Healthy Schools Campaign

“We don’t do breakdown maintenance with humans:” IAQ Experts Hosting EPA Webinar February 26

We all know the adage about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure, and in the case of air quality in schools, it may be even more than that. Dave Blake and Rich Prill, two Indoor Environmental Quality experts based in the Pacific Northwest, focus on ensuring schools have the tools they need to put that idea into action by ensuring that schools are safe and sustainable, with air free of contaminants and irritants.

Students miss about 12.8 million school days annually because of asthma and asthma-related issues, adding another layer of importance to the already vital need for clean air and proper ventilation in schools.

Blake, of the Northwest Clean Air Agency over in Mt. Vernon, Wash., and Prill, a Building Science and IEQ Specialist based in Spokane, Wash., will be leading an “Indoor Air Quality Walkthrough” Webinar on February 26 at 1:30 p.m. EST, part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Tools for Schools” educational webinar series. Prill and Blake have visited more than 1,000 schools, investigating indoor environmental issues, doing workshops and skill training and have presented their walkthrough at the EPA’s Tools for Schools symposium.

“Kids are required to go to school for the most part, but schools aren’t required to do much in terms of the indoor environment,” Prill says of the importance of this work. “There’s not much in the way of school-appropriate standards or guidelines. Schools aren’t industrial workplaces.”

On a typical day, the team will take their instruments, including CO2 particle counters, light meters, moisture meters and temperature meters, and will tour a school and monitor air quality. What gets monitored gets controlled, and they loan equipment to schools for further monitoring if need be with the intent that schools will eventually get their own. When monitoring, they look to make sure a school meets standards in these five areas:

1. Dry
2. Clean
3. Comfortable
4. Pollutants are controlled (chemicals are stored, exhaust fans are working, locker rooms are ventilated, science and art activities are properly monitored, etc.)
5. Proper ventilation

Staff training comprises a major part of Blake and Prill’s program. “We don’t want people to think the worst,” he says. “We want to let them know we’re there for education and skills training and to talk about the building inside and out.”

He says he does not want staff members at a school to feel as though the program is designed to tell people how they fall short or to regulate them. Commending staff members on positive practices and reinforcing pride in their work is an important element, as is providing a wealth of resources to share with the staff. Transparency is important, too -- measurements are shared at the end of the day so that everyone is on the same page.

Prill says the program has been successful so far. The majority of schools they visit end up adopting some kind of indoor environmental program instead of just operating the school on breakdown maintenance, or only dealing with equipment when there is a serious issue. With the focus on education and tight budgets, facility maintenance can get put on the backburner, and with limited resources, facilities are often only dealt with when something goes wrong.

“We don’t do breakdown maintenance with humans,” he says. “You don’t want to wait for people to have problems, so you do prevention.”

He attributes the success of the program to helping teachers, school administrators and facilities teams understand their buildings, adopt some prevention policies and guidelines, and guide on-site assessment.

Prill says he recommends the webinar to anyone working or regularly in contact with a school, including parents, teachers, administrators, facility managers, building operators and head custodians.

“Everybody needs to be on board,” Prill says. “We see teachers bringing in chemicals, air fresheners, furry animals in the rooms, teachers that turn off the ventilation system.  We need everyone in a school community to be on board, especially with understanding asthma and sensitivities.”

He says it’s important for everyone to know the parameters and standards for good air quality in a school to protect student health and to be aware when something is not right, so it can be fixed right away. A united front and awareness are the keys to prevention, which not only has health and environmental advantages, but will also financially benefit tight school budgets in the long run, as fixing equipment or major ventilation problems will prove more costly in the end.

Learn more and register for this informative and practical webinar.

For those who cannot attend the webinar, Prill and Blake have put together a DVD with more tools and walkthroughs for schools to use.

GreenBuild Conference Recap: Building a Green Future, School By School

By Mark Bishop

At the GreenBuild International Conference and Expo this fall, I had to pause and marvel. With nearly 30,000 attendees and 1,000 vendors, the energy was overwhelmingly infectious -- and after three days, I’m pretty sure we all felt galvanized to change the world, one building at a time.

The size and scope of the conference is like this every year but GreenBuild 2012 had a new focus: schools.  Tens of thousands of people, all gathered with the belief that if we want to impact climate change, improve education and create a better future for our children, it won’t happen without healthy and sustainable schools.

This focus drove the conference from the beginning, when the Director of the Center for Green Schools, Rachel Gutter, (disclaimer, I am a member of the executive committee) extolled the growth of the green school movement, and USGBC CEO Rick Fedrizzi highlighted the changes students themselves are making in their schools across the country, from participating in the national green school day of service, to the promotion of green policy at colleges and universities in every state.

The excitement around schools kept rolling with workshops, a press conference and a report on the impact of green building on educational outcomes.The message was clear: through green schools, we can save money, improve the environment and create school buildings that support health and learning.

It’s not all rosy, of course. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 1996 that schools needed $400 billion just to bring them up to basic building codes -- forget about green, we’re just talking basic health and safety. And because there has been no coordinated national effort to provide capital improvement dollars for our schools, no one believes that there is a positive trend here, especially given the GAO’s lack of authorization to do a follow-up report.

But inspiration matters. Unity around green schools from 30,000 architects and engineers? It adds up. It builds, you might say. We’re on our way, one school at a time.

Because Every Child Deserves Clean Air

As 2012 comes to a close, we are taking a moment to reflect on HSC's work this year and on the reasons we believe this effort is so important. Thank you for being part of this movement!

