Brookview's Commitment to the Environment

Brookview School is a member of Michigan's Great Southwest Sustainable Business Forum.

Brookview School practices the 4 R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Re-buy  

Recycling, composting, and reducing consumption through the use of real dishes, glasses, and silverware rather than disposable are normal everyday practices at Brookview School.  We clean with environmentally friendly cleaning products. 

Our elementary classrooms practice vermicomposting, maintaining bins of red worms to eat organic waste such as apple cores and orange peels.  This is a great addition to our regular outdoor compost tumblers and outdoor 3-bin compost set-up for getting rid of fruit and vegetable waste during the cold Michigan winters. 

Brookview Recycles! Program Goals

To use recycling as an educational tool.

To save trees and other natural resources.

To reduce and recycle as much waste as possible.

To buy locally produced goods and food.

To purchase recycled content products (with an emphasis on post consumer material).

Learn more about Brookview's Recycling Program by downloading our brochure.  Check out these tips for teachers.

Brookview was the recipient of a School Recycling Grant from Berrien County in 2010.  Brookview used the grant funds to purchase three recycled content benches for the playground to showcase the 4^th R (re-buying).  The benches were purchased from a Michigan company and have a minimum 80% post consumer recycled content (milk jugs).   

We are organic. 

Our gardens and farm are organic.  The snacks served to our children each day are mostly organic and fruits and vegetables are purchased locally whenever possible.   In January 2011, Brookview School was awarded a $500 grant to purchase and plant fruit trees on its campus. 

Opportunities for study of the local environment are numerous.

Brookview School is located on ten acres of land which includes four distinct ecosystems:  deciduous forest, wetlands, river, and prairie.  Easy access to these areas is invaluable to the students' studies.  Brookview School incorporates the environment into its curriculum in countless ways. 

Examples include:

• Plant sampling (for example, the Middle School trillium study)
• Grass and flower pressing
• Nature Walks
• Soil study
• Sketching and watercolor painting of plants
• Tree identification trail (20 trees are marked on campus)
• Leaf collection and identification
• Water sampling for study under the microscope
• Salmon project (raising salmon from eggs for release into the river)
• Seed collection and Seed disbursement study 

Partnerships to explore the environment.

Brookview School partners with Sarett Nature Center to provide environmental education to our students.  Naturalists come to Brookview weekly to work with elementary students on topics such as food chains, life cycles, the water cycle, photosynthesis, pollination, and decomposition.