The Colorado Rockies (photo by Jennifer Hammonds)

What better place to do that than in beautiful Denver, CO, at the just-concluded second annual Green Schools National Conference?

With about 1000 attendees representing 43 U.S. states, 5 Canadian provinces and the Bahamas, the conference was a great place to gather around the common cause of greening more American schools. National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools USA program was proud to be a part of the excitement, camaraderie and discussion during this three-day event dedicated to propelling the movement forward.

Among highlights was the participation of area students in the ‘Student Summit’ with featured speaker (and fellow kid) Alec Loorz, founder of Kids vs. Global Warming, who inspired and motivated with his passion for environmental conservation.  The goals of the student summit were to:

• Give students the opportunity to connect and discuss environmental issues
• Allow the exchange of ideas and creation of new structures for sustainable change
• Draw on the knowledge and skill sets of experts and resources at the Green Schools National Conference
• Create a collaborative space to build on their strengths and recognize the power of youth leadership in the larger efforts to develop sustainable learning environments.

An amazing group of environmental champions from various areas were in attendance, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (see his remarks here), Stonyfield Farm Chairman Gary Hirshberg, Captain Planet Foundation Chairman Laura Turner-Seydel, Gracefully Global Group Chief Creative Officer Graciela Tiscareno-Sato and Majora Carter of the Majora Carter Group.

The event’s Film Showcase included several outstanding works, including Carbon Nation, What’s on Your Plate? and Two Angry Moms.

In addition to speakers and resources at the event itself,  attendees had several professional growth opportunities, which included field trips to local green schools (including the Denver Green School); ‘Solutions Summits’ like Making the Case: Connecting Green and Healthy Schools with Student Achievement and Overcoming Obstacles to Bring Healthy Food Into Schools; and more than 100 other sessions related to our common goal, moving the greens schools movement forward.

To find out more about the Eco-Schools USA program’s alignment with the Department of Education’s new US Green Ribbon School Awards program click here. To find out how to become an Eco-School, visit our website. To learn about how green schools are healthier schools, read more from our newly launched ‘Healthy Schools’ pathway.

Teachers link what they already teach to Eco-Schools USA pathways (Jennifer Hammonds)

Case in point: the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) voted to include environmental education provisions in an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2011, marking the first time environmental education has been formally introduced in federal K-12 education policy.

Another example of federal support has come from the Department of Education, as they introduced the prestigious Green Ribbon Schools award in 2011:

The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools will recognize schools that save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, protect health, foster wellness, and offer environmental education to boost academic achievement and community engagement.

Green school support is not only evident at the federal level, but in the work of many states supporting efforts to green the school community. Here in Texas, for example, the state awards its schools through their Texas Green Ribbon Schools program.

Green Ribbon Schools:

• promote healthy living for students, parents and staff
• connect students to nature
• take steps to create an environmentally-friendly campus, encourage physical activity and cooperative outdoor play, foster healthy habits and use nature as a learning tool
• create their own vision and plan and improve over time

Locally, the Houston Independent School District (HISD), the largest in Texas and seventh largest in the nation, is setting its sights on a sustainable future for its students and staff by broadly promoting green efforts, providing professional development for its teachers and working with community members like the Katy Prairie Conservancy, Houston’s  Outdoor Education Center and Urban Harvest.

Recently I had the pleasure and privilege to participate in the 5th Annual Houston Environmental Education Summit, sponsored by many wonderful organizations and community partners including NWF, the University of Houston Downtown and the City of Houston.  There, I was thrilled to hear Dr. Gavin Dillingham, Houston’s Energy Manager, share his ‘outdoors in nature’ experiences from childhood and how he now shares the outdoors with his own children. Dr. Dillingham shares NWF’s passion for getting students outside to experience nature as well as Eco-Schools USA‘s passion for greening the school facilities.

He also described HISD’s recent initiative, the Green School Challenge. After providing participating schools with baseline data, they will then work to reduce energy and increase recycling (both energy and recycling are found as sustainable pathways through the Eco-Schools program, and educators were surprised to see the natural links between their curricula and what Eco-Schools USA already offers).

As evidenced by the support of the federal government, national organizations, state programs and local initiatives, the green school movement gets stronger every day as we work to sustain our precious resources for generations of students to come.

Goodway.com

Why the increase? Was it the school itself?  I wondered what secrets the building held.

Considering that students spend approximately 1,239 hours in school during the course of a school year (based on 177 days of instruction, that’s almost half of a year), you might think the health of the school’s facilities would be a priority for administrators.  Unfortunately, school districts nationwide face tremendous budget constraints and are often forced to make tough decisions about what they spend money on.

