3R’s Student Summits

Posted On: Jun 04, 12

Students from ‘Ewa Makai Middle School, Niu Valley Middle School, and Kahuku High & Intermediate School recently participated in environmental policy making processes in a variety of ways.

‘Ewa Makai student McErl Dave Andres submitted a Green Bill resolution to the Senate which proposed that each school implement at least 5 green initiatives by 2016 including: recycling, composting, water conservation, gardening and xeriscape design.
At Niu Valley, a school-wide educational summit took place throughout the month of April. Each week students screened 20 minutes of the film “Bag It” in their homerooms. After the entire movie was viewed, students were tasked to come up with solutions to reduce waste and increase recycling on their campus. After discussing the issue in their classes, students recognized that recycling has become a larger issue because of the impending removal of the Community Recycling Bin on their campus. They decided to write letters of testimony to the Honolulu City Council in support of keeping the Community Recycling Bins on school campuses. Kahuku High & Intermediate School held a unique gathering of student, administrative and community leaders to their Environmental Summit.
On May 9th, Kahuku students presented their environmental issues and resolutions to their Principal in hopes that each could be adopted into school policy for the upcoming school years. Community Leaders present provided insight and feedback for students to consider. Of the many resolutions submitted, areas of student interest were: waste reduction, recycling, single-use plastic reduction, local food in school lunches, environmental field trips and more. Kahuku Principal Ms. Donna Lindsey was very impressed by what was presented and provided positive feedback. Be on the lookout for some exciting changes on their campus in the coming school year.

Hats off to all students for doing your homework and proposing educated recommendations toward building sustainable campuses and participating in policy making. Your ideas and opinions matter and influence decision makers in making a positive difference in your school and communities. Keep up the great work!

Kudos to the City Council for making Recycling in schools a priority!
O’ahu schools have the support from the Honolulu City Council Budget Committee. On May 10th, the City Council Budget Committee reviewed Bill 14, CD1, FD1 which includes the allocation on $2,400,000 for the continuation of recycling hauling services for schools across O’ahu. Passing the the Budget Committee round, this bill now is on the agenda for a full City Council vote on June 6th.
Please send your support emails/letters to our City Council in support of Bill 14, CD1, FD1 to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).