Greenhouse Project Classrooms Give Students Hands On Experience With Conservation

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- Kids from a group of New York City schools are showing off how they would conserve the environment.

As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, it's part of a program teaching children about preserving our resources.

At the hydroponic greenhouse at Manhattan School for Children on the Upper West Side, students are growing more than 9,000 lbs of vegetables a year, using no soil, no pesticides, and only rainwater.

"It's called VIG, vertically integrated growing," 7th grader Equem Roel said.

It's a way to grow plants using less water, space, and energy.

"The water falls down through these pipes, then goes down here, watering each of the plants," 8th grader Zeke Allis said.

The kids say hydroponic farming is key to saving the environment.

"It costs less, it wastes less water, it wastes less money, it wastes less time," 8th grader Jonah Rohlfing said.

It's one of 19 greenhouse project classrooms throughout local schools, created by the non-profit group New York Sun Works.

On Friday, students from the schools came together for a youth conference to celebrate what they've learned and to share their ideas for the future.

"I think it's crucial to prepare them for the 21st century. They are the citizens of tomorrow. They are the ones who are going to find solutions to our environmental problems," Manuela Zamora said.

Over the summer seven more local schools will be getting greenhouse project classrooms and the goal is to have 100 built by the year 2020.

Second graders from P.S. 84 in Williamsburg had plenty to say about why science is so important.

"So they could save the plants from dying because if there were no plants we wouldn't have fruits or vegetables," Johan Gomez said.

"It's about the environment, because if we don't have the environment, we like, will be extinct," Olivia Tineobriones added.