Green Machine in Action

by Radwa Elsabagh, Grade 9 student, Member of Green Machine -

The “Green Machine” is finally starting to take action that will now be evident to the larger CIS community. Since the beginning of the year, we have been planning many different projects that we have strived to accomplish in the school. These have included: roof-top planters, compost bins, and Earth Day celebrations. We recently received the building materials for the planters and compost bins, and have already started the building process!

Our aim is to build garden beds on the 4th floor rooftop, where we can plant various herbs, vegetables and flowers, and make the rooftop look better and a more appealing space. We would also like to collect compostable organic waste to create a natural fertiliser for the plants. The goal also includes involving students, staff and parents with building and painting the rooftop as well as the planting and maintenance of the garden at large.

So far, as Green Machine members, we have built one planter and are in the process of painting it. The recent weather patterns have made this task more challenging than we anticipated (a contingency planning lesson)! The materials that we have received are enough to build two planters, so the second planter will be built by two advisory classes, hopefully before the end of the academic year. The advisory groups will be responsible to build the planter, paint it, chose and plant seeds, and take care of the plants.

We also received two rain barrels along with the planters. These will be used for collecting organic waste at school in order to compost the materials. We want to spread the idea of composting within the school community, since people generally do not think of composting as an environmentally friendly way of recycling. Composting is a great way of reusing organic food waste to make a better soil that can be used to grow plants more efficiently. We have already started both bins by drilling holes on the top and on the sides of the barrel to allow air flow for the compost. We have started filling it with organic waste. The shape of the barrel makes it simple to roll around for easy aeration and mixing of the materials inside. Our plan is to create a compost collection bin in the 5th floor west wing pod. Of course, we will first educate students about what they can and cannot throw into the composting bin, something we will be doing during the next assembly … after May exams. Hopefully by the time we write our next update, the planter will be full of soil and our seeds will be germinating.