TEDGlobal 2010
John Hardy: My green school dream
Filmed:
Readability: 3.1
1,154,197 views
Join John Hardy on a tour of the Green School, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). The centerpiece of campus is the spiraling Heart of School, perhaps the world's largest freestanding bamboo building.
John Hardy - Designer, educator
Jewelry designer John Hardy co-founded the extraordinary Green School in Bali, where kids get a holistic and green education. Full bio
Jewelry designer John Hardy co-founded the extraordinary Green School in Bali, where kids get a holistic and green education. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
I grew up
0
0
2000
00:17
in a very small village in Canada,
1
2000
3000
00:20
and I'm an undiagnosed
2
5000
3000
00:23
dyslexic.
3
8000
2000
00:25
I had a really hard time in school.
4
10000
3000
00:28
In fact, my mother told me eventually
5
13000
2000
00:30
that I was the little kid in the village
6
15000
2000
00:32
who cried all the way to school.
7
17000
3000
00:37
I ran away.
8
22000
2000
00:39
I left when I was 25 years old to go to Bali,
9
24000
3000
00:44
and there I met my incredible wife, Cynthia,
10
29000
3000
00:47
and together, over 20 years,
11
32000
3000
00:50
we built an amazing jewelry business.
12
35000
3000
00:53
It was a fairy tale, and then we retired.
13
38000
3000
00:56
Then she took me to see a film
14
41000
2000
00:58
that I really didn't want to see.
15
43000
3000
01:01
It ruined my life --
16
46000
3000
01:04
(Laughter)
17
49000
2000
01:06
"The Inconvenient Truth" and Mr. Gore.
18
51000
3000
01:09
I have four kids,
19
54000
3000
01:12
and even if part of what he says is true,
20
57000
3000
01:15
they're not going to have the life that I had.
21
60000
3000
01:19
And I decided at that moment
22
64000
3000
01:22
that I would spend the rest of my life
23
67000
3000
01:25
doing whatever I could
24
70000
3000
01:28
to improve their possibilities.
25
73000
3000
01:32
So here's the world,
26
77000
2000
01:34
and here we are in Bali.
27
79000
3000
01:37
It's a tiny, little island --
28
82000
2000
01:39
60 miles by 90 miles.
29
84000
2000
01:41
It has an intact Hindu culture.
30
86000
3000
01:44
Cynthia and I were there.
31
89000
2000
01:46
We had had a wonderful life there,
32
91000
3000
01:49
and we decided to do something unusual.
33
94000
3000
01:52
We decided to give back
34
97000
3000
01:55
locally.
35
100000
2000
01:57
And here it is: it's called the Green School.
36
102000
3000
02:00
I know it doesn't look like a school,
37
105000
2000
02:02
but it is something we decided to do,
38
107000
3000
02:05
and it is extremely,
39
110000
2000
02:07
extremely green.
40
112000
3000
02:10
The classrooms have no walls.
41
115000
3000
02:13
The teacher is writing on a bamboo blackboard.
42
118000
3000
02:16
The desks are not square.
43
121000
3000
02:19
At Green School, the children are smiling --
44
124000
3000
02:22
an unusual thing for school, especially for me.
45
127000
3000
02:25
And we practice holism.
46
130000
3000
02:28
And for me it's just the idea
47
133000
2000
02:30
that, if this little girl
48
135000
2000
02:32
graduates as a whole person,
49
137000
2000
02:34
chances are
50
139000
2000
02:36
she'll demand a whole world --
51
141000
2000
02:38
a whole world --
52
143000
2000
02:40
to live on.
53
145000
2000
02:42
Our children spend 181 days
54
147000
3000
02:45
going to school in a box.
55
150000
3000
02:48
The people that built my school
56
153000
2000
02:50
also built the prison and the insane asylum
57
155000
3000
02:53
out of the same materials.
58
158000
3000
02:58
So if this gentleman
59
163000
2000
03:00
had had a holistic education,
60
165000
2000
03:02
would he be sitting there?
61
167000
2000
03:04
Would he have had more possibilities in his life?
62
169000
3000
03:09
The classrooms have natural light.
63
174000
2000
03:11
They're beautiful. They're bamboo.
64
176000
3000
03:14
The breeze passes through them.
65
179000
2000
03:16
And when the natural breeze isn't enough,
66
181000
3000
03:19
the kids deploy bubbles,
67
184000
2000
03:21
but not the kind of bubbles you know.
68
186000
2000
03:23
These bubbles are made from natural cotton
69
188000
2000
03:25
and rubber from the rubber tree.
70
190000
3000
03:28
So we basically turned the box
71
193000
2000
03:30
into a bubble.
