Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon

Right now, there are 100 student teams in schools across Minnesota working to reduce their carbon footprint, and WE WANT YOU to be a mentor!

More about the teams: The teams consist of students and a faculty “coach” as well as some administration and building operations support. The school teams have all received a $500 grant to act as seed money for ways in which they can lower their schools carbon footprint. The schools have also participated in an energy walk through done by Environmental Resource Management (ERM) and received a report identifying some short-term and longer-term actions they can take.

Gearing up for competition: The teams are now competing for ten to fifteen $20,000 grants—grants that will fund the efforts of the teams that have the most creative and practical solutions to reduce their carbon emissions. The school teams can use recommendations from the energy walk through report that all of them got through this program or they can work with their school to create an idea that is best suited to their school’s needs. The grants have a few restrictions, one of them being that this must be a student-led project.

The mentor’s role: Your role as a mentor would be to help put the “rubber to the road.” Your involvement might include: Meeting with the students after class, suggesting ideas to give focus, helping them write the grant application, making an introduction to fellow community members, helping them prepare presentations for the school board, and many others! We will put you in contact with the “coach” working with the students and let them take it from there. At the most basic level, mentorship means sharing connections, ideas, and a bit of your time with these students as they work toward their goals.

Get started!: See if schools near you are participating in the Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon program by exploring the list of schools. Then, if you are interested in being a mentor, contact Patrick Santelli at schoolscuttingcarbon@cleanenergyresourceteams.org or by phone at 612-625-3759.