But at what cost—or, better yet, at whose cost?

• According to National Education Association’s VP, NEA, Lily Eskelson, 1/3 of our schools have some Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) concerns that cause respiratory problems for children—statistic she calls “horrific,” and I call unacceptable.
• According to a 2010 survey by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN), 40% of nurses know children and staff that are adversely affected by pollutants in schools.

According to Joel Forman, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Community and Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, environmental exposures linked to pediatric diseases include:

• Asthma-Outdoor air pollutants, molds, and pesticides
• Neurodevelopmental disorders-lead, mercury, pesticides, synthetic chemicals
• Obesity-built environment (lack of access to natural play and exposure to the outdoors)
• Endocrine disorders-percholate, DDT
•  Cancer-pesticides, radon, solvents, synthetic chemicals, EMF’s (electric and magnetic field exposure)

A few more harrowing facts:

• Environmental related disease costs for our school children are estimated at $54.9 billion annually!
• America’s students are at greater risk of developing diseases due to environmental toxins.
• Pound for pound, children drink more water, eat more food, and breath more air than the average American adults”
• “Children have a longer “shelf-life” [meaning] they have more future years ahead to develop illnesses with a long latency from the inciting or contributing exposure.”

More, from EPA’s report “How Does IAQ Impact Student Health and Academic Performance?”

“Recent research suggests that a school’s physical environment also can play a major role in academic performance. Leaky roofs; problems with heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, known as HVAC systems; insufficient cleaning or excessive use of cleaning chemicals; and other maintenance issues can trigger a host of health problems — including asthma and allergies — that increase absenteeism and reduce academic performance. [...] Improvements in school environmental quality can enhance academic performance, as well as teacher and staff productivity and retention.”

For even more on the dangers of poor IAQ, watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s CNN investigative report “Toxic Schools.”

How Can Eco-Schools USA help?

By being a part of the solution!

Eco-Schools USA works to create partnerships with other organizations and schools in an effort to promote sustainable environments for our students.

Recently we introduced a Health Schools pathway to help schools address their facilities by empowering students with knowledge, audits, and examples of student-driven actions to better the school environment (it also connects to one of the three pillars in the Department of Education’s new US Green Ribbon School Awards program, health of students and staff,  and will make it easier for Eco-Schools to gain Green Ribbon recognition).

To find out how to become an Eco-School, visit our website.

US Drought Map

According to NCDC and NOAA, Texas has experienced the driest 12 month period on record and the entire state is at some level of drought with 81.1 percent falling into the exceptional category.

According to Texas AgriLife Extension Service economists say this summer’s drought has led to a record $5.2billion in agricultural loses.

Hammonds' Water Conserving Flusher

The Hammonds' Family Clothesline

Solutions our family has implemented at home to conserve natural resources and our cash flow include, using a clothes line (clothes have never dried faster then when they’re in 100 degree + temperatures), installing dual flush toilets, raising the thermostat to 80 degrees during the day, and using energy efficient fans.

Did you know schools are one of the biggest if not the biggest consumers of energy within a municipality.

Every change no matter big or small impacts us all, today, tomorrow, forever.

Written 15 years ago, the National Science Education Standards provided states with the prowess to produce the next generation of scientifically literate citizens. With the power of scientific inquiry at the heart of these standards states developed standards covering a myriad of topics from the structure and function of cells to Newton’s laws of physics.  So much great information, but soon it was evident – too much surface knowledge – the infamous “a mile wide, inch deep” plagued our nation’s students.

Even though educational reform is a highly debated topic there is no debate that our students are falling behind in STEM disciplines.  According to the most recent PISA report, out of 34 countries in OECD, the US ranked 29th in mathematics literacy and 25th in science literacy, neither was significantly different from the average. That said, I was ecstatic at the briefing to introduce the new Framework for K-12 Science Standards to hear…

1) Science is for all students…
Not just for those in grades being tested. It’s nice to see the new framework lay the foundation for students to
build upon prior knowledge instead of struggle to find connections throughout their K-12 experience.

“All students should be able to learn about the broad set of possibilities that modern life offers and to pursue their aspirations, including their occupations of interest.”

“Students’ preparation in other subjects, especially literacy and matematics, also affects their acheivement in science”.

2) Limited number of core ideas…
This will allow students to better grasp and understand science concepts, specifically the focus on a limited number of core ideas.  It allows for deep exploration of important concepts, as well as time for students to develop meaningful
understanding, to actually practice science and engineering, and to reflect on their nature.

