Green Initiative

Green Initiative
Our school district is thinking of building a new school to house K-5. I know they have been knocking around the idea of wind power, but I wonder if they’ve thought of a green roof. The soil acts as a good insulator from the heat of summer (less air conditioning needed) and keeps in the warmth during the winter (less heating costs).
It’s like a patio garden placed up on the roof. The structure must be strong enough to hold extra weight, but I suspect that buildings erected in Upstate NY need to be sturdy to support heavy snow falls.
I’ve read where school districts do away with trays to lessen the amount of water used in washing, as well as less dishwashing detergent. The students carry less, therefore only take what they’re going to eat. The few left-overs go into a compost bin for use on the roof garden.
Students in the “Earth Science” studies rotate in weeding, hoeing, watering ( from rain collection barrels), and harvesting the produce. The fruits of their labors are served in the cafeteria’s salad bar and sold as snacks.
Not much would grow during the deep winter months, but perhaps the powers-at-be could see their way to utilizing the building 12-months of the year by scheduling classes during four quarters. Students could choose which three quarters they’d like to attend, or four quarters to graduate earlier or to enable them to study at a more relaxed pace. Their lunches and snacks would be fresh, inexpensive, and nutritional.
I am appalled by the amount of candy that is fed to our students, from Kindergarten on through high school on a daily basis not to mention the special parties, behavior rewards, and contest prizes. Growing their own snack and salad food, might turn the tide to eating more nutritional snacks. As one poster says Monkey see; Monkey do; Make a nutritional choice for you.
Having a green roof would facilitate energy saving measures while providing nutritional food for our students.