Sustainability and Green Team

The Green Team’s mission is to initiate waste reduction and
​school-wide sorting; enhance our garden learning program; and advocate for sustainability for both school and PFC functions.

Our Goals

• Promote environmental responsibility and healthy living with the school community.
• Encourage best practices in sustainability.
• Challenge students, staff, and the community to consider their ecological impact and provide education to support a positive impact on the environment and healthy living.
• Foster a learning environment where students can experience the connections between their actions, their health, their community, their environment, and their food.

Sustainability & Green Team Contacts

• Alexis Lavine-Moore, PFC Sustainability Co-Chair
  
• Deepa Lounsbury, PFC Sustainability Co-Chair​

Resources

• https://mightynest.com/shop/lunch-gear
• https://ecolunchboxes.com/pages/why-plastic-free
• https://myplasticfreelife.com/plasticfreeguide/
• https://www.ousd.org/greengloves

Our Initiatives

• Garden Program: Several organic, edible, and ornamental garden areas at Thornhill provide an outdoor classroom for​hands-on science instruction. Garden instruction is integrated with science curriculum and supports our sustainability goals of making the school greener, healthier, and more aware of the natural environment and life processes.
• TerraCycle:  We have purchased 4 TerraCycle boxes for the recycling of plastic-based snack wrappers (https://shop.terracycle.com/products/candy-and-snack-wrappers-zero-waste-box), plastic packaging (https://shop.terracycle.com/en-US/products/plastic-packaging-zero-waste-boxes?taxon_id=44), disposable masks (https://shop.terracycle.com/en-US/products/masks-zero-waste-boxes?taxon_id=44), and Pens, Markers, and Pencils (https://shop.terracycle.com/en-US/products/pens-pencils-and-markers-zero-waste-box?taxon_id=44).
• Healthy Bodies, Healthy Lives: honoring the importance of including healthy food options at all school-wide events.
• School Grounds: litter elimination, landscaping/beautifying, supporting responsibility and accountability, and a positive sense of community collaboration.
• Student Education: tricks and tips around environmental best practices (reuse, recycle, reduce, re-purpose).
• Waste Reduction & Sorting: Providing resources to optimize compost and recycling in classrooms, cafeteria, and at-school events; shifting to compostable and reusable products at school-wide events.
• OUSD EFG Champion Program: We have joined the new OUSD Environment, Food, and Garden (EFG) Program as the Thornhill EFG Champions to promote awareness of and involvement in  our sustainability and garden programs. This position connects us to the amazing educational activities and resources at The Center (https://sites.google.com/ousd.org/thecenteredprogramming) and provides support for our gardening and sustainability programs.

Get Involved!

Our Clean & Green team would love new adult and young members! Love gardening? Have awesome sustainable ideas? Want to just connect with folks with similar values? Have an hour a week to dedicate to a key cause? There are many ways to support our efforts—please consider volunteering to:
-Decrease single-use plastics/wrapper use in our students’ snacks and lunches
-Assist with garden maintenance
-Encourage student sustainability leadership, and student-led sustainability initiatives
-Track waste at school events
-Take a shift at Fall Sweep & Spring Clean workdays
-Support increased sustainability consciousness & concepts in our daily lives

Anyone in the Thornhill and local community is invited to join the Green Team, provide ideas, and initiate projects!​
Contact our Sustainability Co-Chairs, Alexis Lavine-Moore and Deepa Lounsbury to learn more.