Set in an area surrounded by stores and businesses, The Bellwether School has protected a mini oasis for wildlife who need wetland habitat. With financial support from a grant, these wetlands have been cleaned and nurtured. A boardwalk trail leading behind the school was constructed to permit student exploration with minimal impact on vegetation and to keep feet dry when water levels are high. Students built, and continue maintaining, wood duck and wren boxes.

Adjoining the wetlands, our playground has intentionally been left in a very natural state with plenty of lawn instead of concrete or asphalt. The playground is filled with diverse vegetation including deciduous and evergreen trees, a fruit orchard, and a garden. Tall trees create a nice buffer from the road noise. Spending time in the playground feels like being in your own private world.

Bellwether students have brought a wetland feature right into the playground. Students asked our mowers to stop mowing a triangle of land, which allowed wetland vegetation to flourish. Students designed this area and researched and planted the types of native species plants that belong here.

As you travel through the Bellwether building you will find many compost buckets. Composting at school might seem funny because most of us are used to composting with food scraps from our kitchens and clippings from our lawns. At Bellwether you will find a compost bucket in each bathroom and every classroom. We fill our buckets with food scraps from school lunches and snacks and paper towels we use to dry our hands.

The Bellwether School staff and students are carefulwith the conservation of natural resources. We are careful about how much water we use. We also set the thermostat to a lower than average temperature in the winter. This saves oil, pollutes less, and saves the school money that we can use for education. It is also fun in the winter to wear nice layers of clothes that make us feel comfy and snug.

Bellwether purchases and uses cleaning products that are non-toxic and environment friendly. This is easier on the earth and our noses!

The Bellwether building is equipped with an air-to-air exchanger that keeps fresh air coming in while transferring energy from air leaving the building that has already been heated. More simply, the hot old air leaving the building warms the cool fresh air coming in. This is especially important during the winter when we want to keep the building warm and can't open the windows.

Bellwether makes use of passive solar energy with its many south-facing windows. Check them out in each classroom! Our south facing windows also come with the lovely views of our natural playground.

Bellwether proudly became an energy producer when the switch was thrown in May 2009 to power a solar tracker array. The tracker, installed by AllEarth Renewables, generates 2,200 to 2,300 kWh of electricity each year for the school, with corresponding reductions in air pollution. View the monthly and daily data at: Bellwether Tracker Data

Our Spring Festival in 2008 was attended by over 300 people. We ate lots of ice cream, plenty of slices of Flatbread, drank many cups of water and juice, and washed and dried our hands afterward. Want to guess how many bags of rubbish we had to haul away? You're right…if you guessed ONE! 300 people, one bag of trash. We call that good fun that is gentle on the earth.

Bellwether has a trash-free lunch policy. Students take home all packaging and trash at the end of the day for disposal or reuse. To help reduce waste, we encourage families to pack food in reusable containers whenever possible.

We ask families to turn off their engines in the parking lot. Eliminating unnecessary idling of all motor vehicles reduces exposure of students and the community to harmful exhaust fumes, conserves fuel, reduces green house emissions, and prolongs engine life.

Our driveway is mostly gravel. While gravel can require more maintenance than tar or asphalt driveways, it is better for our environment. Gravel allows more natural water absorption and less run off into our lake and streams. This means that the plants and trees around our driveway can benefit from rainfall while our lake is more protected from car pollutants.