Climate Solutions Start in the Classroom

Standing in a Novato schoolyard, there’s a group of third graders sorting their lunch waste - not because a teacher reminded them, but because they’re teaching everyone else how it's done. In the school garden, a student pulls a leaf of lettuce from the garden bed they planted, watered, and tended themselves - takes a bite - and finds a new favorite food!

These moments are happening right here in Marin. When you support Sustainable Marin Schools, you're not just writing a check - you'll be there for the "a-ha" moments. The muddy hands and the proud faces. The classrooms where kids stop waiting for adults to solve the climate crisis and start leading the way. You'll be part of the reason a school garden gets built, a composting program takes root, and a generation of students grows up knowing that they have the power to make a difference.

Who We Are

Sustainable Marin Schools was founded in 2023 with a simple but powerful belief: every child, regardless of zip code or income, deserves to grow up knowing they have the power to shape the future of our planet.

We're a Marin County nonprofit working hand-in-hand with Title 1 schools in the Novato Unified School District to transform campuses into living, breathing models of sustainability and resilience. Through four interconnected programs - Zero Waste, Environmental Literacy, Campus Greening, and Energy Efficiency - we don't just teach kids about climate change. We give them the tools, the confidence, and the community to do something about it.

And we do it all at no cost to schools, because we believe that access to a greener future shouldn't depend on a school's budget.

The students we serve plant California natives on campus to increase habitat for local fauna, take the lead on recycling and composting, care for the school garden, and advocate for the environment. These students go home and teach their families. They change the culture of their schools. They grow into the climate leaders our world urgently needs.

What We Do

We meet students where they are and we leave them somewhere extraordinary.

Zero Waste

We've trained over 2,500 students across the NUSD on exactly how to sort their waste and why it matters. Since 2022, our composting and recycling programs have diverted more than 300,000 pounds of food and organic waste from the landfill. That's not just a statistic. It’s a generation of kids who've learned that their choices have real consequences and real power.

Environmental Literacy

We do more than teach sustainability in the classroom. We give students opportunities for hands-on, climate action by planting California natives to reduce flooding, removing flammable invasive species to harden against wildfires, measuring air quality to promote green transportation to school, planting trees to increase canopy cover and decrease the heat island effect, and creating native habitats to improve biodiversity. Kids become the experts, advocates, and community voices presenting their ideas to school boards and taking ownership of their environmental future. These are tomorrow's policy makers, engineers, and activists - and they're getting started right now.

Campus Greening

Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, we've secured over $500,000 in funding to transform school grounds into vibrant, living classrooms. Gardens, green spaces, hands-in-the-dirt moments that make abstract climate concepts real. When a child plants a seed and watches it grow, something shifts - they understand, in a way no textbook can teach, that their actions and the health of the earth are deeply connected.

When you invest in Campus Greening, you're not just funding garden beds. You're funding the moment a child first feels like a steward of the earth. Green spaces invite curiosity, wonder, and play. And every seed planted quietly teaches something far bigger than any textbook can.

Those moments are already happening. And with your support, they'll keep growing.

Energy Efficiency

We help schools understand and reduce their energy footprint - building a culture of awareness that doesn't stop at the classroom door. Students carry these habits home, into their families and communities, multiplying the impact of every lesson learned.

Every program we run is free to schools. Every dollar you give goes directly to expanding this work - reaching more students, greening more campuses, and building a Marin where every child grows up ready to lead.

Why It Matters

Schools reach every family, across every income level and background. Climate education is an equity issue. When we give students in Novato the tools and agency to act on climate, we're investing in the communities that need resilience most - and building a model designed to spread to schools across California and beyond.

What We've Accomplished

In Their Own Words

"From launching our zero waste program to supporting the amazing efforts of our Green Team in beautifying our campus and improving waste sorting, this progress wouldn't have been possible without the guidance of Sustainable Marin Schools." – Principal Tony Quan, Pleasant Valley Elementary

"The work that Sustainable Marin Schools is doing to support and empower Novato's youngest residents to be stewards of our environment is truly inspiring." – Gretchen Schubeck, Sustainability Coordinator, City of Novato

Join Us

The next five years are everything.

Right now, a student in Novato is learning to compost. Another is tending a garden she planted herself. Another is standing in front of his school board, advocating for a greener campus - confidently, clearly, because someone believed he had something worth saying.

These are the moments we're building toward. And over the next five years, we're ready to go further than ever.

Our vision is bold and clear: make climate action in schools visible and measurable, so the impact can't be ignored. Cultivate a generation of climate leaders who carry these values far beyond the classroom. And build the financial foundation that ensures this work doesn't just survive - it thrives, expands, and outlasts all of us.

Your gift goes directly into action:

🌱 $50 supplies a zero waste event

🥬 $250 creates native habitat that improves biodiversity and serves a living laboratory

🌍 $500 brings an environmental education to an entire school

This Earth Month, become a Sustainable Marin Schools Climate Champion and help us turn every school in Marin into a model of sustainability and resilience.

Make your gift today and let's grow something extraordinary together.

And a recurring gift? That's the kind of steady, committed support that lets us plan boldly, grow strategically, and never leave a school behind because the funding ran out.

The next generation of climate leaders isn't coming. They're here - in classrooms across Marin, right now, waiting for the tools and the belief that they can make a difference.

Be the reason they get both.

Donate today and help Sustainable Marin Schools grow.

For more information about Sustainable Marin Schools please visit www.sustainablemarinschools.org

Sustainable Marin Schools is a fiscally sponsored project of MarinLink, a California nonprofit corporation exempt from federal tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service #20-0879422. All gifts are tax-deductible.