If your school is interested in starting a green program to reduce its carbon footprint and to help the environment, there are a number of tips that can help you. Here are some ways that the school can get started.

1. Enjoy the E-Life: Get the school to start using paperless communication. Get email addresses for everyone in the school and encourage teachers to communicate through email. Homework assignments can all be send through email, as can classroom announcements.

2. Green Bulletin Board Fun: Create a school bulletin board and advertise environmental news there. You might even want this board to be done electronically, as a Facebook page or something similar.

3. Try to get the entire school involved in a green project. Challenge everyone to have a week bag-free. Everyone should figure out how to bring their school lunches for an entire week without any plastic bags. There are other suggestions like this that will get the kids away from their school chairs and doing something active for the environment.

Whether you’re going back to school for the new year or want a fresh start with a greener image, there are many ways to be more green at school. Here are some suggestions for being more environmentally friendly during your school day.

1. Before you rush out to buy new school supplies, make sure that you don’t already have them at home. Make a list and avoid duplicates. Look at the supplies that you may have around the house and consider using them, even if they aren’t shiny and perfect.

2. Clothing: You can go to second-hand stores for clothing and still look hip. You can also look for clothes made from sustainable fabrics like organic cotton and bamboo.

3. The Greener Pen: You can use refillable pencils and longer lasting pens these days. Keep your pencils and pens until they absolutely run out and treat them well. If your school desks have a place to store supplies, you can store them there and count on them lasting for longer than you might expect.

4. Say No To Paper: In this electronic age, so much can be done without paper. Teachers can email homework assignments and you can email them back. Notifications can be done through email or through a WhatsApp group.

When we talk about making our schools more eco-friendly, we are often talking about global ideas. We look at water use, electricity and more. But there are actually much more simple ways to create eco-friendly classrooms. And one of these ideas is to pack eco-friendly lunches for your kids. Here are suggestions for doing so:

1. Cut the waste. Don’t use the plastic bags and single-serve lunch items at the store.

2. Purchase a plastic container for each kid that has separate compartments. This helps with portion control since you have different compartments that allow for only a certain amount of food. It also helps you to speed up the lunch-making process since you can make it the night before and fill up each compartment.

3. You’ll actually save money by using a plastic or stainless steel container. While the lunch box may cost more up front, you’ll save money since you won’t be paying for prepackaged items and you won’t be using four to five baggies a day.