Green Features
Reducing Consumption #1:
Biobags
At Besant Hill School we are eliminating the use of non-biodegradable polyethylene plastic bags throughout the campus facilities by replacing them with the new generation of biodegradable plant-based plastic bags. We estimate that this will reduce our consumption of polyethylene plastic bags in our dorms and classrooms by over 15,000 bags throughout the school year.
Reducing Consumption #2:
Re-Usable Shopping Bags
At BHS students are provided with re-usable shopping bags for grocery shopping on our regular town trips. We estimate that this practice eliminates the use of nearly 10,000 non-biodegradable polyethylene retail shopping bags during the school year.
Tod Cossairt
Director of Sustainability
Bioneers Conference
October 14-16, 2011
In what has become one of our traditional experiential events, thirteen Besant Hill School students and three of our BHS faculty made the journey in October to participate in the annual three-day Bioneers Conference in Marin County.
We were honored to hear from an overwhelming number of remarkable environmental scientists, professionals and activists at the conference. As we have come to expect, we are all still processing the information and the experience.
A few of the highlights from the conference were John Liu, who, as a soil scientist/filmmaker, is documenting the successful restoration of huge tracts of degraded ecosystems in China, Ruanda, Ethiopia, and Mali.
We also heard from Anim Steel, who is part of the growing movement to inspire and employ the next generation of sustainable farmers and food producers. We heard from Paul Stamets, whose research with fungi is revealing jaw-dropping success in the use of fungi for medicine, 
environmental restoration, and pest control. We heard Karen Brown, who has twice been a speaker at BHS, weave her tale about the importance of teaching “ecological literacy” in our schools. We heard from Amory Lovins, considered by Foreign Policy Magazine as one of the top 100 global thinkers: Amory laid out his economic formula for a soft transition to a renewable energy economy by the year 2030.
We were honored to hear presentations from these speakers, and many, many more. Perhaps as important, however, was the opportunity to hear each speaker share the personal philosophies, challenges, and wisdom that inspired, motivated, and informed his or her life’s work.
Without exception the journey of each of the presenters to the Bioneers Conference stage began with a single step. This is the same metaphorical "step" we are encouraging all of our students to consciously make in their own lives.
The BHS Bioneers will be sharing their experiential learning and reflections at a special Bioneers assembly on Monday, December 5th in the Zalk Theater.
For more information on Bioneers, visit their website at: www.bioneers.org