Without knowing any better, I would think a pool with a simple filtration system to remove debris would keep the water clean. After all, isn’t water the universal solvent? After a little research, I learned that bromine, chlorine, and other chemicals are needed because pools do not have a continual water exchange as it is in a lake. In addition to reusing the same water, pools are also often warm and – unless they are used for skateboarding – wet, which creates ideal conditions for bacterial growth.

Creative Water Solutions is a growing company based in Minnesota that has found a simple and very effective method for eliminating bacteria from spa and pool water by breaking up the biofilm. According to research at Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University, biofilm creates an environment that allows bacteria to attach to the water surface. Left untreated, bacteria colonies will  enlarge and small bits will break off to form new colonies.  The chemicals traditionally used to treat bacteria only kill those on the edges of the biofilm, leaving most of the colony unharmed and ready to multiple, quickly replacing those brave – or maybe just unlucky – bacteria that were lost on the front lines. When pool attendants see that bacteria counts remain high, they typically add more chemicals in an attempt to control the situation. This routine practice often fails to solve the problem and, in many cases, creates health issues for patrons.

At the end of 2011, a study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, showing that over 60% of people experienced Exercise Induced Bronchoconstriction (EIB) after only a few minutes of swimming in chlorinated pools. This technical term basically means it becomes more difficult to breathe, and the study found that even athletes with no previous breathing issues were subject to EIB.

Eye irritation is another side effect to which most pool swimmers can relate. The quotes on the Creative Water Solutions websites rave about the lack of chlorine smell, no eye redness, and even no dry skin. In additional to protecting customer health, using moss to filter pool water actually makes Thompson’s job at Chaos Waterpark safer and easier. His biggest surprise was how simple changing the filters is with the new system. He also likes the decreased maintenance, which is a result of fewer chemicals in the water and  air leading to less of the major corrosion issues water parks typically face.

The decrease in resources used to run Chaos Waterpark is quite impressive. After installing the moss filtration system, the park now utilizes 90% fewer pool chemicals. Thompson is also able to decrease the water used to flush the park every year from one and a half million gallons just 150,000 gallons. In addition to this savings, much of the water that previously left the facility as waste water is now being cleaned with the moss filtration devices which allow Chaos to recycle its water back into the park, saving an additional 375,000 gallons of water every three months.

Sphagnum moss filtration is an excellent example of how items found in nature can be used to reduce the chemicals used in many of today’s products. The current sustainability revolution provides an opportunity to re-engineer all aspects of our modern lifestyle. I look forward to sharing more about such innovative companies as Creative Water Solutions and forward-thinking business leaders like Barry Thompson, to  provide examples of how anyone can move into a triple bottom line economy.

This is the final post of a three article series that provides Jamie’s answers to several questions I recently posed to her regarding sustainability education.

The Cloud Institute offers several services, including long-term consulting, curriculum design and development, and Education for Sustainability workshops. Which offering is the most popular and which have you seen result in the most significant change for clients?

The most whole system work we do is with school districts and their communities learning together for a sustainable future.  We call those our Sites Learn initiatives. Examples include the nine sites around the country that are members of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) Education Partnership that Peter Senge and I created with a team of colleagues, and also our New Jersey Learns program which is funded by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and is made up of a growing number of sites around New Jersey that participate in Sustainable Jersey.

The next level on the continuum is our Districts Learn work. We work with individual districts and consortia of districts to Educate for Sustainability. The best example of that is our work with seventeen districts through the Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES on a massive and multifaceted EfS initiative that is grounded in a core set of web-based exemplary units of study across all grade levels and disciplines (www.pnwboces.org/efs). Next, we work with individual schools (Schools Learn) from PS 208 in Harlem to the Denver Green School, and from Trevor Day School in NYC to Marin Country Day School in Corte Madera, California, to name a few.

Having said all of that, indeed a big part of the work we do involves professional development and coaching of teachers, leadership development and organizational learning consulting and planning with administrators, and work with educators to embed EfS into the core curriculum. Most K-12 schools are new to EfS. A small minority have been working on it since the early 1990s.

We usually begin a relationship with a school or district by providing an introduction to sustainability and education for sustainability in order to achieve three outcomes: 1) A shared understanding among the stakeholders of sustainability and EfS; 2) A personal rationale for educating for sustainability, and; 3) Participants will become inspired and hopeful about contributing to sustainability through education. All the educators that I have ever met without exception want what is good for kids. It is a deep and fundamental aspiration to contribute to the health and well-being of our children and of future generations. It is a lot of work—especially in the beginning—but it is worth it.  Our children are worth it.

What is the most important actionable item you would like readers to take away?

Schools and communities must learn together for a sustainable future.   Demand a  whole systems approach to Education for Sustainability in your schools and community.

EfS is designed to solve more than one problem at a time and to minimize the creation of new problems.  We know that when schools employ this approach over time in partnership with their communities, and implement  EfS in the day to day actions of school community members and explicit instruction,  EfS improves student achievement, increases civic engagement, increases young people’s sense of efficacy,  and improves children’s health and other sustainable community indicators including air quality, waste reduction and energy conservation.  Without children and young people engaged in, and contributing to community initiatives, sustainable communities cannot exist.

Contribute to sustainability through collaborative initiatives that are developed through school and community partnerships.  Education for sustainability is a whole systems approach to education.  Lasting transformation in education requires innovation at the curricular, institutional, and community levels.  By linking schools and communities, kids and adults are thinking differently, learning and working together—all for the future we want.

 A healthy and sustainable future is possible.  Call us.  We will help you educate for it.