When children and teachers step into school each morning, the air they breathe and the materials they’re exposed to have a direct impact on their health—that day and years in the future. Unhealthy indoor air, polluted from toxic chemicals or materials or even the school’s location, can exacerbate asthma and contribute to problems such as headaches and fatigue that detract from learning. Healthy Schools Campaign advocates for clean air and healthy environments in schools, because we believe all children and teachers should be able to breathe easy in buildings that truly support their health.

 

Learn more and get involved in supporting environmental health at schools! For practical tips and comprehensive resources on green cleaning, check out HSC’s Quick + Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools. To hear stories from advocates and school leaders who are making green schools a priority, visit the green cleaning or environment sections of HSC’s blog.

 

Give the gift of clean air. You have the power to make sure every child and teacher can go to school in a safe, healthy building with clean air. Your tax-deductible gift supports Healthy Schools Campaign’s ongoing advocacy for green cleaning, indoor air quality, and environmental health in schools. This brings great benefits not only for kids’ health, but for their learning as well. Make a gift »

 

Going Green for the Health of Students and Staff

When Bill Thompson noticed the custodians at Lockport Township High School feeling sick when they stripped the wax off a tile floor, he knew something had to change. "I saw firsthand that some of the products my custodians were using were obviously affecting their health in a negative way," he said. "I decided it was my duty at least to investigate and see if there was a better way." Thompson attended an HSC workshop and picked up a copy of our Quick + Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools. Armed with knowledge and resources from the guide, he set about making change. Three years later, he said, "I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that there is a better way." Today, Thompson implements a full green cleaning program at Lockport Township High School. Since the green cleaning program began, the school has seen a noticeable drop in student absenteeism and Thompson has seen savings in his cleaning budget. "It’s a process," he explained. "If you try to do a little bit every year, you can really make a difference."

 

Students miss more than 14 million school days each year because of asthma, which is often exacerbated by poor indoor air quality.
(Trends in asthma morbidity and mortality. Washington (DC): American Lung Association; 2010.)

 

At Healthy Schools Campaign, we work to ensure that all children have access to school environments that support their health and learning.To learn more, visit us online or contact us. Next week, we will share more about our impact. Thank you for being part of the movement for healthy schools.

Limiting Children’s Exposure to Pesticides

Photo by @melisslissliss

By Ashley Hofmann, HSC public policy intern

Ashley Hofmann recently earned her Masters of Social Work from the University of Missouri. Her academic research focuses on disparities in access to health care and how policy can act as a catalyst for social justice.

Pesticides are one of those products that can work too well -- they are meant to control unwanted bugs and rodents that carry disease, but also have the ability to cause harm to humans if not used correctly.  Children in particular are very susceptible to the dangerous side effects of these toxic chemicals.  In a new report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, doctors looked at where children come into contact with pesticides along with the acute and chronic effects of exposure.  

Children can be exposed to pesticides in their backyards and at school, as well as through their diet: eating foods grown using pesticides, even when those pesticides are used within the regulatory limits, can result in higher exposure to pesticides, according to a 2006 study.

While pesticides can have an immediate impact on children if they come into contact with them (such as nausea and respiratory symptoms), the authors’ main concern is what the toxins will do to children over time.  Studies show that chronic exposure to pesticides can lead to pediatric cancers, low IQ, and ADHD.

To limit children’s exposure to pesticides in all their forms, the doctors in the study made several suggestions for pediatricians and governmental agencies, including:

• Promote the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) at home and in schools.  IPM is a process of using the least toxic pesticide to maximize results without causing harm to humans or the environment.
• Set restrictions on the spray of pesticides around schools and use of certain pesticides inside schools.
• Require pesticide containers to include labels indicating whether the ingredients (both active and inactive) are known to have harmful acute or chronic side effects on children.  

Let us know:  Do you spray your lawn or apply pesticides to your pets to control fleas and ticks?  Do you have practical tips for using IPM in your home or at your children’s school?

Free Webinar 11/15: How to Create a Cleaner Fleet of School Buses with an EPA Rebate

It's no secret that while school buses are one of the safest ways of getting to school, the emissions of  older, dirty diesel engines can pose a risk to children's growing bodies. 

A few of our past blogs:

• Dangers of School Bus Idling: Myth or Fact?
• How Healthy Is The Air on the Yellow School Bus? 

And while there are many easy steps to reducing exposure, one of the most effective ways of handling this is through a retrofit of existing bus engines. 

Lucky for us, EPA just announced a rebate program for retrofitting bus engines with cleaner technology!

There's a free webinar coming up. Check it out:

When: November 15 at 2 p.m. EST

Where: Visit https://epa.connectsolutions.com/schoolbusrebates (select "Enter As Guest") or call in using: 866-299-3188 and the code 3327333#. 

Interested in learning more? The National Clean Diesel Campaign has set up an informational page about the rebate program here. 

Avoiding PVC & Toxic Chemicals for a Safer, Happier Halloween

Photo by @hanna_horwath

One of the scariest things about Halloween? No, not ghosts and goblins. Try this on for size: many children's costumes and masks sold in stores are made with PVC, known to be a toxic chemical for children's health. 

It's an often-overlooked hazard of Halloween, even for parents who hand out healthy alternatives to candy. Our friends at the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ)  add that the danger doesn't stop there: 

Even scarier is that many vinyl products are laden with harmful phthalates,  endocrine disrupting chemicals banned in toys but widespread in many other vinyl products children come in contact with.  Vinyl products also often release a witches’ brew of toxic chemicals into the air.  That’s that new plastic vinyl smell so many of us grew up with.  Who knew it was so scary! 

