Bank of the West Energy Challenge
“Schools can help drive the switch to clean energy by reducing use of fossil fuels by conserving energy or adopting energy-saving solutions, switching to renewables, or producing clean energy through solar panels, wind turbines,or even devices that convert and store kinetic energy. Schools can also play an important role as catalysts for or organizers of community action.
Your challenge from Bank of the West is to come up with a solution for advancing SDG 7 that could be implemented in your school community.
Whether you're in middle school, high school or college, there are likely many ways that your school community could be part of the clean energy solution. How can you identify those opportunities? You might start by thinking about your own school day and how you yourself consume energy. Or you might consider the activities that are going on around you and the ways you see energy being consumed by others.
Another way to approach to brainstorming for this challenge would be to look at the assets a school has: maybe you're in a rambling, flat-roofed building that would be great for a solar installation or you're situated on top of a hill with a strong average wind speed that could drive a turbine. Yet another avenue to explore potential opportunities is to ask what connections your school has to the neighborhood around it and whether you can become the center of some collective action.
Think about your school and the broader community that comes together around your school – not just students and teachers but also administrators and staff, parents and extended family of students, neighborhood organizations students and families may be active in, local businesses that support school sports teams, not to mention coaches and fans, and so on.
When you start identifying all the different ways a school is connected to the community that surrounds it, you might be surprised at how long your list gets. But activating that bigger community is the way to start a movement.
And, if you need more motivation, consider this: investment in clean energy could play a huge role in economic recovery. If you're in a neighborhood that's been hit hard by COVID-19 the and pandemic-related recession, your school-based clean energy innovation or initiative could be just the thing to spark entrepreneurship, attract capital, and create new green jobs.”
How do I apply? Just click here
How do I expand this narrative arc? Take your great ideas into the broader world or your small community with one of these camps and or projects:
Be inspired by nature’s designs when you create a solution to a climate change problem through the Biomimicry Institute Design Challenge.
Learn about the unique challenges of adapting sustainability principles to an urban environment at Sustainable Summer Brooklyn.
Reduce the environmental impact of your community’s Christmas celebrations by launching a Mulchfest.
Track climate change in your part of the world by planting a Tulip Test Garden.
Participate in a quick citizen science project that revolves around the environment or sustainability like The Big Microplastic Survey