Schools 'Going Green' To Teach Students About Caring For The Environment

With the impacts of climate change intensifying, a growing number of schools are teaching the topic in the classroom.

The hope is future generations will learn how to take steps to reduce the threat.

Natalie Brand visited a special charter school in the nation’s capital that’s made "going green" part of its foundation.

Planting the seeds for a sustainable future starts early for these young students. It's at the core of one charter school's mission from how it's built, to what it serves.

Marina Guiterrez teaches fourth grade at Mundo Verde in Washington, D.C.

“We are trying to create these agents of change and it’s not just impacting our community in the school, but what else can I do outside," Guiterrez said.

That means class expeditions to learn about the environment and to master how to recycle and compost, all lessons the students take home.

“Everything is not trash. Like food is compost. Plastic is recycle, and trash is trash," student Chloe Cunningham said.

“Sometimes me, my brother and dad go with a broom and gloves and we have one of those little trash things and pick up the trash in the alley,” student Katherine Cheung said.

Learning to clean up the community starts with learning to appreciate it.

“We want to make sure that kids are loving nature and the world around them before worrying about saving it,” said Berenice Pernalete, Director of Innovation.

The school's Director of Innovation Berenice Pernalete and Founding Executive Director Kristin Scotchmer said they're now sharing their approach with schools nationwide.

"I think it makes me incredibly proud to think that there are teachers all over the country beginning to think about how we do what we do," Scotchmer said.

Climate change curriculum is optional in most states. Only New Jersey and Connecticut have mandated that grade schools teach climate change in public schools starting this year.