It was an unusually warm day in the greater Chicago region as I drove north towards Waukegan, IL in January. The temperature gauge in the car read 46 and it was only 7:30 in the morning. It was somewhat ironic that it was this warm, since I was on my way to present the Eco-Schools Green Flag award to the Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep School(CRSMCP), who had been working for four years to reduce their environmental footprint, addressing such issues as energy use, climate change and waste reduction.

At 8 a.m. every Monday morning, CRSMCP comes together to share, learn and on this day to celebrate the tremendous strides they had made as a learning community in becoming more sustainable. This small, Catholic High School and their environmental club have been able to reduce their energy use by over 15% and their waste by over 50%. Over the past three years, CRSMCP has participated in the HSBC Eco-Schools Climate Initiative which is focused on developing a global network of schools actively participating in learning about climate change and finding ways to reduce carbon emissions and energy use in their schools and local communities.

CRSMCP Receives Green Flag Award – NWF

Academy of Global Citizenship

As the day progressed and I headed south towards Chicago, the temperature kept rising and instead of a cold, snowy and windy day which one would expect in late January in Chicago, it was mild and  sunny. I was heading south to visit and award another amazing school with the Green Flag Award, The Academy of Global Citizenship (AGC) a charter school in south Chicago.

Over the past four years, AGC has worked with NWF’s Eco-Schools USA, and  Schoolyard Habitat programs, the HSBC Eco-Schools Climate Initiative, and the Wrigley’s Litter Less Campaign to reduce their carbon footprint. Students at AGC spend over two hours a week outside in their gardens and outdoor learning classrooms, collecting eggs and vegetables and composting their breakfast and lunch waste. To date the Academy had diverted over 14,000 pounds of waste from the landfill and have a zero-waste breakfast and lunch program. They also have been able to reduce their carbon emissions by 17.8 tons!

As Dan Schnitzer, Director of Sustainability and Operations points out, “Our work on sustainability and our time outdoors is central to our curriculum. We use the natural world as a lens to learn and inspire and enable our students to take positive actions toward a more sustainable future.”

AGC Green Flag Award – NWF

Congratulations to both of these NWF Eco-Schools USA Green Flag Schools!

To resgister to become an NWF Eco-School or to learn more about the  program check out our website at: www.eco-schoolsusa.org

Raised-bed gardens at Pine Middle School, Reno, Nevada

Mike Ismari, a science teacher at Pine Middle School, is one of the strong forces behind this comprehensive program that started with the construction of fourteen planter boxes and a group of local boy scouts earning Eagle Scout badges. Students have also played a significant role through the Pine Middle School Garden Club, earning community service hours that can often translate into college scholarship opportunities through the local 4-H club.

Science teacher Mike Ismari and a colleague in the garden

Garden Club members have gained multiple life skills from participating in this program, such as:

• Tool use, from simple hand tools used to create birdhouses to power tools for building raised beds.
• Food growing and processing, including dehydrating and baking.
• Communication, through presentations to grant boards and the press.
• Math/economics as they market and sell their local produce.

Mike and his students have worked hard to expand this effort to other local schools, too, including the Smithridge Elementary school which is right across the road from Pine Middle School. Middle school students are now working with elementary students to teach them how to garden, grow and process food. Mike’s dream is to have a school garden at every Reno school – providing great opportunities for students to replace grass and asphalt with productive green spaces and teach students and the greater community about the value of working the land.

Pine Middle School is also working to address other key sustainability issues at their school, including reducing their energy use and working to use renewable energy sources such as solar panels. They are presently participating in a program with National Wildlife Federation through a grant from Wells Fargo. “Building Green Schools from the Inside Out” seeks to work with schools to reduce their carbon footprint. In September, Pine students were inspired and motivated by a presentation from the Alliance for Climate Education and are now utilizing NWF’s Eco-Schools USA program and Cool School Challenge to assess their current carbon footprint and determine ways to reduce their environmental impacts.

Acton Boxborough Regional High School in Acton, MA, is the fourth Eco-Schools USA Green Flag awardee. (Liz Soper)

There is no doubt this school deserved this award.