72
195000
2000
03:32
And these kids know
73
197000
2000
03:34
that painless climate control
74
199000
3000
03:37
may not be
75
202000
2000
03:39
part of their future.
76
204000
2000
03:42
We pay the bill at the end of the month,
77
207000
2000
03:44
but the people that are really going to pay the bill
78
209000
2000
03:46
are our grandchildren.
79
211000
2000
03:49
We have to teach the kids
80
214000
2000
03:51
that the world is not indestructible.
81
216000
3000
03:56
These kids did a little graffiti on their desks,
82
221000
3000
03:59
and then they signed up for two extra courses.
83
224000
3000
04:02
The first one was called sanding
84
227000
3000
04:05
and the second one was called re-waxing.
85
230000
3000
04:08
But since that happened,
86
233000
3000
04:11
they own those desks.
87
236000
3000
04:14
They know they can control their world.
88
239000
3000
04:18
We're on the grid. We're not proud of it.
89
243000
3000
04:21
But an amazing alternative energy company in Paris
90
246000
3000
04:24
is taking us off the grid with solar.
91
249000
3000
04:27
And this thing
92
252000
2000
04:29
is the second vortex to be built in the world,
93
254000
3000
04:32
in a two-and-a-half meter drop on a river.
94
257000
3000
04:35
When the turbine drops in,
95
260000
2000
04:37
it will produce 8,000 watts of electricity,
96
262000
2000
04:39
day and night.
97
264000
2000
04:41
And you know what these are.
98
266000
2000
04:43
There's nowhere to flush.
99
268000
2000
04:45
And as long as we're taking our waste
100
270000
2000
04:47
and mixing it with a huge amount of water --
101
272000
2000
04:49
you're all really smart, just do the math.
102
274000
3000
04:52
How many people times how much water.
103
277000
2000
04:54
There isn't enough water.
104
279000
2000
04:56
These are compost toilets,
105
281000
2000
04:58
and nobody at the school wanted to know about them,
106
283000
3000
05:01
especially the principal.
107
286000
2000
05:04
And they work. People use them. People are okay.
108
289000
3000
05:07
It's something you should think about doing.
109
292000
3000
05:11
Not many things didn't work.
110
296000
3000
05:14
The beautiful canvas and rubber skylights
111
299000
3000
05:17
got eaten by the sun in six months.
112
302000
2000
05:19
We had to replace them with recyclable plastic.
113
304000
3000
05:23
The teachers dragged giant PVC whiteboards
114
308000
3000
05:26
into the classrooms.
115
311000
2000
05:28
So we had some good ideas:
116
313000
2000
05:30
we took old automobile windshields, put paper behind them
117
315000
3000
05:33
and created the first alternative
118
318000
2000
05:35
to the whiteboard.
119
320000
2000
05:39
Green School sits in south-central Bali,
120
324000
3000
05:42
and it's on 20 acres
121
327000
2000
05:44
of rolling garden.
122
329000
2000
05:46
There's an amazing river traveling through it,
123
331000
3000
05:49
and you can see there
124
334000
2000
05:51
how we manage to get across the river.
125
336000
3000
05:54
I met a father the other day; he looked a little crazed.
126
339000
3000
05:57
I said, "Welcome to Green School."
127
342000
2000
05:59
He said, "I've been on an airplane for 24 hours."
128
344000
3000
06:03
I asked him, "Why?"
129
348000
3000
06:06
He said, "I had a dream once about a green school,
130
351000
3000
06:09
and I saw a picture of this green school,
131
354000
2000
06:11
I got on an airplane.
132
356000
2000
06:13
In August I'm bringing my sons."
133
358000
3000
06:16
This was a great thing.
134
361000
2000
06:18
But more than that,
135
363000
2000
06:20
people are building green houses around Green School,
136
365000
3000
06:23
so their kids can walk to school on the paths.
137
368000
3000
06:27
And people are bringing their green industries,
138
372000
2000
06:29
hopefully their green restaurants,
139
374000
2000
06:31
to the Green School.
140
376000
2000
06:33
It's becoming a community.
141
378000
2000
06:35
It's becoming a green model.
142
380000
3000
06:38
We had to look at everything.
143
383000
2000
06:40
No petrochemicals in the pavement.
144
385000
2000
06:42
No pavement.
145
387000
2000
06:44
These are volcanic stones laid by hand.
146
389000
2000
06:46
There are no sidewalks.
147
391000
2000
06:48
The sidewalks are gravel. They flood when it rains,
148
393000
3000
06:51
but they're green.
149
396000
2000
06:53
This is the school buffalo.
150
398000
2000
06:57
He's planning to eat that fence for dinner.
151
402000
3000
07:00
All the fences at Green School are green.
