Personal Project

My son goes to Hoosier Courts Cooperative Nursery School, the IU-owned preschool for children of students, staff, and faculty.  He loves it; he has incredible teachers, sweet buddies, and a lot of fun.  It's a "learning through play" environment, so no emphasis on the books just yet.  As we all know, though, we learn through EVERYTHING, particularly when we're spongey and five years old. 

One of the things these kids are learning at Hoosier Courts is that disposable stuff is "normal."  Everyday for lunch, 90 styrofoam plates are used, along with plastic spoons, forks, and cups.  It's the cups that kill me.  Every snack comes served with milk or water in a little plastic cup.  Between all three classes and all the snacks and meals, the school goes through over 150 cups per day.  Not that I think about it all that much, but that works out to be approximately 27,000 cups per year, with time off for Christmas.  From one school.  And talk about pervasive cultural influences- in the beginning, Henry let me pack his reusable sippy cup, and felt fine to drink out of that.  He realized one day that it was unusual, and now refuses to drink out of it at school.

Cut to the chase: for my personal project, I'd like to work with the school's director, Carol, to "green" up the nursery school.  For me, that looks like helping get a commercial dishwasher installed, purchasing reusable plates, establishing a composting system, and analyzing purchasing practices.  I think there is the desire there to make all these things happen, but the system is the way it is for many reasons: convenience, sanitation, cost.  I'm meeting with Carol tomorrow, so wish me luck.