But the CHEJ does offer a few easy ways to make your child's Halloween safe and healthy (and scary for the right reasons):

• Avoid PVC: Shop for PVC-free costumes and masks.  If you’re not sure what the costume is made out of, ask the store or manufacturer whether or not it contains PVC and phthalates.
• Make your own costume out of safer PVC-free materials!  We bet you can come up with something fun and creative by just diving into your closet.
• Trade safe costumes with your friends. No need to buy more stuff.
• Use safer face-paints. 

Are you putting together a healthy Halloween costume this weekend? We'd love to hear your ideas!

Plus: Check out the discussion on this post, "How Do I Do a Healthy Halloween?" for ideas on healthy treats and celebrations! 

 

 

 

 

School Bus Idling Dangers: Myth or Fact?

Photo by @ bsabarnowl

It's back to school time, which also means that more school buses are back on the road. An estimated 25 million children ride school buses every day. But when school buses idle with children on board or nearby, the resulting pollution can be harmful to kids' growing bodies. In sufficient concentrations and duration, these pollutants can even increase the chance of serious health effects such as asthma. Our friends at the EPA have pulled together a "myth-busting" list of facts and encourage us all to test our knowledge of school bus idling.

Myth #1:
It is important to warm up engines with a long idle period, especially in cold weather.

Fact:
For today's school bus engines, bus and engine manufacturers routinely suggest a warm up time of less than five minutes.

Myth #2:
It is better for an engine to run at low speed (idling) than to run at regular speed.

Fact:
Running an engine at low speed causes twice the wear on internal parts as driving at regular speeds.

Myth #3:
The engine must be kept running in order to operate the school bus safety equipment (flashing lights, stop sign). It is impossible to run this equipment off the internal circuitry of the bus because the battery will run down.

Fact:
By re-wiring circuitry, safety equipment can be operated without the engine running for up to an hour with no ill-effects on the electrical system of the bus.

Myth #4:
Idling is necessary to keep the cabin comfortable.

Fact:
Depending on the weather, many buses will maintain a comfortable interior temperature for some time without idling. Idling is not an efficient way to keep the cabin warm. Bus routes should be timed so children and drivers do not need to spend a lot of extra time on the bus when it is not en route, particularly in hot or cold weather. In addition, auxiliary heaters can be purchased and installed to keep the cabin comfortable.

Myth #5:
It is better to just leave the engine idling because a "cold start" produces more pollution.

Fact:
A recent EPA study found that the emissions measured after a schoolbus is restarted contains less carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants than if the school bus idled continuously over a 10-minute period. The analysis indicated that continuous idling for more than three minutes emits more fine particles (soot) than a restart.

For more information about school bus idling, including EPA's Clean School Bus program, visit http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/antiidling.htm.

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Read on! An HSC intern researches the dangers of school bus idling in this post.

New Study Finds that the Silver Sprayed on Your Socks Ends Up in the Soil

by Ashley Hofmann, HSC public policy intern

Ashley Hofmann is completing the final practicum to earn her Masters of Social Work from the University of Missouri. Her academic research and passion focuses on disparities in access to healthcare and how policy can act as a catalyst for social justice. As a summer intern at HSC, Ashley is researching best-practices for student health and wellness and advocating for support of healthy foods in the 2012 Farm Bill.  

Did you know the ancient Greeks used silver pots to keep their drinking water clean and safe? While they may not have been aware of the spread of microscopic bacteria, they did recognize the important role silver plays in disease prevention.

That same strategy is now being applied (literally) to hundreds of everyday consumer goods. Silver nanoparticles, an emerging form of antibacterial protection, are being included in the production of items such as athletic wear, toothbrushes, and washing machines. But what happens when the nanoparticles are washed down the drain?  

THE STUDY ON SILVER

To find out, a group of researchers set up a test site in North Carolina. They added silver nanoparticles to the soil and water, then took samples over an 18-month period. The final analysis found that silver accumulated in plants growing in the soil, as well as in animals living in the water. This was even the case for plants that started growing six months after the silver was applied.  

Also of note in this study is how the nanoparticles changed over time. In samples from both the soil and water, over half of the silver reacted with sulfur to form silver sulfide (the chemical name for the tarnish on your silver jewelry).

This is one of the first long-term studies of its kind. It hasn’t been determined if the silver accumulation is good or bad for our health or the environment. Past research has shown that silver can be harmful to fish by causing reproductive problems, but more information is needed about how the high levels of silver affect other species and the ecosystem as a whole. 

USING SILVER IN SCHOOLS

Schools may be thinking about whether or not products that contain silver are an optimal choice for disinfecting their facilities. When it comes to controlling the spread of germs and bacteria in a sustainable manner, HSC encourages school administrators to follow three steps for healthy students:

1. prevent infection through hygiene education
2. develop a green cleaning program
3. disinfect only when necessary 

In the third step of disinfecting, HSC recommends using the least toxic product for the job, and while silver nanotechnology can be an appropriate disinfectant for some situations, there are a few things to consider. First, we believe more research needs to be performed on the long-term risks associated with increased silver concentrations in the environment before this new technology can be endorsed for all situations. Second, schools should try to purchase concentrated products over Ready-to-Use (RTU) formulas -- which silver disinfectant sprays tend to come in -- to minimize the environmental footprint of transportation and packaging in RTU products. And third, the cost of silver nanotechnology is still significantly higher than other methods, which may make them impractical for schools.

