Healthy Schools Campaign

Green Cleaning for Workers' Health

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

We give four primary reasons for green cleaning in schools. (And we could probably come up with 20 more. . .) Here they are:

1. Green Cleaning Helps Students Stay Healthy and Learn
2. Green Cleaning Protects the Health of Custodial Staff
3. Green Cleaning Increases the Lifespan of Facilities
4. Green Cleaning Preserves the Environment

We tend to focus on the students, but we shouldn't lose perspective on the broader set of issues around providing a healthy environment for everyone in a building, including the employees. Green cleaning is an important aspect of a healthy work environment. According to this recent article:

When supermarket janitors in Local 1877 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) rallied last month at Safeway and Lucky stores in San Jose, Calif., they weren't only demanding improved wages and health benefits. They were calling for the adoption of green cleaning standards to make their jobs safer.

Take a read of the full story. It's interesting, and it provides real insight into how janitors work and how the chemicals they use affect their health. 

When we work to support green cleaning or other healthy indoor air quality programs, we are speaking up for the health of teachers, custodians, administrators and everyone who works in a school building -- in addition to the schoolchildren who often come to mind first.  Remember, more than 50 million students and 5 millions adults are in school buildings on any given work day. A healthy environment protects us all.

Happy Halloween – Make it Orange, Black and GREEN!

Today we have a guest blog from Betsy Bigelow Teller, newsletter editor at the Green Schools Initiative

Costumes, candy, and Halloween parties are just ahead. You may not feel you can get away with slipping organic vegetables into the trick-or-treater's bags, but you can definitely slip some eco-consciousness into Halloween this year.

I've got three kids – kids who are full of enthusiastic ideas about the party I should throw, the costumes they want, and the various candies we must offer to trick-or-treaters. But all their great ideas can add up to a mountain of expense and waste (not to mention tooth decay). Instead, why not try the tips and links below to: a) keep it green, b) save money -- and best of all, c) save your sanity and have some fun!

• Choose reusable cloth bags for trick-or-treating this Halloween. Kids can decorate their own bags with fabric markers or paints. For a simpler alternative, re-use a paper grocery bag with handles - your child can decorate it with markers and stickers.

• Host a pre-Halloween costume swap with friends and neighbors; purchase second-hand costumes; or buy costume raw materials at a thrift store and get creative. Avoid vinyl masks and plastic/vinyl teeth. No need for plastic -- Halloween is scary enough as is!

• Find ideas for greening your school events all year long on our website at Green Your School Events 

Check the links below for green and healthy costume, party, and craft ideas that will result in fun without the big expenditures and sugar overload:


Mother Nature Network: Costume Tips and Photos - Cheap, Easy & Green 

About.Com’s Tips for Greening your Halloween 

Green Halloween: Healthy & Earth-friendly Holidays 

StopGlobalWarming.org’s Costume, Trick-or-treating, & Party Tips

Happy (green) Halloween!

Government Agencies Told to Go Green. But What About Schools?

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

The Obama administration is starting to require every federal agency to measure its greenhouse-gas emissions and set targets to reduce them by 2020. According to The Washington Post, Obama explained the decision this way:

As the biggest landlord in the nation, we need to show leadership by reducing fuel use, cutting costs, and improving the operations of our agencies' fleets and buildings.

Nice step forward! My only question is -- what about schools?

According to the article, the federal government has 500,000 buildings, operates 600,000 vehicles, and employs more than 1.8 million civilian workers.

My guess is that schools are not too far off in magnitude for these types of numbers. Our nation has more than 130,000 schools (not school buildings, but schools -- there are actually more buildings); school buses drive more than 23 million children to and from school each year; and we know that 55 million students and nearly 5 million adults are in a school building on any given work day in America. 

So maybe we need to start looking at setting targets for schools to reduce their emissions too.

Actually, some schools are already taking steps in this direction.

Chicago Public Schools, the third largest school district in the US, has taken a great effort to implement an environmental action plan to address its greenhouse-gas emissions. The state of Illinois has begun a program to encourage environmental improvements in schools that they hope to begin using to quantify emission reductions.

But we do need something more consistent, and at a larger level. School are huge consumers, schools touch every point of our society and as I said before, where schools go, others follow.

