You found our list of fun Green Week ideas.
Green Week ideas are activities that promote sustainability and environmental responsibility. Examples include listening to guest speakers, learning how to compost, and cleaning up nearby public spaces. The purpose of these activities is to make individuals more aware of climate-oriented issues and explore solutions to the problems we face.
Green Week ideas promote environmental awareness, similar to Earth Day activities for virtual teams and in-office Earth day activities. Celebrating Green Week is similar to other volunteering activities, such as International Volunteer Day ideas, group volunteer opportunities, and online community service opportunities.
This list includes:
- green week ideas for work
- green week ideas for school
- green activities for students
- go green activities for employees
Here we go!
List of Green Week ideas
From taking a nature hike with the team to planting a garden for the gang to enjoy, here are some go green activities for employees to get your crew into the spirit of Green Week.
1. Sustainability Through Upcycling (Hosted)
Upcycling is just a fancy word for turning something old and bin-worthy into something new and usable! With Sustainability Through Upcycling, you can celebrate and promote conservation. This experience encourages teams to embrace eco-friendly practices.
Key features of this experience include:
- a 45-minute session led by a world-class host
- step-by-step instructions on upcycling old T-shirts into stylish tote bags
- lessons on sustainable practices and reducing waste
- high-energy trivia and interactive games
By correctly responding to quiz questions, players can also make real-life contributions to meaningful causes like planting trees. The best part is that all participants get to take home their project at the end of the day! Sustainability Through Upcycling offers a fun and exciting way for your team to embrace sustainability in style.
Learn more about Sustainability Through Upcycling.
2. Have an Eco-Friendly Brainstorm
To get the team in on the Green Week excitement, plan a brainstorming session where the crew can contribute their favorite eco-friendly ideas. These ideas can be office- or school-based activities to maintain environmental awareness throughout the year. Or, the ideas can be suggestions for adding elements of sustainability around the house. An eco-friendly forum might even reveal connections between workers, resulting in carpool opportunities or clothing exchanges. Additionally, walkers may find buddies to team up with for a neighborhood cleanup. In the spirit of Green Week, let your team know that all ideas are on the table, and let them shoot for the stars!
Check out this list of brainstorming activities.
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3. Plant a Garden
Adding extra plant life to the planet is a helpful Green Week activity that work or school groups can tackle together. If there is room on office grounds or a school campus, then teams can decide what to plant in their gardens. Participants can fill this space with vegetables, flowers, and decorative or hardy plants requiring minimal water. For groups working with a minimal budget, requesting donations from local organizations or businesses can help fund your project. You can explain that the donations are for Green Week and remind your donors that they will contribute to an excellent cause!
4. Learn About Green Energy Initiatives
Green energy initiatives like wind, solar, and hydroelectric power are all fantastic topics to study during Green Week. Learning more about how these resources can reduce dependency on nonrenewable fossil fuels can significantly impact your workers’ understanding of new energy. To make the lesson engaging, assign topics to individuals for a bit of quick research and a brief presentation during a designated Green Week meeting.
5. Explore Recycling
Recycling is an easy addition to your list of Green Week ideas for school and work, even if you already have a recycling program. Paper, cardboard, glass, and plastic are all familiar recyclable materials around the office. However, Green Week provides an opportunity for more intensive recycling of items, such as electronic waste, hazardous materials like used batteries, and scrap metal that may be lying around the workplace. You can use Green Week to clean up the workspace while ensuring you properly dispose of recyclable items.
6. Clean Up Public Spaces
Lending a hand cleaning up litter from public spaces in your area shows your dedication to creating a greener community. Something as simple as tidying up the streets around your office or campus can have a great impact. If your team is feeling ambitious, then you can choose a park or common area nearby to beautify. This activity is an easy task for your crew to take on regularly, even after Green Week ends.
7. Watch An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is a groundbreaking documentary film about the impact of climate change. Narrated by former Vice President Al Gore, this film emphasizes the need for decisive action in the face of environmental dangers. Though the film debuted in 2006, the message is as relevant today as it was then. You can plan an onsite or virtual group viewing session with your workers and schedule a follow-up discussion afterward.
For an alternative Green Week project, you can invite your team to read the book An Inconvenient Truth and host a book club-style discussion.
