Green School Bali: teaching children about sustainable living

American Cynthia and her partner, Canadian designer John Hardy, have lived on Bali for over thirty years. In 2007, after selling their renowned jewelry company, they formed a school as an alternative to the walled-in international schools around Bali. Based upon the 19thcentury education model of Rudolf Steiner, which emphasizes experiential learning, the Green School aims to educate future leaders in sustainability.

The campus is designed around the principles of an organic permaculture system, and the students cultivate an organic garden as part of their learning activities. Buildings are constructed primarily from renewable resources including bamboo, local grass, and traditional mud walls. The campus has been reported as an example of the large-scale building potential of bamboo architecture, especially “The Heart of the School”, a 60-meter long stilt-structure constructed with 2500 bamboo poles. The school also utilizes renewable building materials for some of its other needs.

Green School was awarded the 2012 “Greenest School on Earth” award by the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council.

Learn more about the school in this conference: