Driving School Sustainability: The Power of Communication
School Sustainability Champion Bio:
Ben Rich is an experienced educator and sustainability leader with over 13 years of experience integrating environmental action into schools. As a Sustainability Coordinator and Physics & Environmental Science teacher at Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA), he successfully embedded climate science into his curriculum, advised the Environmental Action Club, and led the school to earn the prestigious Eco-Schools USA Green Flag Award three times. His initiatives in energy efficiency, indoor air quality, water conservation, and waste reduction—including improving MKA’s recycling rate from 40% to 80%—demonstrate his expertise in sustainability strategy and engagement.
Now a Science Teacher at Mount Mansfield Unified Union School in Jericho, Vermont, Ben continues to inspire students while providing consulting services on sustainability and energy efficiency for schools looking to make impactful changes.
Laying the Foundations for Change
Sustainability initiatives in schools often begin with passion and persistence, and Ben Rich exemplifies how individual commitment can evolve into systemic change.
"I knew that if I could make a difference at work or in my town, just through influence, that would have a much bigger impact than anything I do personally," Ben shared. His transition from teaching to sustainability leadership began informally—taking initiative on waste reduction and energy efficiency before his school formally recognized the need for a dedicated sustainability coordinator role.
A key turning point was shifting from individual thinking to systems thinking. "I was able to convince my school to create the sustainability coordinator position, which made it officially part of my job. That was helpful." By embedding sustainability within his formal responsibilities, Ben was able to drive deeper, more strategic change within the school.
Key Takeaways:
Begin by identifying and acting on small, tangible sustainability projects within your school.
Over time, this can create momentum and demonstrate the value of a more structured approach.
“Students' time is a valuable resource so providing them with opportunities to do fun things together improves participation rates, increases enthusiasm for the work, and creates allies for other projects." - Ben Rich
Understanding the System: Work With School Leadership
Through his experience, Ben learned that sustainability efforts must align with the school’s existing structures.
"People think all you have to do is come up with a great idea, tell people, and they’ll implement it. That never happens. Schools, businesses, non profits, etc function a certain way and everyone's already doing things. So you have to work within that framework. And that was a big lesson that took me a while to learn. And once I figured it out, I became far more effective.”
To gain traction, he worked within the school’s framework, recognizing key decision-makers and leveraging existing leadership structures. His breakthrough came when he invited an external expert, lead author of the Whole School Sustainability Framework - Brian Dunbar, to speak with the Board of Trustees. This conversation led to a formal commitment to sustainability at the governance level, which empowered school leadership to take action.
Key Takeaways:
Identify the key decision-makers in your school
Understand how school policies are made
Engage leadership in meaningful ways to secure a commitment to school sustainability
Be a Catalyst for Change by Empowering Others
Sustainability initiatives can be successful when the right people are empowered to take action. At Ben’s school, the CFO was already environmentally conscious but lacked the directive to implement large-scale sustainability improvements. When the Board of Trustees committed to environmental sustainability, it unlocked the CFO’s ability to act.
"Once that commitment was enacted, all of the ideas that the CFO already knew about, she could then put into action. She has been making wonderful things happen ever since," Ben explained.
Rather than trying to single-handedly drive every initiative, Ben focused on creating an environment where others could lead. "It had nothing to do with me directly saying, ‘Let’s do this thing,’" he reflected. "I helped, of course, but just empowering people who already know what they’re doing to make those decisions ended up being the most powerful action that we took."
Key Takeaways:
Sustainability efforts thrive when leadership is empowered to act.
Creating a school-wide commitment to sustainability ensures that decision-makers at all levels can champion change.
Modeling Sustainability through School Buildings
While cultural and behavioral shifts are essential, the physical environment of a school plays a significant role in sustainability. Even with the most well-intentioned people, an inefficient building can limit progress. Addressing energy consumption through LED lighting, modern HVAC systems, and smart building design ensures that sustainability efforts go beyond behavior and become embedded in the infrastructure.
"All the while this work is going on, I'm working with students and on changing the culture of the school, but that only goes so far if you have incandescent light bulbs and old energy-wasting air conditioning units," Ben explained.
Ben’s school invested in upgrades like occupancy-sensing lights and solar panels, which not only reduced their environmental footprint but also demonstrated tangible financial savings—a key factor in gaining administrative support.
Key Takeaway:
Schools need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk!
