Explore
Sustainability action process – Step 2
Embedded Files
Explore actions and behaviours that students and teachers can adopt to reduce water use. Explore ways in which schools, households and businesses change systems and equipment to improve water efficiency and sustainably manage stormwater.
Record your ideas, proposals and reflections in your learning journal.
Tanks collect and store rainwater for flushing toilets in a suburban public school.
Generate ideas and explore options for actions
Generate ideas and explore options for actions
- What types of water saving action could we undertake?
- Are some solutions more sustainable than others? Why?
- How will we know if the changes we make have been successful in using water more sustainably?
- How have others made improvements in this area?
Spring-loaded bubbler handles reduce water use.
Case studies
- Read case studies of how some Eco-schools – water have approached water efficiencies and sustainability issues.
- Find out how Newtown High School of the Performing Arts environment committee improved their water efficiency.
Dulwich Hill Public School builds a rain gardenEnviroTube | YouTube (9:33min)
Action projects
- As a class, view the YouTube video (9:33min) outlining the rain garden constructed by the community of Dulwich Hill Public School in Sydney's Innner West.
- List innovative ways to make your school more water efficient and sustainable. Try a silent debate to collect reactions.
Identify resources and constraints
Identify resources and constraints
- Who might be available to help us?
- What time and finances are available for the project?
- What might limit our actions?
Create a project mind map
- Map out different aspects of your project, the information or knowledge you need and the people or locations that can provide support.
List people who can assist
- List your team and those in the school that will help and provide advice. Remember your school's Parents and Citizens (P&C) Association, local businesses and local council.
Identify costs
- Do you have a budget or have you worked out any costs?
- Check to see if there are any grants available you could apply for to help your project.
- Create a spreadsheet listing actions with corresponding costs and resources needed.
Identify issues
- Consider and list issues that may arise that could affect your plan.
Select ideas for action
Select ideas for action
- What type of actions best meet the criteria for using water more efficiently and reducing water consumption in our school?
- Can we come up with a great idea?
- What will we do?
Rain gardens filter stormwater run-off, enabling healthier waterways. Roger Soh | CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
Determine ideas
- In groups, determine ideas that could make your school more water efficient. Try Google Jamboard as a tool to collate ideas and impacts.
- Learn how to make decisions in your project planning. Being able to suggest, argue and agree on an idea or plan is an important part of planning.
Washing paint brushes in a bucket of water instead of under the tap saves water. Max Pixel | Public domain
Select best options
- Select the best option using a decision-making tool such as the decision matrix analysis. How can your team rank a proposal if you don’t all agree?
- Work together to describe your team's proposal. Use systems thinking tools or flow charts to refine your understandings of impacts of the proposal.
Have you now decided your team's proposal?
Report abuse