HSC looks forward to further research on the issues of silver nanoparticles in the hopes that we will be able to fully benefit from this new application of an old technology. Until then, we’ll focus our recommendations on promoting hygiene, good cleaning practices, and minimizing exposures to any disinfectant product.

The abstract of the study in North Carolina is available here. 

School of the Future Competition Spotlights Students' Vision and Ingenuity

By Mark Bishop, HSC vice president of policy and communications

Students can change the world – I saw it happen one day not long ago.

University Middle School students display their project

Earlier this year, I had the honor of serving as a judge on CEFPI’s School of the Future competition. In HSC terms, the School of the Future competition is like Cooking up Change, but for student architects. CEFPI challenges middle school students to design, build a model of and articulate a vision for the school of the future: a school that facilitates learning, challenges our sense of complacency, and does it all sustainably.

What these students did was incredible.

Highfield Humanitites College students share their School of the Future project

The day-long judging panel included presentations from six teams from as far away as the UK. But the ones that touched me most were the two winning teams from Tucson, Arizona and Wasilla, Alaska.

The Teeland Middle School team's project

The team from Teeland Middle School in Wasilla, Alaska saw their school of the future as an opportunity to look into their community and use their school for change. In their community they saw a crisis of homelessness, they saw an ever-expanding landfill eating up valuable land, and the saw challenges in creating opportunities for outdoor activity because it’s just so cold. Their vision for the school of the future tackled these issues by building a school on reclaimed landfill space, incorporating public housing into the school complex, and creating running and walking paths in an indoor space flooded with natural light from windows made with transparent solar cells and aerogel. 

Imago Dei Middle School student team

The team from Imago Dei Middle School in Tuscon, Arizona took a different approach. Rather than looking in, they looked out and chose to tackle problems facing students in Africa. Rather than looking to technology to solve their problems, they strived to identify simple strategies that would apply in an environment so far from their home. In the end, they created a building from materials that are readily available in the local environment -– plastic bottles with metal mesh to create supporting walls (which simultaneously addressed a big waste problem) and bamboo for interior support. By orienting the building to face the prevailing winds, their school of the future was able to harness the wind to keep the classrooms cooler and minimize mosquitoes. The students shared their lessons on the importance of simplicity and only using what is needed for design and for living.

Seneca Middle School presents their project before a panel of judges

As the day progressed, I could only think about how these students were being given tools and skills to change the world. I teared up a few times thinking about what my son will be doing when he hits the sixth grade and what he might learn that will help make our schools and our world better.

Newtown Middle School students showcase their project

I was so impressed throughout the day at the level of work, dedication, and knowledge that these students exhibited. Congratulations to them as well as to CEFPI for another wildly successful competition.

Green Ribbon Schools and You: A Healthy School Includes IAQ

By Tracy Enger, U.S. EPA IAQ Tools for Schools

You may know that your kids have healthy food options at school, but do you know how healthy the air is that they breathe? Ensuring a healthy school environment involves more than just nutritious lunches, gym class and recycling programs. Indoor air quality (IAQ) and a proactive IAQ management program are critical to children’s health, wellbeing and productivity.

The U.S. Department of Education’s new Green Ribbon Schools initiative gives green and healthy schools the recognition that they deserve. Green Ribbon Schools is the first federal recognition program to showcase schools from across the country that save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, and protect the health of their students and staff.

To be considered a Green Ribbon School, schools must be taking specific actions to ensure a green and healthy environment. We at EPA are proud that the IAQ Tools for Schools guidance is prominently featured as a recommended resource for improving the health and performance of students and staff, and can be used to meet “Pillar Two” of the Green Ribbon Schools application.

The IAQ Tools for Schools guidance is widely used throughout the country and provides school districts with the framework and tools to create and maintain an integrated IAQ management program. Implementing the low- to no-cost solutions in IAQ Tools for Schools guidance can have a measurable and profound impact on the health, productivity and attendance rate of our teachers and students.

In fact, 11 Green Ribbon Schools winners are previous IAQ Tools for Schools National Award winners as well!

To learn more on how to create a green and healthy school by proactively managing indoor air quality, I invite you to participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s first Green Strides Webinar: Discover Why Good IAQ is Essential for Green and Healthy Schools on Thursday, June 21, 2012, from 1 – 2 p.m. EDT.  

During this webinar, Omaha Public Schools, NE and Montgomery County Public Schools, MD ─ both Green Ribbon Schools and IAQ Tools for Schools National Award winners ─ will discuss why IAQ is an essential component of their school environmental health management programs. These two school districts will also share specifically how IAQ Tools for Schools guidance helped them create a comprehensive and effective IAQ management plan.

With so much happening in the green and healthy schools movement, I encourage you to sign up for this free webinar and learn how IAQ Tools for Schools can help you create healthier learning environments and become a 2013 Green Ribbon Schools awardee.

Students Tour Farm, Prepare to Share Lessons with Congress about Chicken Raised without Antibiotics

By Brittany Wright, HSC media and outreach specialist

CVCA students at Miller Poultry

Last week, I accompanied a group of Chicago Vocational Career Academy (CVCA) culinary students, including the winning team from the Cooking up Change Chicago healthy cooking contest, to Miller Amish Poultry Farm.

