Projects By Subject

Bus Idling:
Banning Bus Idling at Schools

Farm to School & School Gardens:
Purchasing from Local Farms and Gardening at Schools

Grocery Bags:
The Great Grocery Bag Battle

Habitat Restoration:
Habitat Restoration On or Near Your School Grounds

Places of Worship:
Projects for Places of Worship

Recycled Paper:
Using 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper at Your School

Reusable Dishes:
Bringing Back Reusable Washable Dishes and Utensils to Your School’s Cafeteria

Vegetarian Options:
Vegetarian Options in Your School Cafeteria

The Purpose of These Projects

The purpose of Dandelions Unlimited is to encourage students and their families to organize sustainability projects and policy changes at their schools, places of worship, and community centers.

First, students will need to educate themselves on the subject matter. We provide examples of projects that have been successfully completed and background resources so that students and their families can learn more about that issue. ("If they can do it over in that middle school, we can do it over here in our middle school.")

Second, students and their families will need to present their findings to school and institutional leaders and try to persuade these leaders why they should change course to a more sustainable path.

Third, students and their families will need to organize local support for the change. Organizing support for the change might include educational presentations, collecting names on petitions of support, and other ways of encouraging community discussion of the issue at hand.

And fourth, when the community has decided to proceed with the project, then students, their families, faculty and other community members dig in to get the job done.

The creation of new sustainability projects in schools, places of worship, and community centers is a wonderful thing and will contribute to the growing movement to create a truly sustainable culture globally. But perhaps more important is the exercise of organizing itself. When students and their families slowly work through the necessary steps to organize projects in their communities, they learn that they can actually make a difference and empower themselves. And once an individual has seen that they can make a difference, there is no putting the genie back in the bottle.

The process of returning our culture to a sustainable balance may take generations, and the youth we train and empower today will be the leaders that will forge the sustainable culture of the future.



"Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice, but to carry on."
Crosby, Stills & Nash