Many schools are giving back to the environment.
One such school is the NYCiSchool. The students are constructing a Green Roof, which in the most simplistic sense, is a garden on the roof of the building. An interview with student Anna Ralbovski revealed that students are expected to devise design of the Green Roof. As of yet, the design is said to include a pond, several pebble pathways with benches, and a variety of plants, flowers, and trees. But the Green Roof isn’t only supposed to look pretty. The school aims to reduce the building’s carbon footprint. Clad in wind turbines and an advanced irrigation system, the NYCiSchool’s fancy Green Roof is taking major steps in improving the city’s pollution levels. The otherwise impermeable roof surface causes excessive water runoff leading into sewage overflows, and thus polluting local rivers. The students are hoping that the irrigation system will be the solution to this problem, and finally put that water to good in use by feeding the vegetation.
Wind turbines are, if possible, even fancier. These massive, whimsical machines convert wind energy into usable power. They’re a good alternative for people that don’t want to burn more fossil fuels. The green roof should be finished the end 2012.
It seems that these schools have fed two birds with one seed: not only are the students learning valuable science information, they are contributing to the environment and community. How is that for a science class?