Today Levi Strauss & Co. announced it is partnering with Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and the Project WET Foundation to provide water impact education to an estimated 1.5 million elementary school children across the U.S.
“Water is one of the planet’s most precious resources, and it is going to take more than just one company or individual to ensure its future”
Scholastic adapted an educational program created by the Project WET Foundation in partnership with LS&Co. to teach students in grades three through five how to become water ambassadors at school, at home and in their communities. Consisting of three in-classroom lessons, the “Our Watery World” program will introduce students to the concept of a water footprint and provide them with a deeper understanding of how their daily actions affect the planet’s scarce resources. Students will learn where usable water on Earth is located, who the biggest users of Earth’s water resources are and how important water is to people, plants and animals across the globe. They’ll also learn how much water every day items use throughout their lifecycle.
“Scholastic National Partnerships is very excited to be launching the Our Watery World program with Levi Strauss & Co. and Project WET. Our collective goal is for this program to educate and inspire millions of schools and young people around the country to come together to help conserve water,” said Ann Amstutz-Hayes, SVP Scholastic National Partnerships.
In addition to the instructional program, students have an opportunity to submit their water-saving solutions in the “Conserve Water at Your School Sweepstakes” for a chance to receive a $10,000 grant from LS&Co. to bring their water-saving idea to life at their school. Students can answer the question, “What would you do to conserve water at your school?” and submit their response by February 1, 2017.
“Water is one of the planet’s most precious resources, and it is going to take more than just one company or individual to ensure its future,” said Michael Kobori, vice president of sustainability, LS&Co. “The ‘Our Watery World’ program will help shape the future generation to not only be aware of water’s scarcity, but their role in changing it.”
LS&Co. has long been committed to understanding and reducing the company’s water impact across all aspects of its business. In 2015, the company partnered with the Project WET Foundation – a non-profit that develops action-oriented education to enable every child to understand and value water – to create a water program for LS&Co. employees. Employees are trained in the program and encouraged to go into their local community to teach students how to save water. This past March on World Water Day, the company committed to the White House to train 100 percent of its corporate employees in the LS&Co. Project WET Foundation program.
