The Challenge of Sustainability

The going is not always easy for Darrow's Sustainability Program, and yet the community perseveres and even welcomes the challenges. This was addressed in an article in Independent School Magazine (Spring 2005), written by a former Samson Environmental Center Co-director:

There have been some bumps in the road to fully implementing sustainability. For instance, one of the very things that makes us Darrow, our Shaker legacy, also makes us incredibly energy inefficient. Two-hundred-year-old Shaker buildings make for a great logo, but with many windows and little or no insulation, they are not green buildings. As they are also National Historic Landmarks, we can do little to make these buildings more energy efficient. Yet we are not deterred by this seemingly very contradictory situation. We embrace the dichotomy of living in drafty old buildings while preaching energy efficiency. We share with our students the complexity of our real world and ask, "Do we bulldoze these buildings in the name of sustainability? Would we be the same school if we did not live and work in these pieces of history?" The answer to both is, "Of course not."

And then we ask, "What can we do, given the limitations and opportunities of our community, to live as sustainable a lifestyle as possible?" This is the question we want them to ask all of their lives.