Learn how to host an office movie night.
8. Install a Rain Barrel
If your school or workplace has an area where extra water collects during storms, then you can discuss installing a rain barrel as part of your green activities for students or workers. These vessels collect rainwater from downspouts and provide bountiful water for irrigating landscaping and gardens. Before setting up the barrel, be sure to check your local regulations on collecting rainwater. Once you know the rules, you can ask your facilities manager if a rain barrel installation is within budget. Once installed, you can plan a groundbreaking ceremony before the next big rain!
9. Start a Compost Pile
Composting is one of the most helpful activities to commemorate the spirit of Green Week. A compost pile uses food scraps that would otherwise go to waste. The resulting compost creates nutrient-rich fertilizer, a perfect additive for growing healthy food and flower gardens. If you have a cafeteria or restaurant on site, then you can work with management to see if they are willing to provide scraps for compost. You can also create a schedule for learning about safe ways to produce compost and engage your team in taking turns mixing the pile.
Because composting requires specific types of content, it is best to consult with your facilities manager before starting a compost pile. You will want to make sure to adhere to all health or safety codes before beginning this fun and exciting Green Week activity.
10. Learn About Plant-Based Eating
Many experts agree that eating a plant-based diet can help minimize environmental damage. For Green Week, investigate the possibilities of shifting to a vegetarian or vegan diet with your team. Starting with Meatless Mondays or Vegan Fridays will get the ball rolling without drastic change. If your team is open to taking the challenge further, then you can expand to other days and meals. Before long, your crew will observe Green Week every time they eat!
11. Plant a Tree
Green Week is an ideal opportunity to add more trees to the landscaping around your workplace or school campus. To ensure the most environmental value for your planting, research what types of trees require the least amount of water for your climate. You can enlist other teams to help with the planting and turn your sustainable contribution into a tree-planting party. By getting assistance from your maintenance team or facilities manager, you can ensure your planting adheres to company policy.
12. Ride a Bike
Reducing carbon emissions by riding a bike when possible is a great idea for observing Green Week. This activity also provides a fitness boost and an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. You can try riding your bike to work once or twice during Green Week to do your part to help the environment. If your commute is too far for a bike ride, then take a cruise to the grocery store or when running errands instead of driving your car. You can also organize a group ride with your team or coworkers to get the whole group in the sustainability spirit.
13. Support an Environmental Charity
Charities that help with environmental causes provide great opportunities for your team to get involved. These organizations may be local groups that need assistance on a volunteer basis. You can research which charities in your area have activities during Green Week that your crew can participate in. To support charities outside your area, you can coordinate fundraising drives with money-making projects like walkathons, community yard sales, and raffles. No matter how much or how little you contribute, these organizations will surely appreciate the help.
Here is a list of charity team building ideas.
14. Listen to the Think: Sustainability Podcast
Learning more about sustainability for Green Week is much simpler with Think: Sustainability podcast episodes available. This informative podcast covers a vast range of topics related to environmental issues. The show interviews experts and digs into complex subjects to find answers and propose solutions. You can email links to episodes of particular significance for your area and invite your team to listen for a group discussion. You can also engage your workers by assigning small research projects based on the topics in the episodes. This activity will let workers discover more about what they have heard for a more personal investment in sustainability.
Learn more about Think: Sustainability.
15. Go Trashless
Many supporters of environmental causes do their best to minimize their contributions to landfills, with some even going as trashless as possible. Trying for a trashless day during Green Week will give you an idea of just how much waste you and your team generate daily. You can challenge your crew to be as conservative with their resources as possible. For example, teams can salvage printer paper for reuse and use permanent utensils in the break room rather than disposable forks and spoons. This eye-opening Green Week idea may alter how you view your disposable nature and set you on a path to a more waste-free future.
16. Take a Walk
Getting out in nature and being a part of the environment you are trying to save is a great activity for reminding you of the importance of Green Week. You can schedule a group walk around your campus or through a nearby neighborhood to remind your team that transportation does not always require a vehicle. For teams already in the habit of walking regularly, challenge your walkers to alter their route and see their community from a new perspective. If weather permits, then you can plan a week of walk breaks on different paths in your area to give the team a better lay of the land.
