Environmental Sustainability at Westtown


To "inspire and prepare our graduates to be stewards and leaders of a better world...," Westtown School seeks to engage students in the challenges of creating environmental sustainability, the most critical global mandate of our time.

Guided by a newly hired Sustainability Coordinator and a Sustainability Committee comprised of trustees, faculty members, students, and parents, the school is examining every aspect of campus life through the lens of sustainable practices, setting measurable goals, and launching initiatives to reach them.

Westtown:

  • teaches sustainability in all divisions of the school in a variety of subject areas, not just the sciences;
  • offers Environmental Issues and Research Ecology (advanced course) in the Upper School Science Department;
  • has conducted an energy audit of electricity, oil, and natural gas consumption on campus;
  • has launched a community-wide energy conservation effort to reduce waste;
  • installed a 44 kW solar voltaic array on the new Athletic Center;
  • produces several tons of organic food each year at the student-powered 1.5 acre mini-farm, thus enhancing the nutritional value and reducing the energy impact of campus dining;
  • composts dining hall waste, which gets reinvested in the mini-farm;
  • incorporates green building practices in all campus construction projects;
  • continues to lease its 200-acre commercial farm for production of dozens of varieties of produce and eggs, all of which are sold locally at Pete's Produce stand on campus.
Campus opportunities for hands-on learning about stewardship abound, encouraging students to integrate those experiences with learning from their classes to develop an ethic of conservation and care. Westtown's commitment to changing how human societies understand and interact with the natural world doesn't end with our students, or at the edge of our 600-acre campus, but extends far beyond it, providing inspiration to alumni, parents, and the surrounding community.

...our goal is to create an environmentally literate and responsible community of students, faculty, staff, and families whose daily actions reflect care for the earth and its biodiversity.

From Westtown's Environmental Sustainability Mission Statement

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