Back to School Week: Tips for Paper-Free Education
Back-to-school preparations traditionally mean stocking up on lots and lots of paper stuff: filler paper, notepads, laser paper, construction paper, folders and, of course, lots and lots of books. And while students are becoming increasingly eco-aware, a lot of those paper things on their shopping lists are impossible to buy used: notepads and printing paper have to be pristine and even many textbooks become quickly and uselessly out of date.
So what’s a conservation-minded student or teacher to do? Here are some suggestions:
- Teachers, load lesson plans and books onto your computer and read aloud to your students rather than print out reams of instructional materials each week;
- At levels where every student is likely to have access to a computer, instructors can also use recordable CDs rather than stacks of printed material for their classwork;
- See if it’s possible to email school assignments rather than print them and turn them in by hand;
- Teachers, use the blackboard more and handouts less;
- Give recycling bins a prominent place in classrooms, libraries, study areas and dorm rooms;
- For both students and teachers, don’t use a full 8 1/2-by-11 sheet of paper for brief communiques where a sticky note or note sheet will do;
- Take time in class to talk about the environmental impact of paper and ways to conserve. Sometimes, just raising awareness can pave the way for improved conservation;
- Then there are the usual steps anyone can take to reduce one’s “paper footprint”: choose recycled paper products, print on both sides of paper when you have to print, maximize margins and formatting to get the most out of each printed page and — of course — recycle used paper when you’re done with it.
Think steps like these won’t make a difference? Try telling that to the folks at Penn State University. A 2001 university study concluded that, simply by making the most of paper by reducing margins, font sizes and spacing, the school could reduce its annual paper consumption by 67 percent, send 80 percent less paper to landfills, cut paper-related carbon emissions by 77 percent and reduce its impact on forests by 90 percent … all while also saving money.
A so-called standard 100-page print job, for example, could be whittled down to less than 20 by choosing better print parameters, the study said.
For more ideas on conserving or eliminating paper in schools, check out the curriculum ideas at the Green Schools Initiative, or browse the selection of educational e-book titles at digital book purveyors CurrClick.com, which offers online texts targeting the homeschool market, and EcoBrain, which specializes in green living books.
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Back to School Week: Which Colleges Are Greenest?
Back to School Week: Miami, Bowdoin Ban Student Cars
Back to School Week: UF Issues Alternative Transport Challenge