Any other examples of schools trying to quantify (or reduce) their greenhouse-gas emissions out there?

HSC Helps Kick Off Green Schools Coalition

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

On September 8, I attended the inaugural meeting for the U.S. Green Building Council's Green Schools Coalition. I'll give three reasons why it was a great meeting:

1. The participants were great;
2. The main speaker was great;
3. The office building was the coolest build-out I've ever been in.

1) The Participants

The Green Schools Coalition is an early effort to bring together education advocates around issues of greening our schools. It brought together leaders from groups representing school  administrators, unions, health advocates and environmentalists. It was such a diverse group -- and a group that can really make a statement. And even more exciting is that the individuals there were committed to moving a national agenda forward for healthier, more sustainable schools throughout the US.

2) The Speaker

Under Secretary of Education, Martha Kanter, spoke to introduce the group, and it seems to me that she said all the right things for school health. She spoke of the need for proper nutrition, healthy indoor environments and, of course, sustainable construction and maintenance.

But my favorite quote of hers was that we need to move "beyond the balance sheet of energy savings" in building green schools. We need to remember that building schools shouldn't only be measured by years for a payback in energy savings. Some things don't have measurable monetary benefits. Schools need to inspire creativity, facilitate learning and support health. None of which has a specific dollar amount attached to it, but all of which could spell financial disaster if we fail. 

It's nice to hear when our leaders seem to get it.

3) The Space

You'd expect the USGBC to have the mack-daddy green space -- and they didn't disappoint in their newly renovated office space. Occupancy sensors for individual cubicles, eco zones with curtains of air to reduce the need for heating and cooling, reclaimed wood paneling, use of colors to reflect light, waterless urinals... It was a building geek's dream to see all of this technology. But one of the things that struck me is that the use of the term "green" is expanding to mean ergonomics, mood, health, healthy food prep, comfort and building community -- all things that we hope to see in schools. Maybe we all need to expand the definition of "green," or we need to come up with a new word that is more encompassing. Either way, the space was awesome.

So thank you to the USGBC for starting the Green Schools Coalition. We're proud to be members and excited to get to work!

How The White House Garden Grows

By Rochelle Davis, Founding Executive Director

We at HSC have been very excited to have First Lady Michelle Obama make the food we eat, and how it is grown, part of the national dialogue. Much has been said about the new White House garden. Now, the White House has released a video about the garden. 

As Michelle says at the end of the video, “I hope the garden will be an introduction to a new way for our country to think about food.”   We look forward to her leadership as Congress begins to consider the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, the bill that determine the funding and other guidelines for the federal school food programs.

Welcome, HSC Worms!

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

We were thrilled to see the news that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently signed SB99 into law, making it legal to compost commercially in Illinois and then transport the resulting mega-nutrient-rich compost to other states nationwide. Old laws restricting commercial composting -- and especially the transport of compost across state lines -- made it difficult for schools and many other institutions in Illinois to compost on any large scale.

HSC applauds Gov. Quinn and the legislators who made this sensible law a reality. As Kay McKeen, founder and executive director of SCARCE (School & Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education) says, "There are bills out there that are good for everyone and this is one of them." We look forward to seeing a resulting increase in composting around the state!

Here at HSC, we have been taking steps into the world of composting as well. HSC works with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to bring together the district's Environmental Action Plan Taskforce, a group of school and community leaders who make recommendations for putting the plan in action. One facet of this project involves exploring the feasibility of composting in schools. We've found that composting is one activity that brings so many benefits to a school community -- benefits for the environment, true hands-on experiences with biological sciences for students, and invaluable lessons in environmental stewardship for everyone involved.

To better understand what composting involves for a school, we decided to give it a try in our office. As our founding executive director Rochelle Davis explained, if everyone in our office can understand the challenges of composting first-hand, we'll be better able to help schools (with many more people) put programs into action.

With the help and encouragement of Kate Weinans, UIUC Extension Youth Program Organizer at the University of Illinois Extension program, we kicked off our very own Healthy Schools vermi-composting effort -- that is, the kind of composting that involves worms. Take a look at this video of the day we welcomed our squirmy, wriggly new suite mates to the office:

Where Schools Go, Others Follow

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

In a notable win for the environment, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently signed a series of legislation to help green the state.

