“A little less conversation, a little more action please.”
Earlier this month, our High School students came together to host an all-day Sustainable Solutions event. As world leaders gathered in Glasgow during COP26 for more “talk talk talk” about future plans and commitments, our students sought to demonstrate the many ways they are taking action today to regenerate our world. The theme, fittingly, was “a little less conversation, a little more action please.”
In the photo gallery below, we share the actions our students are taking to create a sustainable world, and how we shared and celebrated their work with our Sustainable Solutions event.
Our High School students opened the event with a warm welcome and explanation of the day ahead, followed by a musical performance by the Green School Marimba band. Then, before all of the students dispersed to their separate activities, Ibu Isabelle from our community-led the students and faculty back to the present moment with a mindfulness session.
“What is really inspiring is that this event was a student-led event, I was so so happy to see our high school students taking ownership over this incredible piece of activism and engagement. As they join our community here they find their passion and are able to activate on that passion. This event really showcased that.” Leslie Medima, Head of Regeneration.
Our High School student, Noli, organized a sustainable fashion show featuring clothing from repurposed materials, thrifted clothing and a recent student clothing swap. She re-”modeled” these old clothes to make them more current and fashionable, supporting slow fashion as part of her sustainable solution.
The Green School community came together to paint an inspirational mural about climate activism. High School student, Tiago, shared his sustainable solution to create volleyball nets from discarded fishing nets collected from the ocean. The Sustainable Solution event had four learning objectives behind each session:
- Inspire Green School students to care about issues revolving around sustainability
- Bring various sustainability projects and conversations at Green School into one place
- Provide real, tangible opportunities for students to take ACTION on combatting the climate crisis
- Live and model the Green School mission – a community of learners making our world sustainable
The student organizers put so much effort and detailed thinking into the day’s itinerary. There were sustainable sports panels and volleyball games for students who are into sports, planting bamboo seedlings as part of our carbon zero initiative, a bio-cosmetic workshop for students to make sustainable DIY cosmetics and more. As part of our student-led “Menstruation Mission” project, students came together to stitch reusable menstruation pads.
The day also featured several panel discussions, including this one with the Green School Carbon Zero team, alongside representatives from our European Commission collaborator, su.re-co.
A discussion with Sungai Watch, Terra Water and our teacher and resident ocean ambassador, Pak Francis, on taking action to create healthy waterways and clean our oceans, Pak Made Janur, recently named one of CNN’s Heroes for 2021 shares his work on providing rice to local villagers in Indonesia during the pandemic, in exchange for plastic they collected around the island.
“We were able to see a variety of workshops given by different experts and climate activists. We had this cool, engaging, and interesting conversation and wrapped it all up with some cool music and a great documentary on plastic pollution – Pulau Plastic.” – Lucas grade 12.
Some inspiring performers also participated in the event. Rizal is an inspiring musician with a sustainable bamboo guitar. We also had a special performance from Roby Navicula who is also an activist advocating against plastic pollution through his documentary Pulau Plastic.
After all of the panels and workshops, all of the participants went back to our Sangkep, or assembly hall, to discuss their commitment as a community of learners making our world sustainable. Green School alumna, Melati Wijsen, co-founder of Bye Bye Plastic Bags and founder of Youthtopia, also joined the discussion and shared her journey. How she started as a student here at Green School Bali and how, today, she works to empower youth around the world by providing a platform for them to grow and make a change.
The day-long event culminated with a ‘Fridays for Future’ youth march, where High Schoolers joined students from Primary and Middle School on the field to make their voices, and demands for change to be heard.
Students created paper signs and shared their hopes for the future with one another.
It was an energizing day of inspiration, activism, and, most importantly, solutions.
