Improving learning environments with green space

CBM facilitated a group of arborists that worked with two schools to create pilot projects which can be carried on by the students, faculty, and community. The concept is to create “green” spaces within and around the school to enhance the visual appeal of the buildings, to provide reduced temperatures both inside and outside the classroom, and to instruct students in the planting and caring for various plants. The team built a teepee out of bamboo poles which will serve as a framework for a covering layer of various vines. They attached pallets to outside concrete walls which will serve as trellises for cooling vines. Planters were placed along walkways and the group finished several concrete benches for sitting under shade trees. A “tree walk” was planned and the first tree planted. The vision is for a more soothing, cooler, sustainable learning environment for the students in a brutally hot and humid atmosphere.