In order to receive the flag, the school had to address three pathways of sustainability. Over the past two years, this has entailed reducing electricity usage by over 10% and boosting lunchroom recycling and composting by over 250%.  The school also performed a water audit on the school grounds, created a rain garden and incorporated a plastic water bottle campaign at the school with three new bottle water fill stations. All great stuff!

But what impressed me the most about this school was the students and the strong leadership roles they were taking to ensure the success of this program.  As I met with groups of students I began to realize that not only were these students obtaining knowledge and skills on how to make their school more sustainable, but they were learning to organize themselves, develop programs, create and distribute communication to the school and community.  They were interacting with adults at the administration level and into the community including their state members of Congress and Senators. They were identifying needs—more curriculum or classes related to sustainability, and they were learning to evaluate their progress.

See a video about the school’s work on the ActonPatch website.

Among the most impressive elements of Acton Boxborough's Green Flag work is its student leadership (Liz Soper)

Many of the students who I spoke with were seniors and were moving on to college next year.  Some were excited to use their Sustainability work at “AB” and pursue further study in the environment or sustainability fields in college.

But even for those that were not planning on further study had gained something. Participating in NWF Eco-Schools USA has given them a big leg up for their future.  They are now strong student leaders and most importantly, they will be taking those leadership skills with them into the world in whatever role they decided to explore.

You can find out more about AB’s great work by reading an article in their local paper or checking out NWF’s press release.  Look at our list of current Eco-Schools to see how many are in your state or find out how your school can become an Eco-School.

Eco-Schools National Operators gathered with Green Flag in Krakow (Liz Soper)

After three flights and 24 hours of traveling, I finally touched down in Krakow, Poland, three weeks ago and was met by our wonderful friends from the Environmental Partnership Foundation, which run Ekoszkola (Eco-Schools) here.

I was in Poland for the 2011 Eco-Schools National Operators meeting, where National Operators from over 53 countries come together to network and work together to set program guidelines and develop strategy.

I quickly learned that the Polish language is a difficult one.  Just the description of it–“a lechitic subgroup of west Slavic languages with several different dialects,”–was hard for me to understand.  My favorite saying became “Czy mowisz po agielsku?” or, ‘do you speak English?’  Luckily, most Polish citizens I met did.

One of the highlights of these meetings is the opportunity to visit Eco-Schools in host countries. In this case, I chose to visit a high school site–“Gymnasium #2” in Myslenice.  An Eco-Schools Green Flag waved proudly outside the main building, and we were warmly welcomed by the headmaster and a group of students, who promptly took us for a tour of the highlights of their school and the sustainability work they had accomplished.

We moved through several classrooms, including the ecology room, where we saw many of the energy- related programs that the students had been working on (including a cool handmade diagram that allowed you to plug in activities and determine their carbon impact). The school also has a strong recycling program and great signage to explain how it works.

In addition to the tour, we were treated to a traditional Polish meal in the school cafeteria, courtesy of the students’ families. Here we had soups including borscht, pierogies, meats and cheeses. It was quite the feast!

Eco-Schools Green Flag waves outside 'Gymnasium #2' in Myslenice (Liz Soper)

Over the course of the next three days we welcomed new countries to our network; learned about new program

opportunities; explored new communication strategies that will allow Eco-Schools around the world to exchange ideas; and talked about standardization of criteria for the Green Flag award and possible energy assessment options for schools.

For me, the ability to spend time discussing our own programs and learn what others are doing in other countries is always the highlight of these meetings.  And of course, the evening events, which included a

nighttime tour of Krakow, a visit to the Salt Mine outside of Krakow (where we ate dinner 1900 meters underground) and a fabulous dinner at a traditional Polish Lodge with a band and young dancers, were a great bonus.

By the end of my time in Krakow, I was inspired and excited to return home to the U.S. and share what I had learned with my colleagues to enhance the Eco-Schools USA program.

As my Polish friends often said “Na zdrowie!” or, “Cheers!”

To learn more about the international Eco-Schools program, click here.

To learn about the Eco-Schools USA program, visit our website.

