Have you ever noticed how polluted ICSA is? From food trays lying around, some left untouched, to Capri-Sun pouches thrown on the floor without a care in the world. As a school with such beautiful green scenery, it needs some guidance to reach its true potential.
That’s where Dunia comes in.
Dunia Going Green, a passion project created by four freshmen last year, wants to tackle the waste and pollution problem here at our school.
Since the start of the 2023-2024 school year, Dunia has focused on three main projects: collecting data, petitioning to become an ECO school, and raising awareness.
What has Dunia done?
One of the first aspects that Dunia wanted to address was the amounts of food wasted at our school. In order to raise awareness and make a more compelling case, Dunia decided to weigh the amount of food that ICSA wastes in a single day, only from one singular trash can, which doesn’t count for the entire school. They measured 14.64 kilos in a day, which can add up to a hefty 5,344 kilos in one year.
Once the data was gathered, Dunia wanted to share these important findings with the school; so, they organized a presentation and called for an assembly for grades 4 and 5. They felt like it was crucial to teach young children about issues like this to inspire more change. After all, they are the future of ICSA.
They’ve noticed that high schoolers show much less enthusiasm than younger students, and this might have to do with the lack of awareness and education embedded in the curriculum.
“It isn’t integrated into the curriculum or talked about enough. Younger kids have such a strong emphasis on the environment but by the time they get to upper school, their interest in the environment slowly starts to die down,” says Mwamvita Barnabas, 10th grader at ICSA.
During this assembly, Dunia also started a petition to become an ECO School. They gathered over 200 signatures within a few days.
ICSA Becoming an ECO School
ECO schools are “the largest global sustainable schools program. They encourage young people to engage in their environment by allowing them the opportunity to actively protect it. It starts in the classroom, it expands to the school, and eventually fosters change in the community at large.”
To become an Eco School, 7 steps have to be completed. The first is to form a committee. They will then identify the current environmental state of ICSA and highlight areas for improvement. An action plan is created. Then, they will start integrating it into the curriculum afterward.
Being a part of this program means having eco-friendly measures integrated into the curriculum. This will be a huge accomplishment for the school if this occurs.
With the signatures, some brochures about Eco Schools, and the hope to start making an impact at the school, Dunia members had a meeting with the director to convince him of registering the school in the program. He was excited and gave them the green light.
They organized different ways to call for volunteers to form the committee, the first step. Teachers and parents signed their names, started meetings, completed the environmental audit, and they are now starting step 3 of creating an action plan.
Dunia’s Experience at Al-Rayan
In February, Dunia had the opportunity to travel to the 2024 AISA GISS (African International School Association Global Issues Service Summit). The event was hosted by Al-Rayan (ARIS), an international school located in Accra.
The school has the mission of: “Wherever possible, building designs and facilities utilize green, environmentally-friendly solutions. Human intervention, by students and staff, will have a positive, sustainable impact on our surroundings.” Immediately, the group noticed was how eco-friendly the campus was.
Al-Rayan is a cashless campus, meaning no paper waste from snack tickets. They also provide students with bamboo cups for them to reuse.
“They’re very environmentally conscious and you can tell how they manage their resources as well,” says Ana Matera, 10th grader.
Savannah Shamamba, 10th grader at ICSA, adds, “I feel like they’re very environmentally friendly, when we were over, they really installed the thought onto us. There were multiple announcements and talks; they put a lot of effort into changing young minds.”
Student Voices
Students at ICSA have noticed that the problem is right in front of them, but are not actively trying to help. Why is that?
“I feel like they’re polluted in the mind, high school mostly. Some people really don’t care about things like this, and prior efforts of trying to include green or trying to be more sustainable hasn’t really worked so far because of this attitude.”
-Mwamvita Barnabas, grade 10 student ICSA
The Future of ICSA in terms of Sustainability
The path towards sustainability won’t be easy, but Dunia is committed to starting a Green Revolution. They will help complete the 7 steps to become an Eco School and they will also continue to raise awareness about better ways to live in balance with our planet. Hopefully one day, with the help Dunia and the rest of of our community, students and staff will look at ICSA and see beautiful greenery with no plastic or waste littered around.
