Teachers Pledge to Go Paperless for Earth Day

by Lisa Ray · 2010-04-22 07:00:00 UTC
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Teachers are celebrating Earth Day by pledging to refrain from using paper or accepting work on paper this Earth Day, April 22.

The effort is spearheaded by Steve Katz and Shelly Blake-Plock, and with teacher-participants in all fifty states and almost as many countries, Paperless Earth Day is truly a worldwide effort.

As a parent I can attest the amount of paper used in classrooms. While it’s hard to say that all paper is wasted, schools can certainly cut down on the volume. Much of the paper that is “backpacked” home ends up unread (after an initial glance) and in our recycling. Blake-Plock cites source reduction as the best form of conservation and a key reason to go paperless in the classroom.

And as students get older, the need for paper in teaching and learning lessens. The purchase of 320 iPads in one Minnesota high school, for example, allows for paperless homework assignments. Imagine the paper savings over time, not to mention the cost savings as textbooks are digitized.

Blake-Plock has also created a wiki so that teachers can document and post what they did in their classrooms in lieu of paper use on Earth Day. Blake-Block envisions this as a “communal resource for lesson plans, ideas, and the sharing of stories.”

I’m hoping that green-minded teachers are moved to go paperless and discover the benefits of technology along the way. Here’s to saving trees, money, and time — and to preparing children appropriately for the world outside of school.

Happy Earth Day!

Lisa Ray is the founder of Parents for Ethical Marketing. She also blogs at CorporateBabysitter.org.

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