They preempted the government’s call. It has been several years since the students of the Georges-Braque college, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, began to adopt energy sobriety. “Before I arrived at this establishment, twelve years ago, there were already actions linked to sustainable development on selective sorting or waste of paper”, says Aurélia Talenti, professor of physics and chemistry and a references in the field. Moreover, since 2015, Georges-Braque has been labeled E3D by the National Education, that is to say an establishment with a global approach to sustainable development.
“Since 2013, we have eco-delegates among the students to bring actions related to sustainable development to life and to propose new ones”, adds the prof. Of the 20 classes in the college – 5 per level – there are 24 eco-delegates who meet on average once a month during the lunch break. And the Parisian establishment has particularly distinguished itself by participating in the Cube S contest for Climate Challenge, Uses, School Education Buildings of the France energy saving championship. “School establishments that register undertake to reduce their energy consumption for five years by participating in a fun and concrete way in the energy transition law”, tells us national education website.
Nudges to the rescue
“We started three years ago, in the midst of a pandemic, remembers Aurélia Talenti. To reduce energy consumption, either we reduced the heating but as we had to keep the windows open to ventilate against the Covid-19, we decided to tackle electricity consumption. First, the students drew up a list of unnecessary consumption such as lights in the corridors or computers on standby. Then with the help of Cerema, a department of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which accompanies it, they designed nudges, that is to say “suggestion tools placed in our environment, supposed to help us make the right choices”, according to a Inserm definition.
In the case of Georges-Braque, they were displayed or placed on the switches to encourage people not to leave the light on. They have even been adapted to the class they are in, for example written in Spanish in the language rooms. Marion, eco-delegate in 4th grade, drew several of them and she was also the one who came up with the slogans. She has to her credit nudges related to Asterix, Master Yoda and a humanoid mouse. “Ella put many ideas into images,” comments her teacher. Modest, the schoolgirl does not forget to highlight the work of others. For her, “these devices directly help everyone to save electricity”.
“Every little gesture has an impact later”
“The message really got across, even among colleagues,” said the physics and chemistry teacher. As a result, the college won the Silver Cube last spring for its reduction in energy consumption. And the figures are impressive: 20% less than the average for the previous five years. “It happened naturally. We didn’t feel like we were revolutionizing anything, but communication is important,” comments Aurélia Talenti.
“I wanted to get involved in this fight against global warming which we often talk about but which is not really supported by the State and it starts with small gestures, it can always help, maybe others will follow”, explains Camile, currently in 3e and eco-delegate since he is in 6e. “Each little gesture has an impact later, believes Elise, also in 3rd grade. It won’t prevent climate change, but it can slow it down as much as possible. »
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For the rest, “the students would like to propose an energy renovation of the building, indicates the physics-chemistry teacher. They are well aware that the building, which is over forty years old, is no longer suitable. “But as much as turning off the light can be done in a snap of the fingers, the energy renovation of the college, which is still using single glazing and high-consumption light bulbs, is likely to take time. “We told them that they may not see it during their schooling, but that it is worth pushing this subject. »
Either way, the students are not ready to give up the fight. “With my family, we often go to green spaces, to the mountains or to the forest of Fontainebleau and I want to preserve that,” says Marion. “It’s not something you can let go like that,” says Camile. I will continue the fight either by financing associations, when I have money or by going to demonstrations”. Good news, the younger generation is determined to save our planet.