Yearbook staff working together to promote sustainability in their school can do so by creating fun and enjoyable activities for their yearbook committee and classmates. Hosting eco-friendly events benefit yearbook production efforts because it encourages both student involvement and brings awareness to sustainability issues.
When deciding exactly what type of event your yearbook team may want to organize and plan, think about how it will improve the outcome of your yearbook. Consider the following questions:
- Will the event encourage student yearbook participation?
- Does your idea promote the yearbook theme?
- Is the event accessible for all students to join?
- How will the event be eco-friendly and support sustainability?
To help you answer the above questions and guide you towards planning a successful event, the FutureBook team has compiled six ideas yearbook staff can use to promote sustainability.
Challenge Yearbook Classmates To Go Fossil Free
Promote sustainability by challenging students to avoid using petroleum-powered transportation options for a week. Ask students to ditch the fossil fuels and then send the yearbook committee snapshots of their emission-free excursions. Encourage students to ride their bikes, walk, rely on emission-free vehicles, or select other modes of eco-friendly transportation to get around town.
For an enticing incentive, consider offering challenge participants the opportunity to win a free yearbook! For every picture submitted to the yearbook team of a student engaging in a renewably-resourced transport option, add their name to a ballot for the draw prize.
Want to try fossil-free, digital resources that experienced yearbook teams love? Click here!
Use A Sustainability Themed Poll For Image Free Yearbook Pages
While a yearbook’s strength is telling a schoolyear’s story through pictures, it’s a good idea to include image-free options to include camera-shy students in a meaningful way. Creating a poll is a good way to learn what your classmates think and feel about sustainability issues. While it may not capture student’s faces, it does represent the values and opinions shared among the year’s pupils.
What does the FutureBook team think and feel about sustainability? To find out, read our sustainability policy.
Participate in a Local Tree-Planting Initiative
Get your school involved in the community and help the environment by arranging a tree-planting event. Connect with your local government officials, like the town mayor or recreation department, to learn about available tree planting opportunities. Other community connections to consider for a tree planting event are local business owners, community centers, or seniors residences.
During the event, be sure a yearbook staff member is available to take photographs to be used for sustainability-themed yearbook pages. If tree planting isn’t an option for your school, consider working with a company that can yield similar results. For example, at FutureBook Yearbooks, we partner with Trees For The Future. This non-profit organization plants trees on our behalf. For every yearbook sold, a new tree is planted!
Have Your Yearbook Teams Host A Swap Meet
Incorporate the three “R’s” of sustainability, -Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, with a school-wide swap-meet hosted by the yearbook team. Free swap events are useful for turning your yearbook committee’s sustainability ideals into results that your classmates will likely appreciate. It also provides another option for all classes to get involved and participate.
Reusing everyday things, like clothing, electronics, or board games, will lengthen the life of the items and prevent them from ending up in a landfill. Other donation ideas could include fiction books, gaming accessories, sports equipment, and collectibles. Additionally, items that aren’t collected by the end of the event can be delivered to a local charity.
Commit to Producing an Eco-Friendly Yearbook
While it is easier than ever in 2020 to use sustainable products and eco-conscious resources for the yearbook production process, it still requires commitment. Yearbook advisors and staff need to focus on their environmentally-friendly yearbook goal to produce a book that is as stunning as it is sustainable.
