Green School Bali

Building environmental sustainability into the very foundations of the school

Green School Bali, a K-12 international private school in Bali, Indonesia has woven environmentalism into the fabric of the school itself. It uses compost toilets, feeds the school pigs using leftovers from student meals made from produce in its gardens, and even has a unique network of bio buses that take children to and from campus.

Teaching a cohort of 370 students from over thirty different countries, Green School Bali seeks to connect its students with nature in the hopes of preparing them for the challenges presented by climate change and environmental degradation. The school’s philosophy has transcended borders, with branch schools opening up in New Zealand and South Africa.

Taking notes from the United Nations’ Sustainable Development goals, it plans its lessons through the lens of a greener world. But what is really unique about the school is that almost every component of its facilities and educational model is shaped to ensure environmental sustainability. In 2015, students and faculty at Green School Bali launched the Bio Bus – Indonesia's first 100% biofuel-powered transportation system which uses recycled cooking oil. It has its own recycling and waste management service called KemBali, located just outside the school’s gates. Many within the local community continue to use it and it has been emulated in other nearby villages.

These practices are also sewn into the social lives of students. Some days a student could arrive at school, do gardening in the morning and later place their leftover food in a bucket to feed the pigs stationed on campus. Green School Bali’s compost toilets which process waste to nourish the bamboo that grows all over campus. Jokingly called “the human resource centre,” the newer toilets sport designs created by teachers and students.

If Green School Bali were to win the World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action, it would use the funds to enhance the learning experience for Green School students, invest in and support its faculty and continue expanding its mission of educating changemakers who will regenerate our world, around the world.