152
405000
2000
07:02
And when the kindergarten kids
153
407000
2000
07:04
recently moved their gate,
154
409000
2000
07:06
they found out the fence was made out of tapioca.
155
411000
3000
07:09
They took the tapioca roots up to the kitchen,
156
414000
3000
07:12
sliced them thinly and made delicious chips.
157
417000
3000
07:15
Landscaping.
158
420000
3000
07:18
We manage to keep the garden that was there
159
423000
2000
07:20
running right up to the edge of each of the classrooms.
160
425000
3000
07:23
We dropped them gently in.
161
428000
2000
07:25
We made space for these guys
162
430000
3000
07:28
who are Bali's last black pigs.
163
433000
3000
07:32
And the school cow
164
437000
2000
07:34
is trying to figure out
165
439000
2000
07:36
how to replace the lawnmower
166
441000
2000
07:38
on the playing field.
167
443000
2000
07:40
These young ladies
168
445000
2000
07:42
are living in a rice culture,
169
447000
2000
07:44
but they know something that few people know in a rice culture.
170
449000
3000
07:47
They know how to plant organic rice,
171
452000
2000
07:49
they know how to look after it,
172
454000
2000
07:51
they know how to harvest and they know how to cook it.
173
456000
3000
07:54
They're part of the rice cycle
174
459000
2000
07:56
and these skills will be valuable
175
461000
2000
07:58
for them in their future.
176
463000
2000
08:00
This young man is picking organic vegetables.
177
465000
3000
08:04
We feed 400 people lunch every day
178
469000
3000
08:07
and it's not a normal lunch. There's no gas.
179
472000
3000
08:10
Local Balinese women
180
475000
2000
08:12
cook the food on sawdust burners
181
477000
3000
08:15
using secrets that only their grandmothers know.
182
480000
3000
08:19
The food is incredible.
183
484000
3000
08:23
Green School is a place of pioneers,
184
488000
2000
08:25
local and global.
185
490000
2000
08:27
And it's a kind of microcosm
186
492000
2000
08:29
of the globalized world.
187
494000
2000
08:31
The kids are from 25 countries.
188
496000
2000
08:33
When I see them together,
189
498000
2000
08:35
I know that they're working out
190
500000
3000
08:38
how to live in the future.
191
503000
3000
08:41
Green School is going into its third year
192
506000
2000
08:43
with 160 children.
193
508000
2000
08:45
It's a school where you do learn reading --
194
510000
2000
08:47
one of my favorites --
195
512000
2000
08:49
writing -- I was bad at it --
196
514000
2000
08:51
arithmetic.
197
516000
2000
08:53
But you also learn other things.
198
518000
2000
08:55
You learn bamboo building.
199
520000
2000
08:57
You practice
200
522000
2000
08:59
ancient Balinese arts.
201
524000
2000
09:01
This is called mud wrestling in the rice fields.
202
526000
3000
09:04
The kids love it.
203
529000
2000
09:06
The mothers aren't quite convinced.
204
531000
2000
09:08
(Laughter)
205
533000
2000
09:10
We've done a lot of outrageous things in our lives,
206
535000
2000
09:12
and we said, okay, local, what does "local" mean?
207
537000
3000
09:15
Local means
208
540000
2000
09:17
that 20 percent of the population of the school
209
542000
2000
09:19
has to be Balinese,
210
544000
2000
09:21
and this was a really big commitment.
211
546000
2000
09:23
And we were right.
212
548000
2000
09:25
And people are coming forward
213
550000
2000
09:27
from all over the world
214
552000
3000
09:30
to support the Balinese Scholarship Fund,
215
555000
3000
09:33
because these kids will be Bali's next green leaders.
216
558000
4000
09:37
The teachers are as diverse
217
562000
2000
09:39
as the student body,
218
564000
2000
09:41
and the amazing thing
219
566000
2000
09:43
is that volunteers are popping up.
220
568000
2000
09:45
A man came from Java
221
570000
2000
09:47
with a new kind of organic agriculture.
222
572000
2000
09:49
A woman came from Africa with music.
223
574000
3000
09:52
And together these volunteers and the teachers
224
577000
3000
09:55
are deeply committed
225
580000
2000
09:57
to creating a new generation
226
582000
2000
09:59
of global, green leaders.
227
584000
3000
10:03
The Green School effect --
228
588000
2000
10:05
we don't know what it is.
229
590000
2000
10:07
We need someone to come and study it.
230
592000
2000
10:09
But what's happening, our learning-different kids --
231
594000
3000
10:12
dyslexic --
232
597000
2000
10:14
we've renamed them prolexic --
233
599000
3000
10:17
are doing well in these beautiful, beautiful classrooms.
