Valencia’s Tale of Trash and Treasure

Thinking green at Colegio Internacional de Carabobo (CIC) in Valencia, Venezuela used to be the philosophy of only a few individuals, working hard to bring recycling to the fore. This year, however, with the offering of an after-school elementary “Green Team” and the initiation of a faculty Committee for the Environment, CIC has officially, fully entered the “green zone!”

Our high school students are collecting soda cans and crushing them in preparation for recycling. They have also taken responsibility for ensuring that as much used paper as possible is recycled from every classroom and office. Containers for cans and paper are visible throughout the school, and emptied by our students weekly.

Several energetic teachers, with the help of the elementary “Green Team” students, have been working on creating “earth benches” on the school’s nature trail. One is an example of rammed earth construction and the other is a sculpture made of cob (an adobe-like material) that resembles an iguana—our campus is a refuge for the native lizard.

During Earth Week, students took trash bags as they walked along the school’s nature trail, where our high school students have designed a variety of nature lessons to teach to younger students.

Here and there, classes were busily engaged in crafts using materials that are generally thrown away. One hallway featured a “Junk Museum,” in which students created fun and useful things from junk. A featured artist also shared her wealth of ideas for making beautiful works of art out of “junk.”

All classes were encouraged to bring waste-free snacks or lunches during Earth Week. A brochure was prepared to explain the rationale for reducing our waste by avoiding packaging that cannot be re-used. It was heartwarming to hear students respond with, “My father says we aren’t going to use paper napkins at home any more!”

Many students have since made the switch to a waste-free snack every day! And our lunch caterer has generously acceded our request to offer only reusable, metal cutlery.

Topping off the week, the entire school gathered for our first annual Earth Day Assembly. Students participated with songs and poems, demonstrations, and recognitions. It was a time to celebrate how far we’ve come as “green thinkers” and also to move forward with our initiatives. Let us better appreciate and care for our earth.

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