The afternoon was hot!  Almost 95 degrees outside, and inside the BLS auditorium that has no air conditioning, it was toasty.  But that didn’t stop hundreds of kids from hearing from BLS Youth Climate Action Network (Youth CAN) co-presidents Rebecca Parks and Eshe Sherley, who led the school through several great visual presentations of all the school had accomplished as well as a short speech from me and the presentation of their Green Flag Award.

Boston Latin School's Green Flag (Photo: Curtis Fisher)

I have personally known and worked with the BLS Youth CAN for the past five years and was not at all surprised when their application for a Green Flag award came in the mail. This school and BLS Youth CAN has held yearly Youth Climate Action Summits which have helped other schools in the greater Boston region to reduce their carbon footprints and just this year launched a very successful zero-sort recycling pilot which reduced school waste by over 50%. This program was so successful that plans are now underway for replicating the program in the rest of the Boston public schools.

We then traveled (thankfully!) to the air conditioned library to celebrate all of the key partners that had helped BLS Youth Climate Action network and the school get to where they are as one of the greenest Eco-Schools in the world!

As headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta said, “What started out as a small afterschool club has now grown into a movement that has gained not only local recognition here in the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts, but also now national and international recognition. So much of what we’ve done here at BLS, we did not do alone, so we are here to celebrate all the great partnerships that have helped us to get here!”

Melodeego, the bike-powered band, plays at Boston Latin's Green Flag award party (Photo: Liz Soper)

This part of the celebration included highlighting a new partnership with a group of visitors from France including delegates from a student green group that had come to the Boston Latin School to learn more on how to create a grassroots effort like the Boston Youth Climate Action Network. It was fun to find out that the students were from a school in France that was also an Eco-School!  Global connections are a key part of Eco-Schools!

Lastly, we ventured outside into the heat and had a great party and celebration which included a bike powered band, “Melodeego,” and the raising of the Eco-Schools Green Flag outside the Boston Public Latin School.

What an amazing day.  I was reminded again of how much youth can make a difference and be such a strong force in making change.

During the summer, my kids rarely complain about going outside. But in the winter it’s sometimes harder for them to become motivated. When they were younger they would sled, build snowmen, make snow angels, and observe snowflakes–but as they have gotten older, they prefer to go on winter adventures.

Often this means a hike on their snowshoes–a great way to get your kids outdoors in the winter and give them an opportunity to travel longer distances without falling through the snow–and getting frustrated!

One of our favorite treks is right outside our back door and straight up the hill for a two mile hike to “the rock.” Our best friends come each year to make this trek–and when the kids make it to the top (usually way before the adults), they are excited to have their picture taken and get their reward of hot chocolate and cookies. Having a destination in mind when on snowshoes makes all the difference in the world–and having friends along creates a healthy sense of competition and keeps their minds on sharing the fun along the way.

One of the keys of a successful winter outing is to make sure that your kids are prepared for winter weather. There is nothing that stops winter fun in its tracks and causes more anxiety for parents then not being prepared. I have found that one of the most important keys is to layer your kids with appropriate clothes:

• Make sure they wear good long underwear that will keep them dry.
• Layer them with a turtleneck, fleece, snow pants and coat.
• A good hat, neck warmer and gloves can also make the difference between a happy winter trek and a completely dismal experience.
• As the kids get hot on the way up, make sure you have a backpack to store their gear–and when you get to your destination, have them put a layer back on to stay warm when they are not moving.
• Key to success: Get good boots and snowshoes that the kids can get on and off easily. Many snowshoe manufacturers are making kid-friendly gear that stays on during the trek, but is easy for your child to take off when they are finished. Check out Firsttreks.com.

So even though it’s cold and sometimes it takes some effort, take your kids outside during the winter months. There is nothing better than watching my kids fly down the hill on their snowshoes. They are wild, free and moving fast–and as a result, are then tired, quiet and ready to settle down inside when the winter trek is over.

Liz Soper is the education manager for National Wildlife Federation in its Northeast office and a mother of two daughters–now 10 and 14. They live in Stowe, VT and spend over 6 months out of the year finding ways to enjoy the outdoors during the cold winter months.