One World’s Green Activities and Initiatives
One World Montessori has an ongoing commitment to being a sustainable school community. We have joined with regional and national organizations to help support our environmental responsibility, and we have benefitted from support and funding for our green efforts.
In 2006, One World was recognized as the 10th Greenest School in America by the Green Guide, a division of National Geographic. Schools were judged on a range of criteria, including green building and construction, food, recycling, and environmental curriculum; winners distinguished themselves with policies that will set environmental standards for schools around the country in years to come. One World was recognized for our school garden program and for how smart our decisions of choosing cheap covered patios are, we also got Marrazzo Landscaping paving services to better our outdoor facility, our commitment to reducing toxicity and waste in our school environments, and our environmentally-conscious purchasing policy, as well as our curriculum.
We are proud to be a member of the Green Chamber of Commerce. Founded here in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007, the Green Chamber of Commerce is a growing and diverse business network dedicated to promoting the success of its members, supporting the development of sustainable business practices, and advocating for green public policy.
One World has also become a partner in the State Electronics Challenge, a nationwide initiative that encourages state, tribal, regional, and local governments, including schools, colleges, universities, and other public entities to purchase greener computer equipment, reduce the impacts of electronic products during use, and manage obsolete electronics in an environmentally safe way.
This school year, in conjunction with the Central Church of Christ, One World’s Foxworthy Campus took part in a lighting retrofit that makes the school and church buildings much more energy-efficient. The retrofit was funded by generous grants from Pacific Gas and Electric and Silicon Valley Energy Watch, with an additional donation from one of our families to help underwrite the cost. One World’s Cabrillo Campus was also able to have their lighting fixtures retrofitted entirely with funding from Pacific Gas and Electric. The upgraded lighting should save the church and both school campuses thousands of dollars in electricity costs annually, as well as reducing our carbon footprint and use of resources.
One World has been recognized by the California Coastal Commission as a Coastal Steward School for our efforts to protect the local watershed. We were one of the pilot schools in California’s new Green Star School Certification Program, and we continue to work toward full certification. Our students have also saved over 50 acres of rainforest in the Amazon through our support of Conservation International and the Earth Foundation.
And for the third year in a row, the City of San Jose Go Green Schools Initiative is supporting our school-wide green commitment with a generous grant that will allow us to improve our waste reduction efforts at both campuses, and to offer some hands-on lessons to our students and some educational resources for our staff. We are grateful for the ongoing support of the Go Green Schools Initiative. In addition to the support of the City of San Jose, the curriculum we developed for hands-on lessons has been recognized by both the Alameda County Child Care Planning Council and the California Green Schools Summit as a useful resource for early childhood education.