I'm proud of two bills in particular because I like to think HSC played a role in getting them passed.

    The Green Buildings Act - requires all new state-funded building construction and major renovations     of existing state-owned facilities to meet green building practices

    Green Cleaning Act - requires every state-owned building to use only environmentally preferable     cleaning products

You see, in 2007, with our partners, HSC introduced and championed two bills that became law. One bill required green building practices and the other required green cleaning, both for all Illinois schools. So I'd say we helped pave the way for these new laws. I mean, if we can get schools to do it in 2007, shouldn't our state government do it as well today?

After taking that minute to pat ourselves on the back, I have to say this: the real message here is that schools are an important microcosm of our society. Where schools go, others follow. When we teach healthy practices in schools, students bring those lessons home to their parents. When we pass health-promoting policies for our schools, the political barriers to broader implementation are reduced.

At HSC, we believe that schools are the most important place for promoting health and environmental policy; they may also be one of the most effective places for beginning broad policy changes.

Through Your Lens Photo & Essay Contest: Show the World What YOU See at School

When you walk into a school, what do you see?

The truth is, it depends on what school you’re walking into. In some schools, you may see peeling paint or a broken window. In others, you may see a well-maintained classroom flooded with natural light. In some schools, you’ll see broken water fountains; in others, bright mosaics and murals.

In nearly every school, you’ll see things that make you proud and things you want to change.

Now, we’re asking you to help us show Congress – and the world – what our school buildings really look like.

HSC is pleased to launch the Through Your Lens photo and essay contest today with our partners at Critical Exposure and the 21st Century School Fund. From Aug 18 - Sept 14, you can submit photos and stories to highlight what’s great and what’s troubling about your school building.

Your photos and stories will help inform a national debate as Congress considers legislation for school building repair, modernization and construction.

Photos and stories will be shown at a special exhibition in Washington, DC (currently planned in the US Capitol Building) and many more entries will be published in a Through Your Lens book and in an online gallery. Five student winners will also receive a Vado pocket video camcorder from Creative Labs.

Please take a moment to show the world what you see at school every day.

Learn more and enter today at www.ThroughYourLens.org.

Want to help spread the word about this effort? Click here for a badge to put on your website and tools to help get the word out!

photo courtesy of Critical Exposure

photo courtesy of National Trust for Historic Preservation

Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies: Helping Parents Make Healthy Choices

Backpacks, binders, notebooks and lunchboxes!

Only a few days into August, it seems that the back-to-school shopping season is officially underway. Our friends at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) are here to help, with the new Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies.

As the guide explains, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is a type of plastic that can pose health risks when it is produced, when it used, and when it is disposed of. According to the guide:

PVC is unique among plastics because it contains dangerous chemical additives. These harmful chemicals include phthalates, lead, cadmium, and/or organotins, which can be toxic to your child’s health. What’s worse is the danger these chemicals pose -- phthalates and other toxic additives can leach out or evaporate into the air over time, posing unnecessary dangers to children. 

As we work to create healthy school environments, it’s important to remember that everything we bring into a school building affects its environmental quality and has the potential to impact children’s health. When we talk about green cleaning, for example, we are talking about reducing the number of potentially harmful chemicals that we bring into a school, thereby reducing children’s exposures to those chemicals.

At HSC, we work to provide information that helps everyone in the school community make healthy choices. It’s for that reason that we’re so pleased to see CHEJ’s guide: it’s a simple, information-packed resource with a practical amount of detail. It is informative and useful without being overwhelming.

Take a moment to download your free copy of the guide today!

To learn more, visit CHEJ. You can also help spread the word about this valuable free resource.

New Environmental Health Program Will Unite Researchers and Community

By Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

In mid-July I had the opportunity to participate as a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health’s Partnership for Environmental Public Health program. This unique program encourages partnerships between researchers and the community and focuses on research that translates into public health programs or policies. 

I was fortunate to be the Principal Investigator on a project funded by a similar program, an environmental justice funding program, shortly before that program was eliminated. I am so pleased to see that NIH has now created the Partnership for Environmental Public Health program to study the most critical environmental health concerns we face today, as defined by the community. I look forward to seeing the work that comes out of projects funded by this new program. 

Click here to learn about the work that HSC did with funding from NIH.