ASANOGAWA GREEN PROJECT - Asanogawa Elementary School, Ishikawa Prefecture

JFS Newsletter No.9 (May 2003)
"Report on Environmental Education" Article Series No.1

As introduced in a JFS article entitled "Ishikawa Promotes Environmental Management System for Schools," an increasing number of elementary, junior high and senior high schools in Ishikawa Prefecture has been creating and implementing environmental action plans.
http://www.japanfs.org/db/241-e

Here we present a case study of city-run Asanogawa Elementary School in the city of the Kanazawa, which was certified under the prefecture's "Ishikawa Environmental ISO for Schools," environmental management system in the first year the system started operating. At the school, 257 students in 11 classes, and 17 faculty members (as of 1 May 2002), are engaged in environmental conservation activities they call the"Asanogawa Green Project,".

The project covers (1) conserving electricity (reducing CO2 emissions), (2) conserving fuel (also reducing CO2 emissions), (3) conserving water, (4) reduction of paper use, (5) reduction of waste generation, and (6) activities to care for nature. Throughout the school year, activities are conducted in various settings, including (1) the class room, (2) students' school committees, (3) daily school life, and (4) community activities.

Here are some examples of students' activities for conserving water .
The sixth-graders discussed and took actions on what they could do to protect the environment and what activities they wished to hand over to younger students in the Asanogawa Environmental ISO project, in classes for comprehensive study and learning.

(see: December issue of JFS Newsletter for "classes for comprehensive study and learning")

One reason for the students' high awareness about water conservation may be that every day they can see the Asanogawa River, which flows past the school. But due to pollution from further upstream, it is not exactly a clean river, and this probably makes them more aware of the importance of their activities.

In the water conservation project, the students proposed the installation of rainwater tanks at several locations in the school grounds, to utilize rainwater for cleaning, mini gardens, toilet flushing and the rinsing of used milk cartons (before recycling them).
The proposal from the students specified the locations and sizes of the rainwater tanks as well as how the rainwater should be used. At the moment, one rainwater tank has been budgeted and will installed very soon.

Students also proposed a project to install water-saving attachments in faucets at the school. These are small gadgets shaped like a child's toy top and are installed to limit the water flow from the faucet.
Installation with a wrench is relatively simple. Many municipalities in Japan distribute these devices to citizens free of charge or at a nominal cost in order to promote water conservation at home. The students conducted an experiment to verify the effectiveness of the devices and later asked the school to install them. Now about half of all water faucets in the school been installed with them.

The students' committee also measures the amount of water use at school.
All students take care to close faucets completely after use and wash cleaning cloths not with running water but with water in a bucket.
Students at Asanogawa Elementary School brush their teeth after lunch not only during the annual dental care campaign but throughout year. In the past, many students had the habit of just letting the water run while brushing their teeth, but now the entire school has joined the "just one cup" campaign for brushing teeth.

With these and other activities, water consumption per person in 2002 decreased by about 9 percent compared to 2000.

In the area of waste reduction, the students' school committee measures the weight of food left over from school lunches every day in order to promote the effective utilization of resources and reduction of waste. Students are also encouraged to eat all of their lunch.

Another school committee has been engaged in composting leftover food and this year they put pairs of flowerpots at several locations in the corridors. One has composted soil in it and the other has non-composted soil. With these paired flowerpots, all students can see and compare the growth of flowers and get an important message from what they see.

Asanogawa Elementary School started the collection of milk cartons used for their lunch ? they wash and dry them for recycling -- several years ago. Recently, Kanawaza City started to give back toilet paper rolls made of recycled paper to schools in return for the collection of used milk cartons. It is a meaningful approach to show students the results of their own recycling activities, and it motivates studentsf own efforts for recycling.

These activities and projects are not prepared by the teachers or faculty members, but the students themselves, who take a lead in generating ideas and implementing them. In all of the six activity areas, students and teachers have engaged in specific activities at classes, school committees and in daily school life. As a result, CO2 emissions per person in 2002 were reduced by 18 percent from the 2000 level.

Asanogawa Elementary School issues the "Asanogawa ISO newsletter" to report their activities and projects at the school. They also have space to introduce their activities on a bulletin board at school, as well as their own Internet website.

Their efforts to publicize these activities are not just because the school wants to advertise their own activities to the outside, but they hope that more people will also be inspired by what they are attempting, and that such environmental activities could gradually spread more throughout society.