Climate Change & Daycare/Schools/Homes: Reducing the Heat

Name: Climate Change & Daycare/Schools/Homes: Reducing the Heat
Rating: 5.0 (23 reviews)

A hands-on course with 20 actionable tips on how to cool down hot yards in daycare/schools/homes, and make them natural.

Created byJan Rajnoch

Last updated 4/2024

English

What you'll learn

Discover 10 ways of cooling down hot yards in daycare/childcare, schools, and homes (heatwave adaptation)
Get those 20 ways (10 on heatwave adaptation + 10 on yard naturization) in a simple pdf blueprint with photos and examples
Add 10 ways of making yards in daycare/childcare, schools, and homes more natural (yard naturization)
Combine heatwave adaptation with yard naturization
Don't compromise compliance whilst making your yard sustainable
See your yard through the five pillars of successful heatwave adaptation
Get two extras accompanying the course (Greenery Guidebook and Compliance & Sustainability Touchpoints)
This works even if you can’t afford expensive renovations, e.g. excavating concrete
Combine heatwave adaptation and environmental sustainability

Course content

4 sections • 24 lectures • 1h 48m total length

Bird's eye view. Download your blueprint!4:26
Learn heat wave adaptation and yard naturalisation for daycare, school, and home settings, using a 44-page blueprint to cool yards, reduce urban heat island effects, and boost sustainability.
Before we start: Are you like this "open-air oven"?6:05
Understand why many daycare and school yards become open-air ovens, through a Western Sydney case study, and begin with problem-first heatwave adaptation for cooler, natural spaces.

Five key pillars of successful heatwave adaptation3:16
Your outdoor space and the Urban Heat Island Effect (UHI)6:12
Explore the urban heat island effect (UHI) and its heat map patterns across suburbs and the CBD, highlighting how urbanization and building materials raise temperatures with vertical cooling strategies.
Cool down vertically – option A (green walls)10:07
Explore vertical cooling with green walls to leverage evapotranspiration and reduce heat without sacrificing floor space, using affordable, moderately expensive, and professional systems, while addressing accessibility, safety, and licensing.
Cool down vertically – option B (climbers, spillovers)5:07
Explore vertical cooling with climbers and spillovers to shade hot walls, training plants along wires or fences. Prioritize safe, hardy plants, avoid poisonous ivy, and consider latching versus tendrils.
Cool down vertically – option C (trees)9:30
Cool down vertically – option D (trellisses, lattices, shades)2:49
Cool down horizontally – option E (ground covers, edging plants, gap fillers..)5:06
Cool down horizontally – option G (surfaces and colours)5:23
Cool down horizontally – option F (dry creek beds)4:18
Cool down horizontally – option H (pergolas, shade sails, green roofs)2:29
Cool down horizontally - option I (frog pond)4:17
Test your heatwave adaptation skills

Section B Intro & Adding bird baths (EASY)2:31
Make/buy insect hotels (EASY)1:09
Create or purchase an insect hotel by drilling holes in timber or sticks, attracting solitary bees and wasps to naturalize your yard on a budget.
Naturize your existing fence (EASY)1:31
Collect timber pieces and attach them to your existing fence with twine or cable ties to naturalize the boundary and enhance cooling.
Start a lizard lounge (EASY)1:21
Get / Start using existing rainwater tank/s (MEDIUM)2:19
Learn to start using existing rainwater tanks for watering, greenery, and outdoor play, with a downloadable blueprint on rain tanks and rain gardens, covering compliance and risk assessment for schools.
Install a raingarden (MEDIUM)2:49
Install a rain garden attached to existing gutters to grow greenery and capture runoff for 2 to 3 hours, while filtering stormwater through sediment and sand to ease urban floods.
Get a native beehive (stingless) (MEDIUM)2:03
Explore how native stingless bee hives support pollinators and naturalize your yard while reducing chemicals; follow steps on sun exposure, timing, floral resources within 500 meters, and a water reservoir.
Plant bamboo (MEDIUM)2:20
Plant bamboo in pots or in ground plantings to create shade, cooling, and a Zen, rustling ambiance; choose clumping, drought-tolerant bamboo and avoid running varieties.
Break your space into non-linear, vertical, and horizontal sections (COMPLEX)5:43
Install a turtle mound (COMPLEX)3:09
Test your yard naturization skills

Requirements

No prior experience required
Interest in sustainability, climate change adaptation, environmental management, nature-based solutions and driving change is a plus.
Desire to adapt outdoor areas (e.g. yards) to increasing heatwaves, and make them more natural

Description

Is your yard getting too hot?

Is it too artificial?

You're not alone…

19 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000
Heatwaves cause more deaths than all other natural disasters
(e.g. bushfires, storms, cyclones and floods)
Heatwaves are predicted to get hotter, more frequent, and longer as our planet continues to warm
Yards in daycare/childcare, schools, and homes are getting hotter
Children’s visits to the ED (in the U.S.) rose 12% during the warmest months (EHP 2022)
Astroturf gets up to 100C on hot summer days

YET

Most yards in daycare/childcare and schools were designed with a total disregard for nature, climate change, and increasing heatwaves.

These yards are open-air ovens - full of concrete, astroturf, and artificial materials that capture, trap, and release heat...

...which means that children are paying the price for something they didn't cause.

Don't know what to do?

Don't have millions on renovations?

No worries..

Let me introduce you to the:

Heatwave-Ready, Cooler & Natural Yard in Daycare/School/Home

– a hands-on, practical and low-budget course with 20 actionable tips on how to cool down hot yards in daycare/childcare, schools, and homes, and make them more natural.

The course is tailored to people in the education sector, such as teachers/educators, early childhood/school directors, sustainability enthusiasts, education pros, and also contractors and parents. It’s NOT a generic sustainability course (because those don’t address things like poisonous plants, scalable objects e.g. green walls near fences, drowning hazards, Anaphylaxis..).

I’ll see you inside!

Jan

Who this course is for:

People working in the education/care sector: educators/teachers, early childhood/school directors, sustainability enthusiasts, education pros, homeowners, and parents
People with a keen interest in sustainability, especially heatwave adaptation, and making outdoor spaces (e.g. school/home yards) more naturalreducing GHG emissions and landfill waste
People who struggle with getting others on board with sustainability
Parents with young children

Climate Change & Daycare/Schools/Homes: Reducing the Heat

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction & Course outline2 lectures • 11min

Section A: Heatwave Adaptation (Daycare, Schools, and Homes)11 lectures • 59min

Section B: Yard Naturization (Daycare, Schools, and Homes)10 lectures • 25min

You made it! Don't forget your extras1 lecture • 15min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: