the Sustainability Team’s Sustainability Analyst, Eric Punkay. Punkay evaluates utility use in the district. If a school’s energy or water consumption spikes unexpectedly, Punkay will investigate the increase and work with the school’s staff to ensure that the utilities are functioning properly. Punkay has also worked with the city to improve schools’ composting and recycling. “We’ve added composting to over ten schools this year,” he divulged. Punkay works directly with students around Denver, giving talks about better waste management practices and even forming Green Teams like TJ’s Sustainability Club.
Outside of school walls, Garden of Youth Program Specialist Chris Woodburn can be found cultivating fruits and vegetables with children of all grades. Woodburn ensures that no water waste occurs at the gardening sites and prevents the application of any synthetic pesticides that could be harmful to kids or any other living organisms in the area. The most important part of Woodburn’s job is involving students with the gardens. “The best thing I can do is inspire young people to inspire other young people,” Woodburn postulated. “[Working in the gardens] is about getting grassroots student engagement and making sure that when students are engaged, they have some guidance and know where to go when they have questions.”
Shifting 207 schools towards sustainability is no easy task. “We have to work with a lot of different people across the district, so they often have different priorities. Sometimes sustainability goes to the bottom,” admitted Punkay. The Sustainability Team works directly with schools to encourage environmentally-friendly practices whilst accommodating for the unique challenges every school faces. Still, the obstacles can sometimes require a little more manpower than the Sustainability Team can handle. “Sometimes I wish there were three of me,” West confessed. It is during these overwhelming times that the rest of the district can lend a helping hand. “We really need to partner with schools and students and teachers and everybody out there who wants to promote sustainability,” insisted West.
To keep the planet green, the team needs to get the green. DPS does not have a budget to finance the gardens, so it is entirely funded by grants and donors. Once again, the community has the power to attenuate this issue. Individuals who will be 18 or older in the fall can vote for bonds on the November ballot that will increase funding towards DPS departments. Those who cannot vote also have means through which they can enact change. “Student voices and parent voices are much louder than ours,” contended Punkay. “If the board is getting ten calls a day or even a week about sustainability being a priority, it would change. We know that when parents make phone calls and get the ear of board members, things happen very quickly.”
Despite these challenges, the Sustainability Team has made incredible advances in their work over the past year. The cadre has partnered with several DPS departments including Food and Nutrition Services, with whom they have collaborated on making cafeterias more sustainable. The grounds department has recently started using a salt-free ice melt, which is more expensive but better for the planet, animals, workers, and even buildings’ concrete and railings. Despite serving more students than ever, the district has been able to reduce its overall energy usage. “When I look back about what kind of impact we have had in a year, we have way more student engagement. More people know who we are and what we can do and what’s available,” enthused Woodburn. “So even though it feels slow when I’m looking forward, when I look back I’m like wow, we have made some progress.”
In the age of the teenage mental health crisis, the Sustainability Team plays a crucial role in supporting the emotional stability of Denver youth. “Climate change can really cause students to feel hopeless and depressed because it’s so big, but when we’re all doing little things together it adds up,” Woodburn expressed. “Fanning the flames of passion among the youth is my favorite thing to do. The Sustainability Team’s community outreach projects show students that they are not powerless in the fight to protect the planet. The mere act of experiencing nature has been shown to improve mental health. That emotional outlet will not continue to be available if resource use and climate change continue on their current track. “[Sustainability] is the most important thing to do and I think that DPS is an awesome opportunity because you could have a big impact and educate the next generation about their earth,” Punkay commented on his motivation for pursuing sustainability goals. The team hopes that future generations will be able to access the magnificent facets of nature that they have benefitted from.
The planet is in grave peril. Humankind must make the choice between saving its home or watching it burn. One of the most powerful lessons that can be taken away from the DPS Sustainability Team’s success is that this problem will only be surmounted if we work together. Through patience, perseverance, and persistence, sustainability will be attained.