EV charging stations at all 3 campuses allow faculty who live in apartments or condos to charge easily at work, encouraging more electric vehicles.
Empowering Students: Let Them Lead
Student-driven initiatives have been a cornerstone of Ben’s work, from EcoSchools USA projects to ambitious carbon neutrality plans led by AP Environmental Science students. His AP students spent several years researching pathways to make their school carbon neutral. Each year, they built on previous work—conducting carbon audits, developing climate action plans, and presenting findings to leadership. Their efforts led to the installation of solar panels on all three campus buildings, reinforcing the idea that student-driven advocacy can accelerate real change.
“In class and outside of class, any way you can get students involved and give them as much leadership and ownership of the projects as you can, because the more they feel like it's their project and they're creating it and designing it, the better.”
“All students, even the best ones, need some guidance. So, always be prepared to guide them and help them understand, for example, how they need to create coalitions, help them understand the school’s decision-making structures, or even figure out what step to take next. But getting them to be the owners of it, especially at schools, is critical because what are schools for? They're for students. And so leadership at schools typically respond much better to student -driven action than faculty-driven action.”
Key Takeaways:
Student-led initiatives resonate strongly with school leadership.
Give students meaningful leadership opportunities, and their passion will drive progress.
Peer-to-peer learning: Student-led assemblies on climate action educate the school community and help to cultivate a culture of stewardship.
Persistence and Creativity: Keep Pumping Your Feet
Sustainability leaders often hear “no" more than "yes."
“You hear: we can't do this. That’s a good idea, but not right now. You hear all these different ways of saying no and it can be demoralizing. But if you expect that, and you think, okay, so I heard one “no” under this circumstance, so now I’m just going to keep pumping and see if I can get a yes some other way.” Ben likens this to a football analogy: "Running backs are only successful if, after slamming into a line of large bodies, they keep pumping their feet. That’s the only way they break free.”
Ben recommends finding the alignments between sustainability projects and others’ priorities. “You want to ask other people what their priorities are, because theirs may be different from yours. And if you help them with their priority, then they're going to be far more likely to want to help you with yours. So you may want to take a moment to help other people with their thing, and then see if they can join you on your mission.”
Key Takeaways:
Rejection is part of the process. Remain persistent and adapt your strategies to work within existing constraints.
Find the alignments between your sustainability goals, and others’ priorities (e.g. educational outcomes, student leadership or health, financial benefits, school reputation, etc.)
Sharing the Workload: Sustainability as a Shared Responsibility
Ben emphasized the importance of distributing responsibility across different departments.
"The more people who have ownership, the more sustainable sustainability becomes," he said. He worked with administrators to assign different aspects of sustainability to various school divisions—facilities took on building efficiency, while teachers integrated environmental topics into their curriculum.
Over time, sustainability became embedded in the school’s operations rather than reliant on a single champion.
Key Takeaways:
Avoid burnout by empowering others to take ownership of sustainability efforts.
Collaboration ensures long-term success.
Final Thoughts: Sustainability That Endures
For schools looking to embark on their own sustainability journey, Ben’s experience offers a roadmap:
Start with small wins to build momentum.
Engage leadership to formalize commitment.
Communicate consistently to shift culture.
Empower students as sustainability leaders.
Expect setbacks, but stay persistent.
Distribute responsibility to make sustainability a shared priority.
Ben Rich is a Science Teacher (USA) and advocate for sustainable schools, leading measurable progress in climate education, school culture, and environmental impact.
Did you know…
START has over 50 metrics (actions) for school sustainability - spanning Educational Programs, Organizational Culture, and Buildings & Grounds. No matter where your school is on its sustainability journey, START can provide pathways for progress!
Click here for tips to communicate effectively about sustainability with your school!
Did you know…
You can find guides, recommended resources and policy examples for creating more sustainable school buildings in the START Community > Physical Place Resources.
Has your school created an aspirational vision for sustainability? Find examples and tips in the START Community > Create a Sustainable Vision for your School
Find resources for student leadership in the START Student Hub!
Teachers can find student-activation resources in the START Community > Action Planning Toolkit, in which students choose a sustainability initiative for their school, conduct research, assess its feasibility, and plan and present their solution!
Tip: Communicate about Sustainability through the lens of benefits. Find ideas here!
Did you know…
START: Sustainability Tracking, Analytics & Roadmap Tool helps bring people, planning and tracking of school sustainability efforts across a school system together in one place.
