 Power to the (Little) People |
Introducing Growing Up Green TOTS!
Now fast forward 20 years, and imagine these children as young adults. What would they think about the world's environmental problems? What would they do about these problems? I'm willing to bet that they'd fight like hell to fix them.
TeachingGreen is working to make this dream a reality. We are happy to announce Growing Up Green TOTS, a fun, engaging, comprehensive program that will make it easy for preschool and early elementary teachers across the country to create a green and healthy classroom experience for their students.
 The Growing Up Green TOTS pilot program, which officially launched in September of this year, is in full swing in four classrooms at the preschool run by the South Bay Adult School Parent Education Program in Los Angeles. Through the pilot, 78 kids - and their parents - are already enjoying the benefits of a greener and healthier classroom, while learning about reducing, reusing, recycling, composting and other important principles of green living.
Beginning next year, we plan to offer the program nationwide, but we won't be able to do it without your help. Your tax-deductible gift will provide crucial funds to help us transform classrooms all across America, so that where there was once ignorance and apathy, there will now be environmental awareness and action.
With Growing Up Green TOTS, teachers will receive an all-inclusive, easy-to-implement program, free of charge. We do the research and produce the materials so that they don't have to.
* For the kids: colorful signage, nature- and eco-based crafts, circle time activities and field trip experiences that make the program fun and engaging.
* For the parents: Quarterly Newsletters, Parent Guidelines, a Green & Healthy Classroom Pledge sheet, and Parent Surveys to facilitate and track parent involvement.
* For the teachers: a wealth of resources to go green in the classroom and engage students and parents, including classroom signage, a Green Tips & Resources Guide, and ideas for craft time, circle time and field trips.
 With your support, we can help teachers all across the country change the culture in their classrooms from one of waste to one of conservation. Our pilot teachers are leading the way...let's make sure that other teachers follow in their footsteps. Please consider supporting the Growing Up Green TOTS program with a tax-deductible donation.
Our best hope for ensuring a healthy environment for our children and grandchildren lies with those children themselves. If they learn to appreciate the wealth of beautiful and life-sustaining things that the earth provides, they will learn to love and care for it. It's that simple.
Please help us help early education teachers all across the country plant those early seeds of environmental stewardship. When you give to TeachingGreen, you can rest assured that your donation will support actual green teaching, not exorbitant executive salaries and expensive overhead costs. Your money will go directly to programs services...that's our promise to you.
Your support can make all the difference!
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Great Green Gifts
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Make Spirits Bright...with Recycled Gifts
During this season of heavy consumption, one of the best ways to cut the waste is by giving gifts of experience or time. Think cooking classes, theater tickets, spa treatments...you get the picture. But if its tangible gifts you're looking for, don't despair, just buy recycled. In a society awash with stuff, it's getting easier all the time to find goods made with recycled materials. Many massed-produced products now contain at least some post-consumer recycled material (see Goodnow recycled cooking tools below), and if they do, it'll say so right on the product or its package.
But some of the best gifts aren't massed-produced from recycled plastic bottles and newspapers. Rather, they're made by some crafty folks who are very good at turning junk into useful, often beautiful new products. Thanks to them, much of the junk in our world - the broken, obsolete, and otherwise unusable stuff - is finding new life as coasters, purses, bottle openers, you name it. Here are some of our favorite recycled gifts, some mass-produced, some made by hand, most made right here in the good ol' United States of America.  Lamson & GoodNow's GoodNow Recycled CookingTools For those who love to cook, you can't go wrong with Lamson & GoodNow's line of recycled cooking tools. The heat-resistant handles are made from 100 percent recycled paper held together with non-petroleum resin, and the business end contains 90 percent recycled metal from old appliances and car parts. And if that's not green enough for you, the tools are made in Lamson's 160-year old Massachusetts factory, which is powered with hydroelectric energy produced by its very own river. Oh, and all the manufacturing scraps are recycled too. Available at Amazon.com. $20 - $29 Record Label Coasters For the music-lover on your list, delight with this set of six laminated LP coasters, made from original, unplayable records. Handmade by artist Jeff Davis, each set is unique and comes in a clear, round box for easy storage. Available at www.eco-artware.com. $20 set of six
Grenade Oil Lamp Explosives not included with these attention-grabbing oil lamps creating by artist Piet Houtenbos. Handmade from a dummy grenade, these elegant and somewhat startling pieces are plated in 14kt gold and come in three styles. Perfect for that special someone who likes to make a bold impression. Available at www.zady.com/products/108. $83 
ReBottled Decomposition BooksThe student on your list is sure to love these college ruled 8.5" x 11" composition books. Available in red or blue, ReBottled Books have a cover made from 85 percent post-consumer waste recycled plastic bottles and pages made from 100 percent post-consumer waste paper. Available at www.bookbinders.com. $8.99
Wine Cork Flash Drive  For the person who has everything and also happens to love wine, here's a creative gift that's both fun and practical. Available in 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB and 8 GB, these USB flash drives are handmade, each with its own unique cork. Available at www.smediart.com. $54, $64, $84 and $114
 Recycled Chopsticks Pen HolderHere's an inexpensive gift for anyone who likes a clutter-free desk. Conceived in China by artist Bryan Parks, this pen holder extends the useful life of disposable chopsticks that would otherwise go straight to the nearest landfill. Each one is handmade by the artist from recycled, sanitized bamboo chopsticks. Available at www.greatrecycledgifts.com. $12  Bike Chain Bottle Opener For the bicycle enthusiast in your life, boost the satisfaction of popping open a cold one with this bike chain bottle opener. Handmade in Oregon, these slick bottle openers are made with bicycle chains that can no longer be used for their original intended purpose. Available at www.uncommongoods.com. $10
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Survey Says!
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When were the seeds of environmental awareness FIRST planted in your mind? Was it during your early childhood...teens years...later on? We want to know! Do you have two minutes to take our short survey? Your response will provide valuable insight that could help us secure funding for our new Growing Up Green TOTS Program. Thanks for participating!
For more information about TeachingGreen, contact Kathleen Jacecko at 310-372-7484 or kjacecko@teachinggreen.org.
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