The first time I walked into a recycling center it felt a bit like a candy shop.
The walls were high and stacked; there were a lot of smells; and giant shovels scooped plastic the color of gumballs into enormous bins. Of all the possible occasions for a visit to the Sims Municipal Recycling center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, I was actually there for a birthday party for a 26-year-old. We toured the facility to learn about the lifecycle of recyclable products, then we ate cupcakes.
The visit made me realize how few opportunities there are to learn about sustainability outside of the classroom. As adults, we’re not forced to reckon with our lifestyle choices the way kids are. They’re making these decisions for the first time. For us it’s just routine. I wish we were graded on knowing where our trash goes when it leaves the curb or how much methane our leftovers produce in the landfill. As adults, we should take lessons from sustainability education aimed at kids.
New York City—home to the largest public school system in the United States, educating over 1.1 million students annually—is a great example. Since 2008, every NYC school has been tasked with assigning an annual sustainability coordinator, a school-based liaison who works with the Department of Education, to form student “green teams” and coordinate in-school sustainability initiatives.
The programs they lead teach students to organize and guide fellow classmates during lunch cleanups, showing them what to recycle, throw away, and compost. Students learn valuable skills like community building, leadership, evaluation, and responsibility. The sustainability coordinators even draw on the power of games to motivate students by rewarding classrooms who produce the least amount of waste.
Gamification is proving to be a trend in the sustainability space for adults too. The XReality Center at The New School, for example, is researching and designing immersive technologies to expose new audiences to environmental issues. The researchers make 360 degree apps that take users on virtual tours of unreachable places to witness acidification in the ocean and emissions damage in the atmosphere. Other groups like the World Wildlife Fund and the UN SDG Action Campaign use XR technologies to share openly available stories about biodiversity loss and communities experiencing environmental racism.
Another pedagogical method in NYC schools that I’d like to see adults practice asks students to evaluate their own neighborhoods’ safety, cleanliness, and accessibility. Once kids make their observations, they come together to map the city and compare their findings to public records of income levels, asthma rates, proximity to trash routes, and other factors.
Rather than telling students what to think, these activities help them identify changes they want to see, to think independently, verify sources, and draw their own conclusions about the systemic flaws that lead to unhealthy environments. I can only dream of adults taking this kind of action on their own. These types of observations and investigations are crucial ways to hold governments accountable.
Of course, these programs are not perfect. Despite all the good work, sustainability is often still a compartmentalized lesson instead of a value system that flows through curricula. It needs to be woven into math, science, social studies, and language arts. But at least kids are thinking in ways that adults are not.
So what do I want to see over the next four years? I want to see adults acting more like kids. I want to see folks being nosy neighbors and asking questions about what’s happening in their communities. I want to see Saturday visits to the recycling education center (in addition to the axe throwing range). I want us to recognize that it’s possible, acceptable, and necessary to reshape values and behavior even as adults. And most of all, I want us to listen to the next generation for cues on how to be better.
Alex Kisielewski is the Communications Manager of the Biodesign Challenge. She earned a BA in Government and Russian Language from Georgetown University and an MA from New York University in Media, Culture, and Communication. Her event and communication work for nonprofit organizations, including The Century Foundation and The New School, have focused on raising awareness of public policy issues. She is on a mission to encourage sustainability-focused consumers, educators, and legislators by strengthening the relationship between food, culture, education, and technology.
Cite This Essay
Kisielewski, Alex. “What NYC Schools Can Teach Adults About Sustainability.” Biodesigned: Issue 4, 23 November, 2020. Accessed [month, day, year].