3) Earth systems and human impacts…
Were inconsistently taught, at the surface level, and without connection.  Within the core idea of Earth
and Space Science, Earth and Human Activity’s allows students to investigate how our Earth is a system made up of
smaller systems.  These smaller systems are affected by both natural and human activities.

“Humans have become one of the most significant agents of change in the earth’s surface systems.  Sustaining the biosphere will require detailed knowledge and modeling of the factors that affect climate, coupled with the responsible managment of natural resources.”

“Students will make the greatest strides in science and engineering learning when all components of the system – from professional development for teachers to curricula and assessments to time allocated for these subjects during the school day – are aligned with the vision of the framework.”

As I begin to delve into the finite details of the new framework, I’m confident that the standards forthcoming will
certainly change the way our nation’s student’s learn science and prepare for 21st century vocations and careers.  As a former classroom science teacher I am excited to watch science education’s transformation and as a member of National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools USA team, I am thrilled to know the work we do to guide schools toward sustainabilty will have an even stronger foundation in this new and greatly improved Framework for K-12 Science Standards.

Eco-Schools Ghana and Norway visit NWF.

The global dimensions pathway guides students to make connections to the global community, to learn about and respect the cultures and environmental issues facing countries around the world.  It is so easy for those of us in the United States to focus on our needs and concerns, but to truly grasp the concept of global climate change we must reach out beyond the comfort of our national boundaries.  Eco-Schools USA was proud to receive members of Eco-Schools Ghana and Norway.  

 Lesson Learned 

After 4 years of writing, two penpals meet in Norway.

• There are 79 languages spoken in Ghana.  Students learn three languages, English, the regional language, and their local dialect.
• Norway has over 800 Eco-Schools and Ghana has Eco-Schools in 5 out 10 of its provinces.
• Students in Ghana do not have consistent access to electricity.
• Norway and Ghana consider eachother sister programs because many of the students have pen pals and participate in an Eco-Schools exchange program.
• The US shares 4 of its pathways with Norway, waste and consumption, energy, climate change, and transportation.

Energy Consumption

Watch how these Ghanian students decided to help the community become more aware of its electrcity consumption during Ghana’s electricity shortage.   The video aired with the local energy company’s commercial!

The Power of Eco-Schools

School waste disposal presentation.

When students in Ghana and Norway visit eachother they have the opportunity to have face to face conversations and present wonderful sustainabilty projects they are working on.  I listened to my new friend Hilde Opoku, recount a powerful story.  Ghanaian  students listened to Norwegian students present on school waste disposal, specifically the separation of hazardous from nonhazardous materials. 

The Ghanaian students had no idea the environmental impacts related to improper waste disposal and immediately upon return shared what they had learned with their school. 

An action plan was created and now the wheels have been set in motion to implement a school waste program.

This is the power of Eco-Schools, the power of students!

“American teens recognize their limited understanding of the issue.  Fewer than 1 in 5 say they are “very well informed” about how the climate system works or the different causes, consequences or potential solutions to global warming, and only 27 percent say they have learned “a lot” about global warming in school.  Importantly, 70 percent of teens say they would like to know more about global warming.“

In addition, Eco-Schools USA is doing its part to address student’s lack of climate change knowledge, by partnering with NASA to create a high school curriculum focused on understanding how climate change affects the various earth systems, as well as how the Eco-Schools program is an integral piece in creating our next generation of environmental stewards and champions.

With a greater federal investment in environmental education through the Green Ribbon Schools award, programs like Eco-Schools USA will have strength and momentum to do what it so strongly desires; to create an environmentally literate citizenry who are willing to actively participate as members of a community and nation that’s committed to sustainability.

Author Jennifer Hammonds at the NSTA Area Conference in Baltimore

The conference on science education brought together K-college teachers, administrators, and curriculum specialists to provide opportunities to deepen their content knowledge, strengthen their pedagogy, and network with peers and others in the educational profession.

Day 2 proved to be an exciting day, attending great sessions and talking with green minded vendors.  Windows to the Universe, sponsored by the National Earth Science Teachers Association, specializes in Earth and space science resources for formal and informal educators.  One of the best tips came from a resource page called Energy Choices and Climate Change: An online module to explore the impact of energy choices on our planet’s climate.  You can explore the scenarios in two ways, as a family or as the king of the world.  Great material – check it out today!