The CVCA team won top honors at Cooking up Change Chicago with a lunch featuring freshly-baked chicken drumsticks; that chicken was raised without antibiotics on Miller Farms. Students in Cooking up Change are limited to ingredients that school dining managers are able to order for school lunch and this year for the first time, that list includes fresh chicken raised without antibiotics. Chicago Public Schools recently began serving this chicken as part of its lunch program.  You can learn more about the freshly-baked chicken in Chicago schools here.

On the tour, the students had the chance to meet Amish farmers and learn how Miller raises chickens without antibiotics in a cage-free, humane environment. Mark Tilbury and Kerri McClimen of The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming  explained the importance of antibiotic-free food production. To learn more about the use of antibiotics in food production and its connection to health, check out this excellent overview from Pew. (For another great overview of the issue that also discusses the decision by CPS to begin serving chicken raised without the use of antibiotics, check out this article in Wired science blog.)

CVCA student Kaliah explained, “This field trip has given me a chance to understand how chicken is produced.” Classmate Jerome Sims said he’d learned, “when the animal is healthier, the meat will be better.”

After the students’ hands-on experience with chickens, we headed over to the processing plant and learned about the different measures to ensure food is safe for consumption as it is prepped for distribution throughout the Midwest to customers including Whole Foods, Chipotle, a variety of regional grocery stores, and recently Chicago Public Schools.

After the trip, Cooking up Change teammate Ciara Lawson explained, “It has given me more background information on how healthy [antibiotic-free chicken] really is. It can change a person’s perspective.” Her teammate Jerome Sims added “I feel great because we used natural and healthy chicken” in the winning Cooking up Change lunch. Student chef Diamonte said, “I think this trip really gave us a better understanding on what we are cooking and on what happens to the food.”

Now, the CVCA students will bring these lessons to Congress! On May 10, the students will take part in a Congressional briefing on serving food raised without antibiotics in school lunch. That day, the lunch they created will be served for lunch the House of Representatives cafeteria! Take a moment to send a letter inviting your senators and representative to attend the briefing and try the students’ award-winning school lunch!



Later in May, the students will be back in Washington, D.C. to compete against teams from across the country in the Cooking up Change national finals. Stay posted for updates!

 

Arbor Day Physical Activity Fun!

Today is Arbor Day! This spring observance is a great time to engage kids in celebrating the beauty of nature, learning about and protecting trees. It is also a great opportunity to be active and enjoy the outdoors!

Here are a few simple ideas for observing Arbor Day in a fun and active way! 

Clean up your schoolyard, park or neighborhood. You can contribute to the beautification of your community by picking up trash or even planting a garden. 

Take a hike. According to Health Status, a 30 minute hike can burn 202 calories. Head to your local forest preserve to take a scenic walk and check out the trees!

Plant a tree. Trees not only look beautiful but also provide environmental benefits such as improving air quality, preventing water run-off and providing shade. The Arbor Day Foundation offers plenty of ideas and even tree-planting volunteer opportunities across the country.  

Celebrate in your classroom! Check out ideas for connecting Arbor Day to fun lessons and educational experiences for kids. This interactive lesson guide offers ideas for science, math, social studies, English, physical education and more! 

Of course, you can put these ideas in practice all year -- any time you want to highlight physical activity and environmental stewardship. Learn more from the Arbor Day Foundation site.

How are you celebrating Arbor Day?

Spotlight on Sustainability Advocate: Enviro-Solutions

We recently spoke with Enviro-Solutions, a leader in green cleaning and a sponsor of HSC’s Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools, about their new video contest. Vice president and general manager Mike Samchuk said, “Our belief is that having schools in the healthiest possible condition is the right thing to do.”

Enviro-Solutions provides resources to help school facilities convert to a green cleaning system. “We have the opportunity to provide every product that is certified green,” said the vice president. “We can convert all of [a school’s] cleaning chemicals to green certified products and give them a healthier school environment.”

Providing environmentally-friendly products provides an intrinsic value for Samchuk and Enviro-Solutions employees. 

“It’s a wholesome feeling. You feel good like you’ve done something wonderful,” he said. “People come back to us and tell us that since we started using your products, I don't have headaches.” 

He adds, “it's the right thing to do for the health and safety of the users, occupants and visitors, and for the earth: to use products that can do the same job for the same price that are proven safe for people and the environment.”

Samchuk forecasts a new trend in efforts to maintain our environment. “Years ago it was green and green cleaning. Now we’re evolving to sustainability, we’re going to give the Earth to the next generation the way in which we found it. That’s not good enough,” he said. “The next movement will be restorability. We should be looking at restoration to get more forest, get more wetlands reducing pollution so the Earth can be in a better position. It will be a key initiative in engaging youth.”

We couldn’t agree more! 

For more information about Enviro-Solutions please visit their website. To learn more about their “Going Enviral” contest, please visit their Facebook page.

Speak Up for Healthy, Sustainable School Renovation in Illinois

Update! On April 25, this bill (SB 639) was passed by the House Education Committee and is expected to go to the full House in early May. Thanks to all the advocates who spoke up in support of this common-sense legislation! Now is the perfect time to encourage all members of the Illinois House to support this bill. If you have not already done so, we urge you to send a letter here.

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In Illinois, our average school is well over forty years old. Yet the current state school construction law only provides funding for “replacing aging schools,” not rehabilitating them. We know that when properly renovated and maintained, historic buildings can provide excellent learning environments that support student health and model sustainability in the community. 

