The Green School, wrapping up

June 27^th, 2013

Yesterday Deborah and I hired a driver to take us to The Green School, 30 minutes NW of Ubud. On the way, we stopped at a coffee plantation where Arabica and Robusta coffee are plants are grown for export, along with exotic spices and herb growing in the midst of a cool and peaceful jungle. This place also specializes in a special Balinese coffee, not for export, that is called Luwat. It is made will the help of four mongoose that live in large cages on the property. They are fed the coffee beans, chew them up, spit out the outer covering, and then swallow the bean. The beans do not digest well in the mongooses’ stomachs and become fermented. Now here’s the amazing part of the story: The mongoose poop is collected and dried. The semi intact beans are separated from the poop, washed, roasted and ground. This Luwat coffee is highly prized here. I was offered a sample and politely declined, not wanting to see if my gut microbes were ready for such a new experience.

Next stop, The Green School. The students are on summer vacation, but there is a summer camp in full swing. Upon entering the large compound, I was struck by the exquisite beauty of the place, especially the structures which were truly works of art, designed by the founders of the school, John Hardy and his wife Cynthia. They had made their fortune in the creation of jewelry which reached an international market. They sold their business just before the market crash of 2008, and used the large amount of money to obtain the land in Bali and start working on the school. John had a vision. After seeing Al Gore’s movie, An inconvenient Truth, John said his life was never the same; he made a commitment to himself and the universe to put all his energy into trying to make a difference on the planet. The school is a model of sustainability. The gorgeous buildings are made completely of locally grown and harvested material, most notable being the bamboo, bent and cut and sliced into many manifestations like flooring, vaulted ceilings, support structures, furniture. The roofs are thatched with palms from the property. Most of the buildings have no walls or windows and are open air. I wish I still had the use of my iPhone camera so I could show you just how exquisite these structures are.

The school has about 300 students and 50 staff members which together represent 50 different countries. The tuition is about $13,00 a year. Eight percent of the students are local Balinese children on full scholarships. The age range is pre-school through high school. There’s a small dormitory for kids who are not able to go home every day with parents living far away.

The curriculum combines a regular program to prepare for college, along with deep immersion into ecology and sustainability. The kids grow much of their own food using permaculture methods, raise their own animals, and even are taught by the locals how to rice farm, with the local priest coming at harvest time to bless the fields.

The kids have initiated quite a few different environmental programs at the school, like their project to protect and breed endangered Balinese starlings, white with distinctive dark markings, that have been captured almost to extinction because of the high price they command on the thriving pet bird market. The kids solicit funds from all over the world, with help from their IT advisor, to keep the project alive.  

The school is 80% off the grid, using mostly solar power. It will soon become 100% off the grid when they harness the big river at the bottom of their valley. Instead of using dams to generate electricity which would have harmful impacts on the pristine river, an Austrian engineer is showing them an innovative and very simple technique that has almost no environmental impact. He has designed a solar powered pump to raise a small amount of water quite a few feet up the slope of the mountain which then runs down a tunnel into some kind of vortex machine which I don’t totally understand, that generates electricity. The water is then returned to the river.

We were told on our tour that the school was voted the most green school in the world.

So, what’s the down side you might ask, since, as we know, there’s the light and the dark, the good and bad to everything. Well, I would have trouble with working in the heat and humidity, although there was a nice breeze and cool shade in the classrooms. But spending long hours tending the vegetable gardens and animals might be challenging unless they were done in the very early morning or after the sun goes down. There are lots of stone steps going up and down from the river, so one needs to have adequate energy and be in fairly good shape. And then there’s the issue of being around international kids who have been raised in wealth with nannies and such. It’s risky to generalize, but if these kids were to have a sense of entitlement, that might be off putting to some. But, I suspect that the school is a great equalizer, providing a common vision for the students of making the world a better place.

Today we’re winding down our trip. Now that I’ve rested up a bit, I can more fully appreciate what an amazing and wondrous trip this has been. Thanks to Gaylon and Zinnia, we have dipped below the surface of Bali and seen what many tourists never get a chance to see, a more intimate view of Bali life and culture. We have been able to experience some of the traditions from close up. We’ve been welcomed into the homes and families of our teachers, eaten meals with them, gone to their relatives’ cremations, weddings, blessings, and dances. We’ve explored temples, villages, and beaches.

There were times when there was turmoil among the OG’s with little explosions now and then, not surprising being in such close quarters for so long with much to process and often associated with exhaustion from the busy schedules of the students with all their classes and activities, along with energy-zapping heat and humidity.

One of the highlights of the trip was watching the students come face to face with a place and culture that was as foreign to them as you can get and watching them open up their minds and hearts to this new experience. I was told that some even shed tears when they parted from their home stay families, having fully embraced the experience. The students are visibly different. I think their parents will wonder who their sons and daughters are when they arrive home. They will feel like different people---because they are indeed different. The kids have already made plans to get together with each other when they are back in Santa Fe so they will be able to have people to talk to who will know what they are talking about.

There were times when I felt sad on this trip with the realization that Bali is rapidly being developed without any obvious controls in place. But it’s still a stunningly beautiful country. And the people are kind and generous and always smiling. I have felt safe during this time in Bali---except while crossing the main street in Ubud.

As I’m pulling out my clothes to start packing, I notice some of the clothes have a layer of mold on them. It will be quite a jolt going back to 100 degree temperatures, parched plants, and smoke in the air. But, I’m also excited about going home and seeing you all again and reestablishing contact.

I'm bracing myself for the two day trip home. It's quite grueling, but will be interrupted by a six hour lay over at Narita airport in Tokyo where we'll be spending that time at a nearby temple in the temple gardens.

I will end this blog with a saying in Bali that one of the OG’s got tattooed on his body while he was here:

Bhineka Tunggal Ika. (“Different, Same, One,” also translated as “I am you and you are me.”)