SPARE-Activities of the Skolkovo Gimnasium ecological council

Authors and translators of the text:

Banjevic Tamara
Frykin Anton

The ecological council of the International Gymnasium of the Skolkovo Innovation Center was formed a year ago, during the school year 2018/19. During its 2 years of existence, the council has managed to set the gymnasium’s ecological vision; defining the main issues and steps for dealing with them. Some of the projects include creating the school’s “live corner”, class gardening, charity events for orphanages and the animal shelter Yuna, recycling actions, analysis of the air quality of the Skolkovo area (using lichen as bioindicators), examination of hygienic conditions in the school and effects of growing seeds on hydroponics vs. traditional way. The last two projects were presented at this year’s Forum of Young Researchers held at MSU. Our research and activities on energy efficiency, resource conservation, alternative energy sources, and separate waste are based on the materials of the international SPARE program. In 2019-2020, our project was awarded a diploma in the Russian competition of SPARE projects in the category "School Climate plan".

In 2020, we have continued the work of the ecological council, as we managed to get more attention from the student body, increasing our number of members. Some of our main projects include:

• Focusing on the problem of plastic:
• In our school, we have many water coolers with plastic cups on the side. Members of the ecological and student councils noticed this issue and are currently in negotiations with school’s administration for the possible replacement of coolers with water fountains. Members of the student council started their own campaign, by bringing their own cups or thermos, for multiple use, in order to minimize the usage of plastic cups.
• Creation of our school’s ecological passport: members of the eco council, together with biology and chemistry teachers did an analysis and took measurements in order to answer the question “How ecological is our school?” Results of the research were sent to the competition SPARE and served as a base upon which the plan for the next year was created. Together with the school’s administration, it was decided that the school year 2020/2021 will be the year of ecology – all departments will take turns in promoting, teaching and cultivating ecological values in our students. We will measure the impact of each department’s efforts, by comparing the consumption of resources with that recorded from the previous 3 years.
• Eco quarantine: during the COVID-19 quarantine, the eco council decided to use the situation as an opportunity to spread ideas and advices for living a “greener life”. From mid-April until the end of May, every Monday during our assemblies, members of student council are presenting 5-minute presentation on the topics of

- Water: sanitation and protection of aquatic ecosystems.

- Renewable energy and climate change(electricity usage).

- Health: with emphasis on hygiene, disease control, etc.

- Responsible consumption and production.

- Sustainable cities and infrastructure.

The information presented and discussed is based on the problems that our eco council defined as themost global and urgent (with reference to the UN global challenges ). The eco council is presenting the problems and then explaining to other students what they can do, how can we all help, even when we are sitting at home during quarantine. Each week has a challenge, i.e., the competitors must send their submission pictures to the eco council e-mail. All the information related to our activities can be found on our site.