Siemens sponsored STEM Academy: The Top 10 STEM Resources, which listed several repositories touted as the crème de la crème of what’s available to assist educators as they incorporate  science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education into their classes.  Need help?  Go to Siemens STEM Academy and check out opportunities for teachers and students: Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge and Siemens Science Day.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) education department presented Meeting the Climate Challenges Ahead. After discussing current research in climate change, the presenters shared available climate education resources found on their site, NOAA Climate Services.

An NSTA conference wouldn’t be complete without the wonderful exhibit hall.  Rows and rows of science education materials, continuing education opportunities, teachers as researchers, and science focused organizations such as NSF, Discovery Education, NOAA, and NASA.

Lastly, I want to highlight WE ADD UP.  This is a unique t-shirt company that is committed to people and the planet.  Their products are made of eco-friendly materials, and the company is certified carbon neutral by carbonfund.org. 10 percent of profits each year are donated to environmental charities.

Thank you Baltimore and thank you NSTA for a wonderful conference; I leave the conference having deepened my pedagogy and strengthened my content knowledge as well as having met new interesting people with whom I shared our Eco-Schools USA story.

Click here to read “Charting the Course to Excellence“, my blog post from Day 1.

“Science provides the motivation, activating attitudes and producing dependable skills and essential understandings for coping with practical problems, new challenges, and career development,” NSTA president Alan J. McCormack said in his welcome address.

Taking McCormack’s message to heart, off I went with directives from the captain at the helm. The conference sessions were divided into four strands one of which is titled, Embracing the World from Our Own Backyard. The focus of this session is to learn to think green and teach green. So I charted my course looking through the many environmentally focused sessions that would tie in with the goals and objectives of Eco-Schools USA.

I started the day with Ocean Energy, presented by the National Energy Education Development (NEED) project. Happy to hear their goal is to tell the whole energy story. I created a wind turbine that I tested to see which wind speed produced the most consistent spin for the generation of electricity. It may not be what you think.

Next I was off to see Bill Nye the Science Guy, the conference keynote speaker. I couldn’t contain my excitement – I had shared Bill Nye’s work with my students in the past and followed his environmental efforts for years. Now I was in the same room with one of my environmental education heroes! Nye characterized this generation of students as the climate generation stating that “as our students come of age, they’ll learn to recognize problems and the process they can use to solve them.” The Science Guy’s message from beginning to end was short and simple yet loud and clear: “CHANGE THE WORLD!”

I ended the day just as I began it – proud to be an educator and proud to be a steward of the environment. Empowering Youth to Reduce CO₂ Emissions in Their Community was lead by Lynne Cherry. I couldn’t believe the author and illustrator of such books as, A River Ran Wild and The Great Kapok Tree, was also the presenter.

I have used Cherry’s books throughout my years in the classroom and with my own children. As I listened to her talk about her newest book, I realized that the author’s focus was not on the doom and gloom that is so often blasted to society in various ways, but on solutions. Not just solutions researched and reported by scientists, but more importantly the solutions that students worldwide are contributing.

In the infamous words of Bill Nye…Science Rules!

The Author and the 1500 lb Mendenhall Glacier Berg

President Barack Obama recently hosted the White House Science Fair to celebrate winners of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competitions from across the country.

The president has identified STEM education as a necessary component to the success of America’s economy.   It is fitting that the Obama administration welcomed the Inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival to the nation’s capital.

The expo, sponsored by Lockheed Martin, transformed the National Mall, Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium and Freedom Plaza into havens for innovation, exploration, and experimentation.

In a time where students in America rank 17^th in the world in science and math—whereas once they ranked 3^rd—there’s no better time to provide such a robust arena as this past weekend’s event in order to get students interested in STEM disciplines.

I was happy to attend with my family, and everywhere we looked were scientists, mathematicians and engineers eager to share their knowledge and inspire people of all ages.

From Robotics to Nanotechnologies, Mutant Pathogens to Solar Technologies, and an actual piece of glacier from the Mendenhall Glacier Berg, there was definitely something for everyone.

Adults and children engaged in hands-on learning and discussions with scientists from various organizations including NASA, NOAA, the Department of Energy, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, National Science Foundation, National Academy of Engineering and the National Science Teachers Association.

Through the Eco-Schools USA framework, students take charge of their learning and are motivated to put action behind their thoughts and words.  Eco-Schools is a proven leader in environmental education, placing emphasis on STEM subjects and educating the whole student through strategic partnerships formed around the country.

If you didn’t have a chance to make the USA Science & Engineering Festival this time around, join us next year for what is sure to be one “STEM”tastic time!