The Lawrenceville School is surrounded by hundreds of acres of School-owned forests, wetlands, and farmland that offer boundless educational and ecological potential. The School employs ecological principles to forest stewardship, agricultural practices, habitat protection, and conservation.

The Office of Environmental Sustainability is now implementing a Land Stewardship Plan developed for the school by the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FoHVOS). Part of this plan involves a summer Restoration Ecology internship with FoHVOS staff.

Land conservation initiatives also include sustainable farming at the School's Big Red Farm. The Farm produces a variety of organic crops and meat for our dining halls, School Camp, and area food pantries. Students work on the farm for athletics credit during fall and spring term and for summer internships.

In an effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, Lawrenceville addresses energy efficiency through green building techniques for current and recent construction projects. The school has five LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings: the Fathers Building, the math wing of the Kirby Math and Science Center, Carter House, the Al-Rashid Health and Wellness Center, and the Gruss Center for Art and Design.

Plans are in place for a sixth LEED building with the Tsai Field House to be completed in 2024. The new building and surrounding parking area will include green features like geoexchange heating and cooling, waste heat recapture, permeable pavement, rain gardens, and bioswales.

The campus heating system recaputres up to 90% of the steam used to heat buildings to in energy and water use. The Office of Environmental Sustainability also researches carbon reduction strategies, renewable energy credits, and carbon offsets.

Led by our Facilities Department, students, faculty, and staff work in partnership with our recycling facility, All County Recycling of Trenton, and hauler, Waste Management, to reduce the amount of material that ends up in landfills. Students also lead efforts to compost food waste from plate scrapings in the dining halls to avoid sending those materials to the landfill and, instead, have them used to add nutrients to the soil at a local farm. Other initiatives are a reduction of waste during student moving times and adopting reusable plates and reusable water bottles as the norm everywhere on campus.