234
602000
4000
10:21
And all the kids are thriving.
235
606000
3000
10:24
And how did we do all this?
236
609000
2000
10:26
On giant grass.
237
611000
3000
10:29
It's bamboo.
238
614000
2000
10:31
It comes out of the ground like a train.
239
616000
3000
10:34
It grows as high as a coconut tree in two months
240
619000
3000
10:38
and three years later it can be harvested
241
623000
2000
10:40
to build buildings like this.
242
625000
2000
10:42
It's as strong and dense as teak
243
627000
4000
10:46
and it will hold up any roof.
244
631000
3000
10:50
When the architects came, they brought us these things,
245
635000
3000
10:53
and you've probably seen things like this.
246
638000
2000
10:55
The yellow box was called the administration complex.
247
640000
3000
10:58
(Laughter)
248
643000
2000
11:00
We squashed it, we rethought it,
249
645000
3000
11:03
but mainly we renamed it
250
648000
3000
11:06
"the heart of school,"
251
651000
2000
11:08
and that changed everything forever.
252
653000
2000
11:10
It's a double helix.
253
655000
2000
11:12
It has administrators in it
254
657000
2000
11:14
and many, many other things.
255
659000
2000
11:16
And the problem of building it --
256
661000
2000
11:18
when the Balinese workers
257
663000
2000
11:20
saw long reams of plans,
258
665000
3000
11:23
they looked at them and said, "What's this?"
259
668000
3000
11:26
So we built big models.
260
671000
2000
11:28
We had them engineered by the engineers.
261
673000
3000
11:31
And Balinese carpenters like this
262
676000
2000
11:33
measured them with their bamboo rulers,
263
678000
3000
11:36
selected the bamboo and built the buildings
264
681000
3000
11:39
using age-old techniques,
265
684000
3000
11:42
mostly by hand.
266
687000
3000
11:45
It was chaos.
267
690000
3000
11:48
And the Balinese carpenters want to be as modern as we do,
268
693000
3000
11:51
so they use metal scaffolding
269
696000
3000
11:54
to build the bamboo building
270
699000
3000
11:57
and when the scaffolding came down,
271
702000
3000
12:02
we realized that we had a cathedral,
272
707000
3000
12:05
a cathedral to green,
273
710000
2000
12:07
and a cathedral to green education.
274
712000
3000
12:10
The heart of school has seven kilometers
275
715000
2000
12:12
of bamboo in it.
276
717000
2000
12:14
From the time the foundations were finished,
277
719000
2000
12:16
in three months it had roofs and floors.
278
721000
3000
12:19
It may not be the biggest bamboo building in the world,
279
724000
3000
12:22
but many people believe
280
727000
2000
12:24
that it's the most beautiful.
281
729000
3000
12:27
Is this doable in your community?
282
732000
3000
12:30
We believe it is.
283
735000
2000
12:32
Green School is a model we built for the world.
284
737000
3000
12:35
It's a model we built for Bali.
285
740000
3000
12:38
And you just have to follow these simple, simple rules:
286
743000
3000
12:41
be local,
287
746000
2000
12:43
let the environment lead
288
748000
2000
12:45
and think about
289
750000
2000
12:47
how your grandchildren might build.
290
752000
4000
12:51
So, Mr. Gore, thank you.
291
756000
3000
12:54
You ruined my life,
292
759000
2000
12:56
but you gave me an incredible future.
293
761000
3000
12:59
And if you're interested in being involved
294
764000
2000
13:01
in finishing Green School
295
766000
3000
13:04
and building the next 50 around the world,
296
769000
2000
13:06
please come and see us.
297
771000
2000
13:08
Thank you.
298
773000
2000
13:10
(Applause)
299
775000
18000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John Hardy - Designer, educatorJewelry designer John Hardy co-founded the extraordinary Green School in Bali, where kids get a holistic and green education.
Why you should listen
After selling his jewelry company in 2007, John Hardy and his wife, Cynthia, endowed a thrilling new project: the Green School in Bali. At the Green School, kids learn in open-air classrooms surrounded by acres of gardens that they tend; they learn to build with bamboo; and meanwhile they're being prepared for traditional British school exams. The school is international -- 20 percent of students are Bali locals, some on scholarship. The centerpiece of the campus is the spiraling Heart of School, which may be called Asia's largest bamboo building.
Hardy has long been an advocate of the use of bamboo as an alternative to timber for building and reforestation. When running his company, Hardy pioneered a program of sustainable advertising that offset the carbon emissions associated with the yearly corporate print advertising by planting bamboo on the island of Nusa Penida in a cooperative plantation.
John Hardy | Speaker | TED.com