This month, 51 BVSD seniors will proudly wear natural cotton cords and medals made of sustainably sourced wood at their graduations, signifying they earned the Seal of Climate Literacy. 

“The SCL is a perfect fit for BVSD students, since it naturally aligns with our greenBVSD efforts. It also leverages Grad+ (BVSD’s career and college readiness framework) and BVSD partner relationships,” BVSD science coordinator Erin Greenwood explained. “We are committed to creating opportunities for every student to graduate with climate literacy and college and career readiness.” 

The district is wrapping up the final year of a five-year effort towards our latest set of sustainability goals detailed in the Sustainability Action Plan and Green New Deal resolution. BVSD has had a formal sustainability program with established goals since 2009. Staff will present an official update on progress to the Board of Education next week. 

As they prepare to graduate, two BVSD seniors share their experiences serving on the Green Youth Council and the District Sustainability Advisory Committee, along with their lessons learned, passion for sustainability and hopes for the future.

With over 4.8 million square feet of building space and 650 acres of grounds, how BVSD builds and operates its buildings and sites is a core part of our sustainability efforts. This large footprint creates a tremendous opportunity to reduce resource consumption and emissions, and improve the health of building occupants and the planet. Some of BVSD’s recent efforts in this area include planning for decarbonization, collecting better data about energy use and expanding our solar power. 

Boulder Valley School District is implementing a new four-part framework to enhance water conservation efforts, aiming to improve upon a 30% reduction in usage achieved since 2008. The priorities, including further reducing outdoor water use and improving leak detection and resolution, aim to mitigate the impact of rising costs and a changing climate.

This year’s graduation season is extra special at BVSD because the District had its first class of students who obtained the Seal of Climate Literacy. In April, as a fitting tribute to Earth Month, twenty students representing numerous BVSD high schools presented portfolios that illustrated their “green trailway” during their time in the district and then received their Seal of Climate Literacy certificates, medals (made of sustainably sourced wood) and bamboo cords to wear at graduation. 

Earlier this year, the New Vista school community and BVSD celebrated a much-anticipated milestone as students and staff started the second semester of the school year in their brand new building. The new school is remarkable not only because it was designed specifically to support New Vista’s innovative program but also because it joins the ranks of BVSD’s most sustainable schools. 

Earlier this month, BVSD’s sustainability team provided the annual update to the Board on the district’s work toward goals detailed in the Sustainability Action Plan and the Green New Deal resolution. BVSD made some big sustainability gains this year across all action areas. 

Students in BVSD are concerned but energized about the climate crisis and have made BVSD’s new Green Youth Council a space to take collective action and focus on hope. The Green Youth Council is a student-led group of passionate middle and high school students in the district. Their goal is to incorporate youth voices into the climate initiatives of BVSD and tackle climate issues with hope and action rather than fear. 

BVSD's partnership and program with Eco-Cycle to support Zero Waste through the Green Star Schools Program is expanding to all BVSD schools by the end of 2026.

This spring, BVSD’s Office of Sustainability is introducing “A Day in the Life of greenBVSD” to help show how sustainability is built into day to day life at BVSD. This project aligns with the greenBVSD Action Plan and the new tool is an idea that arose from discussions with the district’s Sustainability Advisory Committee to highlight and share the features and programs that exist in our schools that support our sustainability goals.

Every Wednesday morning, a group of students and parents hop on their bicycles and pedal toward Columbine Elementary School, creating a vibrant and inspiring sight. The “Columbine Bici Bus Crew” is redefining how students get to school, fostering a sense of community, sustainability, and accessibility along the way.

Since early this school year, BVSD educators, Sustainability staff, and students have been working to launch the district’s new Seal of Climate Literacy diploma endorsement. These efforts are being supported in part by a $7,500 competitive grant from Lyra, a Colorado education nonprofit

BVSD is thrilled to be selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2024-2025 Energy Champions Leading the Advancement of Sustainable Schools (Energy CLASS) program. BVSD joins 60 other local educational agencies (LEAs) in this initiative which aims to equip selected agencies with the training and support necessary to develop and implement strategies that enhance energy efficiency, foster healthier learning environments, and optimize costs within their school districts.

BVSD is thrilled to offer a new diploma endorsement to sustainability-minded BVSD students beginning this year. The Seal of Climate Literacy is a new high school diploma endorsement that connects educational knowledge with the real challenges and opportunities that climate change brings to each of our communities. It offers students a chance to engage directly with issues that impact their local environment and communities through coursework and hands-on learning. 

In an exciting new collaboration, University of Colorado Boulder (CU) graduate students will be working with District staff, environmental partners (state, local, private & non-profit), and community members, to develop a roadmap to decarbonization for District buildings in pursuit of our goals of an 80% reduction in emissions and carbon neutrality by 2050.

Louisville Middle School students Caleb Forrester and Arthur Towber came to a Board meeting during Earth Month to share what the Pirates for climate action have been doing to fight climate change. 

Learn more in this video.

This past fall, BVSD’s Office of Sustainability introduced the Sustainability Snapshot, a new tool for tracking and viewing data related to the district’s sustainability efforts. The digital dashboard shows what sustainability efforts are happening at schools across the district, along with the utility use for each school, and how each school compares to other BVSD schools. 

The Boulder Valley School District has long been a leader in sustainability. Over the past few months students from across the district have lobbied the Board of Education to take even more ambitious action to fight climate change. Eventually, collaboratively, they were able to find common ground, drafting Resolution 23-30 Green New Deal, which supports the continued sustainability work of the district and encourages further leadership in this area moving forward.

Earlier this month, on the heels of the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) adopting the Green New Deal for Schools resolution, a group of school district sustainability leaders from across the nation and abroad, including  California, Washington D.C., North Carolina and as far as Tunisia, came to BVSD to learn more about what it takes to create a successful district sustainability program.