Our schools need funding for rehabilitation -- not just new construction. Please join Healthy Schools Campaign, AIA-IL and Landmarks IL in speaking up for a sensible change to the law that would make rehabilitation funding a reality for Illinois schools.

Without this change, we will continue to lose centrally-located schools that could otherwise have been repaired. Demolition and new construction can cost more, create more environmental waste, and often result in the loss of a historic building that is a community asset. Many school districts facing this dilemma opt to build in new locations that require busing, which contributes to increased transportation costs and takes away the healthy option of walking or biking to school.

Student photo of school rehabilitation submitted in Through Your Lens photo contest

State Senators William Delgado (D-97, Chicago) and Pam Althoff (R-32, Crystal Lake) are sponsoring SB 639 to help encourage rehabilitation of aging school buildings. The bill will allow school districts to equally evaluate the option of renovating older school buildings rather than only considering replacement.

This bill does not require new or additional state funds. It merely allows school districts to consider rehabilitation as an option rather than only considering replacing an older school building.

Send a letter to your State Representative here.

The bill passed the State Senate and is now at the State House.  A hearing is scheduled for 9:00 a. m. on April 25. Please contact your state representative to support this bill.

Thank you for raising your voice for healthy and sustainable schools!

http://healthyschoolscampaign.org/getinvolved/action/SB639.php

EPA Releases Draft School Environmental Health Guidelines for States

by Mark Bishop, vice president of policy and communications

In 2007 Congress charged the U.S. EPA with the task of issuing voluntary guidelines for states on how to develop and implement environmental health programs for schools. Now, we are excited to report that the draft guidelines [pdf] are out and available for public comment.

We’re thrilled that the EPA is releasing this document and emphasizing the importance of school environmental health. Providing a resource that helps states promote environmental health and support schools in addressing health issues is incredibly important and can have significant benefits for the nation’s children for years to come. Thank you to the EPA for your efforts on this work.

To really make these guidelines effective and helpful, however, we believe the EPA needs to address several key issues with the current draft. Our specific concerns are described in more detail in our comments to the EPA (available here in .doc format), but my most significant concern with the current draft is the need to connect environmental health programs with state policy.

It’s clear through our experience and research that the states with effective environmental health programming are the same states that have policies supporting the development of such programs. If the EPA wants to support states in promoting health in schools, it needs to identify best practices and recommendations for successful policy development.

In fact, in January 2011, HSC convened a meeting of stakeholders to discuss and develop recommendations to EPA on this topic. These recommendations [pdf] addressed ways to develop effective state policies that could support healthy school environments. Key findings included:

• Policies that are developed with the engagement of school stakeholders are more likely to be successfully implemented than those that are developed without input from these important constituencies.

• Mandates, even those that are unenforced or include opt-out options, can lead to more effective policy implementation than can voluntary guidelines alone. Policies that include opt out clauses with public disclosure are politically acceptable to policymakers.

• Interagency cooperation is key to the successful design and implementation of environmental health policy. Promoting collaboration and creating opportunities for NGO engagement would support more comprehensive program development and improved communication with schools.

• Policies that build on existing school policies are more likely to be adopted and implemented. (Examples include school improvement plans, school report cards, inspection protocol, etc.)

• Understanding current trends in education policy is an important step in identifying additional policy handles.
• Recognition programs can be important tools for changing school policy and practice, and there are good examples of other federal agencies that have successfully implemented these types of programs.

We are glad the EPA has released this draft, and now urge the EPA to revise the draft guidelines to include a focus on connecting school programs to effective state policies.

We encourage you to share your feedback with the EPA as well! Click here to submit your comments. Comments must be submitted by this Friday, April 20 at 4 p.m. Eastern.

Going Green, “Going Enviral” with Enviro-Solutions

We’re always excited to hear about leadership opportunities in eco-education and sustainability for youth. That’s why we are happy to share Enviro-Solutions’ “Going Enviral” contest. 

Enviro-Solutions vice president and general manager Mike Samchuk notes that the contest evolved from a passion for healthy school environments. “It’s important to create the awareness, to create the passion and give students a vehicle to learn moving forward,” he said. 

Going Enviral [pdf] challenges youth to create videos describing how they can make their schools greener and more sustainable for a chance to win $500 and $500 worth of Enviro-Solutions green cleaning products for their school. Submissions are due June 1, 2012. The contest is open to 7-12 grade students in the U.S. 

Facebook visitors will assist Enviro-Solutions in selecting a winner. Voting for the winning video will begin on June 2 with the winner will be announced on July 15, 2012. 

“Using social media technology can make it fun, make it easy for them,” said Samchuk. “It’s going to create a stronger momentum.”

Enviro-Solutions recognizes youth as the sustainability leaders of tomorrow. 

“They are the future, and they can do something today,” said Samchuk. “Going green is not a destination, it’s a journey so if we motivate them to take the first step in that journey they’ll have a huge impact on the planet moving forward.”

Since 1994, Enviro-Solutions has provided green cleaning products and practical advice to schools and others looking to go green. Enviro-Solutions is also a proud Affiliate-level sponsor of HSC’s Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools! 

For more information about Enviro-Solutions, visit their website. To learn more about the “Going Enviral” contest, please visit their Facebook page.

P.S. Be sure to check HSC's Facebook page too! 

Healthy Children, Healthy Planet: Why We Care About School Food

HSC recently hosted the second event in our School Food Webinar and Event Series. For our two-part panel discussion, Healthy Children, Healthy Planet, we partnered with PEW Charitable Trusts and Whole Foods Market to present a dynamic dialogue around innovation for school food in Chicago.

