To reduce the carbon footprint at The Columbus School, the ECOlumbus and GIN teams resumed a project asking teachers to reduce their use of copy paper by 10% this school year.

The initiative encourages each TCS teacher to find alternatives to printing by using online resources such as Schoology, Google Drive, E-books and pdfs. Data checks will be done by the ECOlumbus and GIN teams twice a year, and teachers who reach their goal will be rewarded with greenhouse coupons.

“We want to raise awareness about how we use our resources by promoting the use of tech tools to reduce paper, but also have an actual impact by reducing natural resources. This at the same time allows us to save money that can be used in a different way.” Jose Vega, GIN Leader and High School Teacher, said.

All teachers in the school who reach the 10% reduction, will receive greenhouse coupons which they can redeem for organic fresh vegetables from the GIN Organic Greenhouse.

“To be able to celebrate this idea, we combined this existing initiative with another one; which is the greenhouse,” Britta McCarthy, 9th grade Science Teacher, said.

Teachers who fail to reach the 10% reduction goal will work with GIN students on ways in which they can contribute to reducing the carbon footprint at TCS. Workshops to assist teachers will be provided by ECOlumbus.

“We definitely don’t want it to seem as a punishment, but we want our student leaders to work with teacher to be able to come up with a plan on how to reduce paper over time; we want to change behaviors over time,” Vega said.

This project began in 2014. This year, teachers were notified in August and are currently working on their goal. With the help of the technology department, ECOlumbus’ leaders will update teachers several times between now until June. The first update will be presented before Christmas break.

“We are likely to give teachers a couple months. We also need a baseline, which means that we have to see how much they are printing in a certain amount of time and then check,” Vega said.

Teachers have stated they’re motivated to contribute with paper usage reductions, and have found alternative ways to teach and manage their classrooms. Even though it’s hard working completely without paper, most have been making adjustments in their curriculums in order to help.

“I try to print as less as I can, all of my exams are online, and I only used printed copies to decorate my room. I’m learning how to use schoology and Turn It In; taking advantage of the opportunities the school provides for us,”  Johana Restrepo, 9th grade Spanish Teacher, said.

Some teachers, mostly from math classes, require more paper, so special consideration will be taken into account when judging their reductions.

“I obviously support any way that we can reduce paper usage. I feel a little bit mixed for math, as students writing on actual paper, improves their math performance. Along with the other math teachers, we know that our paper usage is very high, but its is still necessary,” Avery Berkowitz, 9th grade Algebra Teacher, said.

Large changes often begin with small steps, and teachers throughout all the school are excited to help reduce the school’s carbon footprint.

“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t print the syllabus packet which is 6 pages long, therefore I saved 600 sheets there,” Berkowitz, said.