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Sustainable Solutions in Bali – CCS Students Taking Action

Sustainable Solutions in Bali - CCS Students Taking Action

Take a moment to visualise Bali.  Most visualise lush rice terraces, pristine beaches, or intricate offerings and temples.

While Bali is a place of incredible natural beauty, Bali is growing and changing rapidly, creating challenges now and in the future – plastic pollution, water shortages, and economic disparity, to name a few.  How do we address these problems? How can Bali be sustainable? How can we shape a better future?

Canggu Community School (CCS) in Canggu, Bali is a community exploring these questions and challenges.  We believe our students will be leaders in the future, and they can start now.  While students complete a rigorous curriculum including Cambridge and International Baccalaureate, we focus on putting learning into action!  In June, CCS celebrated our first students completing the Program of Sustainable Design which focuses on finding sustainable solutions to today’s challenges right here in Bali.

Sustainable Solutions in Bali – CCS Students Taking Action

This year, students explored how they could improve the environmental footprint of CCS. They looked into water usage and how this affects the depleted aquifer in Bali.  Students explored ideas with guidance from teachers and experts, including ram pumps, reverse wells, and water turbines.  As the projects grew from research to design and into construction, students decided to integrate their ideas into a system: a perpetually irrigated vertical garden with filters to remove pollutants from the river water.  Students built a three-part system together: a spiral water wheel to pump water, a natural filtration system made from plastic water bottles, and a vertical garden using recycled plastic bottles. Students developed functioning models to show that research, teamwork, and creativity can help solve our local issues.  Next, students will share solutions and inspire others in Bali to implement similar projects.

Students in their first year of Sustainable Design focused on the problem of waste in Bali.  With more people and tourism, waste is becoming a significant problem in Canggu and the rest of Bali.  Students explored worm farms, using recycled plastic for building materials, recycling paper into building insulation, and a bio-digester to create energy from waste.  Next year, they will begin building models, including building our own bio-digester.  These projects will be used as models to support local community issues and sustainable solutions across Bali and Indonesia.  By using locally available and recycled materials, we can focus on practical solutions that make a real difference!

Sustainable Solutions in Bali – CCS Students Taking Action

CCS students also plan to put their sustainable solutions into practice on our new Primary Campus, opening in August.  Further, IB Diploma students are engaged in developing a “Green Warung” project to help our community warung be more sustainable.  Others are working with local restaurants and orphanages to use left-over bread and food for income generation and reducing waste.  All of these students live out CCS values: Learning, Engagement, Balance, and Respect.  Students are grounded in the highest quality international education available, including the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.  By putting their learning into practice and engaging in local issues, young people can help find sustainable solutions that make the world a better place for everyone.

  • Jason Green, CCS Sustainable Design Leader
  • Keegan Combs, CCS Head of School

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