The discoveries of both modern science and traditional people tell us that community is central to sustainable living. The sustainability of a community depends on the health and inclusiveness of the network of relationships within it.
Schools are far more than buildings, classrooms, and curricula. They are also networks of relationship in which students spend much of their time. Within these networks, students develop the values and attitudes they will carry into adulthood.
Many of the most pressing problems facing us will require citizens who are able to cooperate effectively in organizations, communities, and societies. Successful schools act as "apprentice communities" for learning the arts of living in an interdependent world.
When educators, parents, trustees, and other members of the school community make decisions or act collaboratively, they demonstrate sustainability as a community practice.
Schools also teach—whether they are conscious of it or not—by how they interact with the world. They have the opportunity to model sustainable practice through the ways in which they provision themselves with food, energy, and other basic needs. They set examples by how they relate to the larger communities of which they are a part.