17. Hand Out Recycled Swag
Handing out recycled swag as part of your Green Week ideas for work is a great way to share your environmental commitment with your team. You can find many brandable swag products manufactured from recycled materials. For example, you can shop for clothing that uses recycled plastic turned into yarn or dishes made from biodegradable wheat straw. Through these items, you will discover a world of products that minimize waste while taking manufacturing in imaginative new directions. It may be challenging to find some of these items in local outlets, but an online search will reveal retailers offering recycled swag to help you honor your commitment to sustainability.
Here is a list of swag ideas for employees.
18. Adopt Sustainability Policies
If your workplace or school campus is still working out the details on approaching sustainability, then Green Week is the perfect time to put policies in place. You can enlist your team and others to create a charter of potential practices. Some of these practices may be obvious improvements that are easy to make. For example, you could add clean-waste recycling bins to the coffee stations or install motion-sensitive lights in conference rooms. Other practices may require approval from a higher authority, such as investing in low-flow toilets or installing a water filtration system.
19. Host an Environmental Expert
Bringing in an environmental expert to explain more complex sustainability topics is a Green Week activity with a lasting impact. If you have local experts who can speak to nature and wildlife topics, then consider inviting them to educate your team for a lunch and learn or TED-talk-style seminar. You can also engage waste management service representatives to discuss how the recycling process works. Also, consider contacting agriculture and land management companies to explain local topics of concern. These experts have meaningful information to share and may enjoy having the opportunity to address an eager audience.
20. Do a Sustainability Audit
Your facility or classroom may do a great job regarding sustainability and environmental care. Green Week provides an excellent opportunity to perform a sustainability audit to ensure you keep up with your expectations. Performing a sustainability audit can be as simple as reviewing policies already in place to make sure workers are adhering to these standards. For a more comprehensive audit, consider hiring an expert to walk the grounds and discuss additional options with facility managers. If Green Week is an annual observance in your workplace, then add a repeating calendar item that reminds you to perform an updated audit every year.
21. Eliminate Single-Use Plastics
One of the easiest ways to minimize your environmental impact is to eliminate single-use plastic items, such as disposable water bottles, grocery bags, and plastic utensils. Many of these items end up in landfills or waterways despite containing recyclable materials. Sustainable options for these items include cloth totes, reusable straws and eating utensils, and insulated water bottles. To make Green Week even greener, use the occasion to reexamine other plastics used in your facility, and challenge your workers to come up with solutions for replacing these items as well.
22. Take a Nature Hike
Taking your team on an environmental adventure may be the most direct way to experience what the sustainability movement is trying to accomplish. If you have hiking trails or natural areas in your region, then scheduling a hike will provide a close-up view of the lands preserved through conservation efforts. You may even have a wildlife encounter or two to make the moment truly magical. It can be challenging for workers with busy lives outside the office to find time to explore their beautiful backyard regions. Setting up a hike during Green Week helps workers clear out time to see the natural wonder surrounding them.
23. Work from Home
If your policy allows, then inviting your crew to work from home during Green Week will demonstrate the multitude of ways a flexible workplace can address sustainability issues. For example, you can plan for hybrid work opportunities that allow some in-office workers and some at-home workers on particular days. Alternatively, experiment with having the whole team work remotely. Even a day or two of working from home can significantly impact resources used in the workplace. In addition, a scheduled video meeting to connect each day will provide a sense of community that your workers may be missing when out of the office.
24. Hold an e-Waste Drive
E-waste, or electronic waste, refers to devices and connectors that workers no longer use. To maximize your Green Week contribution, consider scheduling an e-waste drive by partnering with a company in your area that disposes of these items safely. Some e-waste disposal companies will shred outdated hard drives to protect company security while hauling away the bulky items once finished. You can also invite team members to bring in their personal e-waste items for safe disposal. Before scheduling your e-waste drive, be sure to check with your facilities manager so you can follow policy properly.
Conclusion
Green week ideas are a helpful way to remind your teams that keeping the planet healthy is a shared responsibility. If your workplace or school campus already has sustainability policies in place, then planning activities for the week will be easy. Green Week is a perfect opportunity to finalize the plan if your workplace is still creating a sustainability policy. With Green Week ideas added to your sustainability agenda, you can turn this occasion into a celebration of environmental awareness.
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