2024, Loveland High School, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Reese, Heather, and Maggie from Loveland High School noticed the lack of environmental education in their community, particularly awareness of invasive plant species around their school’s nature area. To address this, they created a deck of playing cards featuring environmental facts, tips, and simple sustainable actions. Each suit focuses on a unique topic: spades cover invasive species and native alternatives; hearts share sustainable living tips; clubs highlight recyclable items; and diamonds offer sustainable recipes, like utilizing locally available ingredients, to help lower your carbon footprint.
The students distributed these educational cards for free at their school, local farmers’ markets, community locations, and successfully had them displayed in local restaurants including Tano Bistro.
Their goal was to encourage community engagement and help others incorporate sustainable practices into their daily lives, hoping that recipients would share the knowledge further.
Their initiative contributed to advancing multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), Goal 13 (Climate Action), and Goal 15 (Life on Land).
This project has been selected for international implementation for the 2024-2025 school year.
Each year, Caring for Our Watersheds selects one project to implement across all programs around the world. To implement this project internationally, a new CFW environmental education deck—based on their idea but with content adapted for a global audience—will be distributed at CFW contests across the United States, Canada, and Argentina!