The event brought together experts and leaders in the movement to ensure that school food is good for our children and good for our planet.  So many moving parts work together to provide healthy school meals. The panel provided a look behind the scenes at the many systems -- from farming to transportation and small business markets -- shaping the food that we ultimately serve to children at school. 

Dr. Angela Odoms-Young of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Applied Health Sciences discussed school nutrition recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, the science behind these recommendations and what they will mean for school food. 

Comfort Cakes entrepreneur Amy Hilliard shared her perspective as the entrepreneur of a small business that sells whole-grain pizza crust to Chicago Public Schools. The minority-owned company created CPS’ first whole-grain pizza crust, refining the recipe to make sure it appeals to students.

Amy Hilliard shares her experience creating a whole-grain pizza crust for school meals

Since getting involved in the school food market, she’s now expanded her business to provide healthy products to hospitals. She credited the school district with creating demand in the marketplace for healthier products and offerings.

Dr. Lance Price of TGen North Center for Metagenomics explained how antibiotic use in food production is a serious threat to public health that encourages the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He discussed the public health impact of the recent Chicago Public Schools decision to procure chicken from a regional Amish farm where poultry is raised without the use of antibiotics. 

Dr. Lance Price addresses the audience 

Rich Wolff, regional meat coordinator for Whole Foods Market, discussed Whole Foods’ commitment to playing a role in changing how food is raised and discussed Whole Foods’ role in connecting the school district with regional Amish farmers who provide chicken raised without antibiotics.

Chicago Public Schools’ health and wellness promotions manager Annie Lionberger was on hand to discuss school health and wellness innovation, including the district’s recycling program to reduce waste around breakfast in the classroom.

 Annie Lionberger answers questions during the panel discussion

Many thanks to these insightful panelists and all the engaged audience members who took part in each discussion! 

If you’d like to learn more about school innovation, please join us for our upcoming webinars:

Quiet Innovation for Healthy School Food
April 16, 2012 · 1-2 PM central · Webinar
Learn more and register here»

The Small Business Side of Improving School Food
May 1, 2012 · 1-2 PM central · Webinar
Learn more and register here»

Did you miss our first webinar on school breakfast? Check out the archived session here.

Healthy Children, Healthy Planet: Why We Care About School Food

We’ve teamed up with PEW Charitable Trusts and Whole Foods Market to present a dynamic discussion on school food entitled, “Healthy Children, Healthy Planet: Why We Care About School Food.” The free panel discussion will take place next Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. and again on Thursday, March 15 at 10 a.m. at Whole Foods Market Lincoln Park located at 1550 North Kingsbury Street.

“Healthy Children, Healthy Planet” will examine the factors that work alongside each other in the lunchroom and provide a behind-the-scenes look at efforts to ensure school food is good for students and the planet in one of the largest school districts in the country.

“Healthy school food nourishes students’ well-being and potential, but it should also sustain the livelihood of local farmers and the environment,” said Healthy Schools Campaign president and CEO Rochelle Davis. “We are honored to bring together respected voices to showcase efforts to move nutritious meals and healthy school communities forward.”

Chicago is quickly emerging as a center for school food innovation. Earlier this year, Chicago Public Schools began serving scratch-cooked chicken, using unprocessed chicken from the USDA and unprocessed chicken raised without antibiotics on an Amish farm in Indiana. This effort builds upon a history of ground-breaking initiatives to improve school meals.

“Healthy Children, Healthy Planet” panels include Rochelle Davis, president and CEO and Mark Bishop, vice president of policy and communications for Healthy Schools Campaign; Angela Odoms-Young, PhD, assistant professor for UIC College of Applied Health Sciences; Rich Wolf, regional meat coordinator for Whole Foods Market; Dr. Lance Price, director at TGen North Center for Metagenomics; and Annie Lionberger, Manager of Health and Wellness Promotion for Chicago Public Schools.

We encourage parents, supporters, and advocates to register for the March 14 panel here and for the March 15 panel here.

We look forward to you joining the discussion!

Unusual Suspects: Research Connects Chemical Exposure & Obesity

by Kadesha Thomas, HSC writer and researcher

It looks like basic household items may need to come with a nutrition label. Research is mounting a strong case that eating too many calories and not getting enough exercise aren’t the only reasons why childhood obesity has tripled over the last generation. It could also be your handbag, your carpet, your window blinds, and — get this— your diabetes medication.

A study published this month in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives nicknames the culprits “obesogens.” These are dietary, pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals that have been linked to changing our body’s process of converting food to energy and then burning that energy through activity. 

Most of these chemical obesogens may also work as endocrine disruptors. As the study authors explain: “The main role of fat cells is to store energy and release it when needed. Scientists also now know that fat tissue acts as an endocrine organ, releasing hormones related to appetite and metabolism. . . Different obesogenic compounds may have different mechanisms of action, some affecting the number of fat cells, others the size of fat cells, and still others the hormones that affect appetite, satiety, food preferences, and energy metabolism.” When pregnant women are exposed, the effects can then be passed on to children, making them more prone to weight gain and obesity as they develop.

