Green School goes high-tech

Chico Green School recently announced that it will be one of the first schools in the nation to use Apple iPads in lieu of traditional textbooks, according to a CGS press release.

When the charter school opens its doors Aug. 30 to students in the ninth, 10th and 11th grades, all students and teachers will be equipped with the tablet computers, which will use California’s Free Digital Textbook Initiative—a program that offers downloadable textbooks for history, geometry, algebra, biology, chemistry, earth science and physics.

Apple reports that the carbon footprint of an iPad from production to disposal is about 130 kilograms of carbon dioxide. In contrast, books for a typical high-school student add up to about 200 kilograms of carbon dioxide over a four-year period.

The tablet computers are recyclable. Moreover, they aren’t produced with harmful chemicals—such as arsenic, which is often found in electronics.