It's time to go back to school, but what kind of environment are students going back to?

While you can limit exposure to toxic chemicals in your home, many schools still use harsh chemicals in cleaning and school supplies. As many as 15,000 schools have poor indoor air quality that triggers asthma, causes headaches, and spreads airborne illness. Children breathe proportionally more air than adults, making them particularly vulnerable to the effects of poor air quality. Schools are also big energy and water users, with around 20% of the US population spending six hours a day or more on school grounds.

The nearly 500 Green Irene Eco-Consultants are a force for positive green change in their local communities. They give free community presentations on how to green your home or small business and some serve on their local school's "Green Committee."

You may need to convince school officials of the importance of investing in eco-friendly programs.

Beyond being healthier and less environmentally harmful, there's increasing evidence that green schools improve student performance. A 2006 report by the U.S. Green Building Council noted that absenteeism declined 15% in the state's first green school. Healthier students go to school more, which is good news for school officials. Your school will also realize the monetary benefits of energy conservation. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 25% of the energy used in schools is wasted due to inefficient buildings, equipment and operations. This drains an estimated $1.5 billion annually from the nation's schools, enough money to hire 30,000 teachers.

Once you've brought school administrators on board with your project, there are many ways to tackle going green.

-Find out what chemicals are used to clean the school and push for safer substitutes.

-Look into ways to improve energy efficiency in the school, perhaps starting with swapping out inefficient light bulbs. Switching from T-8 tubes to smaller diameter, yet equally bright, T-5 tubes saves $1,000s.

-Does your school have a recycling program? If so, help to setup "green teams" who can be responsible for making sure everything gets recycled. The green team members could also be responsible for trying to reduce paper use by using scrap paper for notes, instructing students where to throw things away in the lunch room, and making sure the lights are turned off at the end of the day.

-Help you school kick the paper habit once and for all and stop sending home thousands of sheets of colored paper: Go email delivery only and post notices at your school's website or intranet.

-If you are thinking of a project to integrate into the science curriculum, start a compost program, diverting some of the cafeteria's massive food waste from the landfill, and use the compost to start a vegetable garden at your school.

If your community is planning to build a new school soon, advocate for LEED-certified green construction.

Don't be afraid to get involved. Helping to green your local schools will reduce the environmental footprint of your school, create a better learning environment for students, and teach the next generation about the importance of going green.

One great resource is the Green Schools Alliance, a national non-profit that helps schools go green.

Rosamaria Caballero
Co-Founder and the Original "Green Irene"

This month, Green Irene Eco-Consultant Leslie Proctor shared her story of volunteering to green her local concert venue in Salt Lake City, UT.  We think Leslie is doing great work, and we hope her story inspires you to look into the many ways to volunteer your time to green your local community.

For example:

-Organize a park or river cleanup. Get some friends together and head out with trash bags and maybe some garbage pokers, grabbing all the trash in sight. You'll encourage people to spend more time outside while you provide better habitats for local wildlife. Plus, the trash you collect can become a visible reminder to your community to reduce waste.

-Propose a green fundraiser. Churches, schools, kids' sports teams, and other organizations are often looking for ways to raise money. Consider selling green products instead of the usual wrapping paper and other wasteful "stuff". Check out our Green Fundraiser, which your local Eco-Consultant can help you organize with a percentage of all sales going to the local non-profit.

-Consider an used shoe collection drive. Buying new school shoes for the kids makes you realize how many shoes end up in the landfill! Green Irene loves Soles4Souls and Reuse-a-shoe. Soles 4 Shoes takes all kinds of shoes and helps you organize a collection drive and gets communities to donate old shoes (which they clean up) to the less fortunate in the U.S. and around the world.  Reuse-a-Shoe, which is Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program, collects old, worn-out athletic shoes for recycling, transforming them into Nike Grind, a material used in creating athletic and playground surfaces. Work with your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant and Green Irene will pay for the shipping costs as part of a Green Fundraiser.

Green Irene E-Newsletter is published to provide you with the latest green news, tips and keep you abreast of developments with Green Irene. This information is to help you learn new, easy ways to green your home, office and lifestyle. If you have any comments, questions, or recommendations for our newsletter, please contact us.