So far, 15 to 20 chemicals have been linked to weight gain in human and animal studies. Here are a few of them:

• Chemical pesticides in food and water
• Certain drugs, like the diabetes drug Avandia
• MSG or monosodium glutamate
• Phytoestrogens found in soy products
• Organotins found in handbags, wallpaper, vinyl blinds and vacuum cleaner dust
• Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in medical devices, some canned foods, plastic water and baby bottles
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a surface protectant found in nonstick cookware, scotchgard carpeting, mattresses and some furniture surfaces
• Pthalates, used to make everyday soft plastics and solvents, like shower curtains, carpeting, toys, food packaging, raincoats, vinyl flooring, detergents, nail polish, hair spray and shampoo

Researchers are trying to determine how much these obesogens have contributed to the rapid increase in obesity. They are also examining how much these chemicals could undermine efforts to address obesity through diet and exercise, particularly in children. Several federal agencies have even warmed up to the idea that chemicals can cause weight gain, including the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.

If it’s true that these obesity-causing chemicals are so pervasive in our everyday environment, we have a couple of options:

1. We can relocate to a secluded jungle and hope there are no obesogens in campfires and latrines. 
2. We can throw up our hands on this whole obesity thing — cancel our work-out plans and head to the nearest drive-thru for an extra large whatever.
3. Or we can accept what we can and cannot control, making healthy lifestyle choices whenever possible and advocating for policies that support our — and our kids’— wellness with regard to eating, physical activity and environmental exposures such as these.

There are environmental factors that influence our health. This budding research about obesogens should inspire us to continue advocating for healthy lifestyles and healthy school environments within our circle of influence. That means making healthy choices in our homes, speaking up for healthy environments in school, and raising our voices for policies that support health at a national level. 

This research underscores the importance of supporting efforts for policy changes that can have a broader impact -– on the food we eat, the opportunities we have to be active and the chemicals we’re exposed to every day. 

Plus: Check out this post from 2009 discussing HSC's perspective on the emerging research connecting chemical exposures and obesity.

Future Leaders in Sustainability to Showcase School Environment Initiatives at Climate Cycle's Soiree

Today, the HSC team shares a guest blog from our friends over at Climate Cycle, a non-profit organization that creates environmental education and leadership opportunities for youth in the classroom and in our communities.

by Joey Feinstein

If you’re like me, inspiring students to green our world is a passion of paramount importance. At Climate Cycle, we seek to fulfill this mission by supporting youth-led initiatives that encompass personal, planetary and economic sustainability.

On Feb. 25, five student led eco-initiatives will be on display at our annual benefit at the Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago (free childcare ages 4-12). Each body of work represents the efforts of students age 8-18 years old from schools across Chicago. While the projects are as diverse in scope as the students themselves, each explains how their focus is applicable to personal, planetary and economic sustainability. The projects are as follows:

• Smyser Elementary's Green Team performed an audit of school waste and decided to take action! With the data, they are brainstorming ways to reduce, reuse, or recycle more of the waste that is currently being thrown out and sent to landfills. Their first approach will be to develop a presentation to help students and teachers understand the basics of recycling and promote classroom recycling. Their second goal is to implement a waste management system in their lunchroom, where students help other students and staff in recycling, composting, and using less.

• Students at Walter Payton College Prep High School were appalled at the amount of energy being devoted to lighting rooms that were empty, especially on the weekends. They plan to monitor lights in classrooms after school and collect data. Then, they will launch a school-wide initiative to educate people on how and why to remember to turn off lights and take another data set to gauge results.

• Building from a garden project started last year, students at Perspectives Math and Science Academy will learn about factors that affect plant growth and why much of our food is shipped from great distances. They will also design a system to grow plants utilizing student-made mini greenhouses from materials they find at home.

• The Lincoln Elementary School Eco-Action Team is embarking on a project to change the way their school uses paper. Students found that much of the paper that should be recycled is being diverted to waste bins, recycled paper is rarely being used, and unnecessary printing often takes place. To remedy these issues, students will reduce the overall use of paper in their school, improve their recycling program so that waste and recycling bins are being used properly, encourage teachers, students, and parents to use and reuse recycled paper, and will subscribe to an e-book site that allows students to read assigned texts on school computers.

• This past summer, students at Al Raby High School for Community and Environment worked tirelessly in our habitat restoration efforts in East Garfield Park. They reclaimed green spaces, removing juniper bushes which are a favorite of landscapers for their easy maintenance but do little to support plant or animal biodiversity. They also planted over 600 plugs of Native prairie grasses and plants in the area to co-create the initial living classroom which is being utilized in outdoor education programs by the school. They will continue to scale up their work sites, which support learning about flood water remediation, soil remediation, sustainable farming, urban permaculture, habitat restoration, vermiculture, wildlife monitoring, nutrition and wellness. 

Polaris Elementary School students, winner of last year's Student Showcase at the 2011 Climate Cycle Benefit. This Friday, ABC 7’s Hosea Sanders will be showcasing one of the 2012 projects on the 5 p.m. news. Hosea will also be the MC for Climate Cycle’s Feb. 25 benefit.

In addition to those students on hand representing their respective projects on February 25, Climate Cycle’s newly launched Student Leadership Board members will also be in attendance. These students will be on hand to share their eco-aspirations and how they are being groomed to become the face of Climate Cycle.

The truth is that sustainability is something we’re all figuring out as we go along, because we don’t have ready examples of what a truly sustainable society looks like. Who better to unleash these secrets than young visionaries who can transform themselves into their own role models in the process?

We hope you will join us on February 25 at the Notebaert Nature Museum to meet the youth who will redefine our future.

Kudos to the emerging leaders in sustainability. Keep up the great work Climate Cycle!