Walking the Talk

School for Life provides an education that involves more than pure academics, incorporating culture, ecological issues, and entrepreneurship in one place to provide a deep platform for life-long learning. Every aspect of the site and its buildings are a living example of sustainability, including the architecture, the power sources, furniture, bikeways, and plantings. The students explore this living workshop as a learning experience: maintaining, developing, designing, and learning as entrepreneurs within it. They will become competent in dealing with and learning from the complexities of the natural world. Striking a balance between holistic, academic and experiential strands, the School's educational goals are geared toward preparing students for both the challenges and rewards of the 21st century. 

Ecological Design
Sustainable Architecture
School for Life at the Kul-Kul Campus will have minimal impact on its land, becoming a school in harmony not only with its site, but with John and Cynthia Hardy’s philosophy of sustainable design. Bamboo, local alang-alang grass, traditional earth walls and earth brick form the materials of the School’s buildings.

All facilities and buildings are designed and constructed with Indonesian bamboo and other natural materials to minimize the use of non-sustainable products such as concretes and plastics. Many of the campus structures, from classrooms to guest homes to conference halls, are made from 99 to 100% green materials. Bamboo used on the site is treated and preserved through all-natural processes. If properly cared for, bamboo can last for more than thirty years.

Alternative Energy - Vortex Generator
An experiment in hydro-power generation, the nine-meter vortex generator, will divert water from the Ayung River with minimal environmental impact to power generators for the campus, taking the School off the electrical grid. It is the largest of its type in the world.

Organic Food and Farming - Permaculture
The Ayung River runs through the eight hectares of the School campus, which is blanketed by an organic permaculture system designed by international and local experts. The framework considers all aspects of the campus design, from buildings to waste management to aquaculture ponds. Students will engage in farming, which will not only connect them to the land and what it offers, but will also provide experiential learning applicable in the real world. The School's gardens will produce more than enough to sustain the community on campus. It will also produce an excess of fruits, vegetables, palm sugar and even chocolate—which will be sold to local families and restaurants through student initiatives or activities.

Social and Environmental Activism - Alternative Transportation
School for Life will promote alternative transportation both to-and-within the campus. One transportation initiative is a campus-wide co-operative bicycle program and trail network for School staff, teachers, and students. The bike program will acquire few new materials, instead refurbishing antique bikes from the community, while still providing a fashionable non-polluting alternative.