A pathway for 'Healthy Schools'

Vernice Miller-Travis, former co-chair of the EPA advisory work group on School Air Toxics Monitoring drove to the heart of the issue:

“It is not about how pollution affects bricks and mortar. It is about how pollution affects the children. How are our children supposed to learn if they are made sick by the buildings in which they attend school?”

In April, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for major changes to national chemical management policy because the current system doesn’t protect children from chemical exposure. In May, analysis in the journal Health Affairs showed that “few important changes” had been implemented to cut American kids’ exposure to toxic chemicals since a 2002 study pointing to tremendous costs associated with it. That same month, the CDC reported that Americans were suffering from asthma in record numbers—including nearly one in 10 children.

It is past time for American schools to focus on the healthiness of their physical environment, including issues like building material, mold, lead, optimal lighting, asthma triggers and worsening indoor air quality. Today, the Eco-Schools USA program has officially launched a new ‘Healthy Schools’ pathway, to encourage schools to fully ‘green’ their physical structures and protect their most precious assets—their students.

Through work with the Healthy Schools pathway, students will:

• Develop an understanding of how toxics used in schools affect the learning environment
• Investigate the advantages of natural lighting over artificial lighting
• Conduct an audit of the health of the school environment
• Monitor and interpret air quality and hazardous materials inside and outside the school building
• Collect, analyze, interpret and communicate information related to healthy schools
• Create an action plan to replace toxic cleaners, pesticides, and other unhealthy substances with healthier alternatives
• Communicate about the importance of healthy schools to a variety of audiences, including other students, parents, and the local community

Stay tuned for more information as schools begin work on this new pathway, which 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.

courtesy justmytruth.com

Who cares about clean air?

As it turns out, lots and lots of people. If you didn’t (yet) write to the Environmental Protection Agency asking for strong air pollution limits, you probably are related to someone who did, or you live near someone who did, or you fish or hunt or hike or ski or bike with someone who did.

More than a half a million Americans have already aid they want the Environmental Protection Agency to safeguard our air and water from mercury and other air toxics.

Now its time to deliver those comments and tell the Environmental Protection Agency to do the right thing.

That’s why NWF supporters like you are gathering at the Environmental Protection Agency office in Boston on Tuesday, July 19th. If you live near Boston, I hope you can join us to and stand up for the clean air and clean water on which wildlife depend by delivering the comments in support of clean air that were submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by over half a million people like you.

What: Stand up for Clean Air, Healthy Kids, and Healthy Environment at the Environmental Protection Agency

When: Tuesday, July 19th at Noon

Where: EPA Region 1 Office, 5 Post Office Square, Boston, MA [map: http://bit.ly/kWsxnQ ]

Who: NWF supporters like you, along with partner groups

RSVP: Let us know you will be attending by emailing me at oldhamc@nwf.org

Oh, and by the way, if you have not yet written to ask for strong pollution controls, you still can join those more than 500,000 people – just go to www.nwf.org/mercury to submit yours before the August 4th deadline!

That’s why it is good to remind yourself, from time to time, that a small army of people is working diligently to restore the Great Lakes.

From Duluth to the St. Lawrence River, individuals, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, researchers and private engineering firms are working on projects that will make the Great Lakes healthier now and in the future. Learn more here.

Those efforts are paying off.

Millions of pounds of toxic mud has been removed from Great Lakes harbors in recent years, thousands of acres of coastal wetlands have been restored and cities are (slowly) reducing sewage overflows.

Heck, whitefish and lake sturgeon are thriving in the Detroit River. That’s pretty remarkable, considering the enormous abuse humans inflicted on that river over the past century.

And what about Lake Erie, which Time magazine declared “dead” in the 1960s? Lake Erie has made a tremendous recovery over the past four decades and now produces more fish each year than the other four Great Lakes combined.

In the coming months, I’ll feature several Great Lakes restoration success stories on this blog.

This is not me viewing the Great Lakes through rose-colored glasses. I realize that all of the lakes still suffer from a myriad of costly, vexing problems.  And there are menacing threats on the horizon, such as Asian carp.

But it’s important to remember in this era of 24-hour, gloom and doom news that good things are happening in the Great Lakes. There are dozens of projects underway that are improving water quality, restoring fish and wildlife habitat and, in general, making the lakes healthier.

That is something to celebrate the next time you enjoy a summer day on these glorious waters.