Roots and Shoots Environment: Making a Greener World

By Sara I. 

Every individual in the Roots and Shoots (RS) Environment community service group is driven by their passion to transform our community into a greener place at AISG and beyond. In room B333, every Tuesday during community service time, the RS Environment group meet about how to fix global environmental issues, starting at AISG.  

As explained by RS Environment AISG student coordinator, RS Environment at AISG is part of the school’s community service program which aims to help the AISG community and the greater Guangzhou area. It is also part of the Roots and Shoots global organization, founded by Jane Goodall. According to the official Roots and Shoots global organization website, Roots and Shoots is a well-known youth empowerment group implemented in schools around the world for driven young individuals to bring changes to animals, our Environment, and people for the better.  

“Roots and Shoots Environment is a group that assumes responsibility, takes initiative, and brings about positive change.”, said the RS Environment AISG student coordinator. Aligning with the RS global organization’s ideologies, RS Environment is filled with young individuals who are ambitious to make a difference. “We are a group of students who are passionate about promoting sustainability at our school through our projects, connecting with the larger community, and raising awareness.”, said RS environment student coordinator.  

Equally as important as the actions taken by this group, RS environment student coordinator stresses that the driving force of RS Environment each year are the members. Regarding the mission and vision of RS Environment, this year’s student coordinator states their goal, “Roots and Shoots environment will protect the Earth by transforming our community into a greener place.”  

With the many years of RS Environment has been in the AISG program, the members who have contributed have varied in population. Nonetheless, the students who do join are environmentally motivated. “We believe we help the environment with our projects. No matter how small our group is, were still making a positive impact.”, says their student coordinator.  

The environment has been an upcoming and important topic to many students at AISG. However, the RS Environment members not only care enough to listen to the problems, but to act upon these important issues. “When describing what led this year’s members to join RS Environment, grade 10 participant stated, “I was led to join RS Environment because the conservation of our environment is an important topic to me.”  

The community service has taught and provided more than a place to act upon the issues of the environment. Another student member of the group described how it felt to be with people who had the same passion for the environment and how important the service was to her. She states, “This group is important to me because it allowed me to be with others who had the same passion for the environment.”  

Despite the small numbers, this group has learned lots, even in one semester. A new member joining this year says, “Participating in RS environment helped me kind of open my eyes to problems that are happening in the environment. However, it also gave me a way to actively participate in helping solve these issues.” The member continues to elaborate how she learned more about working in a service. She says, “I’ve learned how to develop projects that would support or aid in a cause. In addition, it has helped me develop teamwork as Roots and Shoots Environment is an organization that requires everyone’s participation and passion.”  

The members continue to emphasize how their time in this program has led them to make a change, even as a student. “I learnt what I can do as a student to reduce the amount of paper being wasted,” says a member. Small steps like these are how the group is able to make change.  

The RS Environment student coordinator of the past four years has led multiple projects. Despite some projects being kept under the radar, each project helps protect our environment. From advisory classes to the larger city, the project grows in size and impact each time. The grade 10 member from the group states, “I’ve learned how to develop projects that would support or aid in a cause. In addition, it has helped me develop teamwork as Roots and Shoots environment is an organization that requires everyone’s participation and passion.”  

“One of my favorite projects was as an idea to turn off all the lights on campus to reduce electricity waste. We then realized a better goal would be to raise awareness on the excessive electricity.”, the student coordinator states. When planning this project, the coordinator reflects on how it was terrifying to speak in front of the whole faculty to propose the idea. However, overcoming such challenges made the advisory activity even more important to her. She continues to elaborate on how her fears that arose were battled with the passion to make the world a better place.  

Over the years, RS Environment has completed projects such as the “No Take-Out” project, where students could bring their own lunchboxes 10 times to reduce waste and get coupons.  

Additionally, an often-overlooked aspect of the school community are the green plants in the classrooms. RS Environment has also taken part in arranging the AISG environment to be greener.  

The group has also tackled a prominent problem in our school in many ways. Finally, paper waste, seen every day at our school, has a solution. “We (RS Environment) asked school services for cardboard boxes which we painted words like “reuse” and “paper” on and put into classrooms.”, describes RS Environment coordinator. Teachers were, then, encouraged to put scrap paper into the boxes to recycle. The innovative idea led to new recycled paper for middle school art students.  

Then, the RS Environment student coordinator described the first AISG student garden. “We have a piece of land behind the IB lounge, which we plant vegetables that we can later donate to a homeless shelter or a retirement home.”, the coordinator said. RS Environment considers issues beyond the environment and acts upon them in ways like these. One of the participants in the projects describes how working with projects make a difference in her life as she said, “After working with my team, I’ve altered my perspective of global issues from something that I just observe to something I can actually actively participate in.”  

However, the coordinator then followed that the group’s projects have not always been success stories. When an event to make beeswax wraps was unsuccessful, the ideas of trial and error is what make them learn and want to begin another project to better the environment.  

To further combat pressing issues and harm to our environment from our school, RS Environment are working on one of their larger projects to make a larger impact. “To offset carbon emissions that are school produces, starting from our school buses, we plan on extending our impact beyond our campus by visiting recycling centers and working with the community to plant mangrove trees around Guangzhou.”  

From observing issues to making solutions, RS Environment is increasing their influence to aim to make the world a better place. The group’s mission is to use their passion and drive to positively transform the world into a greener place. On top of that, RS Environment student coordinator states, “We show our community that they have the power to do something, that as students, we have the power to create change.”